What I think you are going to see is a Liberal party that cleans house. They are very much aware that they lost this one based on scandal and the perception of corruption, not on the issues themselves (Harper was smart enough to downplay some of the extreme views held by certain Reformers and not make this an issues-based campaign) The Conservative support, at least at this stage, is very soft in many circles, with a lot of Conservative voters "holding their nose and voting" because they wanted to send a message to the Grits.
Harper's challenge will be to win over these "temporary" conservatives. The Grits will need to win them back. They can do that by cleaning out all the vestiges of the (percieved to be) corrupt Old Guard and starting fresh - and with Martin already stepping down as leader, that process has already started.
In order to really capture these small "c" conservatives, he is going to have to play a much more centrist position than he could get away with if he had a majority. He is going to have to prove that, no, he doesn't really drink his own blood and keep a dragon in his shed - because the second he starts edging towards an extreme right, the more the Grits are going to pound him with it.
Plus he really doesn't have many friends to work with. The Grits and the NDP are natural allies, and working with the Bloc is political suicide. He's really kinda out there on his own, which means he's going to have to play nice with (at least) the Grits if he wants to get anything done.
I think the Accountability Act will go through in some form, because the Grits can't possibly be seen to be arguing against accountability. But I don't think we'll see any big investigations of past malfesence, because the Grits won't want to see all their durty laundry come to light, and will promise to fight EVERYTHING the Reformers want if they go down that road.
I also think the Gun Registry is dead. That was a huge white elephant that I think many (most?) Liberals wanted to see killed off, but couldn't because of the loss of face. This is an easy Reform win, and I don't think the Grits will fight it at all.
Senate Reform and the GST cut.... I don't think either will happen. The Grits have too much power invested in the Senate as it sits so I think they'll fight this tooth and nail. The NDP and the Bloc might ally with Reform on this (as it offers a way for them into the Senate) but I just don't think the Reformers have the ability to carry this. The GST cut I don't think will go through because we simply need the tax revenue to keep paying down the National Debt - and that is THE most important task for ANY Canadian government. See http://www.fin.gc.ca/budget05/bp/bpa2e.htm I expect the Grits to take a hard line on this, and Harper, not being an idiot (he may want to put a laser on the moon to carve his initials into Greenland, but he's a pretty smart guy) will probably see the wisdom of this once he can see into the books.
Similarily, I don't expect Harper to open the issue of either Abortion or Same-Sex Marriage, because these are drink-you-own-blood issues that chase off his newest supporters. If he tries, we have an instant vote of non-confidence and we go back to the polls.
The one thing that really has me worried though is the military angle. Harper has military advisors who seem to go back to the bad old days of wimpy CF leadership circaf Somalia, and who appear to have a SERIOUS hate-on for Hillier. I'm worried that Gen Hillier is going to get cut off at the knees and marginalized, that we will go back to "peacekeeping" missions where we aren't expected to fight back, and that equipment procurement will go back to extended boondoggles designed to put cash in the pockets of Canadian defense firms, instead of putting the best kit possible in the hands of the troops. I'm equally afraid that we will knuckle in to every single demand the Yanks make,no matter how stupid or bad for Canada. NOTHING would make me happier than to be proven dead wrong on this.
DG