Tom Flanagan: Too bad Harper isn't the one dealing with Donald Trump

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https://nationalpost.com/opinion/tom-flanagan-too-bad-harper-isnt-the-one-dealing-with-donald-trump

The Liberals have undone his legacy of sound finance and sensible diplomacy

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By Tom Flanagan, Special to National Post

Published Jan 31, 2026

Last updated 11 hours ago

5 minute read

Then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper gestures during a spending announcement at the Halifax Armoury in Halifax on Monday, May 12, 2008. Photo by Tim Krochak

Stephen Harper’s ten years as prime minister began on Feb. 6, 2006. Twenty years later is a good time to assess his achievements in office and the legacy he left behind. I worked closely with Harper when he was leader of the Opposition, but not when he was in government, so this is a view from the outside.

The first thing to remember is the constraints under which he laboured. He led a minority government until he finally won a majority in 2011. Even then, he was still hemmed in by a Liberal Senate, a left-leaning judiciary, and a federal civil service that tends to tilt Liberal or NDP. Thus, it is not surprising that his greatest accomplishments were in areas where he could exercise his executive authority without impediment.

Now, when talk of separatism in Alberta and Quebec is daily fare in the media, it’s hard to remember how calm federal relations were under Harper. He managed to keep both Alberta and Quebec reasonably happy, which we now see is no easy task. Separatism virtually disappeared from the public sphere under his watch.

Similarly, he managed relations with the United States successfully. He kept on good terms with both the Republican president George W. Bush and the Democratic president Barack Obama. Relations were calm, and trade was as free as it’s ever been. Too bad Harper is not around to deal with Donald Trump. I don’t know what he would do, but I wager he would be more successful than either Justin Trudeau or Mark Carney.

Working with finance minister Jim Flaherty, Harper also steered Canada through the Great Recession of 2008 with minimum disruption. Canada suffered less than most countries, certainly less than the United States.

Ironically, even though Harper was often seen as hard-edged and divisive while he was in government, his record was one of cooperation and compromise. He had great achievements in his time, but unfortunately his legacy of sound finance, accommodation with the provinces, and sensible diplomacy with the United States has been undone by subsequent Liberal governments.

Harper tried to be an activist prime minister internally, introducing many ideas from the Conservative policy manual. He succeeded in some initiatives: for example, shutting down the long-gun registry, revoking the monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board, requiring First Nations to publish their financial reports, and balancing the budget in his final term after 2011. Yet again much of the legacy was undone by later governments. The Liberals stopped enforcing the requirement for First Nations to publish their accounts and are trying to revive the gun registry in the form of a buyback. The balanced budget disappeared as soon as Justin Trudeau came to power.

Other Harper initiatives have been strangled by the courts. The Supreme Court of Canada nullified his attempt at Senate reform even before it could become law. Almost all his criminal justice reforms have been overturned by the courts, which have rejected them for Charter violations. Now we’re living with the consequences of increased crime and disorder on the streets.

At the time, almost everyone was pleased with Harper’s apology for Indian Residential Schools, accompanied by a generous financial settlement for former students. He thought that it was a major step toward reconciliation that would quiet unrest among First Nations. But in the long run it led to a cascade of other class actions against the government, which have cost tens of billions of dollars and seem to have caused more bitterness than reconciliation. As is often the case in politics, the unintended consequences of policy decisions can turn out to be different than what was expected.

Perhaps Harper’s greatest legacy is political rather than governmental — the creation of a Conservative party with support in every region of the country, a party that can win national elections and run the government. Remember the situation before Harper rose to prominence. The conservative side of national politics was divided between the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance, which was itself starting to fragment. Harper won the leadership of the Alliance, then brought about a merger with the Progressive Conservatives. The new Conservative Party of Canada lost the election of 2004 (full disclosure: as campaign manager, I must shoulder a lot of the blame) but went on to win minority governments in 2006 and 2008, and a majority in 2011.

The Conservatives have been out of office since 2015, but even in losing they won more votes than the Liberals in 2019 and 2021. They have not fulfilled Harper’s dream of replacing the Liberals as the “natural governing party,” but they have held together while suffering the pain of defeat. Their growing popularity with young people seems to augur well for the future. To leave behind a party capable of winning national elections is no small legacy, because alternation in office is essential to democratic government.

Is Canada better off now than it was under Harper? I think the answer is no. A balanced budget now seems like a dream of the past. The federal deficit is out of control, even though higher taxes bring in more revenue. A separatist party seems on the verge of victory in the next Quebec election, while Alberta will hold a referendum on separation. Our all-important relationship with the United States is dangerously frayed. No Canadian prime minister would have had an easy time with President Trump, but is it necessary to antagonize him as Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney have done?

The historical profession in Canada tilts left, even woke, so it will probably not give Harper his due; but in retrospect his time in office, if not a Golden Age, was a time of relative peace and prosperity. He deserves to rank highly among Canadian prime ministers.

Tom Flanagan is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Calgary and a former campaign manager for conservative political parties. He is the author of Harper’s Team.