Joe Clark

Joe Clark
Clark in 1970
16th Prime Minister of Canada
In office
June 4, 1979 – March 3, 1980
MonarchElizabeth II
Governor GeneralEdward Schreyer
Preceded byPierre Trudeau
Succeeded byPierre Trudeau
Leader of the Opposition
In office
March 4, 1980 – February 19, 1983
Preceded byPierre Trudeau
Succeeded byErik Nielsen
In office
February 22, 1976 – June 3, 1979
Preceded byRobert Stanfield
Succeeded byPierre Trudeau
Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
In office
November 14, 1998 – May 31, 2003
Preceded byElsie Wayne (interim)
Succeeded byPeter MacKay
In office
February 22, 1976 – February 19, 1983
Preceded byRobert Stanfield
Succeeded byErik Nielsen (interim)
President of the Privy Council
In office
April 21, 1991 – June 24, 1993
Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney
Preceded byDon Mazankowski
Succeeded byPierre Blais
Minister of Justice
Attorney General of Canada
Acting
December 8, 1988 – January 29, 1989
Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney
Preceded byRay Hnatyshyn
Succeeded byDoug Lewis
Secretary of State for External Affairs
In office
September 17, 1984 – April 20, 1991
Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney
Preceded byJean Chrétien
Succeeded byBarbara McDougall
House of Commons constituencies
Member of Parliament
for Calgary Centre
In office
November 27, 2000 – June 28, 2004
Preceded byEric Lowther
Succeeded byLee Richardson
Member of Parliament
for Kings—Hants
In office
September 11, 2000 – November 27, 2000
Preceded byScott Brison
Succeeded byScott Brison
Member of Parliament
for Yellowhead
(Rocky Mountain; 1972–1979)
In office
October 30, 1972 – October 25, 1993
Preceded byAllen Sulatycky
Succeeded byCliff Breitkreuz
Personal details
Born
Charles Joseph Clark

(1939-06-05) June 5, 1939 (age 85)
High River, Alberta, Canada
Political partyIndependent (since 2003)
Other political
affiliations
Progressive Conservative (before 2003)
Spouse
(m. 1973)
ChildrenCatherine Clark
Alma materUniversity of Alberta (BA, MA)
Occupation
  • Politician
  • journalist
  • businessman
  • professor
Signature

Charles Joseph Clark PC CC AOE (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian businessman, writer, and politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980.

Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal politics, entering the House of Commons in the 1972 election and winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1976. He won a minority government in the 1979 election, defeating the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau and ending sixteen years of continuous Liberal rule. Taking office the day before his 40th birthday, Clark is the youngest person to become prime minister.

Clark's tenure was brief as the minority government was brought down by a non-confidence vote on his first budget in December 1979. The budget defeat triggered the 1980 election. Clark and the Progressive Conservatives lost the election to Trudeau and the Liberals, who won a majority in the Commons and returned to power. Clark lost the leadership of the party to Brian Mulroney in 1983.

Clark returned to prominence from 1984 to 1993 as foreign minister then constitutional affairs minister in Mulroney's cabinet. Clark retired from politics by not standing for re-election for the House of Commons in 1993. He made a political comeback in 1998 to lead the Progressive Conservatives in their last general election before the party's eventual dissolution, serving his final term in Parliament from 2000 to 2004. After the Progressive Conservatives merged with the more right-wing Canadian Alliance to form the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada in 2003, Clark instead sat as an independent Progressive Conservative, criticizing the merger as what he described as an "Alliance take-over", believing that the new party was drifting towards social conservatism. Clark today serves as a university professor and as president of his own consulting firm.