1. Christina Joan Clark was born on October 29,1965 and is a Canadian politician who served as the 35th premier of British Columbia from 2011 to 2017.
56 Facts About Christy Clark
1. 2.
Christy Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female premier in Canada to lead her party to a plurality of seats in two consecutive general elections.
3.
Christy Clark left politics in 2005, and became the host of an afternoon radio talk show.
4.
Christy Clark was born on October 29,1965, in Burnaby, British Columbia, the daughter of Mavis Audrey and Jim Christy Clark.
5.
Christy Clark's father was a teacher and a three-time candidate for the legislative assembly, and her mother, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, was a marriage and family therapist in Vancouver.
6.
Christy Clark graduated from Burnaby South Senior Secondary before attending Simon Fraser University, the Sorbonne in France and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to major in political science and religious studies.
7.
In 2001, Christy Clark gave birth to her only child, Hamish Marissen-Christy Clark, with then husband Mark Marissen.
8.
Christy Clark was the second woman in Canadian history to give birth to a child while serving as a cabinet minister, after Pauline Marois, then a Quebec provincial minister, in 1985.
9.
Christy Clark was active in student politics while at SFU, and in 1987 was elected president of the campus Young Liberals.
10.
Christy Clark served as a political staffer for the BC Liberal Party during its time in opposition, and in 1993, moved to Ottawa to serve as an aide to then-transport minister Doug Young.
11.
Christy Clark returned to BC in 1996 after new leader Gordon Campbell invited her to run for office.
12.
Christy Clark was first elected to the legislative assembly in the 1996 election, representing the riding of Port Moody-Burnaby Mountain.
13.
Christy Clark served as the campaign co-chair for the BC Liberals during the 2001 election, in which the party won 77 of 79 seats in the legislative assembly.
14.
Christy Clark brought in a number of changes that were claimed to increase accountability, strengthen parental power in the decision-making process, and provide parents greater choice and flexibility in the school system.
15.
Christy Clark was deputy premier at the time of the privatization of BC Rail and resulting scandal.
16.
Christy Clark was the co-chair of the 2001 Liberal campaign, which included a platform that specifically promised not to sell BC Rail.
17.
In 2009, Michael Bolton, defence attorney in the Basi-Virk trial, alleged that Christy Clark had participated in the scandal by providing government information to lobbyist Erik Bornmann.
18.
Christy Clark has rebuffed talk of her links to the scandal as "smear tactics".
19.
Christy Clark's husband was not under investigation, and was told that he might have been the "innocent recipient" of documents then in his possession.
20.
In 2004, Christy Clark was appointed Minister of Children and Family Development after Minister Gordon Hogg was forced to resign.
21.
On September 17,2004, Christy Clark quit provincial politics and did not seek re-election in the 2005 provincial election.
22.
Christy Clark declared she wanted to spend more time with her three-year-old son.
23.
Clark hosted The Christy Clark Show, airing weekdays on CKNW 980 AM in Vancouver from August 27,2007, until the time of her decision to enter the BC Liberal leadership election in December 2010.
24.
Christy Clark served as a weekly columnist for the Vancouver Province and the Vancouver Sun newspapers during the 2005 provincial election and an election analyst for Global BC and CTV News Channel during the 2006 federal election.
25.
On December 8,2010, Christy Clark officially announced her intent to seek the leadership of the BC Liberal Party.
26.
Public polling conducted prior to and after the announcement of her candidacy showed that Christy Clark was the frontrunner to succeed Campbell as leader of the BC Liberals and premier.
27.
Christy Clark launched her leadership bid saying she wanted a "family-first agenda".
28.
Christy Clark suggested a free vote in the legislature by MLAs, believing the HST referendum has little chance of success.
29.
Christy Clark's campaign faced questions regarding her involvement in the sale of BC Rail due to her cabinet position and family connection to people "mentioned prominently in court documents, including search warrants", with opposition members stating that she "wants to shut down the public's questions about the scandal".
30.
Christy Clark had called for more questions to be answered about BC Rail, but since then has said that there is no need for a public inquiry, as have the other Liberal Party leadership contenders.
31.
At the leadership convention held on February 26,2011, Christy Clark was elected leader of the BC Liberals on the third ballot, over former Health Minister Kevin Falcon.
32.
Christy Clark won 52 per cent of the vote, compared to 48 per cent for Falcon.
33.
Christy Clark was sworn in as premier of British Columbia on March 14,2011, and unveiled a new smaller cabinet on the same day.
34.
Christy Clark ran in former Premier Gordon Campbell's riding of Vancouver-Point Grey and defeated NDP candidate David Eby by 595 votes.
35.
Christy Clark's win marked the first time that a governing party won a by-election in 30 years.
36.
Christy Clark failed to determine whether these funds were being accepted by the casinos and failed to ensure such funds were not accepted.
37.
Christy Clark defied pollster predictions by leading her party to victory, its fourth consecutive mandate but her first, in the May 13,2013, provincial election reversing a 20-point lead held by the BC NDP at the beginning of the campaign.
38.
Christy Clark did not rule out running in a riding outside the Lower Mainland in order to get back into the chamber, telling The Globe and Mail that she believed one reason she lost her own riding was that she was devoting so much time to serving the entire province.
39.
Christy Clark won the by-election on July 10,2013, taking more than 60 per cent of the vote over NDP candidate Carole Gordon.
40.
Christy Clark's government sought to take advantage of BC's liquified natural gas reserves, positioning the budding LNG industry as a major economic development opportunity over the next decade.
41.
Christy Clark announced in 2012 that any future pipeline that crosses BC would have to meet five conditions that included environmental requirements and Aboriginal consultation.
42.
In May 2014, Christy Clark gave a formal apology for 160 historical racist and discriminatory policies imposed against Chinese-Canadians:.
43.
Christy Clark faced "relentless criticism over bottomless corporate and foreign donations that gave her party a four-fold advantage over the NDP, such that even The New York Times labelled BC the "wild west" of political cash and the province's elections agency referred its investigation to the RCMP".
44.
Christy Clark subsequently recalled the legislative assembly to test its confidence in her government, with a speech from the throne that included billions of dollars in new funding and key policies supported by the NDP and Greens.
45.
Christy Clark then asked Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon for a new election, contending that an NDP minority government would be unstable due to the need for one of the NDP's members to become speaker.
46.
On July 28, Christy Clark announced that she would resign as Liberal Party Leader and exit from politics, effective August 4,2017.
47.
Christy Clark considered running in the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, but ultimately decided against it.
48.
Christy Clark endorsed Jean Charest in the 2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election.
49.
Christy Clark took out a membership in the party and received a ballot to vote in the race, her membership expired on June 23,2023.
50.
Christy Clark was on the advisory council of Centre Ice Canadians in 2023.
51.
Christy Clark left the group before it became the Canadian Future Party, stating she believed the group would've been better served focusing on supporting centrist candidates within existing parties.
52.
In September 2024, Christy Clark gave a speech at the Ontario Liberal Party's annual general meeting about running a winning campaign.
53.
Christy Clark had been reportedly learning French prior to his resignation.
54.
Christy Clark falsely claimed that she never took out a Conservative membership when she supported Charest against Pierre Poilievre in the 2022 Conservative Party leadership election despite multiple past statements saying she had done so and voted for him.
55.
Christy Clark challenged the Conservative Party of Canada to publish her membership record, which it did shortly after the interview.
56.
On March 24,2025, Christy Clark announced that she would not be running in the election.