Pre-Election Reads: Stephen Harper
August 5, 2015 | John P. | Comments (0)
Canada has a federal election scheduled for October 19, 2015. While some voters may have already decided which political party and leader to support, others have not and may be seeking information and research to help them to make a personal, informed decision. Toronto Public Library can help those individuals in a non-partisan way by providing access to collection items available for borrowing (or using) with a valid Toronto Public Library card. So let us continue…
Stephen Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and the sixth in terms of length of time of service in office after William Lyon Mackenzie King, Sir John A. Macdonald, Pierre Trudeau, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and Jean Chrétien. Stephen Harper assumed office as Prime Minister on February 6, 2006 as head of a minority Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) government, following victory in the January 23, 2006 federal election. Stephen Harper won a stronger minority government following the October 14, 2008 federal election . However, the Prime Minister fought the combined opposition parties’ attempts to topple the Harper government by forming a coalition minority government with support from the Bloc Québécois by successfully obtaining a prorogation of Parliament from then-Governor General Michaëlle Jean from December 4, 2008 to January 26, 2009. The CPC government survived a confidence shortly afterwards with support from the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC).
Stephen Harper requested and received a second prorogation of Parliament from the Governor-General from December 30, 2009 to March 3, 2010, citing the importance of the government’s economic plan and coinciding with the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler. Public protests were organized in January 2010 in opposition to the prorogation of the Canadian Parliament. However, on March 25, 2011, the Harper government was defeated on a landmark vote of no-confidence by 156 to 145 on the basis of contempt of Parliament, the first such occurrence in any Parliament of a British Commonwealth of Nations country. The subsequent May 2, 2011 federal election resulted in a majority government victory for Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party of Canada with 166 out of 308 House of Commons seats won with 39.62% of the popular vote.
Stephen Harper was born and grew up in Toronto, Ontario, graduating from Richview Collegiate Institute in 1978. Following a move to Alberta, Stephen Harper enrolled at the University of Calgary and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and later a master’s degree in economics in 1993. Dissatisfaction with the National Energy Program (NEP) under the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau led to Stephen Harper severing ties with the Young Liberal Club. He became chief aide to Progressive Conservative MP James Hawkes but dissatisfaction with the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney led to Stephen Harper joining the Reform Party of Canada. In the November 21, 1988 federal election, Stephen Harper lost against incumbent Calgary West MP James Hawkes but bested Hawkes in the October 25, 1993 federal election and served as a Reform Party of Canada MP for one term, resigning his seat in January 1997, prior to the June 2, 1997 federal election, following a difficult relationship with Reform Party leader Preston Manning. Stephen Harper became vice-president and subsequently president of the conservative think tank National Citizens’ Coalition (NCC). Following the re-election of Jean Chrétien’s Liberal government in the November 27, 2000 federal election, Stephen Harper re-entered the political arena by challenging and defeating Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day for the leadership on March 20, 2002, won a subsequent by-election in Calgary Southwest and became Leader of the Opposition in May 2002. Stephen Harper won the leadership of the new Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) on March 20, 2004 and led the CPC to official opposition status against Paul Martin’s minority Liberal government, following the June 28, 2004 federal election.
Given Stephen Harper’s tenure as Prime Minister, much has been written about him, his government, and its policies. Consider the following titles for borrowing from Toronto Public Library collections:
Books:
Read an excerpt from The Globe of Mail of John Ibbitson’s new biography Stephen Harper.
Read Bruce Campion-Smith’s overview in The Toronto Star.
Read the book review in Quill and Quire.
Read the book review in Foreign Policy Journal.
Read the book review in The Globe and Mail.
Read the book review in The Toronto Star.
Read the book review in the Literary Review of Canada.
Read the book review in Quill and Quire.
Read Andrew Coyne’s comments on the book in The National Post.
Read the book review in the Literary Review of Canada.
Read the book review in Quill and Quire.
Read the book review in The Toronto Star.
Read the book review in the Literary Review of Canada.
Read the book review from Policy Options.
Read the book review in Quill and Quire.
eBooks:
In his spare time, Stephen Harper, an avid hockey fan and historian, wrote and published A Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs and the Rise of Professional Hockey . (See: Recent Prime Ministerial Writings on Hockey History and Foreign Policy ).
As part of making an informed decision in federal election 2015, citizens should avail themselves of information from the media (newspapers, radio, television, online etc.) as the election campaign unfolds. To help with that, Toronto Public Library cardholders can also access the following databases online in seeking information from magazine and newspaper sources:
Full-text articles, videos, audio files, vetted web sites etc. on a broad range of topics, people, places and events.
Available anywhere.
Sign in with library card.
Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA)
Full-text business and general interest articles from popular, academic and business periodicals.
Available anywhere.
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Canadian Newsstand Major Dailies
Full text articles from major Canadian newspapers and television news transcripts.
Available anywhere.
Sign in with library card.
Full text of newspapers published by Torstar Media Group including Toronto Star and several Toronto community newspapers.
Available anywhere.
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Canadian Periodical Index (CPI.Q)
Articles from general, academic and business magazines. Index from 1988, full text from 1995.
Available anywhere.
Sign in with library card.
(See also: Pick a PM: Prime Ministerial Biographies and Memoirs )
(See also: Pre-Election Reads: Elizabeth May )
(See also: Pre-Election Reads: Thomas Mulcair )
(See also: Pre-Election Reads: Justin Trudeau )
