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Stephen Joseph Harper, PC, MP, MA (born April 30, 1959) is leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and, since January 24, 2006, the Prime Minister-designate of Canada. He will be sworn in as Canada's 22nd Prime Minister on February 6, at which time he will take the style "The Right Honourable." Harper has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Calgary Southwest in Alberta since 2002, having previously served as the MP for Calgary West from 1993 to 1997.

As one of the founding members of the Reform Party, he ended his first stint as an MP to head the National Citizens Coalition. After the ousting of leader Stockwell Day in 2002, Harper became leader of the Canadian Alliance and returned to Parliament. In 2003, he successfully reached an agreement with Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay to merge the Canadian Alliance with the Progressive Conservatives to form the Conservative Party of Canada. He was elected as the new party's first leader in March 2004. He led the Conservatives to a minority government in the January 2006 federal election. .

Conservative Party of Canada leadership

On January 12, 2004, Harper announced his resignation as Leader of the Opposition, in order to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. Harper won the Conservative leadership election easily, with a first ballot majority against Belinda Stronach and Tony Clement on March 20, 2004. Harper's victory included sweeping many Ontario ridings, strong showings in many Quebec ridings, and surprising results in Atlantic Canada where he won many ridings with a strong grassroots organization.

2004 federal election

Harper led the Conservatives during the 2004 federal election, where it was widely believed he had a chance to defeat Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin. After an immensely damaging release by the Auditor General regarding the government's lack of oversight of the Sponsorship Program of the 1990s and what some observers considered voter anger in Ontario against Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty for breaking a promise not to raise taxes, polls showed the Conservatives in a dead heat with the Liberals.

Late in the campaign, the Conservatives began to attract negative attention for controversial remarks made by MPs and candidates regarding homosexuality, official bilingualism and abortion. Additionally, the Liberal Party began airing controversial TV attack ads suggesting that the Conservatives would make Canada more like the United States in negative ways. Harper was also criticized for his position supporting the American-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. The term "hidden agenda", used commonly in the 2000 election to refer to Stockwell Day, began surfacing with increasing regularity with regard to Harper's history of supporting privatized health care. Harper in turn claimed that the Liberals were running an "American-style campaign" of scare tactics and were trying to "wrap scandal in the Canadian flag". The momentum began to swing against his party, although some polls suggested it was neck and neck right up until election day.

The Conservative Party was successful in gaining seats in Ontario, where the Reform Party and Canadian Alliance had never been able to make significant gains, but Martin was re-elected with a minority government and 135 seats. The Conservatives finished in second-place with 99 seats. While the Conservatives had improved on the 72 seats they held entering the election, the party took 29.6% of the popular vote, down from the 37.7% combined total of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservatives in 2000. Harper maintained support from most party members because he was credited with bringing the Progressive Conservative Party and Canadian Alliance together to fight a close election in a short time. Furthermore, the election of a new leader during a minority parliament was not seen as strategically feasible.

Harper as Conservative leader and Leader of the Opposition

Harper has been called a "policy wonk" by his friends and an "ideologue" by his detractors. Observers have suggested that he has recently sought to refine his image to appear more moderate and to appeal to a wider range of the electorate. Although the public image of Mr. Harper is overwhelmingly that of a stiff and unemotional man, many of his colleagues surprisingly report that he has a charming sense of humour and even a well liked candour. He has previously shown a talent for performing impressions of other politicians, such as: Preston Manning, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien, John McCallum, and even California Governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Conservative Party's first policy convention was held from March 17-19, 2005, in Montreal. A more moderate party stance was demonstrated, in accordance with what many viewed as Harper's goal. Any opposition to abortion or bilingualism was dropped from the Conservative platform, though the party was still opposed to same-sex marriage. Harper received an 84% endorsement from delegates in the leadership review.

Under Harper, the Conservative party has sought to make the sponsorship scandal, ethics and Liberal corruption as the central issues in Canadian politics.

The party's fight against same-sex marriage has been controversial. Polls have shown that most Canadians either support or don't care about the issue, but the Conservative base is fairly supportive of the traditional definition of marriage with three out of four delegates wishing to maintain it. Harper has been criticized by a group of law professors for arguing that the government could not over-ride the provincial court rulings without using the "notwithstanding clause", a provision of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In contrast, Harper and constitutional lawyer/Conservative Justice Critic Vic Toews suggest that this clause does not have to be used to enshrine the traditional definition of marriage. Harper's position to provide same-sex couples with the same rights as married couples via civil unions was recently endorsed as constitutional by the law firm Lang Michener. The Supreme Court of Canada specifically declined to pronounce itself on whether reinstating the traditional definition of marriage would be unconstitutional. (Source: Reference re Same-sex marriage, 3 S.C.R. 698 )

Following the April 2005 release of Jean Brault's damaging testimony at the Gomery Inquiry, implicating the Liberals in extensive corruption, many opinion polls placed the Conservatives considerably ahead of Liberals. The Conservatives had earlier abstained from the vote on the 2005 budget, as it was clear Canadians were not interested in an election. With the collapse in Liberal support and the controversial NDP amendment to the budget, the party exerted significant pressure on Harper to bring down the government.

In May, Harper announced that the government had lost the "moral authority to govern", and vowed to "put government out of its misery". The Bloc Québécois agreed to follow suit, while the NDP supported the government due to the amended budget. This effort to bring down the government failed following the decision of prominent and popular Conservative MP Belinda Stronach to cross the floor to the Liberal Party. This move was controversial, and was viewed as opportunistic by conservative observers. Liberals labelled the Conservatives as "in bed with the separatists", and thus unpatriotic, while the Conservatives accused the Liberal Party of criminal activity in offering a member of Parliament a cabinet position in exchange for crossing the floor. The May 19 second reading budget vote passed with Conservative support. However, the NDP amendment to the budget tied rather than failing to pass by one vote (because of Stronach's defection and the support of the independent members). With the Speaker of the House voting to continue debate (following parliamentary precedent), the Liberal Party continued to remain in power.

Harper was also criticized for supporting his caucus colleague MP Gurmant Grewal. Grewal had produced tapes of conversations with Tim Murphy, Paul Martin's chief of staff, in which Grewal claimed he had been offered a cabinet position in exchange for his defection. Some experts analyzed the tapes and concluded that a digital copy of the tapes had been edited.

In early June 2005, the Conservative Party announced that Harper was embarking on a summer tour, consisting of barbecues, photo ops, and similar events, with the aim of allowing Canadians to get to know the Conservative leader personally. In early July, five members of Harper's communications team resigned. Harper's critics suggested that this was an indication of unrest in the Conservative Party, while the Conservatives maintained this was simply a change of guard and pointed towards similar Liberal communications staff shake-ups in 2004.

On Thursday, November 24, Harper introduced a motion of no confidence on the Liberal government. The vote on the motion took place on Monday, November 28. As the Liberals had lost New Democratic Party support by refusing to accept an NDP plan to prevent health care privatization, the no confidence motion was passed by a vote of 171-133. As a result, Parliament was dissolved and a general election was scheduled for January 23, 2006.

2006 federal election

Harper started off the first month of the campaign by making a policy-per-day announcement. This came as a surprise to most media, because they believed he would focus on the sponsorship scandal. The Liberals were opting to hold any major announcements until after the Christmas holidays; as a result, Harper dominated media coverage for the first weeks of the campaign. Though his party showed only modest movement in the polls, Harper's personal numbers, which had always trailed his party's significantly, began to rise relatively rapidly.

On December 27, 2005, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced it was investigating Liberal Finance Minister Ralph Goodale's office for potentially engaging in insider trading before making an important announcement on the taxation of income trusts. This revelation and the refusal of Goodale to step aside during the investigation dominated news coverage for the following week and this allowed Harper to refocus on his previous attacks about alleged corruption within the Liberal party. Harper's Conservative Party soon found itself leading in the polls.

In the 2004 election, when the Conservatives had briefly led the Liberals, many Canadians did not trust Harper, which the Liberals responded to by running negative ads suggesting that Harper had a hidden agenda. In response to the Conservative lead the Liberals launched a similar campaign in 2006; however, Harper's numbers had risen considerably and polls found he was now considered more trustworthy than Martin.

One ad insinuated that Harper would place armed Canadian soldiers on the streets of major cities and that this would be a dangerous thing. This was in response to a Conservative pledge to put troops on the ready for civil aid in the case of a natural disaster. While the ad was posted on the Liberals website, it was never aired in English. A French language version however, did air in Quebec for weeks later. This ad, and the negative reaction to it by military watches, Conservatives, and some prominent Liberals, became the news story for several days and the sting was taken out of the other ads.

On January 23, the Conservatives won 124 seats to 103 for the Liberals. Martin conceded defeat at midnight on January 24, resigning as prime minister later that morning at 9:45 am. At 6:45 pm, Governor General Michaëlle Jean asked Harper to form a government. He will be sworn in as Canada's 22nd Prime Minister on February 6 2006.

Harper will be the first prime minister from outside of Quebec (or at least, the first not to represent a Quebec riding) elected to office since Joe Clark in 1979. (Kim Campbell was the last prime minister from outside Quebec, but was appointed to serve out the remainder of Mulroney's second mandate in 1993.) Harper will be the latest western-based Prime Minister, succeeding fellow Conservatives Kim Campbell of British Columbia; John Diefenbaker of Saskatchewan; Clark, and R.B. Bennett of Alberta and Liberal John Turner of British Columbia.

References

• William Johnson, Stephen Harper And The Future Of Canada, McClelland & Stewart, 420 pp. (June 2005) ISBN 0-7710-4350-3
• Lloyd Mackey, The Pilgrimage of Stephen Harper, ECW Press, 221 pp. (August 2005) ISBN 1-5502-2713-0

Template:Conservative Leaders

External links

• Stephen Harper Biography on Conservative Party site
• Maclean's - Meet the Real Stephen Harper
• CBC - The Conservative Leader
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.Canada Votes 2004: Stephen Harper.
• Political Biography from the Library of Parliament
• How'd They Vote?
• Stephen Harper Editorial Cartoon Gallery

• 1959 births
• Conservative Party of Canada MPs
• Members of the Canadian House of Commons from Alberta
• Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
• Leaders of the Conservative Party of Canada
• Living people
• Reform Party of Canada MPs
• Calgarians