1966-67 - Director of Organization, Alberta Progressive Conservative Party
1967 - Special Assistant, Dave Fulton, M.P.
1967-70 - Executive Assistant, Robert Stanfield, M.P.
Marital status:
Married, 1973, Maureen McTeer (b.1952)
One daughter
Joe Clark became Prime Minister just one day shy of his 40th birthday when he won the general election of June 4, 1979. To date, he remains the youngest person to have served as Canada's Prime Minister. He was also the first Prime Minister born outside the original four provinces of Confederation.
Clark was elected national Progressive Conservative leader in 1976 at the age of 27. Although young to hold such a position, Clark had a lot of political experience, having been involved in politics since he was a student. As a university student, he was President of the Progressive Conservative Student Federation. He also worked for a period with Peter Lougheed's Alberta Progressive Conservative Party before going to Ottawa to work with David Fulton and then Conservative Party Leader, Robert Stanfield.
Clark was a Member of Parliament for only four years when he succeeded Robert Stanfield to the Party Leadership in 1976. He had been elected as a Progressive Conservative member in 1972 in the riding of Rocky Mountain, Alberta. His relative inexperience and newness to the political scene prompted the nickname "Joe Who?", which followed him through his years as Opposition Leader and Prime Minister.
Clark became Prime Minister in June of 1979 when his Conservatives won a minority Government. Bad luck, bad timing, and broken election promises doomed Clark's Government from the outset. He delayed in calling Parliament for almost five months, a tactic which cost him popular support. The "austerity" budget delivered by Finance Minister John Crosbie in December of 1979 alienated the New Democratic Party which held the balance of power. Clark's Government did not survive a non-confidence motion, and in February 1980, Canadians voiced their disapproval of the budget by electing a majority Liberal Government led by Pierre Trudeau.
In 1981, as Opposition Leader, Clark was able to win a judicial review of Trudeau's constitutional strategy. Clark survived two national reviews of his leadership, but he felt there were still questions. A Leadership Convention was called for June 1983, and Joe Clark lost the leadership to Brian Mulroney.
As Minister of External Affairs (1984-91) and Minister Responsible for Constitutional Affairs (1991-93) in Brian Mulroney's Government, he won the respect and admiration of many Canadians. In 1992, he put forward the Charlottetown Agreement, one of two constitutional accords promoted by the Mulroney government. Mulroney called a referendum on the Accord, and it was defeated. Joe Clark left federal politics in 1993.
Reading: W. Troyer (1980) 200 Days : Joe Clark in Power; D. Humphreys (1978) Joe Clark : A Portrait.
