Around the world, the shock still hasn’t worn off. Donald Trump pulled off a monumental political feat, becoming the 45th President of the United States.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Trump made his victory speech and many either woke to a dream come true or a nightmare.
“I thought Hillary Clinton would win and I thought she was probably better for Canada’s interests.”
“I think there’s going to be some changes – whether it’s going to be good or not we’ll find out I guess.”
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Trump’s win and the power shift that comes with it is still being processed by the entire world but as any expert will tell you, governing is a lot more difficult than giving speeches.
“We can’t expect that when Trump enters the White House early next year that everything will change,” said Daniel Béland, Canada Research Chair in Public Policy at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.
“It’s complicated and it takes time to change policy.”
So what will this mean for Saskatchewan?
Premier Brad Wall said he’s optimistic but also concerned about Trump’s vow to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
“Which we know has attracted millions of dollars of investment and helped create jobs on our side of the border – even as over 30 U.S. states have a trade surplus from Canada so it’s been good from them from the Canadian perspective – that agreement has been good and he said he would rip it up,” said Wall.
“That’s a concern, on the other hand he said he supports the keystone pipeline and would restart that project.”
WATCH BELOW: Trump says he’d ask TransCanada Corp. to reapply for Keystone pipeline if elected
Wall also pointed out that the election result means there will not be a carbon tax in the U.S. anytime soon and that it makes no sense for Ottawa to push ahead with imposing a national carbon tax, when our biggest trading partner and biggest competitor for investment and jobs – is not going to have one.
READ MORE: What President Donald Trump will mean for Canada
Premier Wall urged Prime Minister Trudeau and the federal government to reach out to the new administration as soon as possible in regards to NAFTA and any other issues of importance to our two countries.
“There’s no point in waiting around, everybody’s going to be pounding on Trump’s door when he becomes President,” said John Courtney, Senior Policy Fellow of the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
“So it’s going to be critical to make your case and make it strongly.”
WATCH BELOW: President-elect Donald Trump calls for unity in his victory speech
As Béland pointed out there will be limits from Trump in terms of his power and change will be slow-moving as hundreds of people are appointed to different levels of government.
“This election is really a political earthquake in many ways but we’ll see whether this earthquake will actually reshape policy, both domestic and foreign policy in a significant way because trump has a lot of work on his plate especially if you take seriously what he said during the campaign.”
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