Joe Clark

The Right Honourable
Joe Clark
PC CC AOE
The Right Honourable Joe Clark PC CC AOE
	Clark in 1970
16th Prime Minister of Canada
	In office; June 4, 1979 – March 3, 1980
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor General	Edward Schreyer
Preceded by	Pierre Trudeau
Succeeded by	Pierre Trudeau
Leader of the Opposition
	In office; March 4, 1980 – February 19, 1983
Preceded by	Pierre Trudeau
Succeeded by	Erik Nielsen
	In office; February 22, 1976 – June 3, 1979
Preceded by	Robert Stanfield
Succeeded by	Pierre Trudeau
Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
	In office; November 14, 1998 – May 31, 2003
Preceded by	Elsie Wayne (interim)
Succeeded by	Peter MacKay
	In office; February 22, 1976 – February 19, 1983
Preceded by	Robert Stanfield
Succeeded by	Erik Nielsen (interim)
President of the Privy Council
	In office; April 21, 1991 – June 24, 1993
Prime Minister	Brian Mulroney
Preceded by	Don Mazankowski
Succeeded by	Pierre Blais
Minister of Justice; Attorney General of Canada
	Acting; December 8, 1988 – January 29, 1989
Prime Minister	Brian Mulroney
Preceded by	Ray Hnatyshyn
Succeeded by	Doug Lewis
Secretary of State for External Affairs
	In office; September 17, 1984 – April 20, 1991
Prime Minister	Brian Mulroney
Preceded by	Jean Chrétien
Succeeded by	Barbara McDougall
Preceded by
House of Commons constituencies
Member of Parliament; for Calgary Centre
	In office; November 27, 2000 – June 28, 2004
Preceded by	Eric Lowther
Succeeded by	Lee Richardson
Member of Parliament; for Kings—Hants
	In office; September 11, 2000 – November 27, 2000
Preceded by	Scott Brison
Succeeded by	Scott Brison
Member of Parliament; for Yellowhead; (Rocky Mountain; 1972–1979)
	In office; October 30, 1972 – October 25, 1993
Preceded by	Allen Sulatycky
Succeeded by	Cliff Breitkreuz
Personal details
Born	Charles Joseph Clark; June 5, 1939 (age 85); High River, Alberta, Canada
Political party	Independent (since 2003)
Other political; affiliations	Progressive Conservative (before 2003)
Spouse	Maureen McTeer (m. 1973)
Children	Catherine Clark
Alma mater	University of Alberta (BA, MA)
Occupation	Politician; journalist; businessman; professor;
Signature

Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian businessman, writer, and politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980.

Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal politics, entering the House of Commons in the 1972 election and winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1976. He won a minority government in the 1979 election, defeating the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau and ending sixteen years of continuous Liberal rule. Taking office the day before his 40th birthday, Clark is the youngest person to become prime minister.

Clark's tenure was brief as the minority government was brought down by a non-confidence vote on his first budget in December 1979. The budget defeat triggered the 1980 election. Clark and the Progressive Conservatives lost the election to Trudeau and the Liberals, who won a majority in the Commons and returned to power. Clark lost the leadership of the party to Brian Mulroney in 1983.

Clark returned to prominence from 1984 to 1993 as foreign minister then constitutional affairs minister in Mulroney's cabinet. Clark retired from politics by not standing for re-election for the House of Commons in 1993. He made a political comeback in 1998 to lead the Progressive Conservatives in their last general election before the party's eventual dissolution, serving his final term in Parliament from 2000 to 2004. After the Progressive Conservatives merged with the more right-wing Canadian Alliance to form the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada in 2003, Clark instead sat as an independent Progressive Conservative, criticizing the merger as what he described as an "Alliance take-over", believing that the new party was drifting towards social conservatism. Clark today serves as a university professor and as president of his own consulting firm.