Details of the official portrait of Stephen Harper...

So many things you will miss if you don't know the story.

I can’t embed an X post on here or I would but these details come from Dimitri Soudas who worked for Stephen Harper for years as a spokesman and advisor at various levels.

So below, for those of you not on X, I’ve posted the details from Dimitri. If any of you notice that in his list Dimitri uses commas instead of periods after the numbers - he works mostly in French…

1, On the top level of the left side of the bookshelf rest four small flags.

They are the flags of Alberta, PM Harper’s home province in adulthood, Ontario, his home province in childhood, New Brunswick, the ancestral home of the Harper family, and the Kainai First Nation of Alberta, of which PM Harper is an honorary chief.

2, The top level of the right side of the bookshelf shows a photograph of Alert, Nunavut, the most northerly settlement in the world. PM Harper visited in 2006 as part of his northern agenda. Immediately below are the colours of the Royal 22nd Regiment of Quebec City, the “Van Doos,” of which PM Harper is an honorary member.

3, The second level of the left side of the bookshelf contains a photograph of Quebec City, Calgary’s sister city, and a miniature Stanley Cup, symbolizing PM Harper’s keen interest in hockey.

4, The third level of the left side of the bookshelf contains several books of importance in PM Harper’s life. From the right, the French dictionary represents his success in becoming bilingual. Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations is the seminal book of the economics profession, PM Harper being an economist. James Buchanan’s Democracy in Deficit is a critical work in public choice economics, the subfield in which PM Harper wrote his master’s thesis. The New Canada is the first book by Preston Manning, founder of the Reform Party and PM Harper’s principal political mentor. The Bible reminds viewers that PM Harper is a Christian believer. The harp refers both to his family name and his interest in music. Sitting above the other books is Old Colours Never Die, his father’s book on the history of regimental flags in Canada.

5, The fourth level of both the left and right sides of the bookshelf shows a photo of a deer near the Elbow River in the backyard of PM Harper’s residence in Bragg Creek, Alberta. The volumes represent the trade agreements concluded by PM Harper’s government with the European Free Trade Association, Peru, Colombia, Jordan, Panama, Honduras, the European Union, South Korea, Ukraine, and the Trans Pacific Partnership. In total, PM Harper’s government increased the number of countries Canada had free trade agreements with from five to 51, representing roughly two thirds of global GDP.

6, The mug on the desk displays the iconic cover of With the Beatles, the band’s second album from 1963. PM Harper is an avid Beatles fan, and this mug was indeed on his desk during his time in office.

7, The black and white photo on PM Harper’s desk shows his childhood family, including father Joe, mother Margaret, and brothers Grant and Robert, outside their family home at 332 Bessborough Drive in Leaside, now part of the City of Toronto.

8, The colour photo on PM Harper’s desk shows his family at 24 Sussex Drive, including his wife Laureen, son Ben, and daughter Rachel.

9, The colours in PM Harper’s tie represent his success in bringing together the elements of Canadian conservatism. The dark blue represents the Tory tradition of the Progressive Conservative Party. The green represents the western populist tradition of the Reform Party. The sky blue represents the autonomist tradition of conservative francophones and Quebec nationalists.

10, PM Harper is holding a volume representing the 2015 Budget, which confirmed the return of the federal government to balance after the extraordinary fiscal stimulus used from 2009 to 2011 to combat the effects of the global financial crisis.

11, Through the window, the skyline of Calgary can be seen. PM Harper represented the city in the House of Commons, specifically Calgary West, Calgary Southwest, and Calgary Heritage.

12, On PM Harper’s lapel is the Canada flag pin that he always wore while in office and continues to wear. Like his father, PM Harper is a vexillologist and, after his time in office, he authored The Flags of Canada.