View source for Joe Ghiz

{{Short description|Canadian politician and lawyer (1945–1996)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=June 2023}}

{{more citations needed |date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix     = [[The Honourable]]
| name                 = Joe Ghiz
| honorific-suffix     = {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|QC|size=100%}} 
| image                = JosephAGhiz.jpg
| imagesize            =
| order                = 27th [[Premier of Prince Edward Island]]
| term_start1          = May 2, 1986
| term_end1            = January 25, 1993
| monarch1             = [[Elizabeth II]]
| lieutenant_governor1 = [[Lloyd MacPhail]]<br>[[Marion Reid]]
| predecessor1         = [[James Lee (Canadian politician)|James Lee]]
| successor1           = [[Catherine Callbeck]]
| office2              = Leader of the [[Prince Edward Island Liberal Party]]
| term_start2          = October 24, 1981
| term_end2            = January 23, 1993
| predecessor2         = [[Gilbert Clements]] <small>(interim)</small>
| successor2           = Catherine Callbeck
| office3              = [[Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island|MLA]] (Assemblyman) for [[6th Queens]]
| term_start3          = September 27, 1982
| term_end3            = March 29, 1993
| predecessor3         = [[Barry Clark (politician)|Barry Clark]]
| successor3           = [[Jeannie Lea]]
| office4              = 12th Dean of [[Dalhousie Law School]]
| term_start4          = 1993
| term_end4            = 1995
| predecessor4         = Philip Girard 
| successor4           = Dawn Russell
| birthname            = Joseph Atallah Ghiz
| birth_date           = {{birth date|1945|01|27}}
| birth_place          = [[Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island]], Canada
| death_date           = {{death date and age|1996|11|09|1945|01|27}}
| death_place          = Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
| nationality          = 
| spouse               = {{marriage|Rose Ellen McGowan|1972}}
| party                = [[Prince Edward Island Liberal Party|Liberal]]
| otherparty           =
| children             = [[Robert Ghiz|Robert]] and Joanne
| alma_mater           = {{hlist|[[Schulich School of Law]]|[[Harvard Law School]]}}
| occupation           = Lawyer, Crown prosecutor, academic administrator, and judge
| profession           = Politician
| cabinet              = Minister of Health and Social Services (1986) <br> Minister of Agriculture (1988–1989) <br>  Minister of Justice (1989–1993)
|}}
'''Joseph Atallah Ghiz''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|QC}}  (January 27, 1945 – November 9, 1996) was a [[Canadian]] politician and lawyer. He was the 27th [[premier of Prince Edward Island]] from 1986 to 1993, and was a justice of the [[Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island]] from 1995 until his death in 1996. He was the father of [[Robert Ghiz]], the 31st premier of Prince Edward Island.  Ghiz was the first premier of a Canadian province to be of non-European descent, since followed by [[Ujjal Dosanjh]] and Ghiz's son, Robert.

==Early life and family==
Ghiz was born in [[Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island]], to Atallah Joseph Ghiz, a [[Lebanon|Lebanese]] corner store owner, and Marguerite F. Ghiz (née McKarris). Ghiz was a graduate of [[Schulich School of Law|Dalhousie]] and [[Harvard Law School|Harvard]] law schools and was a Charlottetown lawyer before entering into politics.

==CBA Committee on the Constitution==
Ghiz was active in the [[Canadian Bar Association]]. In 1977, in the aftermath of the election of the [[Quebec sovereignty movement|separatist]] [[Parti Québécois]] government in 1976, he was asked to sit on the [[Jacques Viau#CBA Committee on the Constitution|CBA Committee on the Constitution]]. The mandate of the Committee was to study and make recommendations on the [[Constitution of Canada]].<ref>CBA Resolution 77-01-A:  Constitution of Canada - Special Committee; reproduced in ''Canadian Bar Association:  Towards a new Canada - Committee on the Constitution'', p. xv.</ref> The members of the Committee were drawn from each province of Canada, and included two future [[Premier (Canada)|provincial premiers]] (Ghiz and [[Clyde Kirby Wells|Clyde Wells]]), a future Supreme Court of Canada justice, two future provincial chief justices, and a future Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations. The Committee presented its report to the CBA at the next annual meeting, in 1978. The Committee made wide-ranging recommendations for constitutional change, including a completely new constitution, abolishing the monarchy, changing the Senate, entrenching language rights and a bill of rights, and changing the balance of powers between the federal government and the provinces.

==Political career==
He became president of the [[Prince Edward Island Liberal Party]] in 1977 and then party leader in 1981. His party lost the 1982 election but Ghiz was elected to the [[Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island|legislature]] and became [[Leader of the Opposition (Prince Edward Island)|leader of the opposition]]. He led the party to victory in 1986 with the Liberals gaining 20 seats to 11 for the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island]].

In January 1988, Ghiz declared that Islanders would vote in a [[plebiscite]] on the question of a "[[Confederation Bridge|fixed link]]" to mainland Canada - probably the single most divisive topic in Prince Edward Island during the latter part of the 20th century. Ghiz later in life reported to have voted against the fixed link on his personal vote.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}

Ghiz supported the [[Meech Lake Accord]] and opposed the [[Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement]]. His participation in both debates made him a national figure. His government was re-elected in 1989 winning 30 out of 32 [[Legislative seat|seat]]s; it is speculated that this was in reaction to the federal [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|PC]] government of [[Brian Mulroney]]'s decision to close [[CFB Summerside]].  Ghiz's government subsequently accepted a $200 million funding agreement for highway construction in exchange for the provincial government allowing the federal [[Crown corporation]] [[CN Rail]] to abandon railway service in the province.

Ghiz favoured concessions to [[Quebec]] in constitutional negotiations and campaigned for the [[Charlottetown Accord]], resigning three months after the accord was defeated in a 1992 referendum.

==Later life==
Following his decision to leave politics, Ghiz served as [[dean (education)|dean]] of his alma mater, the [[Schulich School of Law|Dalhousie Law School]] until 1995, when he was appointed as a justice to the [[Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island]]. Ghiz died of [[cancer]] in 1996. Several weeks before his death, he was driven by construction personnel across the largest completed section of the [[Confederation Bridge]] which had yet to be connected to the North American mainland.

His son [[Robert Ghiz|Robert]], served as the 31st [[premier of Prince Edward Island]] from June 12, 2007 to February 23, 2015 (leader of the PEI Liberal Party, 2003&ndash;2015). This was the second time in the history of Prince Edward Island that a father-son team both served as premier, the other pair (also Liberal) being [[Thane Campbell]] (1936–1943) and his son [[Alex Campbell (politician)|Alexander B. Campbell]] (1966–1978).

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060321223221/http://collections.ic.gc.ca/familycornerstore/htmlsite/ghiz.htm Ghiz Page]

{{PEIPremiers}}
{{Prince Edward Island Liberal leaders}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghiz, Joe}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:Schulich School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Prince Edward Island]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Prince Edward Island]]
[[Category:Politicians from Charlottetown]]
[[Category:Premiers of Prince Edward Island]]
[[Category:Prince Edward Island Liberal Party leaders]]
[[Category:Prince Edward Island Liberal Party MLAs]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian lawyers]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Lebanese descent]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island]]