Greg Clark (Canadian politician)

Last updated
Greg Clark
Greg Clark, Leader of the Alberta Party, 2014.jpg
Leader of the Alberta Party
In office
September 21, 2013   February 27, 2018
Preceded by Glenn Taylor
Succeeded by Stephen Mandel
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Elbow
In office
May 5, 2015   April 16, 2019
Preceded by Gordon Dirks
Succeeded by Doug Schweitzer
Personal details
Born
Gregory Jamieson Clark

(1971-03-07) March 7, 1971 (age 50)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Political party Alberta Party
OccupationEntrepreneur

Gregory Jamieson Clark [1] (born March 7, 1971) is a Canadian politician from Alberta. He is the former leader of the Alberta Party, [2] and in the 2015 Alberta general election was elected the party's sole Member of the Legislative Assembly, representing Calgary-Elbow. Clark resigned as leader on November 18, 2017, and served as interim leader until the leadership election when Stephen Mandel was elected the new leader of the party. [3]

Contents

Biography

Clark was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. [4] He graduated in 1993 from the University of Victoria with a degree in Political Science, minoring in Sociology and holds an MBA from Royal Roads University, graduating in 2005. He returned to Alberta to work for Laurence Decore, who was then leader of the Official Opposition Alberta Liberals.

Deciding to leave politics for a time, Clark earned an MBA and in 2006 co-founded an Information Technology consulting firm C3 Associates. The firm earned a distinction as one of Alberta Venture's 50 fast growth companies in 2011 and 2012. C3 Associates was also named one of Canada's top 250 information technology companies by the Branham Group in 2012 and 2013. In 2015, Mr. Clark was named one Alberta's 50 Most Influential by Alberta Venture Magazine. He has engaged in volunteer work, most notably as Vice Chair of Distress Centre Calgary, and he co-founded the Calgary River Communities Action Group in response to the 2013 Alberta floods.

In 2013, Clark sold his share of C3 to his partners to enter politics full-time. [5]

Political career

Clark was the Alberta Party's election candidate in Calgary-Elbow for the 2012 Alberta general election, placing 5th. Following the resignation of Glenn Taylor, the Alberta Party remained without a leader for some months. On May 29, 2013, the party announced that it would hold a leadership vote to coincide with its Annual General Meeting on September 21, 2013 in Edmonton. [6] Clark won the election, receiving 87% of the 337 votes cast. [7]

He was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Elbow on May 5, 2015. He currently serves on the Standing Committee for Resource Stewardship and is a member of the Select Special Ethics and Accountability Committee. [8]

Despite becoming the first Alberta Party candidate to win a seat in the Alberta legislature and growing the caucus to two by attracting an NDP MLA to cross the floor, Clark resigned as leader in November 2017 after being reportedly pressured by the party's board of directors to do so in order to renew the party through a leadership election. His resignation occurred months after the merger of the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties in to the United Conservative Party which, in turn, resulted in large numbers of disaffected former Progressive Conservatives to join the Alberta Party and, allegedly, try to remould it in their image. [9] Though he initially considered standing in the new leadership election, Clark announced on December 14, 2017, that he would not be a candidate for the leadership though he intends to remain an Alberta Party MLA and run for re-election to the legislature in the 2019 provincial election. [10] [11]

Election results

2012 Alberta general election : Calgary-Elbow
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Alison Redford 11,19858.09+16.01
Wildrose James Cole5,50928.58+21.97
Liberal Beena Ashar1,0675.53−33.67
New Democratic Craig Coolahan 7613.95+1.96
Alberta Party Greg Clark 5182.69
Evergreen William Hamilton2251.17−2.44
Total valid votes19,278100.00
Total rejected ballots257
Turnout19,53558.44+12.60
Eligible voters33,430
Alberta provincial by-election, October 27, 2014: Calgary-Elbow
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Gordon Dirks 4,20733.21%-24.88
Alberta Party Greg Clark3,41226.94%+24.25
Wildrose John Fletcher3,05624.13%-4.45
Liberal Susan Wright1,51911.99%+6.46
New Democratic Stephanie McLean 4723.73%-0.22
Total valid votes––,–––100.00
Total rejected ballots
Turnout––,–––––.––
Eligible voters––,–––
2015 Alberta general election : Calgary-Elbow
PartyCandidateVotes%
Alberta Party Greg Clark 8,70742.20
Progressive Conservative Gordon Dirks 6,25430.31
New Democratic Catherine Welburn3,25615.78
Wildrose Megan Brown1,7868.66
Liberal John Roggeveen5652.74
Social Credit Larry Heather 670.33
Total valid votes20,635
Rejected, spoiled and declined101
Turnout20,73659.8
Eligible voters34,681
Source: Elections Alberta [12]
2019 Alberta general election : Calgary-Elbow
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
United Conservative Doug Schweitzer 10,95144.3+5.33
Alberta Party Greg Clark 7,54230.5-11.7
New Democratic Janet Eremenko5,79623.5+7.72
Liberal Robin Macintosh2751.1-1.64
Green Quinn Rupert1320.5
Total valid votes24,696
Rejected, spoiled and declined413
Eligible voters37,337
Turnout67.1%

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References

  1. Greg Clark [@GregClarkAB] (June 1, 2015). "I'm official! It is truly an honor to serve the people of Calgary-Elbow and people of Alberta. #AbMLAs #ableg" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  2. "Alberta election: Meet the party leaders". Edmonton Journal . April 7, 2015. Archived from the original on May 12, 2015.
  3. Braid, Don (November 10, 2017). "Braid: The strange resignation of Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark". Calgary Herald . Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  4. "Greg Clark". Spur Calgary. Archived from the original on 2015-06-03. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  5. "About Greg Clark". AlbertaParty.ca. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  6. "Alberta Party announces Leadership Race". AlbertaParty.ca. Archived from the original on October 29, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  7. Ramsay, Caley. "Alberta Party elects new leader". Global News. Edmonton. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  8. "Legislative Assembly of Alberta". www.assembly.ab.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  9. Trynacity, Kim (November 24, 2017). "Clark was 'backed into a corner' over leadership of Alberta Party, sources say". CBC News . Edmonton. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  10. "Alberta Party MLA Greg Clark will not seek party leadership". CBC News . Edmonton. December 14, 2017. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  11. Tait, Carrie (November 10, 2017). "Alberta Party leader Greg Clark to step down, opening door for leadership campaign". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  12. "2015 Provincial General Election Results". Elections Alberta. Archived from the original on 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2017-07-30.