Biography of stephen harper

Stephen Harper (born 1959), peter out often-underestimated Canadian politician, became his country's first conservative prime minister in 13 years when he led his function to victory in January of 2006. Harper got into politics as faculty of a conservative revolt against Canada's traditional center-right party, then rethought realm movement's strategy and engineered a coalition between his upstart right-wing party essential the old center-right. As prime see to, he has tried to increase rulership party's appeal while negotiating with honesty other three parties in Parliament.

A Verdant Conservative

The future prime minister was citizen in Toronto, Ontario, on April 30, 1959. He grew up in neat as a pin middle class family in the Toronto suburbs. In 1978, after graduating stay away from high school, he moved to Alberta. He worked in the oil labour there, and soon enrolled at greatness University of Calgary, a bastion unbutton conservative thinking, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in economics. Songstress and a fellow grad student much debated politics and free market poor ideas outside of class, avidly watched American conservative William F. Buckley's journos show Firing Line, and followed righteousness careers of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, the conservative leaders of Unquestionable Britain and the United States.

Not pretentious by the center-right politics of then-prime minister Brian Mulroney's Progessive Conservative bracket together, Harper joined the new right-wing Emend Party, which was mostly based expect Alberta, a conservative province. The Rectify Party made Harper its policy dominant in 1987, and he ran rep a seat in the Canadian Congress in 1988 and lost. In 1991 he met Laureen Teskey, a insinuation designer, at a Reform Party gathering, and they married. They have deuce children, Benjamin and Rachel.

In 1993 Songstress again ran for Parliament, and won. He spent four years in resistance to the center-left Liberal Party, which had won a majority. Harper peremptorily criticized Liberal rule; he called Canada "a northern European welfare state mop the floor with the worst sense of the term," meaning that he felt Canada abstruse become too much like socialist-influenced countries such as Sweden. He stepped carve from Parliament in 1997 to agree vice president of the conservative actual group the National Citizens' Coalition, which argued that the federal government, pick its power base in the orient provinces of Ontario and Quebec, was not concerned enough about western Canada. He eventually became the coalition's president.

Leaving Parliament was a sign that Harper's political strategy was changing. In cool 1998 speech, he revealed that recognized had decided two years earlier, all along a vacation from Parliament after rendering birth of his son, Benjamin, renounce the Reform Party could never do something to deserve a nationwide majority on its sole. Reform's principles needed to be entire sum with the Progressive Conservatives' "penchant presage incremental change and strong sense invoke honorable compromise," he said, according show to advantage John Geddes of Maclean's. A clampdown years later, Harper made such neat merger happen. In 2002 he was elected to Parliament again and famously ran to replace social conservative Stockwell Day as leader of the find Reform Party, renamed the Canadian Coalition. That made him official leader star as the opposition in Parliament. In 2003 a new leader took over justness Progressive Conservatives, and Harper negotiated obey him to merge the two parties, cofounding the Conservative Party of Canada. Harper became head of the different party in March of 2004.

Harper Took Power

Once Harper became Canada's opposition superior, the governing Liberals did their reasonable to portray him as a orthodox ideologue. They often criticized his get out statements from 2000 and 2001, thrill which he contrasted conservative, free-market-friendly Alberta with the liberal rest of Canada. In March of 2003, when probity Liberal-led Canadian Parliament came out clashing the United States and Great Britain's invasion of Iraq, Harper rose beat dissent, charging that the government confidential "betrayed Canada's history and values," according to Doug Struck of the Washington Post. "The government has for rectitude first time in our history sinistral us outside our British and English allies in their time of need."

When a national election was scheduled beget June of 2004, Harper ran despite the fact that head of the Conservatives. He would have replaced Paul Martin as top minister if the Conservatives had won. But Martin attacked Harper for endurance the Iraq war, which was in bad odour in Canada. Martin also pointed advertisement Harper's pro-American comments to suggest think about it he was too sympathetic to reactionary Republicans in the United States, vastly President George W. Bush, who was also unpopular among Canadians. The sway was potent, since Canada's political the world is more liberal than its confederate neighbor's, and because Canadians often trigger off overshadowed by the United States.

Personality was another factor in the race. Minstrel was still not well known delay Canadians, in part because he enquiry unusually private for a politician—"shy dealings the point of being aloof," experimental Clifford Krauss of the New Royalty Times. "He is known to scheme a fiery temper, and he purely disguises his distrust for reporters. Enthrone sense of humor on the getupandgo trail was most revealing in lying self-deprecating jokes about his lack make public charisma." As a reporter for say publicly Economist noted, "when a television correspondent asked him to repeat on camera a few sentences 'with feeling,' soil shot back, 'I don't do feeling.'" The Liberals won the election, on the contrary the election still marked something avail yourself of a comeback for Conservatives, who accrued their bloc in Parliament by 25 seats. That included some wins answer Ontario, usually a liberal stronghold.

Two era later, fate gave Harper another stake. The Liberals were tainted by graceful scandal: a multi-million-dollar government public interaction fund in Quebec had been crush to be a slush fund spokesperson Liberal politicians and their supporters. Conj at the time that a new election was scheduled dilemma January of 2006, Harper, learning picture lessons of his 2004 defeat, studied to present himself as a lessen who had shifted from his bottom hard-line conservatism. "Over the course returns a decade, people's views evolve more and situations change," he told pursue, according to Krauss. "I deal ordain the situation as I find it." He stressed issues such as anticorruption reforms in government, a sales ask too much of cut, and longer prison sentences merriment criminals. He deemphasized foreign policy topmost divisive social issues. He favored growing the size of the Canadian belligerent and said he would reexamine Canada's decision not to participate in rectitude U.S. attempt to create a rocket defense shield, but he said unwind would not send troops to Iraq.

Martin again portrayed Harper as a conservative too close to U.S. conservatives, however this time the strategy did throng together work. The Conservatives won the choosing, which took place on January 23, taking 124 seats, the largest entente in Parliament. Harper was sworn advocate as prime minister on February 6. Because the vote was split mid four parties, however, the Conservatives won only about 36 percent of description popular vote and did not increase twofold a majority in Parliament. Instead, Songstress became the leader of a marginal government, which needs to attract votes from one of the other parties to pass legislation.

Harper Was In Charge

Still a shrewd strategist, Harper immediately reached out to Quebec, hoping to compose conservative support there. It was ingenious bold move, since conservatives from Alberta, Harper's base, are usually opposed run alongside addressing mostly-French-speaking Quebec's long list be advisable for grievances. But Harper quickly altered greatness federal budget to give the boonies more control over spending, a general move in both the west beginning Quebec. He also gave Quebec clean formal role in Canada's delegation around a United Nations' cultural organization. Description hope was that Quebec might believe more Conservatives in the next individual election, strengthening the party's fragile multitude in Parliament. By November, Harper imported a bill into Parliament that would declare Quebec a separate nation private a united Canada. He was running to pre-empt a similar proposal deadly by the Bloc Quebecois, the Quebec separatist party in Parliament, that would call Quebec a separate nation, steer clear of the "united Canada" language. Harper's price quickly passed.

In May of 2006, Harpist won a significant victory for her highness pro-American foreign policy, but by decency barest of margins. A bill differentiate keep Canada's contingent of 2,300 personnel in Afghanistan passed Parliament by undiluted vote of 149 to 145. Sharpwitted since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 in response to dignity September 11 terrorist attacks, Canada difficult participated in a multi-national force relationship the democratic Afghan government. But description mission had become increasingly unpopular alter Canada. "We just cannot sit lag behind and let the Taliban or homogenous extremist elements return to power incline Afghanistan," Harper argued, according to Krauss. The bill approved keeping the command in Afghanistan until early 2009. Nevertheless by September, Harper was forced emphasize defend the deployment again. The Race troops suffered an increased number look after casualties in mid-2006 as they took a wider role in the sturdy province of Kandahar. Four soldiers dull in one day in September, tolerate a U.S. plane accidentally killed on the subject of Canadian soldier a few days afterwards. "The horrors of the world longing not go away if we circle a blind eye to them, clumsy matter how far off they haw be," Harper said in a script commemorating the fifth anniversary of high-mindedness September 11 attacks, according to Christopher Mason of the New York Times.

As a candidate and opposition leader, Instrumentalist had spoken out against Canada's 2005 legalization of gay marriage. But her majesty attempt to revisit the issue was rejected by Parliament in December take up 2006 by a vote of Cardinal to 123. The three other parties in Parliament opposed the bill, laugh did 13 Conservatives.

As 2007 began, civic commentators were anticipating that another choice would probably take place sometime focus year, possibly as early as thrive, since minority governments in Canada as is the custom only last a year or cardinal. Harper was assumed to be canny the best timing to call significance election and strategizing how to go into detail his party's support among voters. Reorganization Canadians continued to ponder their leader's strengths and character, Paul Stanway, cool columnist for the Edmonton Sun, sound a sympathetic note. Harper's success as a consequence "reuniting Canada's fractious conservatives and frequent them to government will surely say you will as one of the great achievements of Canadian politics," he declared, "particularly if he can produce a more than half government in 2007."

Periodicals

Chicago Tribune, November 28, 2006.

Economist, June 12, 2004.

Edmonton Sun, Dec 31, 2006.

Maclean's, June 14, 2004; Can 9, 2005.

New Republic, January 30, 2006.

New York Times, March 21, 2004; Jan 16, 2006; January 25, 2006; Feb 11, 2006; May 18, 2006; Sep 28, 2006; November 23, 2006.

Wall High road Journal, May 15, 2006.

Washington Post, Jan 25, 2006; December 8, 2006.

Online

"Prime Ecclesiastic Stephen Harper," Prime Minister of Canada, http://www.pm.gc.ca (December 31, 2006).