TORONTO — Time Magazine has chosen Prime Minister Stephen Harper its 2006 Canadian Newsmaker of the Year.

Contributing editor Stephen Handelman writes that the prime minister who was "once dismissed as a doctrinaire backroom tactician with no experience in government has emerged as a warrior in power."

The magazine says Harper defied conventional wisdom about how to lead a minority government.

It says he slashed more than $1 billion worth of federal programs, reshuffled the federal bureaucracy, and reopened the wounds of the national unity debate by supporting Quebec's right to declare itself a "nation.''

At the same time, Time says, he has introduced a new standard of accountability for federal politicians, stewarded Canada's first major deployment of troops to a combat theatre in five decades and, for good measure, negotiated an end to a long-simmering trade wrangle with the U.S. over softwood exports.

The magazine says, "If Harper wins the majority he craves, in the election expected sometime next year, he may yet turn out to be the most transformational leader since Trudeau.''

The Canadian Newsmaker of the Year is an annual editorial special that began over 10 years ago.

The Newsmaker is defined as the person, place, group, or thing that has the most impact -- for better or for worse -- on the news in Canada.