Christy Clark says she's quitting
Canadian Press
Thursday, September 16, 2004
VICTORIA - Christy Clark, B.C.'s deputy premier and the highest-profile woman on the government front benches, has quit and won't seek re-election.
Clark said Thursday she will sit as a private member until the next election May 17.
She said her reasons are "deeply personal ones" and mostly due to her three-year-old son.
"He changed my life so profoundly. My family needs more of me now," Clark said.
She said she spoke to Premier Gordon Campbell on Thursday morning for an hour before announcing her decision.
Clark's decision will come as a shock in some circles.
A polished, aggressive politician, her name has often surfaced as an eventual potential successor for Premier Gordon Campbell.
She earned a reputation for being a feisty partisan while in Opposition when she served in a number of critic portfolios and was featured prominently during the daily question period sparring with NDP MLA Joy MacPhail, an equally spirited partisan.
But that same feistiness helped earn Clark the wrath of teachers when she was appointed education minister in June 2001 when the Liberals formed government.
She was shuffled earlier this year and took on the lower-profile portfolio of minister of children and families.
Meanwhile, Clark's personal life was tossed into the headlines with the police raids last December on the provincial legislature.
In their investigation of two government aides on suspicion of breach of trust, police officers also visited the home Clark shares with her husband Mark Marissen and spoke with her brother Bruce Clark.
Marissen plays a prominent role in federal Liberal politics in British Columbia. He helped steer Prime Minister Paul Martin's leadership campaign in B.C. and was also a key player in the Liberals' federal election campaign in the province.
Clark's brother, Bruce, has also been active in politics.
She said Thursday the legislature raids played no part in her decision to step down.
The police said at the time neither Marissen nor Bruce Clark was central to the police investigation.
"The police were absolutely crystal clear," Clark has said. "They gave my husband a letter, even, stating very clearly that he, like elected officials, is not a suspect or implicated in this case in any way."
Marissen voluntarily turned over some material to police. Clark said he was told he might have been the innocent recipient of some documents that could be helpful to their investigation.
Clark, her brother and her husband were among those whose names appeared in documents released by B.C. Supreme Court last Friday in connection with the search warrants that justified the December raid. Also mentioned was Finance Minister Gary Collins and more than a dozen others.
The document said these people were not "at the present time" under investigation.
An edited version of police search warrants suggests that two government aides may have leaked confidential information on the deal to sell B.C. Rail to a private company.
The aides, the documents allege, gave the information to a lobbyist who was also connected to the federal Liberals in exchange for consideration for jobs with the federal government.
On Wednesday, one of those aides, David Basi, was charged with drug offences. The drug case is unconnected to the breach-of-trust investigation.
Clark was elected to the B.C. legislature in 1996 representing Port Moody-Burnaby Mountain. The riding's name was changed to Port Moody-Westwood for the 2001 election.
Most of Clark's life was steeped in politics. According to her MLA website, she helped campaign for her father Jim, who ran for the B.C. Liberals three times and lost.
Clark studied at Simon Fraser University, the University of Edinburgh and Universite de la Sorbonne. While a student at SFU, she was elected vice-president and then president of the Simon Fraser Student Society.
Clark worked for the B.C. Liberals in their research bureau after the 1991 and later moved to Ottawa to work for the federal Liberal government.
Canadian Press
Thursday, September 16, 2004
VICTORIA - Christy Clark, B.C.'s deputy premier and the highest-profile woman on the government front benches, has quit and won't seek re-election.
Clark said Thursday she will sit as a private member until the next election May 17.
She said her reasons are "deeply personal ones" and mostly due to her three-year-old son.
"He changed my life so profoundly. My family needs more of me now," Clark said.
She said she spoke to Premier Gordon Campbell on Thursday morning for an hour before announcing her decision.
Clark's decision will come as a shock in some circles.
A polished, aggressive politician, her name has often surfaced as an eventual potential successor for Premier Gordon Campbell.
She earned a reputation for being a feisty partisan while in Opposition when she served in a number of critic portfolios and was featured prominently during the daily question period sparring with NDP MLA Joy MacPhail, an equally spirited partisan.
But that same feistiness helped earn Clark the wrath of teachers when she was appointed education minister in June 2001 when the Liberals formed government.
She was shuffled earlier this year and took on the lower-profile portfolio of minister of children and families.
Meanwhile, Clark's personal life was tossed into the headlines with the police raids last December on the provincial legislature.
In their investigation of two government aides on suspicion of breach of trust, police officers also visited the home Clark shares with her husband Mark Marissen and spoke with her brother Bruce Clark.
Marissen plays a prominent role in federal Liberal politics in British Columbia. He helped steer Prime Minister Paul Martin's leadership campaign in B.C. and was also a key player in the Liberals' federal election campaign in the province.
Clark's brother, Bruce, has also been active in politics.
She said Thursday the legislature raids played no part in her decision to step down.
The police said at the time neither Marissen nor Bruce Clark was central to the police investigation.
"The police were absolutely crystal clear," Clark has said. "They gave my husband a letter, even, stating very clearly that he, like elected officials, is not a suspect or implicated in this case in any way."
Marissen voluntarily turned over some material to police. Clark said he was told he might have been the innocent recipient of some documents that could be helpful to their investigation.
Clark, her brother and her husband were among those whose names appeared in documents released by B.C. Supreme Court last Friday in connection with the search warrants that justified the December raid. Also mentioned was Finance Minister Gary Collins and more than a dozen others.
The document said these people were not "at the present time" under investigation.
An edited version of police search warrants suggests that two government aides may have leaked confidential information on the deal to sell B.C. Rail to a private company.
The aides, the documents allege, gave the information to a lobbyist who was also connected to the federal Liberals in exchange for consideration for jobs with the federal government.
On Wednesday, one of those aides, David Basi, was charged with drug offences. The drug case is unconnected to the breach-of-trust investigation.
Clark was elected to the B.C. legislature in 1996 representing Port Moody-Burnaby Mountain. The riding's name was changed to Port Moody-Westwood for the 2001 election.
Most of Clark's life was steeped in politics. According to her MLA website, she helped campaign for her father Jim, who ran for the B.C. Liberals three times and lost.
Clark studied at Simon Fraser University, the University of Edinburgh and Universite de la Sorbonne. While a student at SFU, she was elected vice-president and then president of the Simon Fraser Student Society.
Clark worked for the B.C. Liberals in their research bureau after the 1991 and later moved to Ottawa to work for the federal Liberal government.
