Stephen Owen, , (born September 8, 1948) is 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 ...

administrator and politician. Owen was the Vice-President of External, Legal and Community Relations for 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 ...

. Owen was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the electoral district of

Vancouver Quadra Vancouver Quadra is a federal electoral district in the Metro Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada. It has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1949. The constituency bears the name of the Spanish explorer who surveye ...

, encompassing the western end of the City of Vancouver. He was a member of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

government, serving in

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

as Canada's tenth Minister of Western Economic Diversification and as

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

for

Sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

Early career

Owen received LL.M. from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1974. He received

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the International Management Institute,

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

in 1986, and J.D. from the

in 1972. During the 1980s, Owen worked for the government of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

as a non-partisan official. He served as that province's

ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

from 1986 to 1992, and as Commissioner for the ground-breaking

Commission on Resources and Environment Commission on Resources and Environment (CORE) was a collaborative planning model used in British Columbia from 1992-1996. Participating stakeholders negotiated a consensus-based agreement about regional and local resource use goals. CORE's Commis ...

, which pioneered the province's multi-stakeholder

land-use planning Land use planning is the process of regulating the use of land by a central authority. Usually, this is done to promote more desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as a more efficient use of resources. More specifically, the goals ...

approach from 1992 to 1995. Subsequently Owen was the Deputy Attorney General for B.C. and, then, the David Lam Professor of Law & Public Policy, and Director, Institute for Dispute Resolution, University of Victoria (1997–2000) He is also the past commissioner and vice-president of the

Law Commission of Canada The Law Commission of Canada was an independent law commission that gave advice to the Canadian government on matters of law. The body was created in 1971 as the Law Reform Commission of Canada and was disbanded in 1992. The body was reestablished ...

. His cousin,

Philip Owen Philip Walter Owen (March 11, 1933 – September 30, 2021) was the 36th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia from 1993 to 2002, making him one of Vancouver's longest serving mayors. His father was Walter S. Owen, who was Lieutenant Governor o ...

, is a former

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Federal politics

Owen was first elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in the 2000 federal election. He was appointed to Prime Minister

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

's cabinet on January 15, 2002, serving as Secretary of State for both Western Economic Diversification and Indian Affairs and Northern Development. On December 12, 2003, he was promoted by newly appointed Martin to

Minister of Public Works and Government Services The minister of public services and procurement (french: ministre des services publics et de l’approvisionnement) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the Government of Canada's "common service ...

. In this capacity, he was a frequent target of opposition questions on the "

sponsorship scandal The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006. ...

". During his tenure, Owen was involved in the recovery of misappropriated public funds from

Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

; the company paid C$146 million to the government of Canada, and both parties agreed to jointly pursue companies who may also have been involved. Owen defeated former provincial cabinet minister Stephen Rogers in the federal election of 2004, winning by a much greater margin than most observers anticipated (he received 52.28% of the vote compared to Rogers' 26.24%.) He was named Minister of Western Economic Diversification and

for Sport on July 20, 2004. Under normal circumstances, this would have been considered a demotion, but the shuffle placed Owen in a powerful managerial position for preparation for the upcoming Olympic Games in

. During the federal election of 2006, held to elect the 39th Parliament, Owen again defeated Rogers and maintain his seat in Vancouver Quadra. Following the election, Owen was one of the early supporters of

Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff (; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a histo ...

for the Liberal Party leadership. Stephen Owen resigned his seat on July 27, 2007, and accepted a position at the

References

External links

Honourable Stephen Owen, QC, PC
VP External Stephen Owen will not renew term at UBC https://web.archive.org/web/20130408081417/http://ubyssey.ca/news/vp-external-stephen-owen666/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Stephen 1948 births Alumni of University College London Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the 26th Canadian Ministry Members of the 27th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Vancouver Peter A. Allard School of Law alumni