He was a key policy maker in the early years of the Reform Party, but left the party after a rift with leader Preston Manning. He has a BA and an MA in economics from the University of Calgary.

April 30, 1959
Born in Toronto, Ont.

June 1978
Graduates from high school and moves to Alberta to work in the oil fields.

1985
Earns his BA in economics from the University of Calgary. Takes a position as executive assistant to Jim Hawkes, the Tory MP for Calgary West.

1986
Leaves that job after what Preston Manning called "profound disillusionment" with the federal Progressive Conservative government.

1987
Presents Manning with a paper he co-wrote called Political Reform and the Taxpayer at the Reform Association's Western Assembly on Canada's Economic and Political Future. Manning invites him to make a speech at the founding convention of the Reform Party later that year, and makes him his chief policy officer.

1988
Runs against his old boss Jim Hawkes in Calgary West in the federal election, and loses by 23,000 votes.

1991
Earns his MA in economics from the University of Calgary. Marries Laureen Teskey, a graphic designer. The couple would go on to have two children: Benjamin and Rachel.

1993
Runs against Hawkes again and wins. Serves as the party's critic for finance and national unity.

1997
Leaves Parliament to lead the National Citizens Coalition, a right-wing lobby group, after a falling out with Manning.

1998
A group of conservative business people, the Blue Committee, tries to persuade Harper to run for leadership of the Progressive Conservatives. He declines.

2000
At the leadership convention for the new Canadian Alliance party, Harper votes for Tom Long on the first ballot and Stockwell Day on the second.

2002
Wins the leadership of the Canadian Alliance party after Day steps down. Manning retires from politics, making way for Harper to win the Calgary Southwest riding in a byelection.

March 20, 2004
Harper becomes leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, beating Belinda Stronach and Tony Clement on the first ballot.

June 28, 2004
In his first election as leader of the Conservative party, Harper fails to unseat the Liberals. The "united right" falls significantly short of the combined vote of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties in the previous election. But the Liberals can only manage a fragile minority.