Christy Clark
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| The Honourable Goof Christy Clark MLA | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 35th Premier of British Columbia | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office March 14, 2011 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Lieutenant Governor | Steven Point Judith Guichon |
| Preceded by | Gordon Campbell |
| MLA for Westside-Kelowna | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office July 10, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Ben Stewart |
| MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey | |
| In office May 30, 2011 – May 13, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Gordon Campbell |
| Succeeded by | David Eby |
| MLA for Port Moody-Westwood | |
| In office 2001–2005 | |
| Preceded by | Barbara Copping |
| Succeeded by | Iain Black |
| MLA for Port Moody-Burnaby Mountain | |
| In office 1996–2001 | |
| Deputy Premier of British Columbia | |
| In office June 5, 2001 – September 20, 2004 | |
| Premier | Gordon Campbell |
| Preceded by | Joy MacPhail |
| Succeeded by | Shirley Bond |
| Minister of Education | |
| In office June 5, 2001 – January 26, 2004 | |
| Premier | Gordon Campbell |
| Preceded by | Joy MacPhail |
| Succeeded by | Tom Christensen |
| Minister of Children and Family Development | |
| In office January 26, 2004 – September 20, 2004 | |
| Premier | Gordon Campbell |
| Preceded by | Gordon Hogg |
| Succeeded by | Stan Hagen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Christina Joan Clark October 29, 1965 Burnaby, British Columbia |
| Political party | B.C. Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Mark Marissen (divorced; 1 child) |
| Residence | Vancouver. British Columbia |
| Occupation | Parliamentarian |
| Religion | Anglican[1] |
Christina Joan "Christy" Clark, MLA (born October 29, 1965) is a Canadian politician who currently serves as the 35th Premier of British Columbia, Canada. Clark was sworn in as premier on March 14, 2011, after she won the leadership of the British Columbia Liberal Party in the 2011 leadership election on February 26, 2011. She is the second, and longest serving, woman to serve as Premier of British Columbia, after Rita Johnston in 1991 and the first to lead her party to victory in a general election.
Clark served as a Member of the Legislature from 1996 to 2005, serving as Deputy Premier from 2001 to 2005 during the first term of Gordon Campbell's government. She left politics in 2005, and became the host of an afternoon radio talk show[2] At the time of her leadership victory, Clark was not a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. She re-entered the legislature after winning a by-election on May 11, 2011, in Vancouver-Point Grey, the seat left vacant by Campbell.[3]
Her government was re-elected in the 2013 provincial election, but Clark was defeated by David Eby in her own riding of Vancouver-Point Grey. She was subsequently reelected to the legislature in a by-election in Westside-Kelowna on July 10, 2013.[4]
Contents
[hide]Background[edit]
Clark was born in Burnaby, British Columbia on October 29, 1965. Her father, Jim, was a teacher and a three-time candidate for the Legislative Assembly, and her mother, Mavis, was a family counsellor. Clark attended Simon Fraser University (SFU), the Sorbonne in France and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland,[5] though never graduated with a degree.[6][7]
In 2001, Clark gave birth to her only child, Hamish Marissen-Clark, with then husband Mark Marissen. Clark was the second woman in Canadian history to give birth to a child while serving as a cabinet minister, after Pauline Marois, then a Quebec provincial minister, in 1985.[8]
Politics[edit]
Opposition[edit]
Clark was first elected to the legislature in the 1996 election, representing the riding of Port Moody-Burnaby Mountain.[9] During the next five years, she served as theOfficial Opposition critic for the environment, children and families and for the public service. She also served as the campaign co-chair for the BC Liberals during the 2001 election, in which the party won 77 of 79 seats in the legislature.
Government[edit]
Following the BC Liberal Party's election victory in 2001, Premier Gordon Campbell appointed Clark Minister of Education and Deputy Premier.[10][11] She brought in a number of changes[which?] that were claimed to increase accountability, strengthen parental power in the decision-making process, and provide parents greater choice and flexibility in the school system.[citation needed] These changes were unpopular amongst teachers, school board members, opposition politicians, and union officials who argued that the decision not to fund the pay increases agreed to by the government resulted in funding gaps. The changes made were challenged by the BC Teacher's Federation, and were later found to be unconstitutional.[12]
As Education Minister, Clark sought to increase the independence of the BC College of Teachers against heavy opposition from the British Columbia Teachers' Federation.[13][14] In 2002 the BC Liberals and Education Minister Christie Clark introduced Bills 27 & 28 forcing teachers back to work and banning collective bargaining. In 2011 the BC Supreme Court found Minister Clark’s decision to do so unconstitutional.[15] Clark was deputy premier at the time of the privatization of BC Rail and resulting scandal.[16] Clark was also the Co-Chair of the 2001 Liberal campaign, which included a platform that specifically promised not to sell BC Rail.[17] In 2009, Michael Bolton, defence attorney in the Basi-Virk trial, alleged that Clark had participated in the scandal by providing government information to lobbyist Erik Bornmann. These allegations were never proven or tested in court.[18] Her brother Bruce Clark was the subject of one of the warrants. Though confidential draft "Request for Proposal" documents relating to the bid process allegedly provided by Dave Basi were found in Bruce Clark's home no charges were laid against him. Dave Basi and Bob Virk, Liberal Party insiders were charged for accepting benefits from one of the bidders, however.[19] Ms. Clark has rebuffed talk of her links to the scandal as "smear tactics". At the time of the raids and associated warrants, her then-husband Mark Marissen was visited at home by the RCMP.[20] Her husband was also not under investigation, and was told that he might have been the "innocent recipient" of documents then in his possession.[21]
In 2004, Clark was appointed Minister of Children and Family Development after Minister Gordon Hogg was forced to resign. On September 17, 2004, Clark quit provincial politics and did not seek re-election in the 2005 provincial election. She declared she wanted to spend more time with her three-year old son.[8]
Campaign for mayor of Vancouver[edit]
On August 31, 2005, Clark announced that she would seek the nomination of the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) to run for Mayor in the Vancouver Civic Elections against local councillor Sam Sullivan.[8] On September 24, 2005, she lost the NPA's mayoral nomination to Sullivan by 69 votes out of 2,100 cast. Sullivan was subsequently elected Mayor of Vancouver[22] and in 2013 was elected a Liberal MLA while Clark was premier.[23]
Radio show and columnist[edit]
Clark hosted the The Christy Clark Show, airing weekdays on CKNW 980 AM in Vancouver from August 27, 2007 through to her decision to enter the BC Liberal leadership election in December 2010.[10][24] Clark also served as a weekly columnist for the Vancouver Province and the Vancouver Sun newspapers during the 2005 provincial election and an election analyst for Global BC and CTV News Channel during the 2006 federal election.[11]
Leadership campaign[edit]
Main article: British Columbia Liberal Party leadership election, 2011
On December 8, 2010, Clark officially announced her intent to seek the leadership of the BC Liberal Party. While Clark had long been touted as a potential successor to BC Premier Gordon Campbell, she often claimed she had no further interest in a political career.[25][26][27] Public polling conducted prior to and after the announcement of her candidacy showed that Clark was the frontrunner to succeed Campbell as leader of the BC Liberals and premier.[28][29] Clark launched her leadership bid saying she wanted a “family-first agenda”.[30] During the campaign she tried to cast herself as an outsider from the current caucus, and as the only candidate who could provide the change voters were looking for.[31] Clark's policy proposals included observing a provincial Family Day in February, establishing an Office of the Municipal Auditor General to monitor local government taxation, and to provide a more open government by holding 12 town hall meetings a year to hear from residents.[32][33][34] Regarding the controversial Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), she campaigned early on to cancel the referendum scheduled for September 2011. She suggested a free vote in the legislature by MLAs, believing the HST referendum has little chance of success. “Let our MLAs do their jobs and let our MLAs vote down the HST. Do it by March 31 and get it over with and get on with life in B.C.,” Clark told a crowd of about 40 in Pitt Meadows.[35] However, she eventually decided to continue with the planned referendum.[36]
Despite her perceived frontrunner status, backbench MLA Harry Bloy was the only sitting member of BC Liberal caucus to endorse her candidacy for leader.[37][38] The majority of the caucus supported the campaigns ofKevin Falcon and George Abbott, who were each endorsed by 19 MLAs.[39] While many saw Clark as the best hope for the party there were fears that Clark's past background with the federal Liberal Party could fracture the party. The BC Liberals are not affiliated with any party at the federal level and is considered a "free-enterprise coalition" made up of both federal Conservatives and Liberals, and there were fears that right-wing supporters would move to the British Columbia Conservative Party which had started to make a comeback in the province after decades of dormancy.[40][41]
Her campaign faced questions regarding her involvement in the sale of BC Rail due to her cabinet position and family connection to people "mentioned prominently in court documents, including search warrants", with opposition members stating that she "wants to shut down the public's questions about the scandal".[18][42] It was in the wake of the controversial Basi-Virk guilty pleas that ended the trial proceedings that she declared her candidacy for the party leadership on her radio show. Clark had called for more questions to be answered about BC Rail, but since then has said that there is no need for a public inquiry, as have the other Liberal Party leadership contenders.[17]
At the leadership convention held on February 26, 2011, Clark was elected leader of the BC Liberals on the third ballot, over former Health Minister Kevin Falcon. She won 52 per cent of the vote, compared to 48 per cent for Falcon.[43][44]
Premiership[edit]
Clark was sworn in as Premier of British Columbia on March 14, 2011, and unveiled a new smaller cabinet on the same day.[45] At the time of her swearing in she did not hold a seat in the Legislature. Clark ran in former Premier Gordon Campbell's riding of Vancouver-Point Grey and defeated NDP candidate David Eby by 595 votes. Her win marked the first time that a governing party won a by-election in 30 years.[46]
After Clark became premier, the Liberal Party saw a bounce in support and lead in opinion polls, after falling behind the Official Opposition NDP under Campbell.[47] However, the increase in support was short lived and within months the party had fallen behind the NDP once again.[48] Several polls eventually showed a statistical tie between the Liberals and the Conservative Party with support for each party in the low twenties, while support for the NDP was in the high forties.[49][50][51] Internal problems within the Conservative Party towards the end of 2012 saw the party bleed support to the Liberals.[52][53]
In the summer of 2012, several high profile caucus members, including the Ministers of Education and Finance, announced they wouldn't seek re-election. Though Premier Clark suggested she "expected" the resignations, the news shook her government.[54]
During her premiership, she was accused of conflict of interest by MLA and former BC Liberal cabinet minister John van Dongen in relation to the sale of BC Rail during her service as a cabinet minister in the Campbell government.[55] In April 2013, B.C.’s Conflict of Interest Commissioner released a decision that Clark had been in neither a real nor apparent conflict of interest.[56]
Clark defied pollster predictions by leading her party to victory, its fourth consecutive mandate but her first, in the May 13, 2013 provincial election reversing a 20 point lead held by the BC NDP at the beginning of the campaign. However, she suffered personal defeat in Vancouver-Point Grey losing her seat to the NDP candidate, David Eby by a margin of 785 votes. According to parliamentary precedent she is entitled to remain Premier, but must gain a seat in a by-election in order to sit in the Legislative Assembly. She did not rule out running in a riding outside the Lower Mainland in order to get back into the chamber, telling The Globe and Mail that she believed one reason she lost her own riding was that she was devoting so much time to serving the entire province.[57]
On June 4, Clark announced she would run in a by-election for the safe Liberal seat of Westside-Kelowna to re-enter the Legislative Assembly. The incumbent MLA, government whip Ben Stewart, resigned in Clark's favour.[58] Clark won the by-election on July 10, 2013, taking more than 60 per cent of the vote over NDP candidate Carole Gordon.[4]
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