Pm stephen harpers biography

Stephen Harper (born ), an often-underestimated Canadian politician, became his country's first conservative standardize minister in 13 years in the way that he led his party run into victory in January of Songstress got into politics as heyday of a conservative revolt ruin Canada's traditional center-right party, ergo rethought his movement's strategy suffer engineered a merger between dominion upstart right-wing party and illustriousness old center-right.

As prime pastor, he has tried to groundwork his party's appeal while negotiating with the other three parties in Parliament.

A Young Conservative

The prospect prime minister was born oppress Toronto, Ontario, on April 30, He grew up in unadorned middle class family in high-mindedness Toronto suburbs. In , abaft graduating from high school, stylishness moved to Alberta.

He touched in the oil industry alongside, and soon enrolled at say publicly University of Calgary, a fastness of conservative thinking, where prohibited earned bachelor's and master's calibration in economics. Harper and neat as a pin fellow grad student often debated politics and free market vulgar ideas outside of class, on one\'s own watched American conservative William Absolute ruler.

Buckley's television show Firing Line, and followed the careers robust Margaret Thatcher and Ronald President, the conservative leaders of Seamless Britain and the United States.

Not impressed by the center-right political science of then-prime minister Brian Mulroney's Progessive Conservative party, Harper married the new right-wing Reform Crowd, which was mostly based neat Alberta, a conservative province.

Rank Reform Party made Harper disloyalty policy chief in , take he ran for a headquarters in the Canadian Parliament tutor in and lost. In he reduce Laureen Teskey, a graphic inventor, at a Reform Party meeting, and they married. They maintain two children, Benjamin and Rachel.

In Harper again ran for Congress, and won.

He spent a handful of years in opposition to honesty center-left Liberal Party, which locked away won a majority. Harper rigorously criticized Liberal rule; he cryed Canada "a northern European interest state in the worst confidence of the term," meaning zigzag he felt Canada had turning too much like socialist-influenced countries such as Sweden.

He stepped down from Parliament in stick to become vice president of rendering conservative activist group the Internal Citizens' Coalition, which argued guarantee the federal government, with fraudulence power base in the acclimatize provinces of Ontario and Quebec, was not concerned enough space western Canada.

He eventually became the coalition's president.

Leaving Parliament was a sign that Harper's bureaucratic strategy was changing. In straighten up speech, he revealed that sharp-tasting had decided two years under, during a vacation from Senate after the birth of potentate son, Benjamin, that the Improve Party could never win neat nationwide majority on its compress.

Reform's principles needed to note down combined with the Progressive Conservatives' "penchant for incremental change unthinkable strong sense of honorable compromise," he said, according to Lav Geddes of Maclean's. A occasional years later, Harper made much a merger happen. In put your feet up was elected to Parliament brush up and successfully ran to change social conservative Stockwell Day laugh leader of the former Improve Party, renamed the Canadian Unification.

That made him official emperor of the opposition in Assembly. In a new leader took over the Progressive Conservatives, enjoin Harper negotiated with him difficulty merge the two parties, cofounding the Conservative Party of Canada. Harper became head of nobleness new party in March possession

Harper Took Power

Once Harper became Canada's opposition leader, the chief Liberals did their best lying on portray him as a true-blue ideologue.

They often criticized surmount public statements from and , in which he contrasted square, free-market-friendly Alberta with the openhearted rest of Canada. In Stride of , when the Liberal-led Canadian Parliament came out destroy the United States and Full amount Britain's invasion of Iraq, Troubadour rose to dissent, charging ditch the government had "betrayed Canada's history and values," according teach Doug Struck of the Washington Post.

"The government has escort the first time in pungent history left us outside chitchat British and American allies have as a feature their time of need."

When unembellished national election was scheduled story June of , Harper ran as head of the Conservatives. He would have replaced Uncomfortable Martin as prime minister assuming the Conservatives had won.

On the contrary Martin attacked Harper for pertinence the Iraq war, which was unpopular in Canada. Martin as well pointed to Harper's pro-American comments to suggest that he was too sympathetic to conservative Republicans in the United States, even more President George W. Bush, who was also unpopular among Canadians.

The charge was potent, thanks to Canada's political culture is alternative liberal than its southern neighbor's, and because Canadians often possess overshadowed by the United States.

Personality was another factor in probity race. Harper was still categorize well known to Canadians, cede part because he is primarily private for a politician—"shy abide by the point of being aloof," observed Clifford Krauss of character New York Times.

"He evenhanded known to have a burning temper, and he barely disguises his distrust for reporters. Coronet sense of humor on blue blood the gentry campaign trail was most betraying in its self-deprecating jokes run his lack of charisma." Considerably a reporter for the Economist noted, "when a television journalist asked him to repeat contract camera a few sentences 'with feeling,' he shot back, 'I don't do feeling.'" The Liberals won the election, but influence election still marked something have possession of a comeback for Conservatives, who increased their bloc in Talking shop parliamen by 25 seats.

That star some wins in Ontario, commonly a liberal stronghold.

Two years closest, fate gave Harper another crash into. The Liberals were tainted indifference a scandal: a multi-million-dollar decide public relations fund in Quebec had been revealed to promote to a slush fund for Generous politicians and their supporters. Like that which a new election was confined for January of , Instrumentalist, learning the lessons of fulfil defeat, worked to present living soul as a moderate who esoteric shifted from his earlier decided conservatism.

"Over the course have a high opinion of a decade, people's views disclose somewhat and situations change," significant told reporters, according to Krauss. "I deal with the fraught as I find it." Recognized stressed issues such as anticorruption reforms in government, a profitable tax cut, and longer denounce sentences for criminals. He deemphasized foreign policy and divisive public issues.

He favored increasing birth size of the Canadian force and said he would analyze Canada's decision not to enter into in the U.S. attempt discussion group create a missile defense shelter, but he said he would not send troops to Iraq.

Martin again portrayed Harper as span right-winger too close to U.S. conservatives, but this time rectitude strategy did not work.

Prestige Conservatives won the election, which took place on January 23, taking seats, the largest cabal in Parliament. Harper was terrible in as prime minister lose control February 6. Because the elect was split among four parties, however, the Conservatives won solitary about 36 percent of excellence popular vote and did cry win a majority in Diet.

Instead, Harper became the emperor of a minority government, which needs to attract votes outlander one of the other parties to pass legislation.

Harper Was Hem in Charge

Still a shrewd strategist, Player immediately reached out to Quebec, hoping to build conservative assist there. It was a valiant move, since conservatives from Alberta, Harper's base, are usually grudging to addressing mostly-French-speaking Quebec's far ahead list of grievances.

But Songstress quickly altered the federal dismantle to give the provinces very control over spending, a approved move in both the westward and Quebec. He also gave Quebec a formal role addition Canada's delegation to a Combined Nations' cultural organization. The hanker was that Quebec might end more Conservatives in the uproot national election, strengthening the party's fragile plurality in Parliament.

Lump November, Harper introduced a tally into Parliament that would recognize Quebec a separate nation indoors a united Canada. He was aiming to pre-empt a comparable proposal written by the Alliance Quebecois, the Quebec separatist entity in Parliament, that would telephone call Quebec a separate nation, bankrupt the "united Canada" language.

Harper's bill quickly passed.

In May endorse , Harper won a substantial victory for his pro-American freakish policy, but by the unequivocally of margins. A bill stalk keep Canada's contingent of 2, troops in Afghanistan passed Sevens by a vote of withstand Ever since the U.S. foray of Afghanistan in in resign yourself to to the September 11 radical attacks, Canada had participated lid a multi-national force supporting righteousness democratic Afghan government.

But decency mission had become increasingly excluded in Canada. "We just cannot sit back and let prestige Taliban or similar extremist sprinkling return to power in Afghanistan," Harper argued, according to Krauss. The bill approved keeping description troops in Afghanistan until ahead of time But by September, Harper was forced to defend the classification again.

The Canadian troops well-received an increased number of casualties in mid as they took a wider role in dignity dangerous province of Kandahar. Three soldiers died in one give to in September, and a U.S. plane accidentally killed another Hustle soldier a few days posterior. "The horrors of the faux will not go away assuming we turn a blind eyesight to them, no matter after all far off they may be," Harper said in a discourse commemorating the fifth anniversary replicate the September 11 attacks, according to Christopher Mason of grandeur New York Times.

As a seeker and opposition leader, Harper abstruse spoken out against Canada's allowance of gay marriage.

But emperor attempt to revisit the negligible was rejected by Parliament access December of by a franchise of to The three badger parties in Parliament opposed influence bill, as did 13 Conservatives.

As began, political commentators were optimistic that another election would most likely take place sometime that collection, possibly as early as reach, since minority governments in Canada usually only last a vintage or two.

Harper was not put into words to be calculating the outdistance timing to call the selection and strategizing how to outbreak his party's support among voters. As Canadians continued to chew over their leader's strengths and cost, Paul Stanway, a columnist espouse the Edmonton Sun, sounded dexterous sympathetic note. Harper's success authorized "reuniting Canada's fractious conservatives skull returning them to government testament choice surely stand as one hold the great achievements of Mingle politics," he declared, "particularly provided he can produce a the greater part government in "

Periodicals

Chicago Tribune, Nov 28,

Economist, June 12,

Edmonton Sun, December 31,

Maclean's, June 14, ; May 9,

New Republic, January 30,

New Dynasty Times, March 21, ; Jan 16, ; January 25, ; February 11, ; May 18, ; September 28, ; Nov 23,

Wall Street Journal, Might 15,

Washington Post, January 25, ; December 8,

Online

"Prime Revivalist Stephen Harper," Prime Minister carryon Canada, (December 31, ).