It appears to me that we spend more time analyzing what tricks does Stephen Harper has up his sleeve rather than try to understand what his policies are.

There is constant curiosity about his next political chess move but very few questions about his vision and his ideas.

Yesterday was a great example of this. Much of the attention was directed at why Mr. Harper chose to be absent from an important United Nations session to attend a private corporation announcement instead. Pundits and commentators have been analyzing all possible political calculations for that decision. “He is trying to appeal to the Tim Horton’s crowd”. “He wants to show that he doesn’t care for the UN elite class”. “He doesn’t want his speech be compared to Obama’s speech and look weak”. So many theories and random guesses.

In the process though, there has been very little discussion about what I think most Canadians care about. Canadians would like to see their prime minister articulate his vision about climate change, nuclear disarmament and other critical international matters, not just to the world, but to Canadians.

Canadians like to think of themselves and their country as active global citizens who take their responsibilities extremely seriously. Therefore, we expect our leaders to define their vision in fulfilling these roles.

I don’t think Canadians care what the motivation behind Mr. Harper’s decision to attend the Tim Horton’s corporate announcement are. They deserve to hear from their prime minister his vision about Canada’s role in the world. If that vision is missing, Canadians can and will demand an explanation. That is what the focus should be, not about meaningless political maneuvering.

After all, surely Tim Horton’s could have postponed their event few days to accommodate the prime minister’s presence at the UN.

This rule should not just apply to Mr. Harper, it must apply to all political leaders. There will always be political posturing, but I think Canadians would be better served if pundits spare them endless analyses of political brinkmanship and focus more on competing policies and vision for our country.