Greg Clark (Canadian politician)
Greg Clark | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 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 March 7, 1971 Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Political party | Alberta Party |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Gregory Jamieson Clark[1] ECA (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]
Biography[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
| 2012 Alberta general election: Calgary-Elbow | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Alison Redford | 11,198 | 58.09 | +16.01 | ||||
| Wildrose | James Cole | 5,509 | 28.58 | +21.97 | ||||
| Liberal | Beena Ashar | 1,067 | 5.53 | −33.67 | ||||
| New Democratic | Craig Coolahan | 761 | 3.95 | +1.96 | ||||
| Alberta Party | Greg Clark | 518 | 2.69 | – | ||||
| Evergreen | William Hamilton | 225 | 1.17 | −2.44 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 19,278 | 100.00 | – | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 257 | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | 19,535 | 58.44 | +12.60 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 33,430 | – | – | |||||
| Alberta provincial by-election, October 27, 2014: Calgary-Elbow | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Gordon Dirks | 4,207 | 33.21% | -24.88 | ||||
| Alberta Party | Greg Clark | 3,412 | 26.94% | +24.25 | ||||
| Wildrose | John Fletcher | 3,056 | 24.13% | -4.45 | ||||
| Liberal | Susan Wright | 1,519 | 11.99% | +6.46 | ||||
| New Democratic | Stephanie McLean | 472 | 3.73% | -0.22 | ||||
| Total valid votes | ––,––– | 100.00 | – | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | – | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | ––,––– | ––.–– | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | ––,––– | – | – | |||||
| 2015 Alberta general election: Calgary-Elbow | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Alberta Party | Greg Clark | 8,707 | 42.20% | 15.32% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Gordon Edwin Dirks | 6,254 | 30.31% | -2.91% | ||||
| New Democratic | Catherine Welburn | 3,256 | 15.78% | 12.06% | ||||
| Wildrose | Megan Brown | 1,786 | 8.66% | -15.50% | ||||
| Liberal | John Roggeveen | 565 | 2.74% | -9.28% | ||||
| Social Credit | Larry R. Heather | 67 | 0.32% | – | ||||
| Total | 20,635 | – | – | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 43 | 43 | 15 | |||||
| Eligible electors / turnout | 34,681 | 59.67% | 22.51% | |||||
| Alberta Party gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | -8.81% | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: "09 - Calgary-Elbow, 2015 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Chief Electoral Officer (2016). 2015 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer (PDF) (Report). Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 121–124. | ||||||||
| 2019 Alberta general election: Calgary-Elbow | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| United Conservative | Doug Schweitzer | 10,951 | 44.34 | +5.03 | $309,597 | |||
| Alberta Party | Greg Clark | 7,542 | 30.54 | -9.73 | $70,288 | |||
| New Democratic | Janet Eremenko | 5,796 | 23.47 | +7.17 | $44,092 | |||
| Liberal | Robin Mackintosh | 275 | 1.11 | -2.61 | $500 | |||
| Green | Quinn Rupert | 132 | 0.53 | +0.45 | $500 | |||
| Total | 24,696 | 98.36 | – | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 413 | 1.64 | ||||||
| Turnout | 25,109 | 71.88 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 34,934 | |||||||
| United Conservative gain from Alberta Party | Swing | +7.38 | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[12][13][14] Note: Expenses is the sum of "Election Expenses", "Other Expenses" and "Transfers Issued". The Elections Act limits "Election Expenses" to $50,000. | ||||||||
References[edit]
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Alberta election: Meet the party leaders". Edmonton Journal. April 7, 2015. Archived from the original on May 12, 2015.
- ^ Braid, Don (November 10, 2017). "Braid: The strange resignation of Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark". Calgary Herald. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
- ^ "Greg Clark". Spur Calgary. Archived from the original on 2015-06-03. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
- ^ "About Greg Clark". AlbertaParty.ca. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
- ^ "Alberta Party announces Leadership Race". AlbertaParty.ca. Archived from the original on October 29, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
- ^ Ramsay, Caley. "Alberta Party elects new leader". Global News. Edmonton. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
- ^ "Legislative Assembly of Alberta". www.assembly.ab.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Alberta Party MLA Greg Clark will not seek party leadership". CBC News. Edmonton. December 14, 2017. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "09 - Calgary-Elbow, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
- ^ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume II (PDF) (Report). Vol. 2. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 35–38. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
- ^ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume III Election Finances (PDF) (Report). Vol. 3. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 68–82. ISBN 978-1-988620-13-8. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.