- published: 20 Oct 2015
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Robert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. From 1990 to 1995, he was Premier of Ontario.
Rae was a New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament from 1978 to 1982. Then he moved to provincial politics, becoming leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party from February 7, 1982 to June 22, 1996. He served as the 21st Premier of Ontario from October 1, 1990 to June 26, 1995, and was the first person to have led a provincial NDP government east of Manitoba. While in office, he brought forward a number of initiatives that were unpopular with many traditional NDP supporters, such as the Social Contract. Rae's subsequent disagreement with the leftward direction of the NDP led him to resign his membership and join the Liberals.
In 2006, he was a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, finishing in third place on the third ballot. He had originally been a Liberal in the 1970s before joining the NDP. Rae returned to the Canadian House of Commons on March 31, 2008 as a Liberal MP after winning a March 17, 2008 by-election holding the riding that had previously been held by Liberal Bill Graham. He was re-elected in the 2008 general election. Rae ran again as a candidate for the party leadership but withdrew on December 12, 2008. He was re-elected in the Toronto Centre riding in the 2011 general election and was named interim leader of the Liberal Party weeks later, replacing Michael Ignatieff.
Stephen Joseph Harper, PC MP (born April 30, 1959) 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. He is the first prime minister from the newly reconstituted Conservative Party, following a merger of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties.
Harper has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Calgary Southwest in Alberta since 2002. Earlier, from 1993 to 1997, he was the MP for Calgary West. He was one of the founding members of the Reform Party, but did not seek re-election, and instead joined, and shortly thereafter led, the National Citizens Coalition. In 2002, he succeeded Stockwell Day as leader of the Canadian Alliance (the successor to the Reform Party) and returned to parliament as Leader of the Opposition. In 2003, he reached an agreement with Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay for the merger of their two parties to form the Conservative Party of Canada. He was elected as the party's first non-interim leader in March 2004.