Keynote Speaker

The Right Honourable Joe Clark

Joe Clark is generally ranked with Lester Pearson as being among the most effective Foreign Ministers in Canadian history.  Mr. Clark was Foreign Minister when Canada negotiated the Free Trade Agreement with the USA, was a leader in fighting apartheid, took up its membership in the Organization of American States, fought the first Gulf War, and took significant initiatives in the Middle East and Asia.

He remains very active in international business and governance, as founder and chairman of a Canadian company harvesting underwater timber in Ghana, director of the BDA foundation, which teaches Congolese farmers to harvest and market medicinal plants, and an active participant in political reforms in developing countries.  He has led international election observation teams during difficult elections in Mexico, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria.  In May, he and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright are leading a pre-election team to Lebanon.  He is also a member of the not-for-profit Global Leadership Foundation, a small group of former Heads of Government and diplomats who help governments in crisis.

Mr. Clark believes that Canada brings two unique assets to world affairs right now.  First, we are a developed country, which has won a high reputation in the developing world – we are a bridge, in a divided world.  Second, we have become skilled at home in dealing with geographic and cultural diversity – in these dangerous times, those skills can prove more decisive than military or economic power.

Joe Clark was Canada’s youngest Prime Minister, a widely respected parliamentarian, and an effective constitutional negotiator.  He knows our own country intimately – but is also able to connect Canada to the wider world, identifying opportunities for Canadians abroad, and reinforcing our own sense of purpose at home.

Mr. Clark's will speak on, "Canada's Assets in a Changing World."