Knut Arild Hareide (born 23 November 1972) is a Norwegian politician who served as a member of parliament from Hordaland and as the leader of the Christian Democratic Party from 2011 to 2019.

In 2007, he announced he would step down from the national political scene for the time being, but he returned when he was nominated as the top candidate for the Christian Democratic Party ticket in Akershus in the 2009 election where he won the county's leveling seat.

Before his tenure as government minister, Hareide had sat through one term in the municipal council of his native Bømlo, served as a deputy representative to the national parliament as well as working two years as a State Secretary.

[2] During the period in student politics, Hareide held a Christian democratic middle ground between radical (such as later socialist politician Aslak Sira Myhre) and conservative representatives, an experience he has described as educational.

[2] In 2007 Hareide announced that he had left politics for the time being to pursue a career in the national media conglomerate Schibsted, as an organizational director.

Party leader Dagfinn Høybråten hails from Akershus, but he runs on the Rogaland ticket to secure a safe seat.

[7] Prior to the 2009 election, Hareide announced that he would leave national politics if he failed to win a parliament seat.

Although the Christian Democrats suffered nationwide setbacks in 2009, Hareide managed to win Akershus' levelling seat after a close race against Dagfinn Sundsbø of the Centre Party.

A decision in early 2005, to uphold the ongoing wolf hunt even though a certain alpha she-wolf Gråfjellstispa had mistakenly been shot[17] in January that year, was met with protests from the national World Wildlife Fund chapter and other environment organizations, as well as the Swedish Minister of the Environment Lena Sommestad and representatives from the European Union.

In July the same year, Hareide received further criticism as the number of licenses to kill large carnivores allegedly was not only at a record high (12 brown bears, 10 grey wolves, 22 wolverines and 13 lynx), but also contradictory to the parliamentary policy on the matter.

The Ministry approved a $90,000 project support for the Church of Norway, while the pressure group Bellona faced a cut of the same amount.

Hareide, being a devout Christian and a member of the Church of Norway, was accused of putting his own religious interests ahead of environmental considerations.

[26] One of Hareide's last actions in office was to approve the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Hatteberg watershed in Kvinnherad, a protected natural area.

The character Knut Arild Hareide, played by Harald Eia, was portrayed in several sketches as a physically weak person.

[28][29] Nonetheless, Hareide himself showed a video clip of one of the parodies when publicly announcing his stepdown from national politics at the 2007 party congress.

[33] In January 2020, about a year after the Christian Democrats entered the Solberg cabinet, the Progress Party chose to withdraw after disagreements after a family was brought home from Syria with a sick child, which had been against their wishes.

Hareide returned from a committee travel, presumed to be because of the changes in the government, something he didn't confirm or deny upon his arrival at Oslo Gardermoen Airport.

[34][35] After Widerøe announced in February 2020, that they would be cutting 15 percent of their short haul routes, Hareide criticised the move and called it “dramatic”.

[36] In June 2020, Hareide announced that COVID-19 restrictions on airlines, notably SAS, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe, would be lifted, and that they would be able to fly with full seats.

[40] After long extensive criticism of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s handling of driving tests waiting time, in July 2021, Hareide stated that even retired instructors were brought in to compensate capacity.

[41] At the end of August, Hareide attended the opening ceremony in Trondheim for the country’s first hybrid driven train that would be going on the Trønder- and Røros line.

Hareide responded to his criticism by saying that electrifying railines will take time, and indicated that hybrid trains was a step in the right direction.

[42] In early September, Hareide asked the Norwegian Railway Directorate to evaluate the timeframe, costs and necessary prerequisites for a possible night train to Copenhagen, by 1 November.

[44] Despite the Storting approving in February to abolish the need for health certificate for elderly drivers, Hareide stated in October that he would not oblige to the decision.