Premiership of Stephen Harper
Encyclopedia
The premiership of Stephen Harper began on 6 February 2006 when Stephen Harper
and his first cabinet were sworn in by Governor General
Michaelle Jean
. Harper was invited to form the 28th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of Canada
following the 2006 election
where Harper's Conservative Party of Canada
won a plurality of seats in the Canadian House of Commons
leading to the resignation of Liberal
prime minister Paul Martin
. In the 2011 federal elections, Harper won his first majority government
, with the next federal election currently scheduled for 2015.
until the 1993 election
, two parties alternated between the positions of government and official opposition: the Liberals and Conservatives. In 1993, the Progressive Conservatives were reduced from a majority government to fifth place and two seats in the House of Commons. They were displaced by the Reform Party of Canada
in Western Canada
, the Bloc Québécois
in Québec
, and the Liberals throughout the country due to vote splitting
.
Harper was elected in 1993 as a Reform MP. He resigned before the 1997 election
and became an advocate of the Unite the Right
movement which argued for a merger of the Progressive Conservatives and Reform. Harper was suggested as a possible Progressive Conservative leadership candidate in 1998 but he declined. Harper went on to win the leadership of the Canadian Alliance (which succeeded Reform) in 2002. In 2003, Harper and Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay
agreed to merge their parties into the new Conservative Party of Canada. Harper was elected leader of the newly united Conservatives in 2004.
In the 2004 election
, the Liberals were reduced to a minority government
due to a government spending scandal
and the newly united right-of-centre opposition party. Harper went on to lead the Conservatives to win a plurality of seats in the 2006 election
and formed the smallest minority government in Canadian history.
The Federal Accountability Act
was introduced which eliminated corporate and union donations to political parties, tightened lobbying rules including the cooling-off period for former civil servants and political staff, and introduced several offices to exercise independent oversight of government spending and accounting.
The federal Goods and Services Tax
, introduced by the former Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney
was reduced from 7% to 6%, and later to 5%.
The Harper government introduced several pieces of legislation under a "tough on crime" agenda including introduce mandatory minimal sentences for serious and violent offenders, however some of this legislation didn't pass the minority parliament.
The previous Liberal government had began negotiations with the provinces and reached agreements in some cases to begin to fund a publicly-funded child care program. The Conservatives stopped this work, as promised in their platform, and instead launched a $1200 per year stipend for each child under age six, paid directly to parents whether or not they incur child care expenses. Harper has stated that his government will work with provincial and local governments, not-for-profit organizations, and employers to create additional spaces, and has set aside $250 million per year to fund these initiatives.
The Conservatives also promised to introduce a "Patient Wait Times Guarantee" in conjunction with the provinces. While they did negotiate changes to the 2004 10-year health accord with the provinces with an eye to shorten wait times, Harper was criticized by some media figures, such as Paul Wells
, for downplaying this fifth and final priority.
After taking action in these areas, several media commentators suggested that the government lacked direction. Despite having introduced legislation to fix elections every four years beginning in October 2009, Governor General Michaelle Jean granted a request from Harper to call new elections in October 2008. Harper said he asked for this early election because the opposition parties were delaying the work of parliament, while the opposition stated Harper wanted to get a new mandate before Canada felt the felt the effects of the 2008-09 world economic slow down.
.
in the 2006 election while receiving 36.3% of the popular vote, and won 143 seats (or 46.4% of the total) in the 2008 election while receiving 37.7% of the popular vote. In the 2011 election, the Conservatives won 166 seats (54% of the total) with 39.6% of the popular vote.
Conventional wisdom before the 2011 election held that winning a federal majority without significant support in the province of Quebec would be nearly impossible. The Conservatives disproved this by winning an eleven seat majority with only five seats in Quebec. The Conservatives won considerably more popular support outside of Quebec than they did elsewhere, carrying 48% of the popular vote outside of Quebec. This was only the second time in Canadian history that a federal government was formed without a substantial number of seats from Quebec.
Media speculation had been that the Conservatives would need to win in excess of 40% of the popular vote to form a majority government
, the stated goal of Harper in the 2011 election. However, the Liberal Party was able to win a majority with only 38.5% of the popular vote in 1997
and the Conservatives have previously come very close to a majority with 37.7% of the popular vote (12 seats short) in 2008 and with 35.9% of the vote (6 seats short) in 1979.
Harper led the government through the longest lasting federal minority government in Canadian history, which ended when he achieved a majority victory in 2011.
meaning he must rely on the support (or abstention) of other parties in order to maintain the confidence
of the House of Commons. The Harper government has often relied on the official opposition Liberal caucus abstaining in whole or in part in order to allow confidence measures to pass. The government lost its first confidence vote on a Liberal sponsored censure motion on March 25, 2011, prompting Harper to seek dissolution and the calling of the 2011 general election.
. The government may also designate any vote to be a matter of confidence, and opposition parties may introduce motions that explicitly express a lack of confidence in the government.
Parliament until January 26, 2009. Following the resumption of parliament, Harper introduced a new budget which was allowed to pass when members of the Liberal caucus abstained from the vote.
. All of these senators have been members of Harper's Conservative Party. Three (Michael Fortier
, Fabian Manning
, and Larry Smith) have subsequently resigned from the Senate to seek election to the House of Commons.
Harper has long been an advocate of an elected Senate and has appointed one senator (Bert Brown
) based on the result of an Alberta Senate election
. Harper has introduced legislation to provide for elections to advise the prime minister on who to recommend for appointment to the Senate and to cause appointed senators to serve fixed terms, to, in essence, create a de facto
elected Senate without changing the constitution. Harper's Senate appointments and reform proposals have been criticized for failing to address the balance of seats among provinces, possibly being unconstitutional, and for running contrary to the spirit of his previous pledges for an elected senate. Harper has argued that without appointing senators, the Liberals would continue to enjoy a majority in the senate despite lacking popular support, that the senate would become less and less able to function, and that all of his appointees have agreed to resign and seek election to the senate should his reform proposals pass.
launched a lawsuit on March 13, 2008, against the Liberal
s over statements published on the party's website concerning the Chuck Cadman affair. This was the first time a sitting prime minister had sued the opposition for libel. The $2.5-million suit named the Liberal party, the Federal Liberal Agency of Canada, and the unnamed author or authors of the statements published on the Liberal website. The articles at the centre of the lawsuit were headlined "Harper knew of Conservative bribery" and "Harper must come clean about allegations of Conservative Bribery." Those articles questioned Stephen Harper's alleged involvement in financial offers made to Cadman to sway his vote in a crucial 2005 Commons showdown. The suit filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice did not name Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion
or MPs Ralph Goodale
and Michael Ignatieff
- whom Harper also threatened to sue.
Dona Cadman
said that prior to the May 2005 Budget vote, Tom Flanagan
and Doug Finley, two Conservative Party
officials, offered her husband, Chuck Cadman, a million-dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his vote to bring down the Liberal government.
and corporate income taxes.
As with any Canadian government, the principal foreign relations issue is the relationship with the United States, Canada's closest neighbour and largest trading partner. The ongoing War in Afghanistan
has also been a major foreign policy issue for the Harper government.
put forward to the Governor General
for appointment as Cabinet Ministers were from Ontario and Quebec, in the interests of regional balance. The new Conservative Cabinet was substantially smaller than the prior Martin administration because it did away with junior ministers (known as Ministers of State, and previously Secretaries of State). Several pundits in the media have described Stephen Harper's
Cabinet as moderate, and a tempering of the Conservative Party's roots in the Canadian Alliance and Reform.
In selecting his cabinet Harper chose outgoing Liberal Minister of Industry
David Emerson
as Minister of International Trade
and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the 2010 Winter Olympics
, and Michael Fortier
, a senior Conservative Party operative and campaign strategist, as Minister of Public Works
, and as an appointee to the Senate
. Emerson had been re-elected to parliament as a Liberal only weeks earlier, while Fortier did not contest the previous election at all. Harper argued that the appointments were necessary to provide two of Canada's largest cities (Vancouver
and Montreal
) with Cabinet representation, as the Conservatives did not win seats in these cities. Critics countered that no such concessions were made for Canada's largest city, Toronto
, where the conservatives also failed to win a seat, but proponents of the Prime Minister contest that MP and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty
, representing the nearby city of Whitby
, will represent Torontonians in Cabinet.
Opposition politicians and other critics attacked the appointment of Emerson as hypocritical, as several members of the Conservative Party had criticized former Conservative MP Belinda Stronach
for crossing the floor to the Liberals and receiving a Cabinet appointment in 2005, shortly before a critical budgetary vote that amounted to a confidence motion for the then-ruling Liberal party. Emerson's decision was also met with opposition in his riding, where the Conservative candidate had received less than 20% of the vote in the previous campaign, although Emerson himself was re-elected by a large margin over the NDP runner-up. The Harper government defended Emerson's appointment as tapping a politician with previous federal Cabinet experience. Emerson himself suggested that it would help the Conservatives move to the middle of the political spectrum.
Harper's recommendation of Fortier for appointment was also controversial, as the Conservatives had previously criticized the unelected nature of the Senate
. Both Harper and Fortier have stated that the Senate appointment is temporary, and that Fortier will vacate his position at the next federal election to run for a seat in the House of Commons.
Other choices were met with greater support. Toronto mayor David Miller has called Harper's selection of Lawrence Cannon
as an appointee to Cabinet as a "very positive step" and "a signal Mr. Harper's serious about reaching out to cities". Harper recommended the appointment of Jim Flaherty
as an elected MP to represent the city along with the Greater Toronto Area
(GTA). Flaherty represents the riding of Whitby—Oshawa
, in the Durham Region
of the eastern GTA, and his selection as Minister of Finance was viewed positively by the Bay Street
business community.
On March 3, 2006, Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro
announced that he was launching a preliminary inquiry into conflict-of-interest allegations against Emerson and Harper. Shapiro said that he would look into what influence may have been wielded in the decision by Emerson to cross the floor. Conservatives criticized Shapiro's probe as partisan and accused him of applying a double standard since he was appointed on the advice of the former Liberal prime minister, and had turned down earlier requests in 2005 to investigate Stronach's floor-crossing in which she received a Cabinet post, as well as a questionable land sale by Hamilton area Liberal MP Tony Valeri
. Shapiro had also been under fire from former NDP leader Ed Broadbent
for "extraordinarily serious credibility problems". While agreeing with Harper that Shapiro's investigation was inappropriate, Broadbent and opposition MPs criticized Harper for refusing to cooperate with the Commissioner.
Mr Shapiro concluded that a minister crossing the floor to take a Cabinet position would only have been inappropriate if said Cabinet position was offered in return for some action in Parliament, such as preventing the government from falling on a confidence vote. Emerson's appointment did not fall under those conditions and Shapiro cleared both Harper and Emerson of any wrongdoing on March 20, 2006. However, Shapiro declined to launch any investigation into Belinda Stronach's floor-crossing, even though it was done for exactly the reason that Shapiro claimed would be inappropriate.
. Various observers had expected him to name MacKay, the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party
and his deputy party leader, or Lawrence Cannon
, as a Quebec lieutenant
, to the post. Harper did, however, name an order of succession to act on his behalf in certain circumstances, starting with Cannon, then Jim Prentice
, then the balance of his cabinet in order of precedence
.
Relations with the press in the 2011 campaign
During the 2011 campaign, the unusually rigid control that Harper maintains over the press has resulted in growing outrage. During Harper's visit to Halifax in the early part of the campaign, reporters were kept well away from him, within steel pens. Even before the campaign, the Canadian Association of Journalists wrote a letter to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics strongly criticizing the Canadian government for severely restricting access to documents that should be made available to Canadian citizens. The CAJ stated " Open government is not revolutionary and the government of Canada is behind compared to other nations and even some provinces."
" and from late 2010 to mid 2011 it has been branded the "Harper Government". The former was the subject of ridicule by other parties and some media commentators, while the latter has been criticized by some academics and former civil servants as a partisan misuse of government resources.
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
and his first cabinet were sworn in by Governor General
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
Michaelle Jean
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation, from 2005 to 2010....
. Harper was invited to form the 28th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
following the 2006 election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
where Harper's Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
won a plurality of seats in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
leading to the resignation of Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
prime minister Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
. In the 2011 federal elections, Harper won his first majority government
Majority government
A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...
, with the next federal election currently scheduled for 2015.
Background
From Canadian confederationCanadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
until the 1993 election
Canadian federal election, 1993
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
, two parties alternated between the positions of government and official opposition: the Liberals and Conservatives. In 1993, the Progressive Conservatives were reduced from a majority government to fifth place and two seats in the House of Commons. They were displaced by the Reform Party of Canada
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
in Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
, the Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
in Québec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, and the Liberals throughout the country due to vote splitting
Vote splitting
Vote splitting is an electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate....
.
Harper was elected in 1993 as a Reform MP. He resigned before the 1997 election
Canadian federal election, 1997
The Canadian federal election of 1997 was held on June 2, 1997, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 36th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Liberal Party of Canada won a second majority government...
and became an advocate of the Unite the Right
Unite the Right
The Unite the Right movement was a Canadian political movement which existed from around 1996 to 2003. The movement came into being when it became clear that neither of Canada's two main right-of-center political parties: the Reform Party of Canada or the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada...
movement which argued for a merger of the Progressive Conservatives and Reform. Harper was suggested as a possible Progressive Conservative leadership candidate in 1998 but he declined. Harper went on to win the leadership of the Canadian Alliance (which succeeded Reform) in 2002. In 2003, Harper and Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay
Peter MacKay
Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QC, MP is a lawyer and politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. He is the Member of Parliament for Central Nova and currently serves as Minister of National Defence in the Cabinet of Canada....
agreed to merge their parties into the new Conservative Party of Canada. Harper was elected leader of the newly united Conservatives in 2004.
In the 2004 election
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
, the Liberals were reduced to a minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
due to a government spending scandal
Sponsorship scandal
The sponsorship scandal, "AdScam", "Sponsorship" or Sponsorgate, is a scandal that came as a result of a Canadian federal government "sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec and involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006...
and the newly united right-of-centre opposition party. Harper went on to lead the Conservatives to win a plurality of seats in the 2006 election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
and formed the smallest minority government in Canadian history.
First mandate
The Conservative platform in the 2006 election was focused on five priorities, namely: accountability, tax reform, crime, child care and health care.The Federal Accountability Act
Federal Accountability Act
The Federal Accountability Act is a statute introduced as Bill C-2 in the first session of the 39th Canadian Parliament on April 11, 2006, by the President of the Treasury Board, John Baird...
was introduced which eliminated corporate and union donations to political parties, tightened lobbying rules including the cooling-off period for former civil servants and political staff, and introduced several offices to exercise independent oversight of government spending and accounting.
The federal Goods and Services Tax
Goods and Services Tax (Canada)
The Goods and Services Tax is a multi-level value added tax introduced in Canada on January 1, 1991, by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his finance minister Michael Wilson. The GST replaced a hidden 13.5% Manufacturers' Sales Tax ; Mulroney claimed the GST was implemented because the MST...
, introduced by the former Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
was reduced from 7% to 6%, and later to 5%.
The Harper government introduced several pieces of legislation under a "tough on crime" agenda including introduce mandatory minimal sentences for serious and violent offenders, however some of this legislation didn't pass the minority parliament.
The previous Liberal government had began negotiations with the provinces and reached agreements in some cases to begin to fund a publicly-funded child care program. The Conservatives stopped this work, as promised in their platform, and instead launched a $1200 per year stipend for each child under age six, paid directly to parents whether or not they incur child care expenses. Harper has stated that his government will work with provincial and local governments, not-for-profit organizations, and employers to create additional spaces, and has set aside $250 million per year to fund these initiatives.
The Conservatives also promised to introduce a "Patient Wait Times Guarantee" in conjunction with the provinces. While they did negotiate changes to the 2004 10-year health accord with the provinces with an eye to shorten wait times, Harper was criticized by some media figures, such as Paul Wells
Paul Wells
Paul Wells is a Canadian journalist and pundit, currently working as a columnist for Maclean's. His column previously appeared in the back page slot famously occupied for many years by Allan Fotheringham, but is now kept at the front of the magazine with other columns.- Background :Wells was born...
, for downplaying this fifth and final priority.
After taking action in these areas, several media commentators suggested that the government lacked direction. Despite having introduced legislation to fix elections every four years beginning in October 2009, Governor General Michaelle Jean granted a request from Harper to call new elections in October 2008. Harper said he asked for this early election because the opposition parties were delaying the work of parliament, while the opposition stated Harper wanted to get a new mandate before Canada felt the felt the effects of the 2008-09 world economic slow down.
Third mandate
On September 11, 2011, Harper attended the tenth anniversary memorial of the September 11th attacks, in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Popular support
The Conservatives won 124 (or 40.3% of the total) seats in the Canadian House of CommonsCanadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
in the 2006 election while receiving 36.3% of the popular vote, and won 143 seats (or 46.4% of the total) in the 2008 election while receiving 37.7% of the popular vote. In the 2011 election, the Conservatives won 166 seats (54% of the total) with 39.6% of the popular vote.
Conventional wisdom before the 2011 election held that winning a federal majority without significant support in the province of Quebec would be nearly impossible. The Conservatives disproved this by winning an eleven seat majority with only five seats in Quebec. The Conservatives won considerably more popular support outside of Quebec than they did elsewhere, carrying 48% of the popular vote outside of Quebec. This was only the second time in Canadian history that a federal government was formed without a substantial number of seats from Quebec.
Media speculation had been that the Conservatives would need to win in excess of 40% of the popular vote to form a majority government
Majority government
A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...
, the stated goal of Harper in the 2011 election. However, the Liberal Party was able to win a majority with only 38.5% of the popular vote in 1997
Canadian federal election, 1997
The Canadian federal election of 1997 was held on June 2, 1997, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 36th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Liberal Party of Canada won a second majority government...
and the Conservatives have previously come very close to a majority with 37.7% of the popular vote (12 seats short) in 2008 and with 35.9% of the vote (6 seats short) in 1979.
Harper led the government through the longest lasting federal minority government in Canadian history, which ended when he achieved a majority victory in 2011.
Opinion polling between the 2006 and 2008 federal elections
From December 2006 to August 2008, the Conservatives and Liberals exchanged leads in opinion polls. From September through the election in October 2008, the Conservative led in all polls.Opinion polling between the 2008 and 2011 federal elections
The Conservatives have led in every public opinion poll released since March 2010. From January to September 2009 and again from January to February 2010 several polls showed the Liberals tied with or slightly leading Harper's Conservatives.Relationship with parliament, opposition parties
Throughout Stephen Harper's tenure as prime minister, he has led a minority governmentMinority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
meaning he must rely on the support (or abstention) of other parties in order to maintain the confidence
Motion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence is a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.-Overview:Typically, when a parliament passes a vote of no...
of the House of Commons. The Harper government has often relied on the official opposition Liberal caucus abstaining in whole or in part in order to allow confidence measures to pass. The government lost its first confidence vote on a Liberal sponsored censure motion on March 25, 2011, prompting Harper to seek dissolution and the calling of the 2011 general election.
Confidence in the House of Commons
The principal motions of confidence in the Canadian House of Commons are matters of supply (motions and bills concerning the budget and spending government monies) and the motion in reply to the Speech from the ThroneSpeech from the Throne
A speech from the throne is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign reads a prepared speech to a complete session of parliament, outlining the government's agenda for the coming session...
. The government may also designate any vote to be a matter of confidence, and opposition parties may introduce motions that explicitly express a lack of confidence in the government.
Non-confidence motion and prorogation of Parliament, 2008
Harper precipitated a national controversy, which threatened to overturn his government, by fielding a spending bill in the fall of 2008 which would have stripped taxpayer funding from political parties and taken away the right to strike from Canadian public service workers as purported solutions to the effects in Canada of the global economic crisis. Outraged opposition parties formed a coalition, intending to call a vote of non-confidence that would have toppled the Harper government, but he avoided the impending vote of non-confidence by asking the Governor General to prorogueProrogation in Canada
Prorogation is the end of a parliamentary session in the Parliament of Canada and the parliaments of its provinces and territories. It differs from a recess or adjournment, which do not end a session, and from a complete dissolution of parliament, which ends both the session and the entire...
Parliament until January 26, 2009. Following the resumption of parliament, Harper introduced a new budget which was allowed to pass when members of the Liberal caucus abstained from the vote.
Senate appointments
Since being named prime minister, Harper has recommended the appointment of 38 persons to the Canadian SenateCanadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
. All of these senators have been members of Harper's Conservative Party. Three (Michael Fortier
Michael Fortier
Michael M. Fortier, PC is a former Canadian Minister of International Trade and a former Conservative senator from Quebec...
, Fabian Manning
Fabian Manning
Fabian Manning is a politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Manning served as a Progressive Conservative and later as the independent Member of the House of Assembly for the district of Placentia and St. Mary’s from 1999 to 2005. From 2006 to 2008 he was the Conservative Party of Canada...
, and Larry Smith) have subsequently resigned from the Senate to seek election to the House of Commons.
Harper has long been an advocate of an elected Senate and has appointed one senator (Bert Brown
Bert Brown
For the English footballer Bert Brown, see Sailor BrownBert Brown is a Canadian Senator and retired farmer and development consultant currently residing in Balzac, Alberta.-Early life:...
) based on the result of an Alberta Senate election
Alberta Senate nominee elections
Alberta is the only Canadian province to elect nominees for appointment to the Senate of Canada in a process known as an Alberta Senate nominee election. These elections are non-binding as the appointment of senators is the jurisdiction of the federal government...
. Harper has introduced legislation to provide for elections to advise the prime minister on who to recommend for appointment to the Senate and to cause appointed senators to serve fixed terms, to, in essence, create a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
elected Senate without changing the constitution. Harper's Senate appointments and reform proposals have been criticized for failing to address the balance of seats among provinces, possibly being unconstitutional, and for running contrary to the spirit of his previous pledges for an elected senate. Harper has argued that without appointing senators, the Liberals would continue to enjoy a majority in the senate despite lacking popular support, that the senate would become less and less able to function, and that all of his appointees have agreed to resign and seek election to the senate should his reform proposals pass.
Libel suit against Liberal Party
PM Stephen HarperStephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
launched a lawsuit on March 13, 2008, against the Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
s over statements published on the party's website concerning the Chuck Cadman affair. This was the first time a sitting prime minister had sued the opposition for libel. The $2.5-million suit named the Liberal party, the Federal Liberal Agency of Canada, and the unnamed author or authors of the statements published on the Liberal website. The articles at the centre of the lawsuit were headlined "Harper knew of Conservative bribery" and "Harper must come clean about allegations of Conservative Bribery." Those articles questioned Stephen Harper's alleged involvement in financial offers made to Cadman to sway his vote in a crucial 2005 Commons showdown. The suit filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice did not name Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
or MPs Ralph Goodale
Ralph Goodale
Ralph Edward Goodale, PC, MP was Canada's Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006 and continues to be a Liberal Member of Parliament...
and Michael Ignatieff
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
- whom Harper also threatened to sue.
Dona Cadman
Dona Cadman
Dona Cadman is a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Surrey North in the Canadian House of Commons from 2008 to 2011, as well as the widow of Chuck Cadman, a former Member of Parliament for the same district. She served in the Conservative Party of Canada...
said that prior to the May 2005 Budget vote, Tom Flanagan
Tom Flanagan (political scientist)
Thomas Eugene Flanagan is an American-born political science professor at the University of Calgary, author, and conservative political activist. He also served as an advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper until 2004. Flanagan's scholarship has focused on Native and Metis rights in...
and Doug Finley, two Conservative Party
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
officials, offered her husband, Chuck Cadman, a million-dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his vote to bring down the Liberal government.
Domestic and foreign policy
Harper's government has introduced 6 budgets, 5 of which have passed. The 2011 budget was not passed prior to the calling of the 2011 general election. Since 2008, budgets have run substantial deficits. Harper's government has said this was a result of the 2008 global recession, while his opponents have said it is the result of new spending and lost revenues due to reductions to the Goods and Services TaxGoods and Services Tax (Canada)
The Goods and Services Tax is a multi-level value added tax introduced in Canada on January 1, 1991, by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his finance minister Michael Wilson. The GST replaced a hidden 13.5% Manufacturers' Sales Tax ; Mulroney claimed the GST was implemented because the MST...
and corporate income taxes.
As with any Canadian government, the principal foreign relations issue is the relationship with the United States, Canada's closest neighbour and largest trading partner. The ongoing War in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
has also been a major foreign policy issue for the Harper government.
Cabinet
Although the majority of Conservative seats were from the Western provinces, the majority of names which Stephen HarperStephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
put forward to the Governor General
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
for appointment as Cabinet Ministers were from Ontario and Quebec, in the interests of regional balance. The new Conservative Cabinet was substantially smaller than the prior Martin administration because it did away with junior ministers (known as Ministers of State, and previously Secretaries of State). Several pundits in the media have described Stephen Harper's
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
Cabinet as moderate, and a tempering of the Conservative Party's roots in the Canadian Alliance and Reform.
In selecting his cabinet Harper chose outgoing Liberal Minister of Industry
Minister of Industry (Canada)
The Minister of Industry is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's economic development and corporate affairs department, Industry Canada. The Minister of Industry is also the minister responsible for Statistics Canada...
David Emerson
David Emerson
David Lee Emerson, PC, OBC is a Canadian politician, businessman and civil servant.Emerson is a former Member of Parliament for the riding of Vancouver Kingsway. He was first elected as a Liberal and served as Minister of Industry under Prime Minister Paul Martin...
as Minister of International Trade
Minister of International Trade (Canada)
The Minister of International Trade is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet is the head of the federal government's international trade department and the provisions of treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement .The post was first established in 1983 as the Minister...
and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
, and Michael Fortier
Michael Fortier
Michael M. Fortier, PC is a former Canadian Minister of International Trade and a former Conservative senator from Quebec...
, a senior Conservative Party operative and campaign strategist, as Minister of Public Works
Minister of Public Works and Government Services (Canada)
The Minister of Public Works and Government Services is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's "common service organization" , an expansive department responsible for the internal servicing and administration of the federal...
, and as an appointee to the Senate
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
. Emerson had been re-elected to parliament as a Liberal only weeks earlier, while Fortier did not contest the previous election at all. Harper argued that the appointments were necessary to provide two of Canada's largest cities (Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
and Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
) with Cabinet representation, as the Conservatives did not win seats in these cities. Critics countered that no such concessions were made for Canada's largest city, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, where the conservatives also failed to win a seat, but proponents of the Prime Minister contest that MP and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty
Jim Flaherty
James Michael "Jim" Flaherty, PC, MP is Canada's Minister of Finance and he has also served as Ontario's Minister of Finance. From 1995 until 2005, he was the Member of Provincial Parliament for Whitby—Ajax, and a member of the Progressive Conservative Party caucus...
, representing the nearby city of Whitby
Whitby, Ontario
Whitby is a town in Durham Region. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and is home to the headquarters of Durham Region...
, will represent Torontonians in Cabinet.
Opposition politicians and other critics attacked the appointment of Emerson as hypocritical, as several members of the Conservative Party had criticized former Conservative MP Belinda Stronach
Belinda Stronach
Belinda Caroline Stronach, PC is a Canadian businessperson, philanthropist and former politician. She was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 2004 to 2008. Originally elected as a Conservative, she later crossed the floor to join the Liberals...
for crossing the floor to the Liberals and receiving a Cabinet appointment in 2005, shortly before a critical budgetary vote that amounted to a confidence motion for the then-ruling Liberal party. Emerson's decision was also met with opposition in his riding, where the Conservative candidate had received less than 20% of the vote in the previous campaign, although Emerson himself was re-elected by a large margin over the NDP runner-up. The Harper government defended Emerson's appointment as tapping a politician with previous federal Cabinet experience. Emerson himself suggested that it would help the Conservatives move to the middle of the political spectrum.
Harper's recommendation of Fortier for appointment was also controversial, as the Conservatives had previously criticized the unelected nature of the Senate
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
. Both Harper and Fortier have stated that the Senate appointment is temporary, and that Fortier will vacate his position at the next federal election to run for a seat in the House of Commons.
Other choices were met with greater support. Toronto mayor David Miller has called Harper's selection of Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon, PC is a Canadian politician from Quebec and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant. On October 30, 2008 he was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs...
as an appointee to Cabinet as a "very positive step" and "a signal Mr. Harper's serious about reaching out to cities". Harper recommended the appointment of Jim Flaherty
Jim Flaherty
James Michael "Jim" Flaherty, PC, MP is Canada's Minister of Finance and he has also served as Ontario's Minister of Finance. From 1995 until 2005, he was the Member of Provincial Parliament for Whitby—Ajax, and a member of the Progressive Conservative Party caucus...
as an elected MP to represent the city along with the Greater Toronto Area
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...
(GTA). Flaherty represents the riding of Whitby—Oshawa
Whitby—Oshawa
Whitby—Oshawa is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.It has been represented in the House of Commons since 2006 by Jim Flaherty, the federal Minister of Finance.-History:...
, in the Durham Region
Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario
The Regional Municipality of Durham, informally referred to as Durham Region, is a regional municipality located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto, Ontario. It has an area of approximately 2,500 square kilometres. Durham Region is considered part of the Greater Toronto Area, with the communities...
of the eastern GTA, and his selection as Minister of Finance was viewed positively by the Bay Street
Bay Street
Bay Street, originally known as Bear Street, is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Street in that role in the 1970s...
business community.
On March 3, 2006, Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro
Bernard Shapiro
Bernard Jack Shapiro, is a Canadian academic, civil servant, former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University from 1994 to 2004, and the first Ethics Commissioner of Canada between May 17, 2004 and March 29, 2007.-Biography:...
announced that he was launching a preliminary inquiry into conflict-of-interest allegations against Emerson and Harper. Shapiro said that he would look into what influence may have been wielded in the decision by Emerson to cross the floor. Conservatives criticized Shapiro's probe as partisan and accused him of applying a double standard since he was appointed on the advice of the former Liberal prime minister, and had turned down earlier requests in 2005 to investigate Stronach's floor-crossing in which she received a Cabinet post, as well as a questionable land sale by Hamilton area Liberal MP Tony Valeri
Tony Valeri
Tony Valeri, PC is a former Canadian politician. Valeri was the Canadian Government House Leader in Paul Martin's government from 2004 until 2006...
. Shapiro had also been under fire from former NDP leader Ed Broadbent
Ed Broadbent
John Edward "Ed" Broadbent, is a Canadian social democratic politician and political scientist. He was leader of the federal New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. In the 2004 federal election, he returned to Parliament for one additional term as the Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre.-Life...
for "extraordinarily serious credibility problems". While agreeing with Harper that Shapiro's investigation was inappropriate, Broadbent and opposition MPs criticized Harper for refusing to cooperate with the Commissioner.
Mr Shapiro concluded that a minister crossing the floor to take a Cabinet position would only have been inappropriate if said Cabinet position was offered in return for some action in Parliament, such as preventing the government from falling on a confidence vote. Emerson's appointment did not fall under those conditions and Shapiro cleared both Harper and Emerson of any wrongdoing on March 20, 2006. However, Shapiro declined to launch any investigation into Belinda Stronach's floor-crossing, even though it was done for exactly the reason that Shapiro claimed would be inappropriate.
Deputy Prime Minister and succession
Unlike his recent predecessors, Harper did not name one of his colleagues to the largely honorific post of Deputy Prime MinisterDeputy Prime Minister of Canada
The Deputy Prime Minister of Canada is an honorary position in the cabinet, conferred at the discretion of the prime minister. There is currently, , no deputy prime minister....
. Various observers had expected him to name MacKay, the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
and his deputy party leader, or Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon, PC is a Canadian politician from Quebec and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant. On October 30, 2008 he was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs...
, as a Quebec lieutenant
Quebec lieutenant
In Canadian politics, a Quebec lieutenant is a politician, from Quebec, usually a francophone and most often a Member of Parliament or at least a current or former candidate for Parliament, who is selected by a senior politician such as the Prime Minister or the leader of a national federal party,...
, to the post. Harper did, however, name an order of succession to act on his behalf in certain circumstances, starting with Cannon, then Jim Prentice
Jim Prentice
James "Jim" Prentice, PC, QC is a Canadian lawyer, and politician. In the 2004 federal election he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a candidate of the Conservative Party of Canada...
, then the balance of his cabinet in order of precedence
Canadian order of precedence
The Canadian order of precedence is a nominal and symbolic hierarchy of important positions within the Government of Canada. It has no legal standing but is used to dictate ceremonial protocol....
.
Media relations
Unlike previous Prime Ministers of Canada, Harper has insisted that the Prime Minister's Office has the right to choose which reporters ask questions at press conferences, which, along with other steps aimed at limiting and controlling media access, has created some conflict with national media. It has been reported that the Prime Minister's Office also "often informs the media about Harper's trips at such short notice that it's impossible for Ottawa journalists to attend the events".Relations with the press in the 2011 campaign
During the 2011 campaign, the unusually rigid control that Harper maintains over the press has resulted in growing outrage. During Harper's visit to Halifax in the early part of the campaign, reporters were kept well away from him, within steel pens. Even before the campaign, the Canadian Association of Journalists wrote a letter to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics strongly criticizing the Canadian government for severely restricting access to documents that should be made available to Canadian citizens. The CAJ stated " Open government is not revolutionary and the government of Canada is behind compared to other nations and even some provinces."
"Canada's New Government" and "Harper Government"
While Canadian governments of various political stripes have traditionally used the term "Government of Canada" to describe the government in its communications materials, the Harper government has broken that tradition for two extended periods. From taking office in February 2006 until October 2007, the government was branded "Canada's New GovernmentCanada's New Government
"Canada's New Government" is a branding term or political slogan used by the Government of Canada during the first twenty months of the Harper ministry.Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party, took office on February 6, 2006...
" and from late 2010 to mid 2011 it has been branded the "Harper Government". The former was the subject of ridicule by other parties and some media commentators, while the latter has been criticized by some academics and former civil servants as a partisan misuse of government resources.