We're witnessing an incredible 31-day tale of two leaders experiencing a dramatic reversal of fortunes.

One month ago tonight, a dejected, defeated Prime Minister Stephen Harper left a Calgary stage and disappeared into oblivion. He didn't even have the heart to tell the crowd he was quitting as their leader.

In Montreal, the third-place party leader was being crowned with a wide and deep majority mandate rooted in a promise of being the anti-Harper. Within 24 hours he was shaking hands at a transit stop, meeting more people spontaneously in an hour than Harper did as prime minister.

Beyond a brief speech to his caucus, arriving and departing through a back door with only a scowl for media, the last reported sighting of Harper was in a bookstore where he was looking for the economics section.

No farewell tribute dinners are planned. His once-powerful staff are scrambling for work. And new leader Rona Ambrose acts like someone happily freed from a Harper chokehold as she returns to her former charismatic self, showing little enthusiasm for elements of the old agenda.

Then there's this magic month of Justin. International mania greets him on a world tour without missteps so far. His domestic polling approval numbers are approaching a Rapture. And there's so much media access, reporters are surprised when a day passes without an availability.

The ultimate act of openness came with the unprecedented release of federal minister mandate letters, which detail what each minister will do over the next four years. Mostly, it seems, they're tearing down what Harper built.

Of course Trudeau is facing suddenly awkward election promises on refugees and pulling back our jets in the war on ISIS . But if the worst part of his first 100 days is to fend off demands he BREAK key election promises, that’s pretty much as good as it's ever gotten.

As always in prime minister transitions, the loser feels a cold rush of hard reality while the newbie enjoys the illusion, or should I say delusion, of being able to do no wrong.

But rarely have I seen a contrast this stark or this sudden.

The consolation for Stephen Harper is that all prime ministerial losers reclaim elder statesman status with time.

And time is always the enemy of winners. Sooner, not later, they find out the only reality in politics is one good month never becomes a great year.

That’s the Last Word.