Stephen Harper

The Right Honourable
Stephen Harper
PC CC AOE
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper PC CC AOE
	Harper in 2010
22nd Prime Minister of Canada
	In office; February 6, 2006 – November 4, 2015
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governors General	Michaëlle Jean; David Johnston;
Preceded by	Paul Martin
Succeeded by	Justin Trudeau
Chairman of the; International Democracy Union;
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; February 21, 2018
Preceded by	John Key
Monarch	In office; March 20, 2004 – February 6, 2006
Additional offices held
Leader of the Opposition
	In office; March 20, 2004 – February 6, 2006
Monarch	Elizabeth II;
Preceded by	Grant Hill
Succeeded by	Bill Graham
	In office; May 21, 2002 – January 8, 2004
Monarch	Elizabeth II;
Preceded by	John Reynolds
Succeeded by	Grant Hill
Leader of the Conservative Party
	In office; March 20, 2004 – October 19, 2015
Deputy	Peter MacKay
Preceded by	John Lynch-Staunton (interim)
Succeeded by	Rona Ambrose (interim)
Leader of the Canadian Alliance
	In office; March 20, 2002 – December 7, 2003
Preceded by	John Reynolds (interim)
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Member of Parliament; for Calgary Heritage; Calgary Southwest (2002–2015)
	In office; May 13, 2002 – August 26, 2016
Preceded by	Preston Manning
Succeeded by	Bob Benzen
Member of Parliament; for Calgary West
	In office; October 25, 1993 – January 14, 1997
Preceded by	Jim Hawkes
Succeeded by	Rob Anders
Personal details
Born	Stephen Joseph Harper; April 30, 1959 (age 65); Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Conservative (since 2003)
Other political; affiliations	Liberal (until 1981); Progressive Conservative (1981–1986); Reform (1987–2000); Alliance (2000–2003);
Spouse	Laureen Teskey (m. 1993)
Children	2
Residence(s)	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Alma mater	University of Toronto; (no degree); University of Calgary; (BA, 1985; MA, 1991);
Signature
Website	stephenharper.com
	Stephen Harper's voice Recorded January 26, 2012

Stephen Joseph Harper PC CC AOE (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, serving as the party's first leader from 2004 to 2015.

Harper studied economics, earning a bachelor's degree in 1985 and a master's degree in 1991 at the University of Calgary. He was one of the founders of the Reform Party of Canada and was first elected in 1993 in Calgary West. He did not seek re-election in the 1997 federal election, instead joining and later leading the National Citizens Coalition, a conservative lobbyist group. In 2002, he succeeded Stockwell Day as leader of the Canadian Alliance, the successor to the Reform Party, and returned to parliament as leader of the Official Opposition. In 2003, Harper negotiated the merger of the Canadian Alliance with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to form the Conservative Party of Canada and was elected as the party's first leader in March 2004. In the 2004 federal election, the new party lost its first election to the Liberal Party led by Paul Martin.

The 2006 federal election resulted in a minority government led by the Conservative Party with Harper becoming prime minister of Canada. During his first term, Harper confronted the In and Out scandal, reduced the goods and services tax to five percent, and passed the Federal Accountability Act, the Québécois nation motion, and the Veterans' Bill of Rights. After the 2008 federal election, in which the Conservatives won a larger minority, Harper prorogued Parliament to defeat a non-confidence motion by a potential coalition of opposition parties, passed the Economic Action Plan of major personal income tax cuts and infrastructure investments in response to the Great Recession, introduced the tax-free savings account, and ordered military intervention during the First Libyan Civil War. In March 2011, a no-confidence vote found his government to be in contempt of Parliament, triggering a federal election in which the Conservatives won a majority government. During his third term, Harper withdrew Canada from the Kyoto Protocol, launched Operation Impact in opposition to ISIL, repealed the long-gun registry, passed the Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, launched Canada's Global Markets Action Plan, and grappled with controversies surrounding the Canadian Senate expenses scandal and the Robocall scandal.

In the 2015 federal election, the Conservative Party lost power to the Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau. Harper officially stepped down as party leader on October 19, 2015, and resigned his seat on August 26, 2016. Since then, Harper has taken on a number of international business and leadership roles, founding a global consulting firm, appearing in US and British media, and being elected leader of the International Democrat Union.