As popular protests cause governments to change across the Middle East, the Harper government is expressing concern about what might come next, and whether it will lead to democratic reform or extremism.
The Conservative government said it backs democratic reforms in Egypt - and will watch and see whether Egyptians feel President Hosni Mubarak has done enough by pledging not to run for re-election.
But it quickly inserted a note of caution: not just stressing the need for "orderly" transition but stating that it will judge any government based on its impact on Middle East security and its attitude toward Israel.
"We are saying that it's important to be able to maintain stability, peace, to be able to recognize Israel. Those are the parameters through which we feel the next government must stand up," Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said in an interview with CBC.
The question of whether the winds of democratic change will blow into an extremist movement is high on the minds of Western governments. The Iranian protests that brought down the former shah in 1979 led to the creation of the first powerful theocracy in the region.
Some worry that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, allying itself with secular protest movements, would lead Egypt in that direction. A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Dimitri Soudas, expressed concern that "extremists" might take advantage of the protest movement.
"Canada does not want to see extremist elements infiltrating the process for democratic reform in Egypt," he said.
Mr. Cannon said the protest movements are clearly having an impact in countries across the Middle East, from Tunisia to Egypt to Jordan, but added that he's not a soothsayer, and doesn't know what's going to come next. 'I think we're on the cusp of important change in the Middle East," he said.
Campbell Clark