Tony Clement

Tony Peter Clement (né Panayi; born January 27, 1961) is a Canadian politician who served as a member of the House of Commons of Canada and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He was the member of Parliament (MP) for Parry Sound-Muskoka and a federal cabinet minister in the Conservative Party under prime minister Stephen Harper. Before entering federal politics, Clement served as an Ontario member of Provincial Parliament for Brampton South then Brampton West—Mississauga and a cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, including as Minister of Health and Long-Term Care under premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.

He was a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada after its formation from the merger of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties in 2003, but lost to Stephen Harper. Clement won the seat of Parry Sound-Muskoka in the 2006 federal election, defeating incumbent Liberal cabinet minister Andy Mitchell. The Conservatives formed government in that election and Clement was appointed Minister of Health and Minister for FedNor. He later served as Minister of Industry and President of the Treasury Board. He was re-elected in the 2015 election despite the Conservative defeat, and announced his second bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party on July 12, 2016, but withdrew that October.

From his initial election as MP in 2006, Clement sat as a Conservative member until he resigned at the request of Conservative leader Andrew Scheer on November 7, 2018, due to a sexting scandal.

Early life and career

Clement was born Tony Peter Panayi in Manchester, England, the son of Carol Ann (née Drapkin) and Peter Panayi. His father was a Greek Cypriot and his mother was Jewish (part of her family had immigrated from Aleppo, Syria). He emigrated to Canada in childhood with his parents when he was four years old. His parents divorced and his mother married Ontario politician John Clement, with Tony adopting his stepfather's surname soon after.

As a student at the University of Toronto, Clement was elected twice, both as an undergraduate and as a law student, to the university's Governing Council. He was also president of the campus Progressive Conservatives. He first attracted the attention of the media in 1986, when he created a new society to invite the South African ambassador to Canada, Glenn Babb, to speak after the International Law Society had withdrawn its invitation, deeming it too controversial because of the issue of apartheid. Clement argued in favour of inviting Babb on the grounds of free speech. An attempt by four law professors for a court injunction barring "any representative of the Republic of South Africa to expound, explain or otherwise to solicit public support for his Government's policy of apartheid" was rejected by the court. He completed degrees in political science in 1983 and law in 1986, and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1988.

He unsuccessfully ran for Metro Toronto Council in 1994, losing to future mayor David Miller in the ward of Parkdale-High Park.

Clement is married to Lynne Golding, a partner and Chair of the Health Law Practice at the international law firm, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin.

Provincial politics Clement became president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC) in 1990 and was a close ally of then-party leader Mike Harris; defeating incumbent Liberal Bob Callahan by over 6,000 votes in the riding of Brampton South. He served as a Parliamentary Assistant for two years, initially to the Minister of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation, then to the Deputy Premier; he was then elevated to the cabinet as Minister of Transportation on October 10, 1997. finishing third on the first ballot behind Ernie Eves and Jim Flaherty. Clement then placed his support in the second ballot behind Eves, who emerged victorious, and stayed on as health minister in the Eves ministry.

The Eves government was defeated in the 2003 provincial election, and Clement was unseated by Vic Dhillon by about 2,500 votes in a rematch of 1999. Clement afterwards worked as a counsel for Bennett Jones LLP; he was also a small business owner and a visiting professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. This initiative was meant to provide a framework for the Reform Party and Progressive Conservative Party to unite under a single banner. It did not accomplish this end, but nonetheless led to the formation of the Canadian Alliance from the Reform Party later that year; Clement served as the Alliance's founding president.

Following his defeat in the 2003 provincial election, Clement declared himself a candidate for the leadership of the new Conservative Party of Canada. He placed third in the party's leadership vote, behind Belinda Stronach and winner Stephen Harper. He then ran as the Conservative Party candidate in Brampton West in the 2004 federal election, but lost to Liberal incumbent Colleen Beaumier by about 3,500 votes. He was re-elected in Parry Sound—Muskoka in the 2008, 2011 and 2015 elections.

Minister of Health On February 6, 2006, Clement was appointed as Minister of Health by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In 2006, Clement launched the Public Health Scholarship and Capacity Building Initiative — ongoing scholarships supporting public health training and positions across Canada. Furthermore, in 2006, he announced the $1-billion compensation package for pre-1986/post-1990 forgotten victims of the tainted blood scandal, who were neglected in the 1998 settlement agreement.

Clement also played a key role in launching the Chemical Management Plan, which the Conservative government claimed "made Canada a world leader in chemical management". "We have established clear priorities and now we are taking action to protect the health of Canadians," said Clement. Further, the government claimed "Canada was the first nation in the world to take action to prohibit the importation, sale and advertising of baby bottles that contain BPA".

On September 29, 2007, the CBC reported Clement's new strategy to combat the growing drug abuse problem in Canada. "The party is over" for illicit drug users, he announced, with the new policy aiming towards widespread arrest of drug users, in contrast to the old strategy of targeting dealers. Over 130 physicians and scientists signed a petition condemning the Conservative government's "potentially deadly" misrepresentation of the positive evidence for harm reduction programs. Clement stated that governments in Canada have been sending the wrong message about drug use, and he wanted to clear up the mixed messages going out on illicit drugs.

Also in 2007, Clement launched the new Canada's Food Guide, the first update in 15 years incorporating the most up-to-date information based on current nutritional science and a new interactive web section.

Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario On February 6, 2006, in addition to being appointed Minister of Health, Clement was also appointed Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario (FedNor). He held the position until November 2015. This included the appointment to the Office of the Registrar General of Canada.

Shortly after becoming Industry Minister, Clement launched the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, a two-year $2-billion measure that supported infrastructure enhancement at post-secondary institutions across Canada.

In conjunction with the US and Ontario governments, Clement worked closely on the restructuring of GM and Chrysler. Following the restructuring, he stated that the companies would "now be in a position to operate a sustainable and viable business that will keep production, innovation and jobs in Canada. This is good news for Canadian auto workers, the Canadian auto parts supply chain and for Canadian consumers. Moving forward, the Government of Canada will continue to work toward removing our country's auto industry, while exercising rigorous oversight of taxpayer money."

In the summer of 2010, Clement introduced changes to the 2011 Census. On this issue, he said, "The government will retain the mandatory short form that will collect basic demographic information. To meet the need for additional information, and to respect the privacy wishes of Canadians, the government has introduced the voluntary National Household Survey (NHS)." The change sparked significant criticism, including the resignation of Statistics Canada's Chief Statistician (see Voluntary long-form survey controversy). Other changes included the addition of questions about the languages spoken by Canadians.

On November 14, 2010, BHP Billiton withdrew its hostile $39-billion offer for Saskatchewan's PotashCorp. At a news conference following the withdrawal, Clement explained that of the six Investment Canada Act guidelines that determine if an investment has a "net benefit", he said BHP Billiton's bid failed to meet three of them. Clement said the Government felt the takeover would not have a beneficial effect on Canada's competitiveness in world markets.

In January 2011, Clement spoke out against a ruling of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) which allowed usage-based billing for wholesale clients and smaller internet service providers. Citing concerns about how the change could adversely affect consumers, small businesses and entrepreneurs, he warned that if they did not revise the decision, the government would intervene. The CRTC initiated its own review of the ruling, and reversed its decision.

In the lead-up to the 2010 G8 summit, Clement was involved in directing $50 million of border security money for largely unrelated projects in his own riding, a practice commonly known as "pork barrelling". Auditor-General Sheila Fraser issued a report criticizing the minister for breaking the rules and "complained that there was no paperwork to determine how the hundreds of proposals" for spending were narrowed to the 32 projects that were approved. Clement later admitted that this process was not subject to the oversight that it should have been.

President of the Treasury Board

Shortly after the May 2, 2011 election, Clement was appointed as the President of the Treasury Board.

On December 22, 2014, Clement was quoted by the Canadian Press as saying that the federal government deliberately withholds public data because people using the information might "create havoc" by altering the contents.

Opposition Clement retained his seat in the 2015 general election that defeated the Conservative government. Moving to the Opposition benches, he was appointed the Opposition's critic for foreign affairs by interim Leader of the Opposition Rona Ambrose. and instead endorsed Maxime Bernier. He also re-joined the shadow cabinet as public safety critic, He was named Shadow Minister for Justice in September 2018. Clement claimed at first that it was an isolated incident, but it was later found out that it was not.

After additional allegations of improper behaviour were made against Clement on November 7, party leader Andrew Scheer requested that he also resign from the Conservative caucus. Clement did so and continued to sit as an independent MP. On April 2, Clement announced that he would not be standing as a candidate in the next federal election.

Recent life Clement joined Wellington Dupont Public Affairs in October 2019 as a senior advisor,

In November 2019, Clement started the "And Another Thing" podcast with Jodie Jenkins, which features a weekly interview with a public figure and a discussion between Clement and Jenkins.

Clement served as fundraising director in Pierre Poilievre's successful bid for the Conservative leadership in 2022,

Political positions Clement has stated that there are circumstances where the death penalty is warranted.

Clement, as Conservative Public Safety Critic, stated in February 2017 that the RCMP needed to "enforce the law" to stop the influx of Syrian Refugees attempting to cross the Canada–United States border in the wake of US President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13769 to ban citizens of certain majority Muslim countries from entering the United States. When a CBC Radio reporter asked Clement in a telephone interview to specify the measures the RCMP must take to do so, he refused to answer and hung up. Clement stated in an interview with Power Play on CTV News Channel that the Conservatives "are calling for two things in particular. One, more resources, more money and funding, and human resources for the border agents and for the RCMP to deal with this much higher influx... Secondly, we want the federal government to develop a plan. What is the plan that is going to be employed or deployed to ensure that the rule of law continues in this country, that the laws are obeyed, that we don't have illegal crossings?"

Clement favoured reforming Canada's taxation system. When running for the Conservative Party leadership he collaborated with Roger Martin on a proposal for a lifetime income tax.

Electoral record

Federal

Provincial

Municipal