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For those seeking to dethrone Harper, the more fertile territory is to be found in the way forward. Who will produce a real plan for growth? And who will communicate that plan with a focus on the wellbeing of workaday regular folks, not just macroeconomic forces?

Here, Harper has proven himself to be entirely beatable. In 2008, he was so lacking in agility that even as the campaign unfolded in the midst of financial meltdown, he insisted that he could, and that he should, make fiscal balance his highest priority. Then, like today, his government pretended the recession was not real and relented only when hard realities had already put deep dents in our economy. This history reminds us that Harper’s instinct to cling to the ways of Herbert Hoover is deeply rooted.

For Mulcair and Trudeau, an important window is opening. In the competition to stand for change, presenting a plan to get Canada out of recession has just become voters’ new litmus test. We now know the debate that will define this election. It’s going to be about pulling our economy out of neutral. About putting Canada back in economic gear. About stimulating jobs and growth — even if that means a brief detour away from budget balance. Even if that depends upon a detour away from budget balance.

The leader who gets there first and who gets there best – who is able to speak for Canadians worried about their financial future, able to offer an alternative to Harper’s narrow fiscal focus, able to bring Canadians the most recognizable blueprint for growth. Able to set a goal greater than a balanced budget. That’s the leader who will be seen by voters as representing change. That’s the leader who will win.

Scott Reid is a principal at Feschuk.Reid and a CTV News political analyst. He was director of communications for former prime minister Paul Martin. Follow him on Twitter.com/_scottreid.