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 Clark Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Party	Alberta Party
Occupation	Entrepreneur

Gregory Jamieson Clark^[1] is a former 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]

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.

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 of 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 served on the Standing Committee for Resource Stewardship and was 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

v t e 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	–	–

v t e 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			––,–––	–	–

v t e 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.

v t e 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.

Greg Clark (Canadian politician)

Political career

Election results

References

External links

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