Former prime minister Stephen Harper gestures to the artist after he unveiled his official portrait during a ceremony in Ottawa, on Tuesday.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Just before the ceremony in downtown Ottawa in which Stephen Harper’s official portrait as Prime Minister would be unveiled on Tuesday afternoon, huge screens all around the room displayed a more ephemeral photo record of his time in office.

The images highlighted what must have been most meaningful to him about that 2006-2015 chapter: the far north, the Canadian military, his family and political teammates. The images had that strange quality of capturing what seem like very recent events but then revealing just how much time has passed.

The small children Mr. Harper walked to school in one photo are now adults, and a few of the political confidants who appear at his side in others (finance minister Jim Flaherty and chief of staff Nigel Wright among them) are now deceased.

Harper continues call for national unity at portrait unveiling

It’s been 20 years since Mr. Harper’s newly united Conservatives formed government, after all. And it is around that anniversary that the portrait unveiling and other commemorative activities were planned this week, drawing countless Tories to Ottawa for a sort of homecoming celebration.

A formal painted portrait - Mr. Harper’s is by artist Phil Richards, who also painted Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee portrait - is all about turning the now into posterity. Most of the speeches took on an appreciative eulogy quality as a result.

People praised Mr. Harper’s focus on Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic - an interest that now looks both prescient and darkly necessary - his........

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