From 2006 to 2015, Canada had a prime minister who offered few public insights about his inner life. Not even Stephen Harper’s family (wife Laureen, daughter Rachel and son Ben) were much on display. However, he had his passions. In these excerpts from his new memoir “Here for Canada: Memoirs of the 22nd Prime Minister,” Harper recounts three moments where the piano-playing PM’s interest in music came to the fore.
Sir Paul McCartney
In 2008, when Paul McCartney was touring in North America, he had a concert in Quebec City to celebrate its 400th anniversary. During that time, he had appeared on television with his then-wife Heather Mills attacking the Canadian seal hunt — a fashionable cause for celebrities at that time. But this annual harvest had worked hard to adopt more humane killing measures over the decades, and my Government strongly supported it as a critical industry in parts of Atlantic and Northern Canada, especially among the Inuit. Frankly, I was fed up with affluent celebrities looking to burnish their social activism credentials at the expense of these Canadian workers.
So when Ray Novak came into my office one day saying he had, of all people, Paul McCartney on the line and that he wanted to talk with me, I asked him what it was regarding. “I think it’s about the seal hunt,” Ray said. “Well, then, tell him I won’t take the call,” was my immediate response. Stunned, Ray asked, “Really? Are you serious?” “Yeah, just tell him I’m not taking the call,” I responded.
Ray went back to his office and delivered the message, making me, I suspect, the first person since Decca Records refused to sign the Beatles in 1962 not to take a call from Paul McCartney. I felt terrible about it, not just because I am a huge Beatles fan but also because, as a McCartney watcher, I could see that this out-of-character, abrasive activism was the product of a doomed marriage.
All that said, it was not a hard decision. As prime minister, I took seriously my foremost duty to represent the interests of the Canadian people. On this matter, I was defending those interests, and the views of a foreign celebrity were irrelevant. Besides, I have always been careful about my relationships with celebrities. Given the publicity-seeking nature of their careers, such associations can be a dangerous thing.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper plays the piano with a band at the prime minister’s official residence in Ottawa Friday, April 22, 2011.
FRED CHARTRAND THE CANADIAN PRESS
However, my eventual 2013 meeting with McCartney in Ottawa did have an ulterior motive. It had been facilitated by representatives of the Canadian music industry as part of their efforts to influence the government on copyright policy. As we were, in fact, examining the issue of expiring copyrights on 1960s music, this was pertinent. McCartney’s office had been clear that he wished to raise “issues related to the music business” with me. We had indicated that I would listen but make no commitments.
I met Sir Paul about a half-hour before he went on stage. He was cordial in introducing himself, but instead of bringing up anything about the music business, he started asking me about my trip to Lac-Mégantic and if I could share some of the things I had seen and witnessed on the ground.
From his demeanour, it was clear that the event had shaken him. He paid careful attention as I spoke and at the end asked, “Is there anything I can do?” I responded that I would be going back to Lac-Mégantic, probably several times in the near future for funerals and memorials, and I would certainly pass on his condolences. McCartney never did raise the business issues.
After our meeting, Sir Paul proceeded to put on a magnificent show. He played for three hours. At seventy-one years old, he took no breaks, although his much younger bandmates did … It was wonderful to see McCartney doing what he clearly loved as if he were still a teenager.
Two weeks later, when his tour took him to Quebec City, Sir Paul paid to bring a thousand fans from Lac-Mégantic to the concert. Further, he offered free concert tickets for all those willing to go to Lac-Mégantic to help with the recovery. Only sometime later did I receive a short letter from him on the copyright issues.
As a politician, I have a sufficiently cynical side about the things that people say. However, in this case, Sir Paul showed how genuine his sympathies for the people of Lac-Mégantic were. He did not have to do what he did. For me, it was refreshing to meet somebody you admire for something and find them to be worthy of that admiration in other areas of their life as well.
Beatle for a Day
When I was in London in 2009 for the G20 meeting, my family joined me. They did not come on many of these trips, but every so often they would, depending mostly on the school year calendar. The timing of the summit was only four weeks prior to my fiftieth birthday, and it turned out they had set up a surprise for me.
Knowing all too well my lifelong love of the Beatles, Laureen suggested we all go to Abbey Road and take that iconic shot from the album cover of the same name with the four of us crossing the road. “Why not?” I said. “I mean, people are doing that all the time there, so it should not seem too abnormal.” Right? Wrong. Being prime minister meant that security insisted on clearing the intersection. It was a little embarrassing, but it did get us a better photo. Ben took his shoes off, so he really got into the vibe.
With the picture taken, and us standing in front of the studio, Laureen said, “Why don’t you go knock on the door and see if anyone’s there?” “I’m not just going to start knocking on their door for no reason,” I told her. At that, she revealed that she had arranged a full studio tour, and they were expecting me …
Our hosts took us through the facility. They demonstrated the use of the best modern recording equipment. They also shared a few stories. When someone in our group tried to use their cellphone but discovered there was no connection in the place, which seemed a little odd, our host laughed and said, “I can tell you that last week Keith Richards was here recording something. I’m not making this up,” he said. “He was running down the hall yelling, ‘I can’t get no cell reception!’”
As I have said, being PM does come with some very good perks. Well, this was right up there with the best of them. When the official tour was over, they took me to the famous Studio 2, where the Beatles did almost all their recording. Our hosts pulled out all the various pianos and keyboards that the members of the Beatles had used for composing and performing — some of these instruments had the ivory almost worn off the keys — and let me try out the pianos and keyboards. This fanatic was in heaven!
With a Little Help From His Friends
The pressure to take (my) revived interest in playing music to another level came from none other than Laureen. Like many prime ministers’ spouses, she involved herself in a number of charitable and non-profit activities. In this capacity, she had become honorary chair of the annual gala at the National Arts Centre. Five weeks before the event, out of the blue, she said, “I think you should play at the gala.”
I assumed she was joking, or maybe just thinking out loud. “What are you talking about?” I asked, stunned at the suggestion. “You should get up on stage with your band and do a number,” she said. Still rather taken aback, the best I could come up with was, “Are you kidding me?” She was not. “You’re actually pretty decent, and you can do it.” But she was as insistent as I was hesitant, adding the hard to dismiss, “Please do this for me …”
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, left, reacts to a surprised crowd as he follows Stephen Harper onto the stage for his performance of The Beatles song “With a Little Help From My Friends” which he sang and played on the piano during a surprise appearance at the National Arts Centre Gala in Ottawa, Ont., Saturday October 3, 2009.
Sean Kilpatrick The Canadian Press
A few days later, I brought the band over and ran the idea by them. Called Herringbone, they were a Celtic-rock group used to playing in front of live audiences in Ottawa and on the road. However, this would be their biggest gig to date, with orders of magnitude greater attention than they were used to. Yet they were keen on the idea.
The next question was, “What would we play?” Naturally, this being me, Beatles tunes came to the fore. The guys suggested relatively easy numbers, to play it safe. They first proposed “Eight Days a Week,” which I could do, although it is not one of my favourite Beatles songs. We ended up settling on, “With a Little Help From My Friends,” which was perfect for all kinds of reasons. In preparation, we worked up to two or three practices a week to tighten up the band, finding time later in the evenings …
On the evening of the performance, October 3, 2009, it would have been an understatement to say that I was nervous. While I was routinely in front of crowds, I had not performed musically before strangers in more than thirty years …
We sneaked into the National Arts Centre early that Saturday for an onstage rehearsal. Besides me, there was Richard Linke on guitar, Andre Van Schyndel on bass, Phil Nolan on drums, and Colin McSweeney, who acted as our “manager.” Colin also sang with us occasionally, but not on that night. When we got there, Colin told us, “We have a surprise for you. Yo-Yo Ma is going to sit in with your group.” Apparently, he had been at our sound check, heard us, and wanted to play.
“Here for Canada: Memoirs of the 22nd Prime Minister”
Stephen J. Harper
Signal/McClelland & Stewart
656 pages
$45
Courtesy of Signal/M&S
Having worked to really nail this tune as a group, my first reaction was, “Does he know the song?” McSweeney stopped me short, saying, “Prime Minister, cut it with the artistic temperament. It’s Yo-Yo Ma, for crying out loud. He’ll learn quick.” It did not hurt when later Yo-Yo came running up to me to introduce himself saying, “I’m Yo-Yo Ma. Are you Paul McCartney?”
When I got on the stage that night, there were a range of reactions, but mainly bewilderment. What was the prime minister doing on the National Arts Centre stage? Was he going to give a speech? In the middle of the concert? However, as we launched into the song, it became obvious I was there to play, and the crowd got into it too. They did get a laugh at me singing “I just need someone to love,” which, admittedly, did not quite fit my image. In the end, the performance was very well received, with a long-standing ovation to top it off. Yo-Yo stood out in obviously having a lot of fun … A little help from my friends, as the song says.
Excerpted from “Here for Canada: Memoirs of the 22nd Prime Minister” by Stephen J. Harper. Copyright @ 2026 by Stephen J. Harper. Published by Signal/M&S, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada. Reprinted with permission from the publisher.