Tony Peter Clement,
PCThe Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
,
MPThe House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
(born January 27, 1961) is a Canadian federal
politicianA politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
,
President of the Treasury BoardThe position of President of the Treasury Board was created as a ministerial position in the Canadian Cabinet in 1966 when the Treasury Board became a full-fledged department. From 1867 to 1966 the Treasury Board had been part of the Department of Finance....
, Minister for the
Federal Economic Initiative for Northern OntarioThe Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario is a program of Industry Canada whose mission is to address the economic development, diversification and job creation in Northern Ontario. FedNor especially aids women, Franco-ontarians, youth, and Aboriginal peoples in Ontario...
(FedNor) and member of the
Conservative Party of CanadaThe Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
.
Clement had previously served as an Ontario cabinet minister, most recently as Minister of Health and Long-Term Care under Premiers
Mike HarrisMichael Deane "Mike" Harris was the 22nd Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. He is most noted for the "Common Sense Revolution", his Progressive Conservative government's program of deficit reduction in combination with lower taxes and cuts to government...
and
Ernie EvesErnest Lawrence "Ernie" Eves was the 23rd Premier of the province of Ontario, Canada, from April 15, 2002, to October 23, 2003.-Beginnings:...
.
Moving to federal politics, he was a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada after its formation from the merger of the
Progressive ConservativeThe Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
and
Canadian AllianceThe Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...
parties in 2004 but ultimately lost to
Stephen HarperStephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
. Clement won the seat of
Parry Sound—MuskokaParry Sound—Muskoka is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1949....
in the 2006 federal election, defeating incumbent
LiberalThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
cabinet minister Andy Mitchell. The Conservatives formed a government in the election and Clement was appointed as the
Minister of HealthThe Minister of Health is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's health department and the enforcing the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canada Health Act, the law governing Medicare...
and Minister for FedNor.
Early life and career
Clement was born
Tony Panayi in
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the son of Carol (née Drapkin) and Peter Panayi. His father was a Greek Cypriot and his mother was Jewish (part of her family had immigrated from
AleppoAleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
). He emigrated to Canada in childhood with his parents when he was four years old. His parents later separated and his mother remarried
OntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
politician
John ClementJohn Twining Clement was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament in the 1970s for the riding of Niagara Falls, and served a brief stint as Attorney General and Solicitor General of Ontario in 1975 in the cabinet of Premier William G...
, who adopted Tony.
As a student at the
University of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, he was elected twice, both as an undergraduate and as a law student, to the university governing council . He was also president of the campus Progressive Conservatives. He first attracted the attention of the media in 1985 when he created a new society to invite the Ambassador of
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Glen Babb, to speak at the
University of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
and debate Professor Bill Graham in order to defend free speech, not based on the issue of apartheid. This was after the International Law Society had withdrawn an invitation as too controversial because of the issue of apartheid. The law school's dean, J.S.R. Pritchard, disagreed with the invitation saying of Babb, "He is the official spokesman or representative of a grotesque regime built on violence and racism. In extending an invitation the student group runs the risk of providing symbolic legitimacy to the ambassador and to the regime he represents."
Clement was also an admirer of US President
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and of
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
's government in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
A graduate of the
University of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, he completed degrees in
political sciencePolitical Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
in 1983, and
lawLaw is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
in 1986, and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1988.
Clement became president of the
Progressive Conservative Party of OntarioThe Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...
in 1990 and was a close ally of then-party leader
Mike HarrisMichael Deane "Mike" Harris was the 22nd Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. He is most noted for the "Common Sense Revolution", his Progressive Conservative government's program of deficit reduction in combination with lower taxes and cuts to government...
. He ran, unsuccessfully, for Metro Toronto Council in 1994 losing to future mayor David Miller in the ward of Parkdale-High Park. He served as Harris's Assistant Principal Secretary from 1992 to 1995, and played a leading role in drafting policy directives for the
Common Sense RevolutionThe phrase Common Sense Revolution has been used as a political slogan to describe common sense conservative platforms in Australia and the U.S. state of New Jersey in the 1990s. Based on the Singapore Model of economics, its main goal is to reduce taxes while balancing the budget by reducing the...
.
In provincial politics
He was elected to the
Legislative Assembly of OntarioThe Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...
in the
provincial election of 1995The Ontario general election of 1995 was held on June 8, 1995, to elect members of the 36th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada...
, defeating incumbent
LiberalThe Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...
Bob CallahanRobert V. Callahan is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1995...
by over 6,000 votes in the
ridingAn electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
of
Brampton SouthBrampton South is a former provincial electoral district in Ontario. It was abolished in 1999 into Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale, Brampton Centre, Brampton West—Mississauga. It existed for the 1987, 1990, and 1995 elections...
. After serving as a parliamentary assistant for two years, he was appointed
Minister of TransportationThe Ministry of Transportation of Ontario is the provincial ministry of the government of Ontario which is responsible for transport infrastructure and related law in Ontario. The ministry traces its roots back over a century to the 1890s, when the province began training Provincial Road Building...
on October 10, 1997. One of the initiatives under his watch was the completion of
Highway 403King's Highway 403, also known as Highway 403, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that travels between Woodstock and Mississauga, branching off from and reuniting with Highway 401 at both ends and travelling south of it through Hamilton and Mississauga. It is concurrent...
, which had been discontinuous for decades. During a
TTC-Island Ferry:The ferry service to the Toronto Islands was operated by the TTC from 1927 until 1962, when it was transferred to the Metro Parks and Culture department. Since 1998, the ferry service is run by Toronto Parks and Recreation.-Gray Coach:...
strike in 1999, Clement admonished
TorontoniansToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
for being "too reliant" on
public transitPublic transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
. He also represented the Progressive Conservative government on a variety of televised discussion panels, and won a reputation as a rising star in the party.
Clement was re-elected in the
provincial election of 1999An Ontario general election was held on June 3, 1999, to elect members of the 37th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
, defeating Liberal candidate
Vic DhillonVic Dhillon is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the constituency of Brampton West for the Ontario Liberal Party. Dhillon is one of the three Sikh Members of the Legislature, all of whom are members of the Liberal Party.-Early...
by over 8,000 votes. He was promoted to
Minister of the EnvironmentThe Ministry of the Environment, established in 1972, is the portfolio in the Executive Council of Ontario responsible for addressing the environmental issues affecting the environmental protection of the Canadian province of Ontario and the World...
on June 17, 1999, and served in this capacity until May 3, 2000. In this role he established the program known as
Ontario's Drive CleanOntario's Drive Clean is an automobile emissions control program in Ontario, Canada. It applies only to vehicles in the program coverage areas, which are largely the lower half of Ontario, from Windsor in Southwestern Ontario to Ottawa in Eastern Ontario. It is unlikely it will be expanded to...
, which mandated periodic emissions tests on vehicles in southern Ontario.
Clement was appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing on October 25, 1999, and held this position until February 8, 2001.
On February 8, 2001, Clement was appointed Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. He initiated primary care reform, oversaw the implementation of Telehealth Ontario (a toll-free health information line staffed by registered nurses), and expanded Ontario's hospitals system. He also introduced elements of private delivery within the single-payer public system by approving a private cancer care clinic in Toronto and entered into a public-private partnership for a hospital redevelopment in
BramptonBrampton is the third-largest city in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada and the seat of Peel Region. As of the 2006 census, Brampton's population stood at 433,806, making it the 11th largest city in Canada. It is also one of Canada's fastest growing municipalities, with an average...
. His supporters launded him as an innovative and effective administrator, while critics disapproved of his advocacy of public-private partnerships and gave him the nickname "two-tier Tony".
Clement finished third on the first ballot, and threw his support to victorious candidate
Ernie EvesErnest Lawrence "Ernie" Eves was the 23rd Premier of the province of Ontario, Canada, from April 15, 2002, to October 23, 2003.-Beginnings:...
on the second. When Eves became Premier, he kept Clement in the Health portfolio.
Clement was especially prominent when Toronto suffered an outbreak of SARS in the summer of 2003, travelling to Geneva in a successful bid to urge the
World Health OrganizationThe World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
to lift a travel ban to Canada's largest city.
The Eves government was defeated in the
2003 provincial electionThe Ontario general election of 2003 was held on October 2, 2003, to elect the 103 members of the 38th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
, and Clement was unexpectedly defeated by
Vic DhillonVic Dhillon is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the constituency of Brampton West for the Ontario Liberal Party. Dhillon is one of the three Sikh Members of the Legislature, all of whom are members of the Liberal Party.-Early...
by about 2,500 votes in a rematch from 1999. Clement afterwards worked as a counsel for Bennett Jones LLP. He also was a small business owner, as well as a visiting professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.
Federal politics
Clement first became prominent in federal politics in 2000, sitting on the steering committee for the
United AlternativeThe Unite the Right movement was a Canadian political movement which existed from around 1996 to 2003. The movement came into being when it became clear that neither of Canada's two main right-of-center political parties: the Reform Party of Canada or the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada...
. This initiative was meant to provide a framework for the
Reform PartyThe Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
and
Progressive Conservative PartyThe Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
to unite under a single banner. It did not accomplish this end, but nonetheless led to the formation of the
Canadian AllianceThe Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...
later in the year; Clement served as the Alliance's founding President.
Soon after the 2000 provincial election, Clement declared himself a candidate for the leadership of the new
Conservative Party of CanadaThe Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
. His support base was undercut by the candidacy of
Belinda StronachBelinda Caroline Stronach, PC is a Canadian businessperson, philanthropist and former politician. She was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 2004 to 2008. Originally elected as a Conservative, she later crossed the floor to join the Liberals...
, however, and he placed third in the
party's leadership voteThe 2004 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election took place on March 20, 2004 in Toronto, Ontario, and resulted in the election of Stephen Harper as the first leader of the new Canadian Conservative Party...
, while
Stephen HarperStephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
emerged as the winner.
He then sought election as the Conservative Party candidate in
Brampton WestBrampton West is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004. Its population was 170,422 in 2006- making it the most populous riding in Canada....
in the
2004 federal electionThe Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
, but lost to
LiberalThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
incumbent
Colleen BeaumierColleen Beaumier is a Canadian politician, who served in the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2008.-Pre-politics:...
by about 3,500 votes.
For his second attempt to win a seat in the
Canadian House of CommonsThe House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
, in the
2006 campaignThe 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
, he switched to the
Parry Sound—MuskokaParry Sound—Muskoka is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1949....
riding where he owned a cottage. On election night, he was declared to be the winner, by 21 votes. Upon conclusion of the judicial recount, Clement was found to have defeated Mitchell by 28 votes: 18,513-18,485.
Minister of Health
He was criticized for continuing to hold a 25% stake in a
pharmaceutical companyThe pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets drugs licensed for use as medications. Pharmaceutical companies are allowed to deal in generic and/or brand medications and medical devices...
(Prudential Chem Inc.) when appointed, a
conflict of interestA conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
. Clement divested himself of these holdings in July 2006.
Some of Clement's initiatives included establishing the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, announcing a national strategy on Autism, and working towards establishing Canada's first Patient Wait Times Guarantees.
Clement attended the
XVI International AIDS ConferenceThe XVI International AIDS Conference was held in Toronto, Ontario, during the week of August 13-18 2006. This was the third time that Canada has hosted the International AIDS Conference, after Montreal in 1989 and Vancouver in 1996. The main venue for the conference was the Metro Toronto...
in Toronto in August 2006, which Prime Minister
Stephen HarperStephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
did not attend, causing some controversy. Clement was booed by some conference participants, likely because of his role as surrogate for the Prime Minister. He focused most of his time at the conference promising to investigate the failure of the
Canada Access to Medicines RegimeCanada's Access to Medicines Regime is a process established by the Canadian government that allows Canada to enact compulsory licenses to export essential medicines to countries without the capacity to manufacture their own....
to effectively fulfill its purpose of sending Canadian-manufactured generic drugs to developing countries, as per the August 30 Agreement at the World Trade Organization. After further criticism on the lack of new announcement on its efforts to combat AIDS, Clement responded saying that the atmosphere at the conference had become too "politicized". On December 1,
World AIDS DayWorld AIDS Day, observed December 1 every year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Government and health officials observe the day, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an...
, International Cooperation Minister
Josee VernerJosée Verner, PC, is a Canadian politician. She represented the electoral district of Louis-Saint-Laurent in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2011 as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada...
announced a $450 million investment over the next 10 years to fight AIDS.
On September 29, 2007, the CBC reported Clement's new strategy to combat the growing drug abuse problem in Canada. "The party is over" for illicit drug users, he announced, with the new policy aiming towards widespread arrest of drug users, in contrast to the old strategy of targeting dealers. Over 130 physicians and scientists signed a petition condemning the Conservative government's "potentially deadly" misrepresentation of the positive evidence for harm reduction programs. Clement stated that governments in Canada have been sending the wrong message about drug use, and he wanted to clear up the mixed messages going out about illicit drugs.
Insite safe injection site
On May 29, 2008, Clement announced that the federal government would oppose Vancouver's safe injection site
InsiteInsite is the only legal supervised injection site in North America, located at 139 East Hastings Street, in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. The DTES had 4700 chronic drug users in 2000 and has been considered to be the centre of an "injection drug epidemic"...
and would appeal a recent court ruling allowing the site to stay open. Clement's position is that "supervised injection is not medicine; it does not heal the person addicted to drugs. Injection not only causes physical harm, it also deepens and prolongs the addiction. Programs to support supervised injection divert valuable dollars away from treatment. And government-sponsored supervised injection sends a very mixed message to young people who are contemplating the use of illicit drugs." In his ruling, Mr. Justice Ian Pitfield upheld arguments that Insite provided vital health services to addicts by reducing the possibility of drug overdoses, curbing the risk of transmitting infectious diseases and giving users access to counselling that may lead to abstinence. As a result, Insite's injection-drug users have the right to protection from drug laws under Section 7 of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and FreedomsThe Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
that guarantees everyone "life, liberty and security of the person". The federal government was given until June 30, 2009, to redraft laws against possession and trafficking of illegal drugs to accommodate Insite's operation. Without that adjustment, those key sections of the law are unconstitutional, Judge Pitfield said.
On August 18, 2008 Clement asked an annual gathering of doctors in Montreal “Is it unethical for health-care professionals to support the administration of drugs that are of unknown substance or purity or potency, drugs that cannot otherwise be legally prescribed?” and went on to say that doctors who worked at Insite have created a "slippery slope". Dr.
Brian DayBrian Day, MRCP , FRCS , FRCS , is a physician in Canada and was the 2007-2008 president of the Canadian Medical Association. He is known as Dr. Profit by opponents and Dr. Prophet by supporters for his advocacy of a role for private health care...
, president of the
Canadian Medical AssociationThe Canadian Medical Association , with more than 70,000 members, is the largest association of doctors in Canada and works to represent their interests nationally. It formed in 1867, three months after Confederation...
, responded to Mr. Clement by saying 79 per cent of [Canadian Medical Association] members agree that the injection sites work because they advocate harm reduction. Dr.
Gabor MateGabor Maté is a Hungarian-born Canadian physician who specializes in the study and treatment of addiction and is also widely recognized for his unique perspective on Attention Deficit Disorder and his firmly held belief in the connection between mind and body health.A sought-after speaker and...
, a physician that works with drug addicts, said “The repugnant aspect is his attack on the morality and ethics of human beings who are trying to work with a very difficult population." and “I mean where does he come off? Where does he appoint himself as a moral judge of professionals who he doesn't understand and knows nothing about?”
Minister of Industry
On October 30, 2008, Clement was sworn into the office of
Industry MinisterThe industry minister is a cabinet position in a government.The title may refer to the head of the governmental department that specializes in industry. This position may also be responsible for trade and employment, areas that fall under the ministries of commerce and labour in some governments...
. This includes the appointment to the Office of the Registrar General of Canada.
He came under fire in July 2009 when, in an interview with the
Sudbury StarThe Sudbury Star is a Canadian daily regional newspaper, published in Sudbury, Ontario. It is run by the media conglomerate Sun Media, which is controlled by Quebecor....
regarding a strike at Vale Inco's operations in Sudbury, he characterized Vale's 2006 takeover of Inco as having saved the company from imminent bankruptcy, and the city of Sudbury from becoming a "valley of death". Former Inco CEO Scott Hand noted that at the time of the takeover, Inco was in fact a very stable and wealthy company which was the target of one of the most hotly-contested bidding wars in recent Canadian business history, and that the company had not made any announcement suggesting that any jobs in the Sudbury area were under threat. He backtracked from the comment on July 24, calling it a "boneheaded" way to express the point he had been making. When asked if he was apologizing, however, Clement replied: "I think, you know, apologies are for tragedies."
Mr. Clement also received attention in early 2010 for statements regarding
Stephen HarperStephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
's act of proroguing the 40th Canadian Parliament in December 2009, a continuation of the
2008–2009 Canadian parliamentary disputeThe 2008–2009 Canadian parliamentary dispute was a political dispute during the 40th Canadian Parliament. It was triggered by the expressed intention of the opposition parties to defeat the Conservative minority government on a motion of non-confidence six weeks after the federal election on...
. Despite outrage by Liberal Party supporters regarding the progrogation, Clement claimed that only the “elites” and “chattering classes” care about prorogation. Thousands of Liberal Party and New Democratic Party supporters protested during the
2010 Canada anti-prorogation protestsOn 23 January 2010 there were numerous protests opposing the prorogation of the 40th Canadian Parliament. The prorogation had occurred a month earlier on 30 December 2009 on the constitutional advice of Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and was officially carried out by Governor General...
.
Mr. Clement was the Minister of Industry at the time that the Chief Statistician of Canada, Dr.
Munir SheikhMunir A. Sheikh, Ph.D., is a Canadian public servant, economist, academic and the former Chief Statistician of Canada. He is currently a Distinguished Fellow and Adjunct Professor at Queen's University.-Early career:...
, resigned on 21 July 2010 over a disagreement between the scientific community and the policy decisions of Prime Minister Harper's government. Following the release of internal emails, Mr. Clement has been accused of misleading Canadians about Statistics Canada's response to the census changes.
President of the Treasury Board
Shortly, after the May 2, 2011 election, Clement was asked by the Prime Minister to be the President of the Treasury Board. His role includes the management of government; in order for Cabinet approved policies and programs to be implemented, they must be approved by the Treasury Board.
As President of the Treasury Board and part of the Conservative Party of Canada's election platform, Clement has been tasked to lead the creation and implementation of a cross-government spending review.
External links