Christy Clark

First woman elected as Premier (2013) and first woman re-elected as Premier (2017)

Christy Clark was born and raised in Burnaby, British Columbia, where she later attended Simon Fraser University. Clark’s educational pursuits also took her to the University of Edinburgh and the Sorbonne.

She ran successfully as the B.C. Liberal Party candidate in the riding of Port Moody-Burnaby Mountain in the 1996 provincial general election and was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly to represent Port Moody-Westwood in 2001. Clark served as Deputy Premier, Minister of Education, Minster of Children and Family Development and Vice-Chair of Treasury Board.

In 2005, she stepped back from public life to spend more time with family. In the ensuing years, Clark worked in media as a columnist, commentator and as host of the “Christy Clark Show” on Vancouver radio station CKNW.

In 2011, she returned to provincial politics, winning the leadership of the governing B.C. Liberal Party and thereby becoming Premier of British Columbia. In a subsequent by-election, Clark was elected to represent the riding of Vancouver-Point Grey in the Legislative Assembly. Through her re-election in 2013, this time in the riding of Westside-Kelowna, Clark became the first woman elected as Premier in British Columbia.

Among her initiatives as Premier, Clark brought the anti-bullying “Pink Shirt Campaign” to British Columbia to raise awareness of issues related to bullying in our schools, workplaces and communities.

She was re-elected in the 2017 provincial general election, becoming the first woman to be re-elected as Premier in British Columbia. Following the change of government in British Columbia in July 2017, Clark became the Leader of the Official Opposition. She resigned as leader of the BC Liberal Party and the member for Kelowna West in August 2017.