Tony Clement - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Clement was born Tony Peter Panayi in Manchester, England, the son of Carol (née Drapkin) and Peter Panayi. His father was a Greek Cypriot and his mother was Jewish (part of her family had immigrated from Aleppo, Syria). He emigrated to Canada in childhood with his parents when he was four years old. His parents later divorced and his mother remarried Ontario politician John Clement, who adopted Tony.

As a student at the University of Toronto, he was elected twice, both as an undergraduate and as a law student, to the university's Governing Council. He was also president of the campus Progressive Conservatives. He first attracted the attention of the media in 1985 when he created a new society to invite the Ambassador of South Africa, Glen Babb, to speak at the University of Toronto and debate Professor Bill Graham in order to defend free speech. This was after the International Law Society had withdrawn an invitation, deeming it too controversial because of the issue of apartheid.

A graduate of the University of Toronto, Clement completed degrees in political science in 1983 and law in 1986. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1988.

Clement became president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in 1990 and was a close ally of then-party leader Mike Harris. He ran, unsuccessfully, for Metro Toronto Council in 1994, losing to future mayor David Miller in the ward of Parkdale-High Park. He served as Harris' Assistant Principal Secretary from 1992 to 1995 and played a leading role in drafting policy directives for the Common Sense Revolution.