Cecil Phillip Clarke (born April 12, 1968) is a politician in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada. He was the mayor of the

Cape Breton Regional Municipality Cape Breton Regional Municipality (often referred to as simply "CBRM") is the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's second largest municipality and the economic heart of Cape Breton Island. As of 2016 the municipality has a population of 94,285. The ...

from 2012 to 2020, and represented the riding of Cape Breton North in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

, from 2001 to 2011 as a Progressive Conservative.

Before politics

Born in

North Sydney, Nova Scotia North Sydney (Scottish Gaelic: ''Suidni A Tuath'' or ''Am Bàr'') is a former town and current community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Located on the north side of Sydney Harbour, along the eastern coast of Cape Breto ...

, Clarke graduated with a bachelor's degree from

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...

in 1990.

Political career

In the 1997 federal election, Clarke made his first attempt at entering politics, running as the Progressive Conservative candidate in

Sydney—Victoria Sydney—Victoria is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. It was created in 1996 from parts of Cape Breton—The Sydneys, Cape ...

. He finished third behind New Democrat

Peter Mancini Dominic Peter Mancini (born August 1, 1956) is a Canadian politician and lawyer. Mancini was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1997 federal election that saw a breakthrough for the New Democratic Party in the province of Nova Sco ...

, and Liberal

Vince MacLean Vincent James MacLean (born December 8, 1944)Normandin, PG ''Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1977'' was leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party in 1985 and again from 1986 to 1992. He was replaced by John Savage. He was born in Sydney, Nova Scot ...

. Clarke turned to provincial politics and was elected in a March 2001 byelection. He was re-elected in the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

general elections. He served in the

Executive Council of Nova Scotia The Executive Council of Nova Scotia (informally and more commonly, the Cabinet of Nova Scotia) is the cabinet of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Almost always made up of members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, the Cabinet is sim ...

as Minister of Economic Development, Minister of Energy, Attorney General and Minister of Justice as well as Provincial Secretary. Clarke was

Speaker of the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia The Speaker for the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia is the presiding Officer of the House of Assembly. Keith Bain is the current Speaker of the 64th General Assembly of Nova Scotia. The Speaker presides over the proceedings of the Assembly, maint ...

from June 2006 to October 2007. In July 2010, Clarke announced that he was seeking the federal

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

nomination for the riding of Sydney—Victoria. On March 25, 2011, Clarke resigned his seat in the Nova Scotia legislature so he could run for the Conservatives in the 2011 federal election. On May 2, 2011, Clarke was defeated in his bid for a seat in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

by Liberal incumbent

Mark Eyking Mark Eyking (born August 30, 1960) is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Sydney—Victoria from 2000 to 2019 as a member of the Liberal Party. Early life and education Eyking was born in Sydney, Nova ...

. On September 6, 2012, Clarke announced that he was entering the race for mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in the 2012 Nova Scotia municipal elections. On October 20, 2012, Clarke was elected mayor. He assumed office on November 5, 2012. Clarke was re-elected mayor in the 2016 municipal election. Clarke was criticized in early 2018 for a trip to China which cost taxpayers over $30,000 and included first-class tickets for himself. In 2018, Clarke came out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, revealing that someone had threatened to out him. On February 3, 2018, Clarke announced his candidacy for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia. He lost to

Tim Houston Timothy Jerome Houston (born April 10, 1970) is a Canadian politician who is the 30th and current premier of Nova Scotia since 2021. He was first elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in the 2013 provincial election. A member of the Pr ...

Electoral record

References

External links

Cecil Clarke
on CBRM website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Cecil 1968 births Living people Members of the United Church of Canada Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia MLAs Speakers of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly Members of the Executive Council of Nova Scotia Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Mount Allison University alumni Mayors of Cape Breton Regional Municipality Nova Scotia candidates for Member of Parliament People from North Sydney, Nova Scotia Attorneys General of Nova Scotia LGBT mayors of places in Canada Canadian LGBT people in provincial and territorial legislatures Gay politicians 21st-century LGBT people LGBT heads of government