January 23, 2006 – Stephen Harper leads Conservative Party of Canada to minority victory.

This Canadian History for Kids exclusive, looks at Canada’s 22nd Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, the self confessed hockey nut!

Harper grew up in Toronto, the smart, strong, politically-aware son of an accountant. The family was and remains closely-knit.

As a senior high school student at Etobicoke’s Richview Collegiate, he was an follower of Pierre Trudeau, but only for a short time. Harper became a passionate conservative.

At the age of 19, Harper departed for Alberta to work for Imperial Oil, his father’s employer. He attended the University of Calgary, training as an economist and in time, in 1991, received a Master’s degree. By then he was a major political figure: present at the creation of the Reform Party in 1987 and its chief policy analyst.

Canadian History for Kids has learned he was part of Reform leader Preston Manning’s leadership team in Parliament from 1993 to 1997, but the two men clashed over policy and party policy. Harper left the House of Commons to lead the National Citizens Coalition.

Harper won the leadership of the Canadian Alliance Party in 2002. In December 2003, both Alliance and Progressive Conservative party members voted overwhelmingly to approve the merger of the 2 parties. The new party became the Conservative Party of Canada. The Canadian Alliance Party ceased to exist.

Stephen Harper became Prime Minister of Canada on February 6, 2006 after his Conservative Party of Canada won a minority government in the federal election held January 23, 2006.

Stephen Harper began his second term as Prime Minister following the federal election held on October 14, 2008 after his Conservative Party of Canada won an election in which the Conservative Party of Canada won the most seats, but failed to win a majority government.

Stephen Harper’s third mandate as Prime Minister began following the federal election, held May 2, 2011. His Conservative Party of Canada won a majority of the seats in Canada.
Harper is an avid hockey fan, and authored the book, A great game.