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OTTAWA — An enduring conspiracy theory about Stephen Harper’s date of birth was revived this week when his wife sent out an email inviting supporters to wish the prime minister a happy 56th on April 30.

“Needless to say, with the election coming up in less than 200 days, it’s been quite busy in Ottawa,” Laureen Harper wrote. “Adding your name will be a BIG show of support for him and the whole Conservative team.”

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The satirical news magazine Frank pointed out that, contrary to the date his wife quoted, Harper’s date of birth had been repeatedly ascribed to April 20, the same date the Hitler family celebrated the birth of Adolf in 1889.

Indeed, numerous media reports and at least two published books on Harper and the Conservative movement peg the date as April 20.

But for about the past 10 years, the April 30 date has been used. In April 2005, the year before he became prime minister, someone from the Detroit, Mich., area edited Harper’s Wikipedia page entry and changed the date from the 20th to 30th.