Glen Clark

Clark attended independent Roman Catholic schools, namely St. Jude’s Elementary and Notre Dame Secondary in East Vancouver. At Notre Dame, Clark was known as a small, fearless linebacker for the football team. He was also student council president and played the lead male role in The Sound of Music and later performed in South Pacific. Clark earned a bachelor's degree from Simon Fraser University and a master's degree from the University of British Columbia. Before entering politics, he was part of the labour movement and worked as a natural resource policy consultant.

Upon Clark's resignation, Deputy Premier Dan Miller acceded to the interim leadership of the New Democratic Party and the premiership. Miller was succeeded by Ujjal Dosanjh after winning the party's leadership convention in 2000. Due in part to the scandals surrounding Clark, the NDP was heavily defeated by the BC Liberals under Gordon Campbell in the 2001 provincial election, winning just two seats.

In 2001 Jim Pattison hired Clark to manage his Neon Products Company. Later, Clark was president and chief operating officer of the Jim Pattison Group in Vancouver until he stepped down at the end of 2022.

In March 2024, Clark was appointed as CEO of Overstory Media Group, a Victoria-based media company, succeeding co-founder Farhan Mohamed.

In December 2024, Clark left the Jim Pattison Group after his appointment to chair BC Hydro.

Scandals

Fast ferry scandal

Clark undertook the B.C. fast ferries initiative, which was designed to upgrade the existing BC Ferries fleet as well as jump start the shipbuilding industry in Vancouver. Although the ferries were eventually produced, the project had massive cost overruns and long delays, and the ferries were never able to function up to expectations. The ferries were later sold by the incoming Liberal government, for a fraction of their original price, to the American owned Washington Marine Group.

Casinogate

In March 1999, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police executed a search warrant and searched the Clark household. The media was tipped off about the raid, and BCTV showed live, primetime coverage of the premier pacing inside his house while the search was conducted. Two weeks later the RCMP conducted a search of the Premier's Office.

The subsequent investigation spawned intense coverage by the media. However, subsequent coverage also exposed numerous inaccuracies in the way the story was initially portrayed, with some critics alleging a media or RCMP conspiracy to smear him for ideological reasons.

Clark resigned suddenly on the night of August 21, 1999, following allegations that he had accepted favours (in the form of free renovations worth $10,000, which he had actually paid for) from Dimitrios Pilarinos in return for approving a casino application. He was later formally charged with committing breach of trust, a criminal offence.

Conflict of interest commissioner H.A.D. Oliver concluded in 2001 that Clark had violated conflict of interest laws in British Columbia. However, Clark was acquitted of all criminal charges by the Supreme Court of British Columbia on August 29, 2002, with Justice Elizabeth Bennett ruling that while Clark had unwisely left himself open to a perception of unethical behaviour, there was no solid evidence that he had actually done anything illegal.