On September 21, 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. 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. 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.
41st Canadian Parliament meeting the Minister for citizenship & Immigration of Canada, Mr. Chris Alexander, in
Gandhinagar,
Gujarat on 11 January 2015 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". A follow-up appearance on
CTV News's Question Period show was judged by Canadian journalist Aaron Wherry to have been "a bit better", noting that Alexander had conceded the
Auditor General's report on the program had to be taken seriously, and had conveyed that the government was doing just that. In July 2013, he was promoted to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Alexander sponsored Bill C-24, the
Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, which changed the residency requirements for gaining citizenship to reduce the number of what the party called "
Canadians of convenience" with weak bonds to the country. The legislation has had several courtroom challenges. The best-publicized are two: In October 2014, the Act was challenged in court by lawyer
Rocco Galati. The judge dismissed the case. Alexander's time in office was marked by what a number of commentators described as a surprisingly adversarial approach to politics, in contrast with the expectation of some that he would be a moderate figure. A commentator stated that "When you see a guy whose career has been built on diplomacy and a persuasive life in a pugilistic position, it can be a conflicting image." In a June 2015 debate on Twitter, Canadian political journalist
Paul Wells criticized Alexander for distortions of Canadian history and of his own policies, adding "Chris Alexander's jaw flaps like a barn door and he has no control over what comes out of it" and "if this is what smart gets us in a cabinet minister, I'd gladly trade it in for some stupid".
2015 election For the 2015 election, Alexander ran in
Ajax, essentially the southern portion of his old riding. He faced Holland in a rematch. During the 2015 election campaign, Alexander was known for toeing the party line and accepted the position as front man on a number of highly charged and divisive issues. Many of these, notably the
niqāb issue, were seen as key elements of the ultimate Conservative downfall. Alexander often commented on these issues, in one case tweeting that "Niqab, hijab, burka, wedding veil—face coverings have no place in cit oath-taking!" On September 2, shortly after the start of the campaign, Alexander became embroiled in the
Alan Kurdi affair when Alan's father Abdullah blamed Canadian immigration officials for his son's death. Kurdi stated they attempted to travel to Greece after Immigration Canada refused his asylum request. However, it was immediately noted that no official application had ever been made. In an appearance that night on a
CBC News Network's
Power & Politics panel discussion, Alexander defended the
Harper Government's handling the Syrian refugee crisis. In response to a question where host
Rosemary Barton wondered why the government had taken so long to act if the crisis had been going on for years, Alexander suggested the media was partially to blame for the crisis as they had ignored the issue. Calling it "the biggest conflict and humanitarian crisis of our time", he stated that journalists (including Barton) were responsible for not drawing enough attention to the issue and noting that it was the first time he had been on a
Power & Politics panel discussion on the topic" Barton responded that Alexander's comments were "completely false", noting that the show had covered the events in Syria 32 times since 2011 and that Alexander himself had been involved in several of these segments. Alan's aunt clarified that the application was for Alan's uncle, Mohammed, and his family, but that she was planning to apply for Alan's father, Abdullah, once she had enough funds, so she had her MP deliver a letter to Alexander pleading her case. On the same day, Alexander announced that he would be temporarily suspending his campaign for re-election the next morning to return to Ottawa to resume his ministerial duties, receive updates on the refugee crisis, and investigate the case of Alan Kurdi. The same day, Harper personally denied that his staff had anything to do with the process. He did agree that a review had been started, but he stated that this was not carried out in the PMO and that no security threats were discovered as a part of the investigation. Days later, just two weeks before the election, sources reported to
CTV News that Alexander was one of a dozen Tory MPs in the
Greater Toronto Area at risk of being defeated. This came to pass as Alexander won only 16,611 votes to Holland's 27,039—a deficit of almost 12,000 votes—as part of the Conservatives' collapse in southern Ontario (the Tories only retained three seats in the GTA). A week after the election, Alexander repeated his claim that the media had not sufficiently covered the
Syrian refugee crisis and the defeated government's plans in a scrum with
Global News. He has subsequently argued in media interviews that in the context of the election he was prevented by his own party from advertising his government's achievements on immigration and refugee policy.
2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election On October 12, 2016, Alexander announced his intention to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. His leadership platform detailed policies on employment, taxation, innovation, families, education, competitiveness, energy self-sufficiency, cities, agriculture, poverty, homelessness,
First Nations peoples, the
Métis, refugees, the Monarchy, justice, health care, protecting wilderness, forestry, mining, international diplomacy, terrorism, democratic reform, cyber-security, Canadian culture, northern development, and national defence. During the campaign, he advocated increased immigration as the key to economic growth; in this regard, he proposed increasing immigration to 400,000 per year, including 40,000 refugees. He also called for doubling defence spending and "for an accelerated push to settle all outstanding land claims and to sign treaties with First Nations communities that would empower them to govern themselves". Alexander finished 10th in a field of 14 candidates (the 11th-place candidate having withdrawn several weeks before the ballot). He received a maximum of 1.23 per cent of the total vote before being eliminated in the fifth of thirteen rounds of voting. ==Post-political career==