Harpauer served in the Executive Council of Saskatchewan from 2007 to 2024 in several different portfolios, including as Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2024 and concurrently as Deputy Premier from 2020 to 2024.
She received a medical laboratory technologist certificate from Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Saskatoon and worked for a time in the field of microbiology.
Months after the election, in the spring of 2021, Harpauer admitted that it would be "very, very difficult to meet that goal", and that "in all good likelihood, we'll have to change that goalpost.
[10] In 2017, it was reported that when serving as Minister of Social Services in 2008, Harpauer used private email for government-related matters.
In one email she told a former campaign staffer, "I will hire you by contract if need be to get around the rules defined by the [Public Service Commission]."
[16] Harpauer defended the trip, which was made to speak at a local chamber of commerce luncheon, stating that she was "exhausted" at the time.
[17] In 2024, when Speaker Randy Weekes unveiled allegations of harassment and bullying within the Saskatchewan Party caucus, he read into the record a text message from Harpauer accusing him of lying and favouring the Opposition, part of what Weekes described as a campaign by the governing party to influence his decisions.