Alison Redford

The Honourable Alison Redford QC MLA
Redford at a 2012 campaign rally
14th Premier of Alberta
Incumbent
Assumed office October 7, 2011
Preceded by	Ed Stelmach
Leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
Incumbent
Assumed office October 2, 2011
Preceded by	Ed Stelmach
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Alberta
In office March 13, 2008 – February 18, 2011
Premier	Ed Stelmach
Preceded by	Ron Stevens
Succeeded by	Verlyn Olson
Member of the Alberta Legislative Assembly for Calgary-Elbow
Incumbent
Assumed office March 3, 2008
Preceded by	Craig Cheffins
Personal details
Born	Alison Merrilla Redford (1965-03-07) March 7, 1965 Kitimat, British Columbia
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Spouse(s)	Glen Jermyn Robert Hawkes 1986-1991
Children	Sarah (b. 2002)
Alma mater	University of Saskatchewan
Profession	Lawyer
Signature

Alison Merrilla Redford, Q.C., MLA, (born March 7, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. She is the 14th and current Premier of Alberta, Canada, having served in this capacity since October 7, 2011. Redford was born in Kitimat, British Columbia and grew up all over Canada and overseas before settling in Calgary as a teenager.

In the 2008 provincial election, Redford was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the district of Calgary-Elbow. She served in the cabinet of Ed Stelmach as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General. Redford became premier upon winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, and on April 23, 2012, she led her party to victory in the 2012 provincial election. Redford is the first female premier in the province's history and the eighth woman to serve as a premier in the history of Canada.

Early life

Redford was born March 7, 1965, in Kitimat, British Columbia, to Merrill and Helen (née Anderson) Redford. Her family moved to Nova Scotia and Borneo, and to Calgary by the time Redford was 12. She graduated from Bishop Carroll High School, Calgary, and from the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan in 1988. She articled for Jim Prentice at the law firm Rooney Prentice.

Throughout the 1990s, Redford worked as a technical adviser on constitutional and legal reform issues in various parts of Africa for the European Union, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Canadian Government and the Government of Australia. Her work in Africa focused on human rights litigation, developing education programs and policy reform with respect to gender issues.

One of Redford's most notable appointments was by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as one of the four International Election Commissioners to administer Afghanistan's first parliamentary elections, held in September 2005. Political issues in the elections program within Alberta at that time were under question by the Elections Commissioner. She also served as an adviser to the Privy Council Office on Canada's future involvement in Afghanistan subsequent to the elections.^{[citation needed]} Her work has included assignments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Namibia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Philippines. Before her most current post, Redford managed a judicial training and legal reform project for the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme People's Court in Vietnam.

Political career

Federal politics

In the 1980s Redford served as Senior Policy Advisor to former Prime Minister Joe Clark, who was the Secretary of State for External Affairs. She went on to work in the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada from 1988 to 1990, under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. In this capacity, Redford organized a series of national foreign policy consultations facilitating public input on the Government of Canada's White Papers on Foreign Affairs and Defence. In the Canadian Parliament, she was also the Principal Legislative Advisor to the Secretary of State for External Affairs.

In 2004, Redford unsuccessfully challenged Member of Parliament Rob Anders for the federal Conservative nomination in Calgary West.

Provincial politics

On March 13, 2008, after being elected MLA for the constituency of Calgary-Elbow, Redford was named Minister of Justice and Attorney General by Premier Ed Stelmach. In addition, she also served as a member of the Agenda and Priorities Committee, the Treasury Board, and the Cabinet Policy Committee on Public Safety and Services. She resigned from the cabinet in early 2011 to devote herself to her campaign to succeed Stelmach as leader of the governing Progressive Conservative Party.

Premier

Party leadership

See also: Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election, 2011

On February 16, 2011, Redford announced she would be a candidate in the Progressive Conservative Association leadership race to succeed Stelmach, who had announced in January he would resign as leader and premier once his successor was chosen.

In the first round of voting held on September 18, 2011, Redford placed second behind Gary Mar, the perceived frontrunner in the race. Redford won 19 per cent of the vote compared to 41 per cent for Mar. With no candidate winning the necessary 50 per cent plus one on the first ballot a second and third round of voting was held on October 2, 2011. After the third round of voting Redford beat Mar, winning 51 per cent of the vote. Redford was sworn in as Alberta's 14th Premier at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton on October 7, 2011.

2012 election

Main article: Alberta general election, 2012

On March 26, 2012, Redford met with Lieutenant Governor Don Ethell, who dissolved the current legislature and called an election for April 23, 2012. After the election was called, support for the Wildrose Party supposedly surged past Redford's Progressive Conservatives. Throughout the campaign it was thought by some that the Wildrose, led by Danielle Smith, would win a majority government, ending the PC's 40 year reign. However, on election night the Progressive Conservatives shocked pollsters and media pundits, by winning a twelfth majority government, taking 61 of the 87 seats in the provincial legislature—a loss of only five seats. The Wildrose Party have accused her of more moderate policies, thought to have attracted some Liberal and NDP supporters, who some pundits believed voted strategically to stop the further right-wing Wildrose, from forming a government. With this win, Redford became the fourth woman in Canadian history to lead a political party to victory in an election, after Catherine Callbeck in Prince Edward Island, Pat Duncan in Yukon, and Kathy Dunderdale in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Redford campaigning during the 2012 provincial election

As part of the PC campaign platform, Redford expressed her intentions to work with nonprofits, calling for the creation of a new Department of Human Services as a “single point of entry” for non-profits. Premier Alison Red­ford also fulfilled her promise to raise AISH payments by $400 month, from $1,158 to $1,558, and doubling the amount an AISH recipient can make through working before it’s taken off their monthly AISH cheques, from $400 to $800. Redford promised to build, of which some have now opened, 50 new schools, and renovate 70 more over the next four years.

Personal life

Redford has been an active member of many community boards, including the Lycee Louis Pasteur Society, the Heritage Park Foundation and the Calgary Winter Club. She previously served on the Board of the Lakeview Community Association and the Alberta Human Rights Education Advisory Board.^{[citation needed]}

She was married to Robert Hawkes, son of former Calgary West MP Jim Hawkes, between 1985 and 1991. They met while working for former MLA (and later Alberta PC leadership contestant and Senator) Ron Ghitter. Redford remains friends with her ex-husband and in 2011 he led her transition team when she became premier.

Redford lives in Calgary with her husband Glen Jermyn, a lawyer with the federal Department of Justice, and daughter Sarah.

Election results

Alberta general election, 2012: Calgary-Elbow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp
	Progressive Conservative	Alison Redford	11,198	58.09	+16.01
	Wildrose	James Cole	5,509	28.58	+21.97
	Liberal	Beena Ashar	1,067	5.53	-33.67
	New Democratic	Craig Coolahan	761	3.95	+1.96
	Alberta Party	Greg Clark	518	2.69	–
	Evergreen	William Hamilton	225	1.17	-2.44
Total valid votes			19,278	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			257	–	–
Turnout			19,535	58.44	+12.60
Eligible voters			33,430	–	–

Alberta general election, 2008: Calgary-Elbow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp
	Progressive Conservative	Alison Redford	6,130	42.08	+3.75
	Liberal	Craig Cheffins	5,711	39.20	−6.57
	Wildrose Alliance	Dale Nelson	963	6.61	+2.44
	Independent	Barry Erskine	948	6.51
	Greens	Jonathon Sheffield	526	3.61	−1.99
	New Democratic	Garnet Wilcox	290	1.99	−1.31
Total valid votes			14,568	100.00
Total rejected ballots			77
Turnout			14,645	45.84
Eligible voters			31,947
	Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+5.16%

External links

• Website of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
• Calgary-Elbow Constituency Website

Order of precedence
Preceded by Donald Ethell, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta	Order of precedence in Alberta as of 2013	Succeeded by Catherine Fraser, Chief Justice of The Court of Appeal of Alberta