HOW CANADA CAN TURN THE CURRENT CHALLENGES IN TO OPPORTUNITIES!!

Canadians, potential investors (and probably to some extent its southern neighbour) are waiting with bated breath to see what happens in Ottawa on Jan 29 when the budget will be put to vote. The current Prime Minister Stephen Harper, of Progressive Conservatives (PC), is leading a minority government. If for whatever reasons the main opposition parties - Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois - don't like the budget presented on Jan 27, they can pull the government down by voting against it.

Now, let us step sideways and look at some key aspects currently confronting Canada. First, Canada is also in the grip of recession as are the other G-7 countries; the good news, however, is that Canada's economic woes are least as compared to any other G-7 country. Albeit, Canada's economic problems are less compared to its G-7 peers but they are not trivial either.

The unemployment figures released on 9th Jan paint a grim picture, and coupled with current contractionary tendencies of the economy (exacerbated by recessionary perception in the minds of the Canadians) the future doesn't portend encouraging signs.

When a country passes through tough times, if you had to pick up one thing that is needed to pull the country out of trouble what would you choose? Without doubt, the answer would be: 'real' leadership. It is a well known fact, to even non-academicians, that right leadership is fundamental to devising necessary strategy/suite of actions, convincing the people of the country to embrace the same and implementing it in timely and proper manner.

This is where current Prime Minister Stephen Harper is now called upon to show his mettle as a true leader. History is beckoning him to step up to the plate and do whatever is necessary, in the interest of the nation, to take Canada out of this present economic upheaval and put it back on the path of sustained economic growth. Fall of PC govt on Jan 29 has a potential for another election. That will certainly not be a welcome thing for the Canadians; the nation can ill afford a period of instability at this stage.

So, whichever way you look at from, the present challenge is, in fact, the right opportunity for PM Harper to deliver and carve a niche for himself in the Canadian history. People say of Harper, based on their past experience, that he is prone to stubbornness, often short sighted, less open-minded, afraid of facing the nation (prefers to disappear at the time of crisis), poor negotiator, untactful, impulsive, unable to grasp the big picture, and so on.

But this is the ideal opportunity for Harper to prove people wrong. Can he do it? Sure, why not? But to do that he has to overcome some mental blocks and fixations. If you watch his body language, his choice of words on critical/difficult issues one often finds him exhibiting lack of confidence, lack of substance and trying to cover that up with sheepish smile. And, in the process of overcoming his lack of confidence, on many occasions Harper ends up overdoing his policy action. This has been a major weakness in his style of functioning.

But he can right his this weakness. He need not feel weak-kneed, nor find his confidence somewhat less. Why? Because, after all, he led his party to be the largest single party in the parliament in the recent elections. Surely that is indicative of his ability to connect with people in most parts of Canada, his ability to articulate, and to get good grasp on various issues.

So, instead of being diffident, sheepish, apologetic on key issues, he needs to go out there full blast in confidence and take the bull by the horn - understand what the problems are, what the possible options are, what the challenges in implementing them are, and what needs to be done politically and nationally to implement them.

After grasping all that, Harper needs to rise above the fear of failure (this is fundamental to succeed in life) and go about his business of showing what true leadership is and stand tall amidst his political peers. Once he is not afraid to fail and at the same time puts national interest to be paramount he would be able to deal with any Layton, Ignatieff, Duceppe and come out trumps. And, best of all, the Canadians will back him up in his efforts to pull the country out of the morass.

It will not be so simple as stated above, but once Harper plays on the front foot with confidence (and full grasp of the situation/solutions) he will automatically be able to come out with necessary tactfulness, negotiation skills, political savvy required to implement what is best for the country in the present moment.

His actions will, however, have to demonstrate that he is above petty politics, he knows what is good for Canada, he is clearheaded, honest, not bumbling and that he is most suited to be the captain of the team. The more he will succeed, the more will his confidence grow and he will keep firing on all cylinders. Gradually, his path will appear more smoother, with less hurdles.

Meanwhile, there is good news that Mr. Obama has decided to visit Canada after taking over as President of US. This provides a gilded opportunity to Canada to forge stronger partnership with US on various fronts - energy, trade and defence. But to be able to do so Harper has to first survive the vote on budget. If Harper can be the decisive Prime Minister the country needs him to be, surely he can not only survive the vote, he can further strengthen his position.

If PC's continue to lead the country after the budget vote, Harper will get the opportunity to meet with and to convince Obama about the strategic importance of Canada-US relations, about oilsands' relevance to US (and the steps Alberta is taking to address environment related concerns), clear confusions regarding NAFTA, cooperation on defence related matters. But Harper would do well not to carry any past baggage (i.e. close ties with outgoing president Bush etc) or raise any thorny issue like Arctic sovereignity etc.

One of the drawbacks of Canadian leaderships' 'thinking' in last 50-60 years has been that on international level it was not expansive enough, and not contextually politically savvy. (An aside: On national level the 'thinking' seemed to have been debilitatingly overshadowed by Anglo-philic predilections.) In any case, it is a golden opportunity for Harper to show that his policies are entirely Canada-centric, pragmatic, streetsmart on all issues - be it environment, Islamic radicalism, natural resources, economic world order or anything else.

A strong and vibrant Canada is also in the interest of USA, and world in general. Canada's journey towards becoming a strong and vibrant nation can be sure and certain provided Steven Harper gets his act correct. He probably is aware that he will be judged by history by his performance at this critical and historic juncture.

Mr Harper, opportunity is there for you to get your name etched in golden letters - but to do that you will have to rise to the occasion and grab it!