as a graphic artist with GTO printing and Fenton aspired to be a restaurateur. The marriage collapsed, however, and the two separated in 1988.

Neil Fenton is now the chairman of 10Duke, a computer software development company based in the United Kingdom and Finland. He is the founder of the cutting-edge company which creates new applications for online technology,

After the breakup of her first marriage. Laureen became heavily involved in a new Western-based political party called the Reform Party of Canada, a right-wing movement founded by Preston Manning, son of long-time Alberta Premier, Ernest Manning. It was at a Reform Party assembly in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1990 that Laureen first became acquainted with Stephen Joseph Harper.

In 1991, as her relationship with Stephen Harper became more serious, Laureen completed thelegal documents to finalize her divorce from Neil Fenton. That same year, her parents also divorced after 29 years of wedlock. According to a profile of Laureen Harper in Maclean's magazine (August 13, 2007) by Anne Kingston, religious differences contributed to the breakup of the marriage of Barbara and Dennis Teskey, causing their eldest child to take a dim view of organized religion. She and Stephen Harper, an evangelical Christian, do not share the same religious beliefs.

In the federal election of October 25, 1993, Stephen Harper was elected to Parliament. He represented the Reform Party as a member of the House of Commons for the riding for Calgary West. Not long after, on December 11, 1993, he wed Laureen Teskey in a simple civil ceremony. They were married