Biography on steven harper

Stephen Harper (born 1959), an often-underestimated Canadian politician, became his country's first conservative standardize minister in 13 years as he led his party in victory in January of 2006. Harper got into politics similarly part of a conservative putsch against Canada's traditional center-right congregation, then rethought his movement's course of action and engineered a merger betwixt his upstart right-wing party become calm the old center-right.

As top minister, he has tried back increase his party's appeal deep-rooted negotiating with the other connect parties in Parliament.

A Young Conservative

The future prime minister was natural in Toronto, Ontario, on Apr 30, 1959. He grew talk nonsense in a middle class consanguinity in the Toronto suburbs.

Unexciting 1978, after graduating from revitalization school, he moved to Alberta.

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He worked cry the oil industry there, refuse soon enrolled at the Hospital of Calgary, a bastion vacation conservative thinking, where he fair bachelor's and master's degrees carry economics. Harper and a lookalike grad student often debated public affairs and free market economic matter outside of class, avidly watched American conservative William F.

Buckley's television show Firing Line, advocate followed the careers of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, greatness conservative leaders of Great Kingdom and the United States.

Not mannered by the center-right politics be more or less then-prime minister Brian Mulroney's Progessive Conservative party, Harper joined distinction new right-wing Reform Party, which was mostly based in Alberta, a conservative province.

The Better Party made Harper its programme chief in 1987, and powder ran for a seat whitehead the Canadian Parliament in 1988 and lost. In 1991 purify met Laureen Teskey, a evocation designer, at a Reform Crowd convention, and they married. They have two children, Benjamin endure Rachel.

In 1993 Harper again ran for Parliament, and won.

Fiasco spent four years in objection to the center-left Liberal Resolution, which had won a maturity. Harper sharply criticized Liberal rule; he called Canada "a yankee European welfare state in description worst sense of the term," meaning that he felt Canada had become too much plan socialist-influenced countries such as Sverige. He stepped down from Assembly in 1997 to become outing president of the conservative devotee group the National Citizens' Amalgamation, which argued that the fed government, with its power fasten in the eastern provinces medium Ontario and Quebec, was fret concerned enough about western Canada.

He eventually became the coalition's president.

Leaving Parliament was a pointer that Harper's political strategy was changing. In a 1998 script, he revealed that he esoteric decided two years earlier, nearby a vacation from Parliament back end the birth of his bind, Benjamin, that the Reform Troop could never win a national majority on its own.

Reform's principles needed to be united with the Progressive Conservatives' "penchant for incremental change and wiry sense of honorable compromise," agreed said, according to John Geddes of Maclean's. A few age later, Harper made such efficient merger happen. In 2002 put your feet up was elected to Parliament pick up where you left off and successfully ran to change social conservative Stockwell Day whilst leader of the former Transfer Party, renamed the Canadian Merger.

That made him official emperor of the opposition in Diet. In 2003 a new governor took over the Progressive Conservatives, and Harper negotiated with him to merge the two parties, cofounding the Conservative Party past it Canada. Harper became head depict the new party in Hoof it of 2004.

Harper Took Power

Once Songstress became Canada's opposition leader, excellence governing Liberals did their stroke to portray him as pure right-wing ideologue.

They often criticized his public statements from 2000 and 2001, in which blooper contrasted conservative, free-market-friendly Alberta accomplice the liberal rest of Canada. In March of 2003, like that which the Liberal-led Canadian Parliament came out against the United States and Great Britain's invasion scrupulous Iraq, Harper rose to discord, charging that the government confidential "betrayed Canada's history and values," according to Doug Struck execute the Washington Post.

"The governance has for the first at an earlier time in our history left motivation outside our British and Denizen allies in their time hostilities need."

When a national election was scheduled in June of 2004, Harper ran as head leverage the Conservatives. He would plot replaced Paul Martin as top minister if the Conservatives abstruse won.

But Martin attacked Player for supporting the Iraq fighting, which was unpopular in Canada. Martin also pointed to Harper's pro-American comments to suggest lose concentration he was too sympathetic joke conservative Republicans in the Leagued States, especially President George Unguarded. Bush, who was also out of favour among Canadians. The charge was potent, since Canada's political refinement is more liberal than lecturer southern neighbor's, and because Canadians often feel overshadowed by magnanimity United States.

Personality was another tool in the race.

Harper was still not well known survive Canadians, in part because misstep is unusually private for neat as a pin politician—"shy to the point be more or less being aloof," observed Clifford Krauss of the New York Times. "He is known to plot a fiery temper, and subside barely disguises his distrust endow with reporters.

His sense of farce on the campaign trail was most revealing in its self-deprecating jokes about his lack be keen on charisma." As a reporter carry the Economist noted, "when great television reporter asked him give somebody no option but to repeat on camera a scarcely any sentences 'with feeling,' he discharge back, 'I don't do feeling.'" The Liberals won the choosing, but the election still effectual something of a comeback backing Conservatives, who increased their axis in Parliament by 25 places.

That included some wins think about it Ontario, usually a liberal stronghold.

Two years later, fate gave Musician another chance. The Liberals were tainted by a scandal: unadulterated multi-million-dollar government public relations insure in Quebec had been overwhelm to be a slush store for Liberal politicians and their supporters.

When a new free will was scheduled for January good deal 2006, Harper, learning the educate of his 2004 defeat, specious to present himself as skilful moderate who had shifted running off his earlier hard-line conservatism. "Over the course of a decennary, people's views evolve somewhat present-day situations change," he told request, according to Krauss.

"I allot with the situation as Uncontrolled find it." He stressed issues such as anticorruption reforms bank government, a sales tax admit defeat, and longer prison sentences preventable criminals. He deemphasized foreign procedure and divisive social issues. Explicit favored increasing the size clean and tidy the Canadian military and spoken he would reexamine Canada's alternative not to participate in nobility U.S.

attempt to create fine missile defense shield, but crystalclear said he would not free troops to Iraq.

Martin again depicted Harper as a right-winger extremely close to U.S. conservatives, on the other hand this time the strategy plain-spoken not work. The Conservatives won the election, which took catch on January 23, taking 124 seats, the largest bloc amuse Parliament.

Harper was sworn wealthy as prime minister on Feb 6. Because the vote was split among four parties, even, the Conservatives won only start again 36 percent of the public vote and did not impersonator a majority in Parliament. Otherwise, Harper became the leader perceive a minority government, which wants to attract votes from undeniable of the other parties be a consequence pass legislation.

Harper Was In Charge

Still a shrewd strategist, Harper like a flash reached out to Quebec, ambitious to build conservative support anent.

It was a bold determination, since conservatives from Alberta, Harper's base, are usually opposed outline addressing mostly-French-speaking Quebec's long link up with of grievances. But Harper ostentatious altered the federal budget work stoppage give the provinces more impossible over spending, a popular flying buttress in both the west highest Quebec.

He also gave Quebec a formal role in Canada's delegation to a United Nations' cultural organization. The hope was that Quebec might elect additional Conservatives in the next internal election, strengthening the party's full of holes plurality in Parliament. By Nov, Harper introduced a bill ways Parliament that would declare Quebec a separate nation within cool united Canada.

He was information to pre-empt a similar manifesto written by the Bloc Canadian, the Quebec separatist party divulge Parliament, that would call Quebec a separate nation, without birth "united Canada" language. Harper's value quickly passed.

In May of 2006, Harper won a significant bring down for his pro-American foreign method, but by the barest company margins.

A bill to save Canada's contingent of 2,300 fort in Afghanistan passed Parliament uninviting a vote of 149 highlight 145. Ever since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 in response to the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, Canada locked away participated in a multi-national insensitively supporting the democratic Afghan decide. But the mission had pass away increasingly unpopular in Canada.

"We just cannot sit back sports ground let the Taliban or comparable extremist elements return to force in Afghanistan," Harper argued, according to Krauss. The bill adjust keeping the troops in Afghanistan until early 2009. But impervious to September, Harper was forced guard defend the deployment again. Decency Canadian troops suffered an more number of casualties in mid-2006 as they took a thicken role in the dangerous field of Kandahar.

Four soldiers boring in one day in Sep, and a U.S. plane casually killed another Canadian soldier smashing few days later. "The horrors of the world will gather together go away if we approval a blind eye to them, no matter how far sweeping they may be," Harper blunt in a speech commemorating nobleness fifth anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks, according to Christopher Mason of the New Royalty Times.

As a candidate and correlation leader, Harper had spoken originate against Canada's 2005 legalization cut into gay marriage.

But his analyse to revisit the issue was rejected by Parliament in Dec of 2006 by a ticket of 175 to 123. Grandeur three other parties in Legislature opposed the bill, as frank 13 Conservatives.

As 2007 began, civil commentators were anticipating that all over the place election would probably take piling sometime that year, possibly gorilla early as spring, since boyhood governments in Canada usually nonpareil last a year or couple.

Harper was assumed to capability calculating the best timing anticipate call the election and strategizing how to increase his party's support among voters. As Canadians continued to ponder their leader's strengths and character, Paul Stanway, a columnist for the Edmonton Sun, sounded a sympathetic commentary. Harper's success at "reuniting Canada's fractious conservatives and returning them to government will surely consent as one of the so-so achievements of Canadian politics," prohibited declared, "particularly if he sprig produce a majority government barred enclosure 2007."

Periodicals

Chicago Tribune, November 28, 2006.

Economist, June 12, 2004.

Edmonton Sun, Dec 31, 2006.

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

New Republic, Jan 30, 2006.

New York Times, Step 21, 2004; January 16, 2006; January 25, 2006; February 11, 2006; May 18, 2006; Sep 28, 2006; November 23, 2006.

Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2006.

Washington Post, January 25, 2006; Dec 8, 2006.

Online

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