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Former Prime Minister of Canada Joe Clark Joins Wilson Center as Public Policy Scholar

The Right Honorable Joe Clark will join the Wilson Center for a three-month appointment as a Public Policy Scholar beginning this October. The youngest prime minister in Canadian history, Joe Clark, then leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, was elected in 1979 at the age of 39 and has since become one of the most highly regarded ambassadors of Canadian values throughout the international community.

Washington, D.C.---The Right Honorable Joe Clark will join the Wilson Center for a three-month appointment as a Public Policy Scholar beginning October 1, 2004. The youngest prime minister in Canadian history, Joe Clark, then leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, was elected in 1979 at the age of 39. Over the course of his long career, he has become one of the most highly regarded ambassadors of Canadian values throughout the international community.

"The Wilson Center and its Canada Institute are committed to exploring the extraordinary and vital relationship between the U.S. and Canada. Prime Minister Clark's unparalleled expertise and point of view will bring great credit to this mission," said Lee H. Hamilton, President and Director of the Wilson Center.

"This can be a very creative period in relations within North America, and between our countries and the larger world, and I look forward to sharing experiences and perspectives with others at the Wilson Center," Mr. Clark said.

First elected to the House of Commons at the age of 32, Clark was elected Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada four years later. In 1979, he defeated Pierre Trudeau to become the youngest prime minister in Canadian history.

His government was defeated on budget measures designed to establish fiscal responsibility and a new system of expenditure control. In its short term in office, that government began the process of privatizing inefficient government enterprises, introduced the first Freedom of Information legislation, embarked on a major program of welcoming thousands of Vietnamese "boat people" as refugees, and rescued American hostages from Iran.

Mr. Clark served as foreign minister, and then as minister of constitutional affairs, in the government of Brian Mulroney. He chaired the original Cabinet Committee on the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, and was also chairman of the Commonwealth Committee of Foreign Ministers on Southern Africa.

In the Wilsonian tradition, Joe Clark was an academic in addition to being a politician. He has earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree in political science from the University of Alberta and in 1993, during a five-year break from politics, he was a visiting scholar in the Canadian studies program at the University of California at Berkeley. Also during this time, he enhanced his international stature as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Cyprus, and he founded Joe Clark and Associates, a successful international business consulting firm. In 1998, he returned to politics, once again leading the Progressive Conservative Party, a position he held until May 2003.

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Canada Institute

The mission of the Wilson Center's Canada Institute is to raise the level of knowledge of Canada in the United States, particularly within the Washington, DC policy community.  Research projects, initiatives, podcasts, and publications cover contemporary Canada, US-Canadian relations, North American political economy, and Canada's global role as it intersects with US national interests.  Read more