A political history teacher from southern Manitoba says the outcome of the U.S. election this past week is not likely to help bring Americans back together.

Michael Zwaagstra, who teaches in the Hanover School Division, says both parties in the U.S. came away with victories as the Republicans increased their majority in the Senate while the Democrats won control of the House of Representatives. He shares his thoughts on what that means going forward.

"Republicans will still have control over matters such as judicial appointments and treaty ratifications which are obviously important to the President's agenda. But the Democrats will have control over the House and that gives them the power launch some investigations, to block certain things on the President's agenda and also, certainly, to have an impact on budgetary matters."

Zwaagstra adds the United States will likely remain very divided on political matters, but he does not expect that to have a lot of impact on Canada.

"Frankly, I think that the main repercussions to Canada have already happened with the NAFTA being replaced by the United States Mexico Canada Agreement. Beyond that, I think that you are going to see continued fighting within the United States itself, between the Democrats and Republicans. And so, I think they are going to be more focused on each other than any further trade effects on Canada."