Education:
* BA - University of Calgary 1985
* MA - University of Calgary 1991
Profession:
* Economist
* President, National Citizens Coalition 1998
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has worked through the right-leaning parties in Canada, and as Leader of the Canadian Alliance Party oversaw its merger with the Progressive Conservatives to form the new Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. By nature more comfortable with policy than as a political glad-hander, Stephen Harper has slowly become more at ease in leadership. He ran a meticulous campaign in the 2006 federal election, and led the Conservatives to a minority government. In the 2008 election he increased the size of that minority.