Alison Redford was born in Kitimat, B.C. on March 7, 1965 and moved to Calgary with her family as a teenager.
After graduating from Bishop Carroll High School, she completed her post-secondary education at the University of Saskatchewan College Of Law in 1988.
Redford has been involved in politics since the 1980s and served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Right Honourable Joe Clark when he was Secretary of State for External Affairs, and later worked in the Prime Minister's Office.
Following her stint in Ottawa, Redford returned to Calgary to article at Rooney Prentice. She later opened her own law firm to gain practical experience as a small business owner.
Redford worked as a technical advisor on constitutional and legal reform issues in Africa for the European Union, the Commonwealth Secretariat and both the Canadian and Australian governments in the 90s, focusing on human rights litigation, education programs and policy reform initiatives.
In 2005, she was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as one of four International Election Commissioners to administer Afghanistan's first parliamentary elections and also served as an advisor to the Privy Council Office on Canada's future involvement in Afghanistan.
Redford is well travelled and has been involved in assignments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Namibia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Vietnam and the Philippines.
She was elected MLA for the constituency of Calgary-Elbow on March 3, 2008 and named Minister of Justice and Attorney General on March 12, 2008.
Alison Redford was elected leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party on October 1, 2011 and sworn-in as Alberta's 14th premier on October 7, 2011.
Alison and her husband, Glen, have one daughter, Sarah.
