Preston Manning served as a Member of the Canadian Parliament from 1993 to 2001. He founded two new political parties - the Reform Party of Canada and the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance - both of which became the official Opposition in the Canadian Parliament. Mr. Manning served as Leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2000 and was also his party's critic for Science and Technology. In 2007 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Since retirement from Parliament in 2002, Mr. Manning has released a book entitled Think Big (published by McClelland & Stewart) describing his use of the tools and institutions of democracy to change Canada's national agenda. He has also served as a Senior Fellow of the Canada West Foundation and as a Distinguished Visitor at the University of Calgary and University of Toronto.

Mr. Manning is currently a Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute and President and CEO of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy. The Manning Centre is a national not-for-profit organization supporting research, educational, and communications initiatives designed to achieve a more democratic society in Canada guided by conservative principles.

Mr. Manning continues to write, speak, and teach on a variety of subjects including the revitalization of democracy in the Western world, the revitalization of Canadian conservatism, Canada-U.S. relations, strengthening relations between the scientific and political communities, the re-balancing of Canadian federalism, the regulation of the genetic revolution, and the management of the interface between faith and politics.