Joe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, PC CC AOE (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician. He served as the 16th Prime Minister of Canada, from June 4, 1979, to March 3, 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 came to power in the 1979 election, defeating the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau and ending sixteen continuous years of Liberal rule. Taking office the day before his 40th birthday, Clark is the youngest person to become Prime Minister. His tenure was brief as he only won a minority government, and it was defeated on a motion of non-confidence. Clark subsequently lost the 1980 election and the leadership of the party in 1983.
He returned to prominence in 1984 as a senior cabinet minister in Brian Mulroney's cabinet, retiring from politics after not standing for re-election for the House of Commons in 1993. He made a political comeback in 1998 to lead the Progressive Conservatives before its dissolution, serving his final term in Parliament from 2000 to 2004. Clark today is recognized as a distinguished scholar and statesman, and serves as a university professor and as president of his own consulting firm.
Read more about Joe Clark: Early Years, Education, Journalism, Marriage, Early Political Career, Progressive Conservative Leadership Convention 1976, Opposition Leader, 1976-79, Prime Minister, Opposition Leader 1980-83, Progressive Conservative Leadership, 1998–2003, Progressive Conservative/Canadian Alliance Merger, Post-politics 2004—present, Honours, Honorary Degrees
Famous quotes containing the words joe and/or clark:
“While we were thus engaged in the twilight, we heard faintly, from far down the stream, what sounded like two strokes of a woodchopper’s axe, echoing dully through the grim solitude.... When we told Joe of this, he exclaimed, “By George, I’ll bet that was a moose! They make a noise like that.” These sounds affected us strangely, and by their very resemblance to a familiar one, where they probably had so different an origin, enhanced the impression of solitude and wildness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Perceiving myself through others’ ideas of what it means to be a woman has made it difficult for me to achieve the necessary commitment [to be a poet].”
—Naomi Clark (b. 1932)