Stephen Harper

Stephen Joseph Harper is a Canadian politician. He served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015.

He is the only prime minister from the modern Conservative Party of Canada. He co-founded this party and led it from 2004 to 2015. His leadership shaped much of Canadian politics in the early 21st century. Today, he serves as the chairman of the International Democracy Union. This is an alliance of political parties from many different nations.

Harper grew up in the Leaside neighborhood of Toronto, Ontario. His family has roots in Sledmere, a village in Yorkshire, England. His 4th great-grandfather, Christopher, moved to Nova Scotia in 1774.

Harper attended several schools in Toronto before moving to Alberta. He worked in a mail room at Imperial Oil to gain independence. He eventually moved into computer systems work at the same company. He later studied economics at the University of Calgary. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1985 and a master's degree in 1991. He was the first Canadian prime minister to hold an economics degree. He was also the first prime minister without a law degree.

His political career began with the Reform Party of Canada. He helped found this party and served as its chief policy officer.

He played a major role in writing the party's 1988 election platform. This document is often called the "Blue Book." Harper also created the campaign slogan, "The West wants in!" He was first elected to the House of Commons in 1993. He represented the riding of Calgary West. During this time, he worked on constitutional issues and the Quebec referendum. He was a strong believer in decentralizing the Canadian government.

In 2002, Harper became the leader of the Canadian Alliance. This group was the successor to the Reform Party.

In 2003, he worked with Peter MacKay to merge two groups. They joined the Canadian Alliance with the Progressive Conservative Party. This merger created the modern Conservative Party of Canada. Harper was elected as the first leader of this new party in 2004. He led the party to a minority government in 2006. Later, in 2011, he led them to a full majority government.

As prime minister, Harper implemented many specific economic and social policies. He reduced the goods and services tax (GST) to 5 percent.

He passed the Federal Accountability Act and the Veterans' Bill of Rights. During the Great Recession, he introduced the Economic Action Plan. This plan included personal income tax cuts and infrastructure investments. He also introduced the tax-free savings account. One of his major financial achievements was reducing the budget deficit. He brought the deficit down from $55.6 billion in 2009 to $2.9 billion in 2015.

Harper's time in office included several political challenges and controversies. His government faced the "In and Out" scandal and the "Robocall" scandal.

He also dealt with the Canadian Senate expenses scandal. His administration faced the Idle No More movement. In foreign policy, Harper withdrew Canada from the Kyoto Protocol. He authorized military intervention during the First Libyan Civil War. He also launched Operation Impact against ISIL. After the Russian annexation of Crimea, he authorized Operation UNIFIER.

Harper met with many world leaders during his premiership. He met with U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He also met with leaders like Cristina Kirchner and Narendra Modi.

After leaving office in 2015, he founded a global consulting firm. He remains an active figure in international politics and media. He is noted as the longest-serving conservative prime minister since John A. Macdonald.