Joe Clark - Education, Journalism, Marriage

Education, Journalism, Marriage

He attended local schools and the University of Alberta, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in political science. While in high school, he gained journalism experience with the High River Times and the Calgary Albertan, and joined the staff of the Gateway, the University of Alberta's campus newspaper as a freshman, eventually rising to editor-in-chief there. He also worked at the Edmonton Journal for one summer, where he met his future biographer, David L. Humphreys. He took a summer job with Canadian Press in Toronto, and for a time seriously considered a professional career in journalism.

Clark then attended Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia to make up some coursework, with the intention of entering Dalhousie Law School. However, he spent more time with the Dalhousie Student Union, Progressive Conservative politics and the Dalhousie Gazette, than on his courses. After leaving Dalhousie, he unsuccessfully pursued first-year law studies at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was again active in student politics, and became president of the Progressive Conservative Youth wing for two terms. He then worked full-time for the Progressive Conservative Party.

Clark married Maureen McTeer in 1973, while she was still a law student. The two met when Clark hired her to work in his parliamentary office; McTeer had been a political organizer herself since her early teens. McTeer has developed her own career as a well-known author and lawyer, and caused something of a fuss by keeping her maiden name after marriage. That feminist practice was not common at the time, but was later taken up by other political wives, such as Hillary Rodham Clinton. Their daughter, Catherine, is an art history graduate from the University of Toronto who has pursued a career in public relations and broadcasting.