Who is Stephen Harper?
Born in 1959 in Toronto, in the Leaside neighbourhood, Stephen Harper later moved to Alberta and earned his economics degrees at Calgary. He helped found the Reform Party, won a seat in Parliament in 1993 and held it until 1997. He then ran the National Citizens Coalition, an advocacy group. As Canadian Alliance leader from 2002, he arranged the 2003 merger with the Progressive Conservatives. He became leader of the merged party in 2004. He held the prime minister's office for nine years, from 2006 to 2015, and quit Parliament in 2016. Today he chairs the International Democracy Union, a group of centre-right parties, and has chaired the Alberta Investment Management Corporation since 2024. He holds no elected office.
Political views
- His government lowered the GST from 7 per cent to 5 and trimmed corporate taxes.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- In 2006 he moved a motion in the House calling the Québécois a nation inside a united Canada, while ruling out independence for Quebec.Source: cbc.ca
- In 2008, as prime minister, he apologized for the government. The residential school system had taken over 150,000 Indigenous children away from their homes.Source: rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca
- In 2012 his government abolished the long-gun registry. He accepted that it had encouraged the RCMP to destroy the registry's records.Source: cbc.ca
- Canada pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2011 while he was in office.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- His government signed many free trade agreements and began the Global Markets Action Plan, aimed at lifting exports.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- In his 2014 speech to the Knesset, he promised that Canada would be with Israel through fire and water.Source: cbc.ca
Legacy
Admirers say Harper united Canada's right and steered the country through the 2008 recession, after which The Economist judged it stronger than any other G7 economy. They also point to lower taxes, more trade, and strong positions against Russia's aggression and in support of Israel. Critics say he gathered too much power in his own office and weakened Parliament. They point out that he prorogued it in both 2008 and 2009 and that in 2011 his government was the first held in contempt of Parliament. Scientists opposed research cuts, statisticians the scrapping of the compulsory long-form census, and environmentalists the exit from Kyoto. His government was also hit by the robocall and Senate expenses scandals.
In their own words
“And therefore, through fire and water, Canada will stand with you.”