Clark, Joe


Clark, Joe

(Charles Joseph Clark), 1939–, prime minister of Canada (1979–80), b. High River, Alta. He entered the Canadian House of Commons from Alberta in 1972 and became leader of the Progressive Conservative partyProgressive Conservative party,
former Canadian political party, formed in 1942 by the merger of the Progressive and Conservative parties. Beginning with the first Canadian prime minister, John A.
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 in 1976. In the 1979 elections he led his party to victory and briefly replaced Pierre TrudeauTrudeau, Pierre Elliott
(Joseph Philippe Pierre Ives Elliott Trudeau) , 1919–2000, prime minister of Canada (1968–79, 1980–84), b. Montreal. He attended the Univ.
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 as prime minister. His election represented the new political importance of W Canada, especially oil-rich Alberta. Brian MulroneyMulroney, Brian
(Martin Brian Mulroney) , 1939–, Canadian prime minister (1984–93). Raised in Quebec in a working class family, Mulroney was a successful bilingual lawyer who became active in provincial politics in the 1970s.
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 replaced him as party leader in 1983. Clark served as external affairs minister (1984–91) and constitutional affairs minister (1991–93) under Mulroney. Clark left politics in 1993; UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali appointed him special UN representative for Cyprus. In 1998, Clark again became leader of the Progressive Conservatives, who faced a strong challenge on the right from the Reform party (later the Canadian AllianceCanadian Alliance,
former Canadian political party that had its origins in the Reform party of Canada, which was founded in 1987 in Winnipeg, Man., as a W Canada–based conservative alternative to the Progressive Conservative party.
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), and in 2000 he was elected to parliament from Nova Scotia. Clark resigned as party leader in 2003, and became an independent later that year when the party joined the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative party of Canada. He retired in 2004. His How We Lead: Canada in a Century of Change (2013) criticizes the HarperHarper, Stephen,
1959–, prime minister (2006–15) of Canada. A founding member of the conservative Reform party (later the Canadian Alliance), he won a seat in the federal parliament in 1993, but broke with party leader Preston Manning four years later and left
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 government and calls for a more internationally active Canada.