A split between urban and rural Canada — similar to that in the United States — was brought into sharp relief as the Liberals swept all 25 seats in the greater Toronto area.

Also on display was a stark regional division, with Liberals completely shut out in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The east-west rift has defined contemporary Canadian politics the way the Solid South — first a Democratic stronghold and then a Republican one — has defined U.S. politics since Reconstruction.

A chastened but triumphant Trudeau acknowledged those divisions and offered a verbal outstretched hand to Saskatchewan and Alberta, which along with Manitoba recoiled at his support for a carbon tax and other energy and environmental policies.

“Know that you are an essential part of this country,” Trudeau said. — A report from this morning’s Los Angeles Times on how yesterday’s Canadian election revealed a closely divided nation. [Editor’s note: Other news organizations, including CNBC, reported the version of the quotation in the headline, not the wording in the LA Times report.]

CNBC offers another excerpt from Trudeau’s remarks: “And to those – to those who did not vote for us – know that we will work every single day for you. We will govern for everyone.” [Quoted excerpt begins at the 1:00 minute mark.]

I can’t vouch for the analogy – that Canada’s East-West rift defines politics in our northern neighbor much as the distinctive preoccupations of the South have shaped American politics since Reconstruction – but both these quotations reveal a huge difference in the national leadership of the two nations.

Trudeau reached out – at least rhetorically – to the folks on the other side of the divide. Donald Trump consistently has catered to the Southern-dominated GOP base, while denigrating cities and regions (as well as religious and ethnic minority communities) where he lacks political support.