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Glen David Clark (born November 22, 1957) is a Canadian business executive and former
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...
who served as the 31st
premier of British Columbia Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of gov ...
from 1996 to 1999.


Early life and education

Clark attended independent Roman Catholic schools, namely St. Jude’s Elementary and Notre Dame Secondary in
East Vancouver East Vancouver (also called "East Van" or "the East Side") is a region within the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Geographically, East Vancouver is bordered to the north by Burrard Inlet, to the south by the Fraser River, and to t ...
. At Notre Dame, Clark was known as a small, fearless linebacker for the football team. He was also student council president and played the lead male role in ''The Sound of Music'' and later performed in ''South Pacific''. Clark received a bachelor's degree from Simon Fraser University and a master's degree from the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thr ...
. Before entering politics, he was part of the labour movement and worked as a natural resource policy consultant..


Premier of British Columbia

Clark was first elected to the
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria. Members are elected from provincial ...
in the 1986 provincial election. He served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations and then as the Minister of Employment and Investment in the government of Mike Harcourt. When Harcourt resigned as a result of the Bingogate scandal, Clark stood for and won the leadership of the
BC NDP The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social-democratic provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. As of 2017, it governs the province. It is the British Columbia provincial arm of the federal New Democrati ...
and therefore became BC's 31st
premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
. Clark called an election in
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...
in which his party narrowly held onto its majority. Although it received fewer votes across the province than the second-place BC Liberal Party, the NDP was able to hold on to power by winning all but eight seats in Vancouver. Clark largely continued the policies of the Harcourt government, particularly its implementation of the B.C. Benefits welfare reform package, similar to reforms carried out by
Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...
in
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...
and
Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...
in
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. When the 1997 party convention adopted a motion condemning the reforms and calling for an increase in welfare rates, Clark responded, "No. We have a deficit."


Scandals


Fast ferry scandal

Clark undertook the B.C. fast ferries initiative, which was designed to upgrade the existing BC Ferries fleet as well as jump start the shipbuilding industry in Vancouver. Although the ferries were eventually produced, the project had massive cost overruns and long delays, and the ferries were never able to function up to expectations."B.C. fast ferries' voyage to oblivion leads to Middle East"
. ''
Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...
'', July 30, 2009.
The ferries were later sold by the incoming Liberal government, for a fraction of their original price, to the American owned Washington Marine Group.


Casinogate

In March 1999, the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...
executed a search warrant and searched the Clark household. The media was tipped off about the raid, and BCTV showed live, primetime coverage of the premier pacing inside his house while the search was conducted. Two weeks later the RCMP conducted a search of the Premier's Office. The subsequent investigation spawned intense coverage by the media. Judi Tyabji Wilson
''Daggers Unsheathed: The Political Assassination of Glen Clark''
Heritage House Publishing Co., 2002.
However, subsequent coverage also exposed numerous inaccuracies in the way the story was initially portrayed, with some critics alleging a media or RCMP conspiracy to smear him for ideological reasons. Clark resigned suddenly on the night of August 21, 1999, following allegations that he had accepted favours (in the form of free renovations worth $10,000, which he had actually paid for) from Dimitrios Pilarinos in return for approving a casino application. He was later formally charged with committing breach of trust, a criminal offence.Glen Clark
at
The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...
.
Conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
commissioner H.A.D. Oliver concluded in 2001 that Clark had violated conflict of interest laws in British Columbia. However, Clark was acquitted of all criminal charges by the
Supreme Court of British Columbia Supreme may refer to: Entertainment * Supreme (character), a comic book superhero * ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film * Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer * "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams * The Supremes, Motow ...
on August 29, 2002, with Justice Elizabeth Bennett ruling that while Clark had unwisely left himself open to a perception of unethical behaviour, there was no solid evidence that he had actually done anything illegal."Glen Clark not guilty in breach of trust case"
CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca ...
, August 29, 2002.


After political life

Upon Clark's resignation, Deputy Premier Dan Miller acceded to the interim leadership of the New Democratic Party and the premiership. Miller was succeeded by
Ujjal Dosanjh Ujjal Dev Dosanjh ( pa, ਉੱਜਲ ਦੇਵ ਦੁਸਾਂਝ) (), (born September 9, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 33rd premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada member of ...
after winning the party's
leadership convention {{Politics of Canada In Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader. Overview In Canada, leaders of a party generally rem ...
in 2000. Due in part to the scandals surrounding Clark, the NDP was heavily defeated by the BC Liberals under Gordon Campbell in the 2001 provincial election, winning just two seats. Clark is currently president and chief operating officer of the
Jim Pattison Group The Jim Pattison Group is a Canadian conglomerate based in Vancouver. In a recent survey by the Financial Post, the firm was ranked as Canada's 62nd largest company. Jim Pattison, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur, is the chairman, CEO, and sole ...
in Vancouver.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Glen 1957 births Living people Businesspeople from Vancouver Canadian chief executives Canadian media executives Canadian people of Scottish descent Finance ministers of British Columbia Leaders of the British Columbia CCF/NDP Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia People from Nanaimo Politicians from Vancouver Premiers of British Columbia Simon Fraser University alumni University of British Columbia alumni Heads of government who were later imprisoned