Laureen Ann Harper ( Teskey; born June 23, 1963) is a Canadian graphic designer. She is married to Canada's 22nd prime minister,

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

Life and career

The eldest of three, Laureen Ann Teskey was born in

Turner Valley Turner Valley is a town in the Calgary Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by Foothills County. It is on Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail), west of Black Diamond and approximately southwest of Calgary. It was named after Robert ...

, a rural town southwest of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, to rancher parents who owned an electrical contracting company. Her parents, Barbara and Dennis Teskey, divorced in 1991, after 29 years. After graduating from Oilfields High School, she attended the

Southern Alberta Institute of Technology The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) is a polytechnic institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. SAIT offers more than 110 career programs in technology, trades and business. Established in 1916, it is Calgary's second oldest post-se ...

where she studied

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

and

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

. She was first married to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

er Neil Fenton from April 1985 to 1988.Kingston, Anne
"Wife of the party"
, ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...

'', August 13, 2007 Teskey joined the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protes ...

in the late 1980s. She met Stephen Harper in 1990 while working for GTO Printing, a computer graphics firm operating in Calgary that helped create professional graphs and tables for Harper's major paper for his master's degree in Economics at the University of Calgary. They married on December 11, 1993.

Surname

There was initially confusion in the Canadian media about which surname Laureen Harper uses — at different times, media references to her have called her Teskey, Harper, or Teskey Harper (not hyphenated). She used the name "Laureen Teskey" after her 1993 marriage to Stephen Harper, but after her husband's victory in the 2006 federal election, she began using the name "Laureen Harper" in her public role as a spouse of the Prime Minister.

Campaigning

When her husband ran in the 2006 elections, she campaigned alongside him. She was frequently seen at the podium on behalf of and with her husband.

Public life

34th G8 summit member's spouses 20080708 2

She had an active public life while at 24 Sussex Drive. She supported causes such as the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) (french: Centre national des Arts) is a performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre building. History The NAC was one of a number of ...

where she was Honorary Gala Chair starting in 2005. She was also an active supporter and campaigner for

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...

organizations such as the

Ottawa Humane Society The Ottawa Humane Society (1888 to present) is the humane society for Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Background The Ottawa Humane Society is a non-profit organization, community-based organization and a registered charitable organization, ''Charity R ...

. She accompanied her husband on international trips, for example the G8,

G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigatio ...

and others. Mrs. Harper hosted the spouses of G8 and G20 leaders in June 2010 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario. She created some controversy when she notified the

on September 24, 2008 that she would not be able to fulfill her role as Honorary Gala chair on October 4. This announcement came just days after her husband said that rich galas aren't something that resonate with ordinary people. Harper later responded saying that the circumstances of her being unable to attend had nothing to do with her husband's comments. On June 3, 2013, Harper and Ottawa city councillor Allan Hubley announced a new federal anti-bullying strategy to train approximately 2,400 teenagers across Canada in delivering

peer education Peer education is an approach to health promotion, in which community members are supported to promote health-enhancing change among their peers. Peer education is the teaching or sharing of health information, values and behavior in educating othe ...

workshops and presentations against bullying to their fellow students."Feds pledge $250K to youth-led anti-bullying project"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

, June 3, 2013.

References

External links