I think the last election was about style only insofar as many were tired of Harper's style. Even Conrad Black was moved to describe Harper as governing like a "sadistic Victorian schoolmaster." Many people, including myself, simply wanted Harper out. For the sake of his party and the country he should have stepped down before the 2011 election. Although I disliked the Harper government's anti-evidence bent, including the muzzling of scientists and the cancellation of the long-form census, and I worried that with legislation like C-51 the government was becoming too authoritarian, I didn't disagree with many of its other policy approaches, such as the attempt to clean up the refugee determination system. Trudeau ran as the anti-Harper and it worked. But it only worked because Harper was still around.