Chris Alexander

Christopher A. Alexander (born September 9, 1968) is a Canadian former diplomat and politician.

After graduating from the University of Toronto Schools, Alexander earned a Bachelor of Arts in history and politics from McGill University in 1989 and an Master of Arts in politics, philosophy, and economics from Balliol College, Oxford in 1991.

He studied at Université Laval for the first six months of 1989.

Red Mountain founder Denis Smyslov met him in the early 1990s while Alexander was stationed at the Canadian embassy in Moscow.

In 1991, Alexander joined the Canadian Foreign Service.

He was posted to the Canadian embassy in Russia in 1993 as Third Secretary and Vice-Consul.

In 1996, he returned to Ottawa to become an assistant to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In 1997, he became Deputy Director (Russia) of the Eastern Europe Division responsible for political and trade relations.

In 2002 he returned to the Canadian embassy in Moscow as Minister Counsellor (Political).

Alexander was the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005.

Alexander spent 18 years in the Canadian Foreign Service, and served as Canada's first resident Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005.

In 2003, Alexander applied for the position of Canadian ambassador in Kabul, Afghanistan.

He was selected for the position and presented his credentials in August 2003, relieving resident chargé d'affaires a.i. Keith Fountain.

From 2005 until mid-2009, he served as one of two Deputy Special Representatives of the Secretary General (SRSG) of the United Nations in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Alexander's performance in diplomacy circles was widely lauded.

He was described by various commenters as "sensitive to the Afghan culture, knowledgeable, persuasive, totally committed, and hardworking;" "perhaps one of the brightest and most capable diplomats that have come to Afghanistan over the past five years;" and "the best ambassador I've ever worked for."

Major General David Fraser, commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, referred to him simply as "an amazing man."

Following this he served as a Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan until 2009.

On 21 September 2009, Alexander announced his resignation from the foreign service and his intention to seek the Conservative nomination in the suburban Toronto area riding of Ajax—Pickering.

The choice of Ajax—Pickering made Alexander a parachute candidate, moving to Ajax with his family from their home in Etobicoke.

Ajax—Pickering was considered a key battleground riding, held by Liberal Mark Holland.

Holland was a Liberal star, well known for his performance during Question Period.

Alexander had been considered a potential star candidate by both the Liberals and Conservatives, both of whom actively recruited him.

On 12 April 2010, CBC News revealed that Alexander, as a senior official working with the United Nations, alleged that Asadullah Khalid, the former governor of Kandahar Province in Afghanistan, had ordered the killing of five UN workers by bombing, presumably to protect his narcotics interests.

In August 2010 Alexander became president of Red Mountain Energy, a producer of coal-bed methane.

A member of the Conservative Party, he represented the riding of Ajax—Pickering in the House of Commons of Canada from 2011 to 2015 and served as the minister of citizenship and immigration from 2013 to 2015.

After winning his seat in the 2011 election, Alexander was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence.

According to accounts given to the press, Alexander ultimately rejected Michael Ignatieff's offer due to differences in policy over Canada's role in Afghanistan, reportedly due to the party's insistence on ending Canada's combat role in 2011 (a policy subsequently adopted by the majority Conservative government of which Alexander became part).

Alexander disputed this, saying he had always had Conservative leanings and that the discussions with the Liberals had never been serious.

Alexander won the seat in the 2011 federal election in a heavily contested race, winning with 24,797 votes over Holland with 21,569.

Shortly after taking office in May 2011, Alexander was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence Peter MacKay.

Alexander remained active on Afghanistan related issues, frequently speaking and writing on this subject.

In late 2012 Alexander frequently defended the government's position on the F-35 contract.

The procurement was a major political hot potato and the press referred to the dossier as the "worst job in Ottawa".

His initial appearances on the topic did not go well; in a CBC interview he claimed the press was confused about the issue and that the government had not actually agreed to purchase the aircraft, while the video roll in the background showed Minister MacKay saying exactly that.

On July 15, 2013, he was appointed minister of citizenship and immigration.

He ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2016–17, placing 10th in a field of 14 candidates.

Alexander was born in Toronto, the son of Andrea Alexander, a high school teacher, and Bruce Alexander, a lawyer and assistant deputy minister in the Ontario government.

His grandfather, Don Lough, was mayor of Huntsville, Ontario.

On 12 December 2019, The Globe and Mail published a lengthy opinion piece written by Alexander in which he stated that for most of his time in Afghanistan, he believed that Western strategy "was wrong" in that it did not focus on Pakistan's military support for the Taliban as the root cause of the conflict.