Our Campaigns - Candidate - Stephen Harper

"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."

Harper, Stephen

CANDIDATE DETAILS

Affiliation


<-	2015-10-01

Name

Stephen Harper

Address

Calgary, Alberta , Canada

None

Website

http://www.pm.gc.ca/

Facebook

pmharper

X (Twitter)

pmharper

Born

April 30, 1959 (65 years)

Contributor

Monsieur

Last Modifed

IndyGeorgia
Nov 02, 2017 10:12pm

Tags

English - Married - Protestant - Straight -

Info

Stephen Joseph Harper

Stephen Harper is the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Harper was born in Toronto. He attended schools in central Etobicoke. He graduated in 1978 as the top student of his year. Harper studied at the University of Toronto before travelling to Edmonton, where he found employment in the oil and gas industry as a computer programmer. He later attended the University of Calgary, receiving a Masters in economics.

Harper married Laureen Teskey in 1993. They have two children. He occasionally attends church at the East Gate Alliance Church in Ottawa, a member of the evangelical Christian and Missionary Alliance.

Harper became involved in politics as a member of his high school's Young Liberals Club. He changed his political allegiance because of the Trudeau Liberal government's National Energy Program. He became chief aide to PC MP Jim Hawkes in 1985, but became disillusioned with the party. He left the party in 1986.

He was then recommended to Preston Manning, the founder and leader of the Reform Party. Harper impressed Manning. He gave a speech at Reform's 1987 founding convention in Winnipeg. He became the Reform Party's Chief Policy Officer.

Harper ran for the House of Commons in the 1988 federal election in the district of Calgary West. He lost by a wide margin. The Reform Party did not win any seats in this election, although Deborah Grey was elected as the party's first MP in a by-election shortly thereafter. Harper became Grey's chief adviser.

Harper stood for office again in the 1993 federal election, and won amid a significant Reform breakthrough in Western Canada. Harper emerged a prominent member of the Reform caucus.

Harper was active on constitutional issues, and played a prominent role in drafting the Reform strategy for the 1995 Quebec referendum. Although not associated with Reform's radical wing, Harper expressed socially conservative views. In 1994, he opposed plans to introduce spousal benefits for same-sex couples. At the Reform Party's 1994 convention, Harper was part of a minority of delegates who voted against restricting the definition of marriage. He actually opposed same-sex marriage, but argued that political parties should refrain from taking positions on issues of conscience.

Harper's relationship with Reform leadership was frequently strained. In early 1994, he criticized a party decision to establish a personal expense account for Preston Manning. His relationship with Manning grew increasingly fractious. In late 1996, Harper announced that he would not be a candidate in the next election. He resigned his seat on January 14, 1997, the same day that he was appointed as a vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition (NCC), a conservative advocacy group. He was promoted to NCC president later that year.

Harper was out of parliament between 1997 and 2001, though he remained active in political circles. Encouraged by senior aides to Ontario Premier Mike Harris, Harper considered campaigning for the PC Party leadership in 1998.

When the United Alternative created the Canadian Alliance in 2000 as a successor party to Reform, Harper endorsed Tom Long for the leadership. Stockwell Day won on the second ballot, but lost the general election that followed. Day's leadership became increasingly troubled as many MPs began calling for his resignation. Harper resigned from the NCC presidency in August 2001 to prepare a campaign.

Day called a new Canadian Alliance leadership race for 2002. He announced that he would be a candidate to succeed himself. Harper emerged as Day's main rival. The tone of the contest quickly turned hostile. Harper described Day's governance of the party as "amateurish", while his campaign team argued that Day was attempting to win re-election by building a support base among groups in the religious right. Day accused Harper of "attacking ethnic and religious minorities". In early March, the two candidates had an incredibly fractious debate on CBC Newsworld. Harper won the leadership on the first ballot.

After winning the party leadership, Harper announced his intention to run in a by-election in Calgary Southwest. The Liberals did not field a candidate. Harper was elected without difficulty over New Democrat Bill Phipps, a former United Church moderator.

Harper became Leader of the Opposition in May 2002. Later that month, he said that the Atlantic provinces were trapped in "a culture of defeat", the result of policies designed by Liberal and PC governments. The Legislature of Nova Scotia unanimously approved a motion condemning Harper's comments.

His first 18 months as opposition leader were largely devoted towards consolidating fractured elements of his party and encouraging a union of the Alliance and the PCs. After reaching an agreement with PC leader Peter MacKay in October 2003, the Canadian Alliance and the PC Party of Canada officially merged in December, with the new party being named the "Conservative Party of Canada".

On January 12, 2004, Harper announced his resignation as Leader of the Opposition in order to run for the leadership of the Conservatives. Harper won the leadership election easily, with a first ballot majority on March 20, 2004.

Harper led the Conservatives during the 2004 election, where it was widely believed that due to scandals surrounding the Liberals under Paul Martin, the party had a chance of victory. However, comments by Conservative MPs as well as other factors caused Harper's party to lose momentum. The Liberals were re-elected with a minority government. Harper, after some deliberation, decided to stay on as party leader.

The Conservative Party's first policy convention was held in March 2005. A more moderate party stance was demonstrated. and Harper received an 84% endorsement from delegates.

Following the April 2005 release of Jean Brault's testimony at the Gomery Inquiry officially implicating the Liberals in a massive Quebec-based sponsorship scandal, polls placed the Conservatives ahead of Liberals. With the collapse in Liberal support, the party exerted pressure on Harper to bring down the government. In May, Harper announced that the government had lost the "moral authority to govern". The effort failed following the decision of Conservative MP Belinda Stronach to cross the floor to the Liberals. The vote on the budget tied and the Liberals stayed in power.

On November 24, 2005, Harper introduced a motion of no confidence on the government, telling the House of Commons "that this government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons and needs to be removed." The no confidence motion passed. Parliament dissolved and a general election was scheduled for January 23, 2006.

Harper dominated the media for the first weeks of the election because of a policy-per-day strategy, contrary to the Liberal plan of holding off major announcements until after Christmas. Harper's personal numbers, which had always trailed his party's significantly, began to rise. On December 27, 2005, the RCMP announced it was investigating allegations that Finance Minister Ralph Goodale's office had engaged in insider trading. The story dominated the news for the following week and prevented the Liberals from making announcements. The Conservatives were soon leading in the polls, including in Quebec. In response, the Liberals launched negative ads targeting Harper. Their tactics had little effect since the Conservatives had much more momentum.

Shortly after midnight on January 24, Martin conceded defeat to Harper. Later that day, he informed Governor General Michaëlle Jean that he would resign as Prime Minister. Jean asked Harper to form a government. He was sworn in as Canada's 22nd Prime Minister on February 6, 2006.

Harper indicated a desire to turn the Canadian Senate into an elected rather than an appointed body, an objective previously proposed by the former Reform Party. His desire includes fixed election dates with earlier elections possible in the case of minority governments.

At the outset of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Harper defended Israel's "right to defend itself" and described its military campaign in Lebanon as a "measured" response, arguing that Hezbollah's release of kidnapped IDF soldiers would be the key to ending the conflict. Some Canadians criticized Harper's description of the Israeli response as "measured". On July 17, 2006, Harper noted that the situation had deteriorated since his initial comments, but that it was difficult for Israel to fight "non-governmental forces" embedded in the civilian population.

Harper was forced to reopen the Quebec sovereignty debate after the opposition Bloc Quebecois were to introduce a motion in the House that called for recognition of Quebec as a "nation." On November 22, 2006, Harper introduced his own motion to recognize Quebec as a "nation within a united Canada." Harper's motion passed.

Time Magazine named Harper as Newsmaker of the Year in 2006. Stephen Handelman wrote "that the prime minister who was once dismissed as a doctrinaire backroom tactician with no experience in government has emerged as a warrior in power."

JOB APPROVAL POLLS