The Harper Record

The Harper government's policies are moving our country backwards toward a vision of society, the role of government, and the nature of the federation reminiscent of the 1920s. [...] As the government tried to liberalize markets in grains, the Wheat Board Ceo was fired 14 The Harper Record and the government worked to prevent Board members from speaking out in support of the marketing board. [...] The report of the Iacobucci Commission was originally meant to be submitted the week before the 2008 election was called, but was delayed until the week after the election.9 Both the Liberals who were in power during the events in question and the Conservatives, who are in favour of the anti-terrorist agenda, were thus spared public scrutiny on these issues during the election campaign. [...] Conclusion In the 32 months that the Conservative minority government was in power between 2006 and 2008, the people of Canada faced signifi- cant challenges because of the substance of what the Harper govern- ment achieved and because of the anti-democratic way in which he went about it. [...] In a 1989 memo to Preston Manning, he argued that the core political cleavage in contemporary Western democracies pits taxpayers and private sector-oriented citizens (the ideological right) against the public sector-oriented political class and "tax recipients of the Welfare State" (the ideological left).17 The conserv- ative coalition of the right would include the corporate sector and the privat.

A clear-eyed, balanced analysis of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's legacy and impact on Canadian public policy and institutions.

In examining the nuts and bolts of former prime minister Stephen Harper’s foreign policy universe between 2006 and 2015, Harper’s World turns to key foreign policy experts to break down and evaluate Harper’s international policies – from relations with China to his engagement with Canada’s Arctic region. In explaining both the what and the why of Harper’s foreign policy record, this book argues that the policy decisions of Harper’s Conservative government were primarily shaped and motivated by domestic, regional, and, most importantly, electoral calculations. Bringing together Canada’s leading foreign policy specialists, Harper’s World identifies the push and pull factors of Harper’s approach to various Canadian foreign policy issues. This collection offers original analyses, factual evidence, case studies, and supporting documentation to shed light on Harper’s foreign policy orientation during his almost ten years in power.

Political legacy is a concept that is often tossed around casually, hastily defined by commentators long before a prime minister leaves office. In the case of the polarizing Stephen Harper, clear-eyed analysis of his tenure is hard to come by. The Harper Factor offers a refreshingly balanced look at the Conservative decade under his leadership. What impact did Harper have on the nation’s finances, on law and order, and on immigration? Did he accomplish what he promised to do in areas such as energy and intergovernmental affairs? How did he change the conduct of politics, the workings of the media, and Parliament? A diverse group of contributors, including veteran economists David Dodge and Richard Dion, immigration advocate Senator Ratna Omidvar, Stephen Harper’s former policy director Paul Wilson, award-winning journalists such as Susan Delacourt, and vice-provost of Aboriginal Initiatives at Lakehead University Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, make reasoned cases for how Harper succeeded and how he fell short in different policy domains between 2006 and 2015. Stephen Harper’s record is decidedly more nuanced than both his admirers and detractors will concede. The Harper Factor provides an authoritative reference for Canadians on the twenty-second prime minister’s imprint on public policy while in office, and his political legacy for generations to come.

“I know you’re very busy, Mr. Harper. We’re all busy. But every person has a space next to where they sleep, whether a patch of pavement or a fine bedside table. In that space, at night, a book can glow. And in those moments of docile wakefulness, when we begin to let go of the day, then is the perfect time to pick up a book and be someone else, somewhere else, for a few minutes, a few pages, before we fall asleep.” From the author of Life of Pi comes a literary correspondence—recommendations to Canada’s Prime Minister of great short books that will inspire and delight book lovers and book club readers across our nation. Every two weeks since April 16th, 2007, Yann Martel has mailed Stephen Harper a book along with a letter. These insightful, provocative letters detailing what he hopes the Prime Minister may take from the books—by such writers as Jane Austen, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Stephen Galloway—are collected here together. The one-sided correspondence (Mr. Harper’s office has only replied once) becomes a meditation on reading and writing and the necessity to allow ourselves to expand stillness in our lives, even if we’re not head of government.

InParty of One,investigative journalist Michael Harris closely examines the majority government of a prime minister essentially unchecked by the opposition and empowered by the general election victory of May 2011. Harris looks at Harper’s policies, instincts, and the often breathtaking gap between his stated political principles and his practices. Harris argues that Harper is more than a master of controlling information: he is a profoundly anti-democratic figure. In the F-35 debacle, the government’s sin wasn’t only keeping the facts from Canadians, it was in inventing them. Harper himself provided the key confabulations, and they are irrefutably (and unapologetically) on the public record from the last election. This is no longer a matter of partisan debate, but a fact Canadians must interpret for what it may signify. Harris illustrates how Harper has made war on every independent source of information in Canada since coming to power.Party of Oneis about a man with a well-defined and growing enemies list of those not wanted on the voyage: union members, scientists, diplomats, environmentalists, First Nations peoples, and journalists. Against the backdrop of a Conservative commitment to transparency and accountability, Harris exposes the ultra-secrecy, non-compliance, and dismissiveness of this prime minister. And with the Conservative majority in Parliament, the law is simple: what one man, the PM, says, goes.