Those of us who covered the Conservative convention in Ottawa this past weekend could not miss an unmistakable shift in the nature of Harper-era Conservatism.

Two of the party's most impressive leaders laid it out best. Preston Manning and Jason Kenney set out their vision of "managerial Conservatism." Manning insisted Canadians were not interested in a government that is building monuments or seeking great visions.

What they are looking for, in his view, is practical, prudent, day-to-day management of problems and issues. With that objective, according to Kenney, the party has become the mainstream right-of-center choice for most Canadians.

Stephen Harper is placing his party and government at what he considers to be the center of the Canadian political spectrum. Although he would never say it in so many words, Harper is throwing overboard the religious right or any policy on ideological social Conservatism. That, he no doubt believes, is the sure way to a second majority four years from now, and also a way of heading off a Liberal revival.

In part of course, this is policy born of necessity. Increasingly the Conservative party is coming to be dominated less by the West and more by Ontario.

Most of his greatly enlarged Ontario caucus is made up of politicians who, in another era, would have been called progressive conservatives. You could almost feel the party moving to the center with their large presence at the convention.

It remains to be seen whether the western-based social Conservatives will become restless after years of having to put their agenda on the back burner in the interests of protecting their vulnerable minority government from charges of extremism.

It is also clear in these early days that Harper will proceed carefully in his relations with the opposition parties in Parliament.

Defending the mission in Libya

On CTV's Question Period this Sunday, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird went out of his way to assure viewers that the government is consulting closely with the NDP and the Liberals over the decision of whether to extend Canada's military mission in Libya. Because he knows this is a sensitive point with the other parties, Baird denies the objective of the NATO mission, which has shifted from a UN mandate restricted to protecting civilians, to an outright attempt to kill Col. Gadhafi.

He explains the fact that NATO warplanes, including the Canadian CF-18's, have recently launched a fierce bombardment of Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli, as an attempt to destroy the command and control systems only.

Of course these are very early days, but the overall impression is of a government intent on moderation, moving ahead cautiously on both domestic and foreign policy.

If as many economists believe we are heading into troubled and gloomy times in the global economy, it may also be what the country needs for now.