Redman was born in
Kitchener,
Ontario. After completing high school at
Eastwood Collegiate Institute, Redman went on to graduate from the
University of Waterloo, receiving a
Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1974. She subsequently worked as a writer, and was a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Learning Disabilities Association and the Canadian Federation of University Women. She has been an elder in Kitchener's St. Andrew's
Presbyterian Church since 1991.
Politics Redman served as a trustee on the
Waterloo County Board of Education from 1988 to 1994, and was a city councillor for the
Kitchener City Council and the
Regional Municipality of Waterloo from 1994 to 1997. She was first elected to parliament in the
federal election of 1997, defeating former
Progressive Conservative MP John Reimer by over 10,000 votes. She was re-elected by comfortable margins in the elections of
2000,
2004, and
2006. Redman served as
parliamentary secretary to the
Minister of the Environment from 2000 to 2003. She was named
Chief Government Whip and sworn into the
Queen's Privy Council for Canada on July 20, 2004, an important role in a
minority government situation. Following the Liberal defeat in the 2006 election, she was named Chief Opposition Whip. In the
2008 federal election, she lost to
Stephen Woodworth of the
Conservative Party of Canada by 339 votes. On November 17, 2009, upon a reconstitution of the Office of the
Leader of the Official Opposition under Chief of Staff
Peter Donolo, Redman was named Caucus Liaison, a role drawing on her "strong and deep ties with her former – and future – caucus colleagues." Redman was renominated as the federal Liberal candidate for the riding of Kitchener Centre in the
2011 election, yet lost again to Conservative
Stephen Woodworth. She was elected to
Waterloo Regional Council in the
2014 municipal election. In 2018 she successfully ran for and became the chair of the Waterloo Regional Council, receiving over 62% of the votes. ==Election results==