Canada
Prime Minister’s Biography
Stephen Harper was sworn in as Canada’s 22nd Prime Minister on February 6, 2006.?
Mr. Harper moved to Alberta in 1978 to work in the petroleum industry and earned a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Calgary.??
Mr. Harper was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1993 federal election as the Reform Party’s candidate in Calgary West. ?He left Parliament in 1997 to become Vice President, and later President, of the National Citizens Coalition, a Canadian advocacy organization. ?In 2002, he became Leader of the Opposition after winning the leadership of the Canadian Alliance party and a subsequent by-election in the electoral riding of Calgary Southwest.??
In 2003, Mr. Harper co-founded the new Conservative Party of Canada and became its first leader. ?In the 2006 federal election, the Conservatives were given a mandate to form a government and were re-elected in 2008.