Joe Ghiz
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Joseph Atallah Ghiz (January 27, 1945 - November 9, 1996) LLB was Premier of Prince Edward Island, an educator of law and a justice of the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island.
Born to Atallah Joseph Ghiz, a Syro-Lebanese corner store owner and Harvard University grad, and Marguerite McKarris, Ghiz was a Charlottetown lawyer before entering into politics. 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 legislature and became leader of the opposition. He led the party to victory in 1986 with the Liberals gaining 22 seats to 11 for the Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative Party.
In January, 1988 Ghiz declared that Islanders would vote in a plebiscite 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. His vote in the plebiscite is unknown.
Ghiz supported the Meech Lake Accord and opposed the Canada-U.S. 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 seats; it is speculated that this was in reaction to the federal 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.
Premier Ghiz favoured concessions to Quebec in constitutional negotiations and campaigned for the Charlottetown Accord, resigning several days after the accord was defeated in a 1992 referendum.
Ghiz served as dean of the faculty of law at Dalhousie University until 1995, when he was appointed to the PEI Supreme Court. Ghiz died of cancer in 1996. His son Robert Ghiz became leader of the PEI Liberal Party in 2003.
| Preceded by James M. Lee |
Premier of Prince Edward Island 1986–1993 |
Succeeded by Catherine Callbeck |
| Premiers of Prince Edward Island |  |
|
|---|---|---|
| Colony: Coles | Holl | Coles | E. Palmer | Gray | Pope | Coles | Hensley | Haythorne | Pope | Haythorne |
Province: Pope | Owen | Davies | Sullivan | McLeod | F. Peters | Warburton | Farquharson | A. Peters | Haszard | J. Palmer | Mathieson | Arsenault | Bell | Stewart | Saunders | Lea | Stewart | MacMillan | Lea | T. Campbell | Jones | Matheson | Shaw | A. Campbell | B. Campbell | MacLean | Lee | Ghiz | Callbeck | Milligan | Binns |
||
