Allred was first elected to
St. Albert City Council in 1980, and was re-elected in 1983. He did not seek re-election in 1986, but returned to city council in 1989 and served an additional three terms, before retiring from municipal politics in 1998. Federally, Allred was a charter member of the
Reform Party of Canada in 1987, and was that party's candidate in the
1988 federal election for the riding of
St. Albert. He finished fourth as incumbent
Progressive Conservative Walter van de Walle was re-elected. Allred's
Liberal opponent in that race was
Kent Davidson, with whom he would later serve on city council. Allred was also President of the Reform Party constituency association from 1987 to 1988, and later a director of the
Canadian Alliance constituency association from 2001 until 2003. He won a first ballot victory by a "significant margin" and became the party's choice to challenge incumbent
Liberal MLA
Jack Flaherty in the
2008 election. He defeated Flaherty by nearly three thousand votes to take office as MLA. ==Personal life==