Stephen Harper

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper PC CC AOE
Harper in 2010
4th Chairman of the International Democracy Union[a]
Incumbent
Assumed office February 21, 2018
Deputy	Brian Loughnane
Preceded by	John Key
22nd Prime Minister of Canada
In office February 6, 2006 – November 4, 2015
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governors General	Michaëlle Jean David Johnston
Preceded by	Paul Martin
Succeeded by	Justin Trudeau
Additional offices held Leader of the Opposition In office March 20, 2004 – February 6, 2006 Prime Minister Paul Martin Preceded by Grant Hill Succeeded by Bill Graham In office May 21, 2002 – January 8, 2004 Prime Minister Jean Chrétien Paul Martin Preceded by John Reynolds Succeeded by Grant Hill Leader of the Conservative Party In office March 20, 2004 – November 4, 2015[nb] Deputy Peter MacKay Preceded by John Lynch-Staunton (interim) Succeeded by Rona Ambrose (interim) Leader of the Canadian Alliance In office March 20, 2002 – December 7, 2003 Preceded by John Reynolds (interim) Succeeded by Position abolished Member of Parliament for Calgary Heritage Calgary Southwest (2002–2015) In office May 13, 2002 – August 26, 2016 Preceded by Preston Manning Succeeded by Bob Benzen Member of Parliament for Calgary West In office October 25, 1993 – April 26, 1997 Preceded by Jim Hawkes Succeeded by Rob Anders
Personal details
Born	Stephen Joseph Harper (1959-04-30) April 30, 1959 (age 65) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Conservative (since 2003)
Other political affiliations	Liberal (until 1981) Progressive Conservative (1981–1986) Reform (1987–2000) Alliance (2000–2003)
Spouse	Laureen Teskey ​ (m. 1993)​
Children	2
Residence(s)	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Alma mater	University of Toronto (no degree) University of Calgary (BA, 1985; MA, 1991)
Signature
Website	stephenharper.com
Stephen Harper's voice Recorded January 26, 2012
nb ^ Acting: October 19 – November 4, 2015

Stephen Joseph Harper PC CC AOE (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He was the first, and to date, only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, serving as the party's first leader from 2004 to 2015.

Harper studied economics, earning a bachelor's degree in 1985 and a master's degree in 1991 at the University of Calgary. He was one of the founders of the Reform Party of Canada and was first elected in 1993 in Calgary West. He did not seek re-election in the 1997 federal election, instead joining and later leading the National Citizens Coalition, a conservative lobbyist group. In 2002, he succeeded Stockwell Day as leader of the Canadian Alliance, the successor to the Reform Party, and returned to parliament as leader of the Official Opposition. In 2003, Harper negotiated the merger of the Canadian Alliance with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to form the Conservative Party of Canada and was elected as the party's first leader in March 2004. In the 2004 federal election, the new party lost its first election to the Liberal Party led by Paul Martin.

The 2006 federal election resulted in a minority government led by the Conservative Party with Harper becoming prime minister of Canada. During his first term, Harper confronted the In and Out scandal, reduced the goods and services tax to five percent, and passed the Federal Accountability Act, the Québécois nation motion, and the Veterans' Bill of Rights. After the 2008 federal election, in which the Conservatives won a larger minority, Harper prorogued Parliament to defeat a non-confidence motion by a potential coalition of opposition parties, passed the Economic Action Plan of major personal income tax cuts and infrastructure investments in response to the Great Recession, introduced the tax-free savings account, and ordered military intervention during the First Libyan Civil War. In March 2011, a no-confidence vote found his government to be in contempt of Parliament, triggering a federal election in which the Conservatives won a majority government. During his third term, Harper withdrew Canada from the Kyoto Protocol, launched Operation Impact in opposition to ISIL, privatized the Canadian Wheat Board, repealed the long-gun registry, passed the Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, launched Canada's Global Markets Action Plan, and grappled with controversies surrounding the Canadian Senate expenses scandal and the Robocall scandal.

In the 2015 federal election, the Conservative Party lost power to the Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau. Harper officially stepped down as party leader on October 19, 2015, and resigned his seat on August 26, 2016. Since then, Harper has taken on a number of international business and leadership roles, founding a global consulting firm, appearing in US and British media, and being elected leader of the International Democracy Union.

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