When his victory was announced in a noisy convention hall in downtown Ottawa, Sunday night, Mark Carney slowly rose to his feet, turned to kiss his wife, and started hugging and shaking hands with Liberal party members all around him as music and cheers downed all else out. Once the room quieted, he sat beaming up at one of his daughters, now on stage, as she gave the audience, and the country, a formal introduction to Canada’s next prime minister.

Carney’s sweeping victory, 86 per cent, pushed departing prime minister Justin Trudeau aside as leader of the governing party, and as the new leader stood at the podium scanning the bobbing crowd and swaying signs, he let out a “Wow.”

It might have been an expression of awe, or appreciation, but surely not a wow of surprise. This was a moment everyone expected, at least lately, and some for more than a decade.

It was a moment that seemed inevitable, but also strangely improbable.