In its report on the civic election of 1973, the North Battleford News-Optimist said: "A newcomer to North Battleford civic politics was given a solid vote of confidence in his bid at the city's chief magistrate position." He was a newcomer to North Battleford's civic politics, but Jack Clements was not a newcomer either to North Battleford or to civic politics. He was a 16-year resident of the city, and he brought to his work as mayor extensive experience in both civic government and business.
Jack Clements was born in Wilkie in 1914, the year the First World War began, and except for two years in North Battleford, working at the Saskatchewan Hospital, he lived in Wilkie until 1957. Always keen on horses, as a young man he was a jockey and in one of his first jobs, for the post office, he delivered winter mail in his horse-drawn cutter. Over snowdrifts and in blizzards, he said, the horse always knew the way.
The son of pioneers, Clements knew from an early age that communities need to be built, and he threw his energy into developing all of the communities he lived in. He was active in Wilkie - in the Kinsmen Club that built the town swimming pool, for instance, and the volunteer fire department, of which he was a member for 22 years. He also engaged fully with the town's civic politics, serving nine years as a town councillor and two as mayor.
After the Second World War, when mass-produced and readily available automobiles revolutionized people's lives, Clements opened in Wilkie, with his partner Bill Bleue, the Ford dealership they named Victory Motors. The dealership kept him busy day and night. In 1957 he expanded his business to North Battleford, where there had been no Ford dealership for some years. Within eight years, Victory Motors had become the largest volume automobile dealership in northwest Saskatchewan, a position that had been held for years by a major competitor.
In 1967, Clements sold Victory Motors to Ken and Layne Magnuson. Planning to retire, he spent some time enjoying the freedom to hunt and fish and renovate the cottage. But that was not enough for him. He became a representative for Investors in 1972, and six years after selling Victory Motors he became mayor of North Battleford.
As a leading car dealer and as president and general manager of Victory Motors, he developed a wide familiarity with both the region of northwest Saskatchewan and the North Battleford community. As mayor, he had behind him 23 years of business management. He had also been chairman of the court of revision for the City of North Battleford and a long-time director of the Battlefords Agriculture Society. For 10 years he served as president of the Midwest Racing Circuit, and he called the races all over northern Saskatchewan and Alberta.
The Citizens' Committee to Elect Jack Clements said in its campaign material that he offered "enthusiasm and experience." Congratulating him on his election, Otto Lang, then minister of justice, described him as "energetic." He was also up beat, positive and optimistic. In his inaugural address, after being sworn in by Judge J.M. Policha of the Provincial Magistrate's Court, he began on a high note. He saw the 1970s as a growth period. "The year 1974," he said, "should prove to be a very exciting year in our city," since in March the city would host the first Saskatchewan Winter Games and in August the Canadian Senior Baseball Championships.
He also outlined some of the key projects he would bring to council. Always ready to celebrate the city, Clements was a planner, carefully studying, with members of the Council, what the future needs of North Battleford would be. "Members of the council and myself realize the value in community planning," he said, and housing and facilities topped his to-do list. The construction of the new union hospital was already underway, and he predicted that overall construction in the city would be high, with strong demand for serviced lots for home builders as the city grew.
He also that he would ask the Cvouncil to study and plan for meeting what he predicted would be "an ever increasing demand for space in the industrial park area." And he would ask council to consider a "brand new overall redevelopment plan" for Glenora Park (now Fairview Heights), which had become a slum. He undertook to change that with a major project to upgrade and develop the area. "We all recognize that we cannot expect a portion of our citizens to continue to live without services," he said. "I envisage a new low cost and low-rental housing development in which present residents of Glenora Park would have first opportunity of occupancy."
The same inaugural speech revealed what Mayor Clements's strategy and administrative style would be. He was a team builder. He worked in key alliances and in partnerships ranging from problem solving with individual citizens to working with the senior levels of government. He set aside time every week to make himself accessible to "any and all citizens" to discuss problems as they arose. He saw the relationship with "our sister town of Battleford" as very important. "With an atmosphere of confidence, trust, and understanding," he said, "good things will happen" as the two communities work together. He worked closely with the members of the city council, who took the oath of office with him - councillers Winder, Amos, Schab, Breton, Buhler and Ross. Aldermen Tatchell and Kerr joined council in 1976.
Clements gave the city an effective voice at the table at the provincial and federal levels, and these connections brought substantial benefit to North Battleford and to Saskatchewan. At the centre of his plan for redevelopment of Glenora Park was the "neighbourhood improvement program," which was funded by the federal government and administered by the provincial government through the Saskatchewan Housing Authority. His success in bringing this funding to North Battleford made the Glenora project possible.
He was an executive member of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association and he was appointed by the board to the SUMA Revenue Sharing Committee. This work made an important and enduring contribution to the financial management of municipalities. When he began his work as mayor, municipalities relied on provincial government for funding that came in the form of per-capita grants. But the grants model was a problem, especially as costs rose. In an interview published by the Saskatoon StarPhoenix Clements said that "grants from senior government are not a satisfactory solution" for municipalities. "The waiting process is no good," he said, and "inflation and the handling we get from bureaucrats make grants a questionable item." He undertook to change that, too. What the municipalities needed, he said, was an arrangement by which they would get a portion of national taxation through revenue sharing programs and not through traditional grants programs." The extremely important - and continuing -Saskatchewan revenue arrangement was the result of this work.
As mayor, Clements welcomed several ministers to North Battleford, including Otto Lang, minister of justice and minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board, Transport Minister Jean Marchand and Indian Affairs Minister Jean Chretien.
Part of the excitement of 1974 was the visit of Prime Minister Trudeau. He was greeted by 4,000 people, and more than 1,500 crowded the political rally at the North Battleford Comprehensive High School, overflowing the cafeteria into the upper level of the gym, where closed circuit television was set up to accommodate the numbers. Allan Sapp presented the prime minister with a painting. "Trudeaumania," reported the News-Optimist, "is very much alive."
Throughout his two terms, Clements maintained a steady focus on the development of facilities and services. "I feel," he said, "that the general public, including businessmen, have pride in this community, that they like to see this type of development take place in order to keep this city rated where it rightfully belongs."
He saw the most satisfying accomplishment of his time in office as completion of the first senior citizens' high rise, Valley View Towers, and he said that the most important were the joint development of the Agriplex between the City and the Agricultural Society and the completion of Territorial Drive around the city. There had been also "a great move forward in the capacity of city services, development of parks, playground and recreational areas." The greatest disappointment was failure of a plan to bring to the city a major meat processing plant. He later wondered whether, given later difficulties in the livestock industry, it might have been the best outcome for the city.
Clements's key strengths as mayor were his ability to understand both the big picture and the detail, and to create a consensus to get things done. It was teamwork from the beginning: when his successor, Mayor Maher, praised him for his many accomplishments during his term in office, he replied that "he and his council could not claim full credit for such projects, as the time was right socially and economically, for just about anything, because of steady growth of the city during the 1970's."
After stepping down as mayor, Clements and his wife Marjorie spent some years in Cochin, then wintered in town and summered at the lake he had loved since childhood. In this second try at retirement he was an ardent golfer, an expert at filleting the fish he caught in the early mornings and a devoted grandfather. Even then, his skills and commitment drew him back to community matters. He served on the planning board to create a resort village for the Cochin area and on the interim council for the Resort Village of Cochin.
The City of North Battleford named Clements Drive, which leads into the redeveloped Glenora area, in recognition of his work, and in 1992, he was awarded the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation. This award was being made, said the letter from the governor general's office, "to those persons who, like you, have made a significant contribution to Canada, to their community, or to their fellow Canadians." He also received a plaque from the Town of Battleford inscribed "W.J. Clements in Recognition of his Cooperation with the Town of Battleford."
- Sources: the main source here is the North Battleford News-Optimist clippings in the family file. Other sources are letters in the family file; The Telegraph (notice of death); the Battlefords Regional Optimist (notice of death); the Northwest Herald (story on Marchand's visit); Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
