Question for non-Canadians

I'm asking non-Canadians because you're more likely to be able to give an objective opinion without any explicit or subconscious partisan bias, but Canadians can answer too if you want. Anonymous comments are welcome, but please indicate if you're Canadian or not.

Faced with the Haitian catastrophe, [Canadian Prime Minister Stephen] Harper directed traffic in an impressive, speedy and efficient fashion. He got right on the file, sent the appropriate ministers and departments into overdrive, and pushed international buttons – as in Canada playing host yesterday to a hastily assembled international conference on Haiti. Those who have been critical of a certain lassitude in Canadian foreign policy should take note and give credit.

Mr. Harper announced that the government, over and beyond its own aid commitment, would match Canadians' contributions up to $50-million. When Canadians donated more than the government anticipated, he scrapped the matching limit. The result, thus far, is that Canada has made the largest per capita commitment to Haiti. And the military was dispatched there, despite repeated claims that it had already been “overstretched” by Afghanistan.

On orphans and refugees, his government walked the appropriate line between additional humanitarian efforts (as in expediting the arrival of orphans) while not creating a dangerous precedent by throwing open the country to every Haitian who might want to emigrate.

So when a grim humanitarian crisis arose, in Canada's part of the world, with a sizable Haitian diaspora already here, Mr. Harper produced a pitch-perfect response backed by swift and serious action.

My question: objectively speaking, is that actually an impressive achievement for a leader of a country? Because I've been interpreting it as just doing the job properly without messing anything up. I assumed such a response was well within the reach of anyone with the leadership skills to be the leader of a country, and the resources of a whole country at their disposal.

It's like how if a rocket scientist successfully launches a rocket, it isn't a particularly impressive achievement. Most of us can't do that, but basically they're just doing their job right without messing up.

Is effective international crisis response similarly routine, or is it more impressive than I think it is? If the leader of your country responded similarly (and they may well have in fact done just that - I haven't been tallying crisis response by nation) would you be impressed, or would you just consider it basic competence?