Has Harper gone soft on terrorists?

Perhaps I'm overreacting, but a sentence in a Globe article this morning almost had me spilling my coffee. The sentence reads "Mr. Harper, who has refused to budge from last week's comment that Israel's actions have been 'measured,' encouraged Hezbollah to come to the negotiating table." [italics added]

Harper is encouraging Hezbollah to come to the negotiating table? But Canada has declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization! So our prime minister now wants to sit down and talk with terrorists? Either the Globe has erred or Mr. Harper has made a subtle but highly significant change of policy.

Recognizing Hamas and Hezbollah as legitimate players in the Middle East is only sensible, of course. They probably have more respect among Arabs than most Arab governments. It's just that I never thought the Conservatives would recognize this reality.