Stephen Joseph Harper, PC, MP (born April 30, 1959) is a former Canadian politician, who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada, and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became Prime Minister after his party won a minority government in the January 2006 federal election. He is the first Prime Minister from the newly reconstituted Conservative Party, following a merger of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties.
Harper has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Calgary Southwest in Alberta since 2002. Earlier, from 1993 to 1997, he was the MP for Calgary West. He was one of the founding members of the Reform Party, but ended his first stint as an MP to join, and shortly thereafter head, the National Citizens Coalition. 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 Opposition. In 2003, he reached an agreement with Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay for the merger of their two parties to form the Conservative Party of Canada. He was elected as the party's first non-interim leader in March 2004.
Despite fewer total votes than in 2006, Harper's Conservative Party won a stronger minority in the October 2008 federal election, showing a small increase in the percentage of the popular vote and increased representation in the Canadian House of Commons with 143 of 308 seats. His party won a majority in 2011.
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 Rona Ambrose was subsequently chosen as interim leader on November 5, 2015. After 2015, Harper slowly began to step away from Canadian politics and took 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.
Alternate versions of Harper have been discovered in the multiverse:
- Stephen Harper, 1st Earl Harper, current Prime Minister of Canada (Aristocratic Europe)
- Stephen Harper, 4th President of the Republic of Canada (Cinco De Mayo)
- Stephen Harper, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (Confederate Provinces of Canada)
- Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada during Fourth World War (HSE)
- Stephen Harper, 39th Deputy Prime Minister of the United States (King of America)
- Stephen Harper, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada (President McCain)