Stephen Harper: Trump Will “Reverse the Cornerstone of 7 Decades of American Foreign Policy”

Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks and takes questions at The Raisina Dialogue 2017, a conference of the Observer Research Foundation with the subject “The New Normal: Multilateralism with Multipolarity.” The speech took place on January 19, 2017, at the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi, India.

Stephen Harper Retires after Defying Odds, "Experts"

Brian Lilley of TheRebel.media looks back at the official retirement of Stephen Harper from politics.

Life Imitates "1984": Canada's Liberals Get Google to Erase Stephen Harper from the Web

Stephen Harper As You’ve Never Seen Him Before: Singing Sweet Caroline at a 2015 Stampede Barbecue, Acting in Murdoch Mysteries

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Vans Cats perform Sweet Caroline at his riding association's annual Stampede barbecue in 2015.


Five exciting new career opportunities for outgoing Canada PM Stephen Harper: Harper has resigned as Conservative party head, and everyone is wondering what he’ll do next. The Guardian has handpicked possible jobs to keep him occupied based on his musical talents, hockey knowledge and love of cats »

Harper Moving Back to Calgary after Election Defeat

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Stephen Harper is moving back to Calgary following the Conservative Party’s defeat in the 2015 federal election, returning to his hometown with his wife Laureen and daughter Rachel.

A Conservative Party source says Ben Harper, the prime minister’s son, will remain in Ontario where he is attending Queen’s University in Kingston.

The Harpers have a family home in Calgary. » | Steven Chase | Ottawa | Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Canadian PM: I Will Defend Israel 'Whatever the Cost'

Ottawa, Canada - Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was prepared to suffer any political backlash that would come his way for speaking out against anti-Israel rhetoric.

The Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper: "Do I Seem Like I Smoke Marijuana?"

Transition Begins for Justin Trudeau

Outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper has met with prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau, marking the official transition between the two leaders.

'The People Are Never Wrong': Highlights from Stephen Harper's Concession Speech

Stephen Harper's Conservative Party of Canada lost to the Liberal Party of Canada on Election Night.

Trudeau Rides National Desire for Change to Majority Government

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: In a stunning political comeback propelled by a national desire for change, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals won a decisive majority Monday night, bringing an end to the Stephen Harper era and a decade of Conservative rule.

Long derided by opponents as shallow and inexperienced, the Liberal Leader will now be the second Trudeau to take up residence as Prime Minister at 24 Sussex Dr. after leading the Liberals from the political wilderness back into government.

The result signals a vast reversal of fortunes for a party that was all but written off after winning just 34 seats in the past election. Their seat haul on Monday – with huge gains across the country – amounts to the largest increase in seats for a party between elections in Canadian history. The party was elected in 175 ridings and leading in a handful of others late Monday night.

The vote put an end to a long, acrimonious campaign that saw charges of Conservative Islamophobia and a bitter fight between the Liberals and NDP for the “change vote,” a battle the Liberals won. » | Eric Andrew-Gee, Steven Chase, Daniel Leblanc, and Les Perreaux | The Globe and Mail | Monday, October 19, 2015; Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2015

THE GLOBE AND MAIL – EDITORIAL: Voters wanted change. They got it »

Muslims in Canada: Anti-Islamic Sentiment a Growing Concern

Muslims in Canada are concerned their religion has become a lightning rod for fear and anger, and they believe anti-Muslim sentiment is only getting worse. CityNews reporter Avery Haines explores the issues in this four-part series.

Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau Face Off Over Niqab Debate

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau face off over a growing debate about whether wearing a niqab is a choice and when it should be allowed.

Niqabs ‘Rooted in a Culture That Is Anti-women,’ Harper Says

Prime Minister Stephen Harper answers a question
during Question Period in the House of Commons
in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 10, 2015.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Stephen Harper says the practice of covering one’s face with a niqab is “rooted in a culture that is anti-women” – his bluntest effort to date to explain why the Conservative government is fighting the use of these veils during Canadian citizenship ceremonies.

The Prime Minister was responding in the House of Commons to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who has sharply criticized the Tories for seeking to ban the covering of women’s faces when they are swearing a citizenship oath and has accused Mr. Harper of Islamophobia.

Mr. Trudeau responded outside the Commons Tuesday by declaring that “this government is doubling down on the politics of fear.”

A debate over reasonable accommodation in Canada is playing out again, this time over the niqab. Mr. Harper is arguing, as a Conservative fundraising e-mail recently put it, that is “not the way we do things here,” while Mr. Trudeau is championing religious freedom as protected by the Charter of Rights.

Some Muslim women wear face-covering niqabs in public, and the Liberals defend their right to wear the veil during citizenship ceremonies. Mr. Harper, whose government is appealing a Federal Court ruling that would allow people to cover their face while reciting the oath of citizenship, strongly disagrees. » | Steven Chase | Ottawa | Pub. Tuesday, March 10, 2015 | Updated: Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Harper Says Majority of ‘Moderate Muslims’ Support View on Niqab Ban

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Stephen Harper’s Conservatives find themselves on the defensive regarding their relationship with Muslim Canadians, a rare position for the governing party that has made courting ethnic communities a staple of its election strategy.

The Prime Minister, who upset some Muslim Canadians this week by saying the face-covering niqab is “rooted in a culture that is anti-woman,” stood up in the Commons Wednesday to enumerate support for his government’s campaign to ban the use of the veil when taking the oath of Canadian citizenship. A small minority of Muslim women wear the niqab in Canada.

He listed groups such as the Coalition of Progressive Canadian Muslim Organizations, which, Mr. Harper told the Commons, have declared: “Most Canadians believe that it is offensive that someone would hide their identity at the very moment where they are committing to join the Canadian family.” » | Steven Chase | Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Canada PM Harper Calls for Expanded Terror Laws

"Violent jihadism is not a human right," Stephen Harper said.
"It is an act of war."

BBC AMERICA: Encouraging terror attacks against Canada will become a crime under legislation proposed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The measure will also expand the powers of the country's spy agency, allowing it to take direct action to stop attacks.

Work began on the bill after two attacks days apart last year. It is expected to be passed by Mr Harper's Conservative majority in Parliament.

Under current law it is a crime to make a specific threat. The new measure would make it crime to call for a terror attack against the country or Canadians generally, including online.

"We cannot tolerate this any more than we tolerate people that make jokes about bomb threats at airports," Mr Harper said.

"Anyone engaging in that kind of activity is going to face the full force of the law in the future."

The maximum prison sentence for those convicted under the new measure would be five years. » | Friday, January 30, 2015

Maple Leaf Ragged: What Ails Canada?

THE GUARDIAN: Country's increasingly hardline stances on immigration, tar sands, indigenous people and Quebec separatism spark soul-searching

There's trouble brewing in Canada.

It's difficult to perceive on first glance. In Toronto, the air is clean, crime rates are low and healthcare is universal. Yet an undercurrent of anxiety courses through the country's public discourse and its media; it dominates conversations in coffee shops and university hallways. A volley of recent polarising political developments has led many Canadians to ask whether their country's reputation as a toleran environmentally conscious international peacemaker is suddenly in doubt.

A harsh crackdown on illegal immigrants has belied the notion of a country open to incomers. Quebec has elected a separatist provincial government, triggering political violence. The extraction of oil from the vast tar sands of Alberta has proven hugely controversial, as has the marginalisation of the country's First Nations indigenous people. In foreign policy, Canada is increasingly toeing the US line, most recently cutting diplomatic ties with Iran. And its Afghanistan deployment has been tainted by allegations of complicity in the torture of detainees.

Some, though not all, of this tendency has been blamed on the country's conservative leadership, which gained a parliamentary majority in May last year. The prime minister, Stephen Harper, has tightened immigration policy, struck a hard line in the Middle East and adjusted environmental policy to encourage controversial oil extraction programmes in the country's vast northern hinterlands.

"Everybody knew that Harper would have a different agenda from that of the Liberals," said Herb Grubel, a professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University and former member of parliament. "What he has been doing is putting into effect some of these ideas." » | Jonathan Kaiman in Toronto | Friday, September 14, 2012

In Shafias' Hometown, Harper Talks about ‘Honour’ Crimes

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Prime Minister Stephen Harper recalled the Shafia killings while visiting the family's hometown of Montreal to underscore Ottawa's support of a program to prevent so-called honour crimes.

Mr. Harper visited a Montreal centre for victims of family violence Friday to denounce crimes against women and girls committed in the name of “honour.”

He called honour crimes “barbaric” and “heinous” before promising nearly $350,000 to help fund a program led by The Shield of Athena Family Services to prevent these practices in the city.
“Recently, the tragedy of the Shafia girls touched Canadians profoundly,” Mr. Harper said in a speech at a community centre.

“All Canadians, regardless of the colour of their skin or which god is in their prayers, have the inalienable right to security and life.

“It's our homework to ensure that the victims of these incomprehensible murders did not suffer for nothing.” » | Andy Blatchford | Montreal | The Canadian Press | Friday, March 16, 2012

After U.S. Oil Snub, Canada Focuses on China
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada wants to expand economic ties with China, in the wake of the U.S. decision to block the Keystone oil pipeline project
Watch Reuters video here | Monday, February 06, 2012

Canadian Government Says It Will Not Recognise Foreign Gay Marriages
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Thousands of foreign gay couples who wed in Canada are not legally married, a government lawyer argued in a case involving two lesbians seeking a divorce, according to court documents.

The argument threatens to disrupt the lives of thousands of gay people who moved to Canada because they were unable to get married in their home countries.

The case that prompted the government's position involves two women, one from Florida and the other from Britain, both in their early thirties, who wed in Toronto in 2005 but are now seeking a divorce.

Department of Justice lawyer Sean Gaudet said in a documented response to their application that they cannot be granted a divorce because they were not married in the first place. » | Friday, January 13, 2012

Countries that Ban Homosexuality Risk Losing Aid, Warns David Cameron

THE GUARDIAN: Prime minister concedes 'deep prejudices' in some countries mean the problem will persist for years

Britain has threatened countries that ban homosexuality with losing aidpayments unless they reform, David Cameron has said.

But he conceded that "deep prejudices" in some countries meant the problem would persist for years.

The prime minister said he had raised the issue with leaders of some of the states involved when he attended the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Australia.

Britain was "putting the pressure on", he said. But it was not a problem that would be solved by the time Commonwealth leaders are next due to meet, in Sri Lanka in 2013.

Cameron warned Sri Lanka to improve its human rights record or face boycotts of the 2013 summit. He declined to discuss whether the UK could stay away but said he shared a "similar view" to that of the Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, who has said he will not attend.

Ending bans on homosexuality was one of the recommendations of a highly critical internal report on the future relevance of the Commonwealth, written by experts from across the member nations.

"We are not just talking about it. We are also saying that British aid should have more strings attached," Cameron said on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show in an interview recorded at the summit in Perth.

"This is an issue where we are pushing for movement, we are prepared to put some money behind what we believe. But I'm afraid that you can't expect countries to change overnight. » | Press Association | Sunday, October 30, 2011

I have sometimes been critical of David Cameron in the past for not showing enough courage. This decision, however, is a courageous one; and he should be respected for it. Homosexuals have had to suffer throughout the ages. It is high time that people put their prejudices to the side, it is high time that homosexuals were recognised for the human beings that they are, for the people who should be respected for the nature they were born with and can do nothing about. Countries which punish and harass homosexuals do not deserve our aid. Let them go sing for it elsewhere. – © Mark