WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Former Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper announced his resignation as member of parliament on on Friday.
Harper became the first prime minister from the modern Conservative Party, and held this post from February, 2006 until November 2015.
Harper was notorious for his heated anti-Russia rhetoric, and has exacerbated the downward movement of relations between the countries since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. Supported by a vocal Ukrainian diaspora in the country, Harper has assisted Ukraine with financial and material aid.