Glen Clark Is Open to Running BC Housing

As David Eby settles in as British Columbia’s new premier and begins tackling tough issues, one person letting it be known that he’s available and wants to help is former NDP premier Glen Clark.

“I would like to do something if I could that would be helpful on some issues,” Clark said in an interview. “Where I can be the most help, you know.”

One possibility he sees would be at BC Housing, where the CEO job came open when Shayne Ramsay retired in August.

“I think I could help on the housing file,” said Clark, who turned 65 in November.

“Obviously they’ve got some challenges that are worth fixing and the premier’s made a bunch of commitments on housing that I completely laud him for, so now they’ve got to execute.”

Besides BC Housing, he’s open to other possibilities, he said.

“The government has lots of challenging issues to deal with, so they may feel my knowledge could be better used somewhere else, and I’d be interested in that too as long as it’s something worthwhile that would allow me to make a difference.”

Clark said he’s been letting key people know “in the last little while” that he’s available, though there’s been no formal application or process for the BC Housing job or any other position.

A spokesperson for Eby’s office took questions but didn’t provide a response by publication time.

Clark was premier of B.C. from 1996 to 1999, a position he won at 36 after serving four years as finance minister.

After he left politics the Jim Pattison Group hired him and he eventually became chief operating officer. The company is involved in many different sectors and boasts some $14 billion in annual sales and 49,000 employees.

In September during an interview with Vancolour, Clark told host Mo Amir he wouldn’t seek elected office again but remained interested in public policy.

Then Business in Vancouver reported Thursday that Clark is leaving the Jim Pattison Group, though he remains on the boards of the lumber company Canfor Corp. and coal export infrastructure owner Westshore Terminals. Pattison is a large shareholder in both.

“It was a good time for me to just step away and see if I could do something else, so now I’m looking for something else to do,” Clark told The Tyee, noting that the company is in good shape with strong leadership and younger leaders coming up.

When it comes to returning to the public sector, he acknowledges he comes with some baggage from his time in government when he was often seen as a scrappy, polarizing figure.

Clark resigned in 1999 after allegations he had accepted benefits from a friend seeking a casino licence. He was acquitted of criminal charges in 2002. Former conflict of interest commissioner H.A.D. Oliver found in 2001 that Clark had violated provincial conflict of interest laws.

“I have two or three advantages, maybe they’re disadvantages,” Clark said.

There’s the experience running both large and small companies for Pattison, giving Clark management experience alongside his historic public sector experience, he said. But also there’s the courage, willingness and ability to take on tough problems.

“The big advantage is I’m not running for anything, so I don’t have to be popular,” said Clark. “If there was something difficult for example that the government wanted to try to tackle that required somebody that wasn’t worried about being popular, I’d be happy to do it.”

After decades in top positions in the public and private sectors, it’s not like he needs to work. “I’m doing fine,” he said. “I don’t need a job, I don’t need a position, I don’t need a patronage appointment. I don’t want any of those things.”

Really, Clark said, he’s looking for some way to make a difference. “I’m only interested if there’s something that I can help tackle and that’s really up to others to decide if there’s something they think I could do that could be helpful.”

He said he very much likes Eby’s direction so far on priorities of health care, housing and security. “He’s really sharpened the focus of the government on some issues people know are challenging and need help and he’s obviously marshalling resources in a different way,” Clark said. “He’s not one of these guys who just wants the position. He’s clearly a guy that wants to make a difference.”

That’s an approach Clark recognizes and thinks he can help with.