Christy Clark is the 15th most powerful person in Canada?
Maclean’s has just released their list of the 50 Most Powerful People in Canada, and B.C.’s very own Christy Clark is number 15.
Before you look at the list more closely, it is important to remember that this is a list of the most powerful people – not the most influential or the most famous.
Maclean’s says they rank people on three broad categories: “institutional clout, capacity for innovation and timeliness.”
Maclean’s 50 Most Powerful People in Canada
1. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
2. Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary
3. Jerry Dias, President of Unifor
4. Mark Wiseman, President and CEO of the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board
5. France Charbonneau, Superior Court Judge
6. Ray Novak, Stephen Harper’s Chief of Staff
7. Galen Weston Jr., Executive chairman of Loblaws
8. Justin Trudeau, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
9. Julie Dickson, Superintendent of the office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions
10. Mike Lazaridis, Co-founder of Blackberry
11. Gerald Butts, Justin Trudeau’s top adviser
12. Beverley Mclachlin, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
13. Thomas Mulcair, Leader of the Opposition
14. James Moore, Minister of Industry
15. Christy Clark, B.C. Premier
16. Pierre Karl Peladeau, former CEO of Quebecor
17. Laureen Harper, wife of Prime Minister Stephen Harper
18. Jason Kenney, Minister of Employment
19. Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada Corp. President, energy and oil pipelines
20. Jenni Byrne, Conservative Party national campaign chair
21. Marc Caira, Tim Hortons CEO
22. Steve Yzerman, Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team executive director
23. Heather Conway, CBC executive vice-president of English-language services
24. Anne Merklinger, Own the Podium CEO
25. Andrew McCartney, Tribal DDB Toronto ad firm managing director
26. Suzanne Fortier, McGill University president
27. Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance
28. Pierre Poilievre, Minister of State (Democratic Reform)
29. Preston Manning, founder of the Reform party and the Manning Centre for Building Democracy
30. Jean-François Lisée, Quebec Minister of International Relations
31. Alison Redford, Alberta Premier
32. Stephen Poloz, Bank of Canada governor
33. Michael Ferguson, auditor general of Canada
34. Jean-Pierre Blais, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission chairman
35. Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources
36. Tom Jenkins, Open Text executive chairman and chief strategy officer
37. Tom Lawson, chief of defence staff
38. Marc Ouellet, Quebec cardinal
39. Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations
40. Garry Keller, chief of staff to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird
41. Jennifer Keesmaat, City of Toronto chief planner
42. Jian Ghomeshi, CBC Q host
43. Drake, hip-hop superstar
44. Carolle Brabant, executive director of Telefilm Canada
45. Nancy Southern, Canadian Utilities and ATCO CEO
46. Bob Gomes, Stantec Inc. CEO and president
47. Olivia Chow, NDP MP
48. Gerry McCaughey, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CEO
49. Murray Edwards, Canadian Natural Resources chair and Calgary Flames investor
50. Stephen Bronfman, Claridge Inc. executive chairman and fundraiser for Justin Trudeau
So yes, Christy Clark is pretty powerful by these standards. More powerful than Alison Redford, Jim Flaherty and…Drake?! She must have beat him on the whole “institutional clout” thing because, come on, how can you get more innovative than YOLO?
Another big surprise for me is seeing Calgary’s mayor Naheed Nenshi at number 2. Yes, his Twitter presence is certainly innovative but it’s still a bit surprising to see him so high, no?
What do you think? Should this list be modified in any way? Who would be number 51?
Image: Kris Krug/Flickr