OTTAWA—This week’s resignation of Newfoundland premier Kathy Dunderdale may not have rattled the Canadian political world, but one of the underlying reasons for her demise should be studied by politicians across the country.

Among the factors responsible for the end of the reign of the first female to be elected premier on The Rock was her slow and soulless response to power blackouts earlier this month that left as many as 190,000 Newfoundlanders cold and angry.

Dunderdale refused to call it a crisis. Voters in the dark had another view. A high-profile caucus defector criticized the premier for being “nowhere to be found’’ during the crisis.

The Newfoundland experience is a reminder that now, like never before, political careers will be made or killed by the response of our leaders to extreme weather events.

Response to extreme weather has been tested in five provinces and the federal government over the last seven months and, while the politics of compassion and leadership during crisis has always defined political careers, it is more crucial now for the simple reason that we are seeing more extreme weather.

In many cases, whether it is lack of flood mitigation or inattention to climate change, these weather events are the fruits of a lack of political foresight. Now careers will be tested on response to these events and the performance of disaster response programs that are often starved of proper funding.

Any leader must know when to head to the scene but also when to stay away and let relief workers do their job. But they must be cool, project calm, be able to report progress and in many cases act as “consoler-in-chief.”

If not, voters will punish you or, in the case of Dunderdale, it will reinforce an image of weakness and aloofness.

During the past year in this country, we have seen a variety of responses.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi cemented his reputation across Canada with his steady response to the devastating floods that hit his city last June.

He is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week to speak about elected officials, natural disasters and “resilience” in the face of crisis.

Stephen Harper, who represents a Calgary riding, flew in from Ottawa to tour the city, lamenting the scope of the damage, (which totaled more than $5 billion), but urging Calgarians to stay optimistic. He pledged money to help and postponed his party’s national convention. His cabinet ministers and MPs were pictured pitching in to help clean up.

In the two major extreme weather events to hit Toronto last year, Harper was much more circumspect, sending his thoughts to Toronto via Twitter in both cases.

On July 9, the morning after flash flooding, Harper, who at the time was rightly consumed with the Lac-Mégantic rail tragedy, tweeted, “thoughts are with the people of Toronto this morning as they recover from the effects of #TOflood.’’

On Dec. 23, as the lights were going out to some 300,000 Torontonians, Harper was touring a senior citizens residence with Calgary Centre Conservative MP Joan Crockatt, tweeting: “Thoughts are with those without power due to the ice storm — please stay safe.’’

In neither case would Harper’s presence have made any difference, but his response to Toronto will be measured in dollars. Toronto is seeking funding from Queen’s Park and Ottawa for a storm which caused $106 million damage.

Trinity—Spadina New Democrat MP Olivia Chow said Calgary received federal aid within four months of the flooding, and urged Harper to show the same speed and compassion in responding to the needs of the country’s largest city.

To understand how natural disasters buffet political careers, look south.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s bilateral response to Hurricane Sandy with Barack Obama won him national praise and some enmity from Republicans who didn’t like him cozying up to the enemy. Now among Christie’s myriad problems are allegations he threatened to withhold Sandy aid money unless the mayor of Hoboken backed a real estate project.

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Republicans are forever searching for Obama’s “Katrina moment,” shorthand for the inept Republican response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, notably President George W. Bush’s fly-over of New Orleans as more than 1,800 perished.

We sadly live in an era of extreme weather and potential natural disaster. It is a sure bet more political careers will be tested by this reality in 2014. It has already helped hasten one political fatality.

Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca Twitter:@nutgraf1

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