Federal Conservative leadership candidate Chris Alexander is expected to touch down in Huntsville on Tuesday, December 13. David and Leslie Caswell of Huntsville will be hosting a reception for Alexander at Partners Hall at 7:15 p.m. Alexander is one of fourteen candidates vying for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.
The event is open to the public.
In 2011, Alexander, now 48, won as a parachute candidate in the riding of Ajax-Pickering. The race was heavily contested. Alexander managed to beat out Liberal MP Mark Holland by 3,228 votes. He was also appointed as Minister of Immigration and Citizenship from 2013 to 2015, under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. During his tenure he sponsored and pushed for Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, which revoked citizenship rights from dual citizens convicted of espionage, treason, terrorism or anyone convicted of engaging in armed conflict against Canada. The act also made it harder to gain Canadian citizenship. Holland took back the riding in the 2015 election, in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government swept to power.
Before entering politics, Alexander had a lengthy diplomatic career working for the Canadian embassy in Russia in 1993 and later serving as Canadian ambassador in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2003. He also served in a special UN mission in Afghanistan until mid-2009 and worked in the private sector.
Alexander has Muskoka roots as the grandson of former Huntsville Mayor Don Lough. He was born in Toronto but spent many summers here. His mother’s family was from the area and his father’s family had a cottage near Magnetawan. They met in Huntsville.
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