Before I knew what was going on I was standing on the tarmac at the foot of the airplane stairway.

What?  Are we the only ones?  What do we do?

Then it happened…

I looked up to see the Prime Minister of Canada and his wife waving to the media and descending the stairs toward me and my son.

“Welcome to the Okanagan Mr. Prime Minister.” I think I said.

And I really mean “I think”.  It’s all a bit of a blur now.  It was a bit of blur then as well.

My son David and I had volunteered to help out with picking up some rental vehicles for Prime Minister Harper’s team during his visit to the Okanagan.  We picked up the vehicles and shuttled them to the airport where we were to rendezvous with a member of the PM’s advance team who would give us instructions.

When we arrived at the airport the place was crawling with the RCMP, dog sniffer teams, and Emergency Response Team members.  All manner of security befitting a head of state was out in all its glory.  It was thrilling to be on the inside of this extravaganza.

The PM’s advance team representative greeted us and thanked us for helping out.  We asked if we could wait to see the PM’s plane land and watch the motorcade drive off.  No problem with that, so we hung out.

Word came that the plane was descending, so we were invited to join the media in the bus on the tarmac waiting for the plane to land.

When the plane came to a stop the sector secured for the PM’s entourage burst into action.  Security vehicles of all varieties raced into position.  Dozens of media and Conservative team members flowed out of the plane onto the tarmac into their waiting vehicles, and we were invited to scurry over with the media to get a close look at the proceedings.

As we were scurrying the PM’s rep asked us if we had ever met the PM.  No we had not.  And the next thing we knew we were directed to the foot of the stairs and I was shaking Prime Minister Harper’s hand welcoming him to the Okanagan.

He was then whisked off into his waiting motorcade of a small army of vehicles.

What just happened?  This wasn’t how I envisioned I would meet the PM…

As I reflected on this surreal event some thoughts came to my mind:

The Prime Minister is the highest office of government in our country.  The office of Prime Minister represents close to 150 years of good, stable, democratic governance in Canada.  We’re the envy of many nations.  In light of this, the position of Prime Minister needs to be highly respected and regarded.

Being that we Canadians tend to be egalitarian, a belief in the equality of all people, we can sometimes lose sight of the respect needing to be afforded a position of authority if we disagree with the person in that position.  It is prudent to learn to distinguish the person from the position.  No matter which person is in power, we must maintain respect for the position.   This is easy to do when we respect the person in power.

This particular federal election in Canada seems to have polarized many people.  Anti-Harper sentiment is often communicated.  The National Post has actually labelled this as Harper Derangement Syndrome (HDS) due to its often irrational nature.

I, for one, hold respect for the person and the position of Mr. Harper as Prime Minister.  Canada has recently been ranked as being the Most Reputable and Admired Country in the World by the US-based Reputation Institute.  Forbes Magazine ranked Canada as the Best Country in the G20 for Doing Business.  And, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked Canada as having the Best G7 Job Growth since 2008, the Best GDP Growth among G7 since 2009, and the best Government net Debt/GDP ratio in the G7.

Those leadership results are worthy of respect.

Regardless, though, of our respect for the ‘person’ of authority, we must maintain our respect for the ‘position’ of authority – in politics and in business.