He was a Liberal in high school and switched parties less than two years after he graduated. The NEP was enacted when he worked in the mail room at Imperial Oil in Calgary. He did not have to move to Calgary to become indoctrinated into the oil industry's worldview since his Dad back in Toronto, when he was growing up, worked for Imperial Oil.
I remember the NEP well, I thought it was a decent national program. Harper on the other hand cites the NEP as the reason he switched parties.
Harper became involved in politics as a member of his high school's Young Liberals Club.[22] He later changed his political allegiance because he disagreed with the National Energy Program (NEP) of Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government.[23]