Joseph Atallah Ghiz (January 27, 1945 – November 9, 1996) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

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 The Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island (also called the Prince Edward Island Supreme Court, or PESC) is the superior court of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. The Court is composed of five judges, led by its Chief Justice, curre ...

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 Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...

, to Atallah Joseph Ghiz, a Lebanese corner store owner, and Marguerite F. Ghiz (née McKarris). Ghiz was a graduate of Dalhousie and

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

law schools and was a Charlottetown lawyer before entering into politics.

CBA Committee on the Constitution

Ghiz was active in the

Canadian Bar Association The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), or Association du barreau canadien (ABC) in French, represents over 37,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada. History The Association's first Annual Meeting was ...

. In 1977, in the aftermath of the election of the

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

government in 1976, he was asked to sit on the CBA Committee on the Constitution. The mandate of the Committee was to study and make recommendations on the

Constitution of Canada The Constitution of Canada () is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents are an amalgamation of various ...

.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. The members of the Committee were drawn from each province of Canada, and included two future provincial premiers (Ghiz and 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 The Prince Edward Island Liberal Party, officially the Prince Edward Island Liberal Association'','' is a political party in the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is one of the three parties currently represented in the Legislative Asse ...

in 1977 and then party leader in 1981. His party lost the 1982 election but Ghiz was elected to the

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

and became

leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

. 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 The Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island (PEIPC) is one of three major political parties on Prince Edward Island. The party and its rival, the Prince Edward Island Liberal Party, have alternated in power since responsible gove ...

. In January 1988, Ghiz declared that Islanders would vote in a

plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...

on the question of a " 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. Ghiz supported the

Meech Lake Accord The Meech Lake Accord () was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial Premier (Canada), premiers. It was intended to ...

and opposed the

Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA), official name as the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States of America (), was a bilateral trade agreement reached by negotiators for Canada and the United States on ...

. His participation in both debates made him a national figure. His government was re-elected in 1989 winning 30 out of 32

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

s; it is speculated that this was in reaction to the federal PC government of

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

'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 Crown corporation () is the term used in Canada for organizations that are structured like private companies, but are directly and wholly owned by the government. Crown corporations have a long-standing presence in the country, and have a sign ...

CN Rail The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

to abandon railway service in the province. Ghiz favoured concessions to

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

in constitutional negotiations and campaigned for the

Charlottetown Accord The Charlottetown Accord () was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canada, Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendums in Canada, referendum on October ...

, resigning three months after the accord was defeated in a 1992 referendum.

Later life

Following his decision to leave politics, Ghiz served as dean of his alma mater, the Dalhousie Law School until 1995, when he was appointed as a justice to the

. Ghiz died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in 1996. Several weeks before his death, he was driven by construction personnel across the largest completed section of the

Confederation Bridge The Confederation Bridge () is a box girder bridge carrying the Trans-Canada Highway across the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait, linking the province of Prince Edward Island with the mainland province of New Brunswick. Opened ...

which had yet to be connected to the North American mainland. His son

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

, served as the 31st premier of Prince Edward Island from June 12, 2007 to February 23, 2015 (leader of the PEI Liberal Party, 2003–2015). 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 Alexander B. Campbell (1966–1978).

References

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