Guly, C. “Clark’s Comeback Odyssey!” 
The New Federation 6.1 (2000): 9-12.

Clark’s Comeback Odyssey!
by Christopher Guly

The prologue to Joe Clark’s biography written in 1978 by David L. Humphreys, has a familiar ring.
“‘Did I think it was hopeless? Never.’”
“Joe Clark, leader of the Progressive Conservative party was musing on his leadership after nearly two years of nerve-testing trials and modest triumphs. ‘I knew they were underestimating me.’
“The elusive ‘they’ has been used often by Clark’s illustrious predecessor John Diefenbaker to describe his critics and tormentors. ‘They’ had not disappeared but, rather, lurked quietly in the shadows to criticize, correct and condemn leaders of the Progressive Conservative party who had the misfortune to fall from public favour. ‘They’ were the politicians, the party foot-soldiers and the press.”

Times have not changed for Joe Clark. He is still the beleaguered leader, the endangered species, the dauntless politician, now more experienced and eager to wage another battle to become Prime Minister – and prove the pundits wrong once again.
For most of the quarter-century he’s played various roles on and off the national stage, Joe Clark has struggled to overcome the underdog image with which he has been saddled. The 1970s saw him portrayed as Joe Who? In the 1980s, when he relinquished the leadership of the federal Conservatives to Brian Mulroney, many wondered how Clark could so easily pass the mantle to a foe. And as the 1990s wound down, even more Canadians couldn’t help but ask why a man, who went from serving as Canada’s 16th Prime Minister and maturing statesman, would want to return to the political rat race and lead the fifth party in the House of Commons.
The reason is simple, according to a history professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. “For him to come back is absolutely natural,” explains Norman Hillmer. “It’s like oxygen – he’s got to be involved. The key to this man is that he is a political junkie. He’s got to do this. He’s been a public figure all his life. He’s always wanted to be of service to his country and play a role in politics.”
Earlier in the decade, when Brian Mulroney was planning his exit from the national stage, Clark, then a senior cabinet minister in the Mulroney government, dismissed any ideas about running to replace his boss. “I think very often people look for different qualities at different times,” Clark said at the time. “And I’m not sure the qualities people find in me now, are qualities they would want in a prime minister.”
These words could come back to haunt Clark as he wrestles to find a niche, boxed in between a rejuvenated Canadian Alliance, and the powerful Liberals, whose divide to rule strategy all but guarantees them a third majority mandate according to most analysts.
But Clark is unfazed.
“Not only have I done it once, I did it against a formidable Liberal Party and leader,” explains Clark, who defeated Pierre Elliott Trudeau in the 1979 election. He proceeds to put his own twist on a now-famous line U.S. Democratic vice-presidential candidate Senator Lloyd Bentsen delivered to his Republican challenger (and victor) Senator Dan Quayle in 1988. Says Clark: “I know Pierre Trudeau, and Jean Chrétien is not Pierre Trudeau.”
Sitting in a small meeting room overlooking Parliament Hill, within a suite of offices the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada occupies in downtown Ottawa, Clark is a bundle of energy. His right leg bobs up and down as he recites encouraging numbers that could spell success for the federal Tories in the next national electoral race. Clark says that he recently asked staff members to pull together results from non-Quebec ridings in the last three federal elections and identify 60 in which the Tories were competitive. “They came back with 77,” he glows.
Atlantic Canada holds strong promise, as do ridings in southwestern Ontario and the 905 area code suburban region around Toronto, along with a couple of seats in Canada’s largest city. Though the Grits virtually swept all of the federal Ontario ridings in the last two elections, “they can’t, they won’t” do it next time, says Clark, who makes the point that two-thirds of the 1,600 delegates attending the federal Tories’ November 1999 convention in Toronto were Ontarians who voted for [Premier] Mike Harris.
Nevertheless, Clark’s bid to become prime minister is also mixed with a significant dose of reality, particularly these days, as the leadership race in the Canadian Alliance has been grabbing headlines on a daily basis and early polling indicates that it could strengthen its base in Western Canada and possibly make a breakthrough in vote-rich Ontario. The PC party is saddled further with a lack of organizational resources due to its huge debt.
Some analysts, including historian Michael Bliss, are predicting that the next election will see a left-right polarization, where the electorate will either support the Liberals or a more right-wing Official Opposition. This radicalization of the political spectrum is not limited to Canada, observes Serge Truffaut of Le Devoir. He points to Europe and the election of Jorg Haider in Austria and Ken Livingston, the new mayor of London, as proof that parties on the extremes of the political spectrum are enjoying wider support.
A year ago, Clark was predicting the disappearance of Reformers. Today he is more cautious, and can only hope that Conservatives who have defected to join the campaigns of candidates running for the leadership of the Canadian Alliance will return to the fold.
Some critics see this defensive position as another indication that Clark should have been willing to consider a united alternative and bridge the gap between the two parties. Many believe that the party establishment has been too complacent and wrong in its assessment of Reform’s strength, and ignorant of grass-root politics that brought Preston Manning to Stornoway. They argue that Clark, as a former PM and foreign affairs minister, should have used his experience and diplomatic skills to reach a consensus.
This would be the rational thing to do, according to Pierre Sevigny, a former cabinet minister who served in John Diefenbaker’s government. Fundamentally, the two parties are not very far apart on economic issues such as tax cuts, eliminating the $577-billion debt, or simplifying the tax structure. Both parties also have similar platforms on the constitution, young offenders and illegal migrants. While social conservatism may be more divisive, still the Alliance is likely to downplay issues such as capital punishment or abortion, for fear of alienating a majority of Canadians.
As a result, the rift between the two parties may not be so much the result of ideology as distrust and petty rivalries nurtured over a dozen years or so. To end this impasse, one scenario has both parties collaborating at the riding level to end vote-splitting, and even agreeing on a set of common policies that could pave the way for a coalition government. This would be the worst-case scenario for the Liberals and one reason why they might call a Fall election.
Others in the party, however, are just as fundamentally opposed to any idea of a rapprochement. Mahmood Elahi, PC activist and writer, and a delegate at the Quebec convention, represents the no truck or trade sentiment and, in many ways, the proud history and heritage of the PC party. “Any cooperation between the Progressive Conservative party and the Reform/CA will be an unmitigated disaster,” he says. “The American-style right-wing policies and the anti-French ideology that is at the heart of the Reform platform will inevitably alienate Quebec, erode the social contract and lead to the complete Americanization of Canada.” Furthermore, he points to polling done by Ekos Research which shows that Conservatives are actually closer to the Liberals than they are to the Canadian Alliance, when it comes to picking a second party. Forty-four per cent of those surveyed picked the Liberals as their second choice while only 20 per cent picked the Alliance. Conservatives received a shot in the arm recently when Mulroney came out in full support of Joe Clark and his efforts to re-build the party that was founded 133 years ago. At a recent fund-raising event in Markham, Mulroney called on Alliance members to join a centrist and right-of-centre party whose policies have turned out to be so right for Canada. This is basically the message that Clark has been delivering since he took over the party. “Disaffected members of Parliament from both caucuses are welcome to join the Tories,” says Clark, adding that an informal recruitment process has already begun. As an afterthought he adds, “I know that some of my members are keeping lines open for reasons more than simple friendship with members of both the Bloc and the Reform party.”
However, convincing the Canadian electorate that the Tories are the viable alternative has become Clark’s greatest career challenge. Barring a last minute decision to consider a united alternative or coalition, Tories will have to count on Clark running his best campaign ever. While Clark has suffered politically by not having a seat in Parliament, supporters say that he will be playing to his strengths when the election is called. He is a skilled and experienced debater and could make up for a lot of lost ground. By leading a highly polarized campaign against both the Alliance and the Liberals, he has the capacity to out-perform his rivals and generate enough momentum to bring the Tories within striking distance of the Liberals or at least contributing to a minority situation.
“He’s a swashbuckler,” explains Hillmer who co-authored Prime Ministers: Ranking Canada’s Leaders, published last year and which earned Clark a 15th place ranking. “He goes right for the jugular. I don’t think he’s got much moderation in him as far as tactics are concerned,” says Hillmer. Clark is “very tough. What I mean is he is an in-your-face guy. He’s a confrontationalist. He was extraordinarily tough and partisan in the House of Commons, even as a very young MP.”
These days the PC research office is busy overseeing policies. What is missing from Clark’s arsenal is a compelling alternative and some stirring proposals that could set him apart. Most analysts agree that the policy proposals that came out of the Quebec convention were too closely identified with what the Canadian Alliance and the Liberals put forward. Even Clark’s positions on Quebec may need to be revised in light of Stockwell Day’s constitutional proposals which seem better suited to Quebec’s traditional demands.
Instead of playing safe, many would like Clark to tackle some of the larger continental issues such as achieving a stronger dollar, or having free movement of peoples as well as goods and services across the border with the United States. This, they say, would be a logical step for the Tories to take after free trade. Clark could also present a new platform on democracy, a 21st century model which could take in some form of proportional representation, free votes in Parliament except on budgetary items, as suggested recently by John Turner, or present Canadians with a bold new plan for voting on the Internet between elections that could have some binding effect on parliamentarians. Overall, these same critics contend that for a party intent on projecting a compassionate image and broadening its appeal, it has to do a better job of connecting with the impoverished or constituencies such as the elderly, single mothers, homeowners or students crippled by a huge debt load.
Clark is on firmer footing positioning himself as a conciliator as he prepares to lead the Conservatives in a federal election campaign. “When you sit down with people, you get agreement on a lot of issues. This is a federation,” Clark explains. “The reason there is so much suspicion is that Ottawa too often tries to run things all by itself. And that’s not the right way.”
Such talk is always welcome in a province like Alberta. Albertans still cannot forgive the Trudeau Liberals for introducing the National Energy Program two decades ago that favoured Canadian-owned companies in Alberta’s rich oil and gas industry. Many more are unimpressed with the way the Chrétien Liberals are governing the country. Reform’s strong showing in the province, along with Conservative Premier Ralph Klein’s proposed plan to regulate the delivery of surgical services by private clinics, illustrate the divide.
While Klein’s critics accuse the premier of threatening the principles of the Canada Health Act, Clark is prepared to give the provincial Tory leader the benefit of the doubt. “It’s far better to have a situation where some responsible government is proposing something than to have a situation where there’s almost a status quo.”
When it comes to Quebec, where his party only holds three seats, Clark has always been a strong advocate of negotiating with the province. His concept that Canada is a “community of communities” extends as well to Quebec nationalism, which he sees as a positive force rather than a destructive one. The irony, of course, is that Clark has been unable to reap any benefits from his pro-Quebec positions. He is still the odd-man out in a province caught in the throes of polarization between the Bloc Quebecois and the Liberals.
And his opposition to the federal government’s Bill on Clarity, introduced late last year, has been costly in the rest of the country. Clark is already being written off in the very region he hopes to represent. A COMPASS/National Post poll conducted before Christmas found 72 per cent of 300 respondents living in Calgary Centre, where Clark hopes to win a seat, supporting the federal Liberals’ position. Clark also placed second behind incumbent MP, the Alliance’s Eric Lowther, in terms of support from decided voters. But don’t expect this to bother the man who didn’t believe he had the moral authority to lead his party with 66 percent support of delegates attending the 1983 federal Tory convention in Winnipeg, when he only needed 50-plus-one.
For Clark, the battle to keep Canada united is a fight for principles and his renewed war against the Liberals, which he insists has moved from being a party of reconciliation promoting co-operative federalism under Lester Pearson to becoming one following a federal unilateral approach operating in adversarial mode against Quebec that began with Trudeau and which has intensified with Chrétien and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion.
Clark accuses Dion of deliberately agitating Quebec. “We’re now embarked on a quite serious collision course between a very hard line that’s being followed by the Chrétien-Dion government and the renewed, almost as a consequence, drive on the part of the indépendantistes.” Clark is critical of Stéphane Dion’s influence, “who has the benefit of the clarity of view of the academic that he applies to life [and is the] only support the prime minister has [in his] council of ministers.”
There are lots of challenges ahead for Clark but don’t write him off just yet, cautions Hillmer, who credits the Conservative leader for being an “articulate and committed constructive force. It’s an amazing story of a guy who just sticks to it.”
Yet Hillmer doubts Clark has any real chance of forming the next government. Clark’s odds of becoming PM again would be better if Reform and the Bloc had not “changed the electoral map,” says Hillmer. Taking the Conservatives to third-party status in the Commons, however, would be a considerable achievement for Clark, suggests Hillmer, who edited a collection of essays entitled, Pearson: The Unlikely Gladiator, published last year.
Should Clark lead the Tories to the Official Opposition, it would make his return to politics in 1998 as the “comeback of the century,” Hillmer says. “If he became prime minister again, that would be the greatest political story in the western world – absolutely unprecedented. But it ain’t gonna happen. Joe’s not going to be prime minister.”
Having gone down in Canadian history as the country’s youngest Prime Minister – at the age of 39 – the gangly, awkward Clark of the 20th century who defeated the suave and debonair Trudeau at the polls in 1979 is prepared to enter the 21st century as a seasoned and confident political veteran who fully intends to make history again. Clark jokes about his old nemesis securing the title of Canadian newsmaker of the century.
“Of course that’s last century,” explains Clark. “My practice with Mr. Trudeau was always to let him get ahead if he wants and then catch him.”

Christopher Guly is a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa.