Stanley Hagen (March 11, 1940 – January 20, 2009) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

politician. He served as Member of the Legislative Assembly for the

Comox Valley The Comox Valley is a region on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, that includes the city of Courtenay, British Columbia, Courtenay, the town of Comox, British Columbia, Comox, the village of Cumberland, British Columb ...

riding in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

as a member of the BC Liberal Party. He was the Minister of Agriculture and Lands when he died. During his political career, he served as minister for 10 different ministries, including Minister of Tourism, Sports and the Arts, Minister for Children and Family Development, Minister of Sustainable Resource Management, and Minister of Human Resources. He was first elected in the 1986 provincial election as a

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLA), and served in the cabinet of

Bill Vander Zalm William Nicholas Vander Zalm (born Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie van der Zalm; May 29, 1934) is a politician and entrepreneur in British Columbia, Canada. He was the 28th premier of British Columbia from 1986 to 1991. Early life Wilhelmus Ni ...

. His cabinet positions included Minister of Advanced Education, Minister of Economic Development, and Minister of Education. Hagen was best known for being integral in the creation of Science World and for his support of the

TRIUMF TRIUMF is Canada's national particle accelerator centre. It is considered Canada's premier physics laboratory, and consistently regarded as one of the world's leading subatomic physics research centers. Owned and operated by a consortium of uni ...

particle accelerator at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. He was defeated in the 1991 election when all but seven Socred MLAs were defeated. Hagen returned to provincial politics by winning his seat in the 2001 provincial election and was re-elected in 2005. On November 24, 2004, it was announced that Hagen had been diagnosed with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

and was undergoing treatment. On January 20, 2009, at the age of 68, Stan Hagen died of a massive

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

. In August 2009, Hagen was inducted into the Comox Valley Walk of Achievement. December 2011, Hagen was memorialized by the Salvation Army, which renamed its Victoria Family Centre the "Stan Hagen Centre for Families". While still in office, he was honoured by the K'omoks First Nation with the name “Ti’ axwsam" (Red Cod).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagen, Stan 1940 births 2009 deaths British Columbia Liberal Party MLAs British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs Canadian people of Norwegian descent Education ministers of British Columbia Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia People from New Westminster 21st-century Canadian politicians