Robert Curtis Clark

Robert "Bob" Curtis Clark (born July 2, 1937 in Acme, Alberta, Canada) is a former teacher, civil servant and provincial level politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1960 to 1981. During his career he served as Leader of the Alberta Social Credit Party and Leader of the Official Opposition. After his provincial political career, he served as the Alberta Ethics Commissioner from April 1, 1992 to March 31, 2003.

Early life

Robert Curtis Clark was born in Acme, Alberta on July 2, 1937. He became a school teacher at the age of nineteen in 1956 for Mountain View County. Four years later he made a run for provincial political office.cite web|url=http://www.ethicscommissioner.ab.ca/former%20commiss.htm|title=Robert C. Clark Former Ethics Commissioner|accessdate=2008-04-12]

Political career

Early career

Clark was first elected to the Alberta Legislature in a by-election held in the electoral district of Didsbury on November 30, 1960. The by-election was caused by the death of the previous member James Owens. Clark won the hotly contested three way race for the Socreds by doubling the votes of second place candidate J.A. Lore of the Liberals.cite web|url=http://www.elections.ab.ca/Public%20Website/742.htm#1905-1973|title=By-elections 1905-1973|publisher=Elections Alberta|accessdate=2008-04-12] He became the youngest Alberta provincial MLA winning the electoral district at age of twenty-three years old.

Clark's electoral district was abolished for the 1963 Alberta general election. He ran for his second full term in office in the new Olds-Didsbury riding. He won the new district in a landslide three way race.cite web|url=http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/database/maps_choice.asp?Year=1963&Constit=Olds-Didsbury|title=Olds-Didsbury election results 1963|publisher=Alberta Heritage|accessdate=2008-04-05]

Cabinet Minister

Clark was appointed to the cabinet by Premier Ernest Manning in 1966. Manning appointed Clark as Minister of Youth due to his young age. Clark would run for a third term in office, this time as a Cabinet Minister in the 1967 Alberta general election. In that election Clark slightly increased his plurality as he finished well ahead in the field of four candidates.cite web|url=http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/database/maps_choice.asp?Year=1967&Constit=Olds-Didsbury|title=Olds-Didsbury election results 1967|publisher=Alberta Heritage|accessdate=2008-04-05] In 1968 Clark was appointed as Minister of Education by Premier Harry Strom. Clark would run for a fourth term in office in the 1971 Alberta general election. Despite the defeat of the Social Credit government, Clark would easily be returned to his seat.cite web|url=http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/database/maps_choice.asp?Year=1971&Constit=Olds-Didsbury|title=Olds-Didsbury election results 1971|publisher=Alberta Heritage|accessdate=2008-04-05]

Opposition Leader

Clark would be chosen as Official Opposition leader by the Social Credit caucus in September 1973 after James Henderson left the caucus to sit as an Independent.cite book|title=The Social Credit Phenomenon in Alberta|last=Finkel|first=Albert|pages=196|isbn=0802058213|publisher=University of Toronto Press|origyear=1989] He would become Leader of the Social Credit Party after Werner Schmidt led the party to a very poor showing in the 1975 Alberta general election. The party would loose almost 23% of its popular vote and drop from twenty-five to four seats in the Legislature. Clark would easily win his home district defeating two other candidates with a large majority.cite web|url=http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/database/maps_choice.asp?Year=1975&Constit=Olds-Didsbury|title=Olds-Didsbury election results 1975|publisher=Alberta Heritage|accessdate=2008-04-05] He would lead Social Credit to a larger popular vote but fail to gain any seats in the 1979 Alberta general election. In his home district he won that election with the biggest plurality of his career as he remained personally popular.cite web|url=http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/database/maps_choice.asp?Year=1979&Constit=Olds-Didsbury|title=Olds-Didsbury election results 1979|publisher=Alberta Heritage|accessdate=2008-04-05] Less then a year after the election Clark resigned from his post as Social Credit Leader. He then resigned his seat on November 30, 1981. His resignation from the Legislature would mark the beginning of the end for Social Credit as a force in the province and allow the Western Canada Concept to pickup his former electoral district.cite web|url=http://www.elections.ab.ca/Public%20Website/742.htm#feb1982|title=Olds-Didsbury by-election results | publisher=Elections Alberta | accessdate=2008-03-19]

After politics

After leaving political office, Clark became a consultant for Hill and Knowlton and Public Affairs International. He served both those roles from 1981 until his appointed as Ethics Commissioner in 1992. In 1986 he became a member of the Board of Directors and later Chairman of the Board for the Special Waste Management Corporation.

Clark did not go to University when he was younger but he was awarded an honorary doctorate of law degree by the University of Calgary on June 8, 1988.cite web|url=http://wcm2.ucalgary.ca/senate/files/senate/HDRECIP_LST_2006.pdf|title=Honorary Degree List|publisher=University of Calgary| accessdate=2008-04-12]

Public servant

Clark was appointed as the first Alberta Ethics Commissioner by the provincial government in 1992.cite web|url=http://www.altaebc.ab.ca/faqebc.html|title=Frequently Asked Questions|publisher=Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission 2002/2003|accessdate=2008-04-12] He has served that post from April 1, 1992 to March 31, 2003.

He was also appointed as Alberta's first Information and Privacy Commissioner from 1995 to 2001. On March 12, 2002 he would serve the government in another capacity as he was appointed Chairman of the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission in 2002.

In 2003 Clark was awarded the Alberta Lieutenant Governor's Award for his dedication to public service.cite web|url=http://www.ipac.ca/Award_RegionalHonours | title=Regional Honours Award|publisher=The Institute of Public Administration of Canada|accessdate=2008-04-12]

After resigning from his post as Alberta Ethics Commissioner he worked as the Ethics Advisor for the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board and serving from 2002 until 2007. In 2006 he founded Corporation for the Rural Development Project Fund.

References

External links

* [http://www.assembly.ab.ca/legislaturecentennial/pdf/membersBooklet.pdf Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing]