Article

Clifford Clark

Published Online February 21, 2008

Last Edited December 15, 2013

Clifford Clark, civil servant (b at Martintown, Ont 18 Apr 1889; d at Chicago 27 Dec 1952). Clark attended Queen's and Harvard before returning to Queen's as a lecturer in 1915, where he helped establish banking and commerce courses. In 1923 he joined the American investment firm of S.W.

Clark, Clifford

Clifford Clark, civil servant (b at Martintown, Ont 18 Apr 1889; d at Chicago 27 Dec 1952). Clark attended Queen's and Harvard before returning to Queen's as a lecturer in 1915, where he helped establish banking and commerce courses. In 1923 he joined the American investment firm of S.W. Strauss as an economic adviser. The Depression ended this career, however, and he returned to Queen's.

In 1932 Prime Minister R.B. BENNETT made Clark an adviser during the Imperial Economic Conference, and subsequently offered him deputy ministership of the Department of Finance. Clark helped make finance a powerful government department by encouraging bright young economists to enter the public service and by taking their advice. Though initially cautious, he began to see an expanded role for the state in economic planning. The man who condemned wage controls at the end of WWI helped implement them in WWII.

As deputy minister, Clark supported the establishment of the BANK OF CANADA and a series of mortgage-assistance measures. During WWII he chaired the Economic Advisory Committee and helped convince Prime Minister Mackenzie KING to adopt, among other measures, the 1944 Family Allowance Bill. His ideas and influence made him important in the development of a more active government role in economic planning.