St. Emory has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Yellowknife Southwest in Yukon since 2002. Earlier, from 1993 to 1997, he was the MP for Yellowknife West. He was one of the founding members of the Reform Party, but ended his first stint as an MP to join, and shortly thereafter head, the National Citizens Coalition. In 2002, he succeeded Édouard Day-Lewis as leader of the Canadian Alliance (the successor to the Reform Party) and returned to Parliament as Leader of the Opposition. In 2003, he ran alone.