Harper, Stephen Joseph (1959- )

Canadian right-of-centre politician, prime minister from 2006. Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, he formed a minority government after the January 2006 federal elections, ending 12 years of Liberal government. His government was elected on a platform of reducing taxes and a stronger approach to law and order, with tougher sentences.

In 2002, he succeeded Stockwell Day as leader of the Canadian Alliance (a successor party to the Reform Party) and became opposition leader in parliament. In 2003, the Canadian Alliance merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form the Conservative Party of Canada, of which he became leader in 2004. In 2003, he supported the American-led invasion of Iraq.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, he studied economics at university and worked initially in the oil industry as a computer programmer. An economic conservative, he was a founding member in 1987 of the Reform Party, which opposed ‘centralized federalism’, and served as a Reform Party member of parliament 1993-97. He fell out with the party's leader, Preston Manning, over his populism and social conservatism and became head of the National Citizens Coalition conservative think-tank in 1997.