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 ...
physician, professor and politician. He was a
cabinet minister
A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘ prime minister†...
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 ...
, and served as a
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 o ...
from 1988 until his defeat in the 2004 election.
Education
Born at the Mary Johnston Hospital in Manila and raised in Bacoor, Cavite in the Philippines, Pagtakhan received his Doctor of Medicine from the
University of the Philippines
The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 20 ...
. He is a brother of the Mu Sigma Phi, the first, the largest, and the most acclaimed medical fraternity in Asia. He completed his pediatric residency and cardiology fellowship at the Washington University Medical Center/
St. Louis Children's Hospital
St. Louis Children's Hospital is a dedicated pediatric hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and has a primary service region covering six states. As the pediatric teaching hospital for Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Children's Ho ...
and his Master of Science from the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Winnipeg Children's Hospital between 1971 and 1988.
In addition to the above responsibilities, Pagtakhan also served as Director of the Manitoba Cystic Fibrosis Centre, President of the Manitoba Pediatric Society, member of the Winnipeg Police Commission, the first chair of the Board of Presidents of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, and as National President of the United Council of Filipino Canadian Associations in Canada.
In 1986, he was elected as a Winnipeg school trustee in the St. Vital district and served in that capacity until 1988.
Political career
Pagtakhan was first elected to the
House of Commons of Canada
The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The House of Commo ...
Winnipeg North
Winnipeg North (french: Winnipeg-Nord) is a federal electoral district in Canada that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It covers the northern portion of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Geography
The riding includes the ne ...
David Orlikow
David Orlikow (April 20, 1918 – January 19, 1998) was a Canadian politician, and a long-serving member of the House of Commons of Canada. He represented the riding of Winnipeg North from 1962 to 1988 as a member of the New Democratic Party.
F ...
who had held the riding since 1962. He became the first Filipino-born Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons. He was easily re-elected in the 1993 election, defeating New Democratic challenger
Judy Wasylycia-Leis
Klazina Judith Wasylycia-Leis (; born 1951) is a Canadian politician. She was a Manitoba cabinet minister in the government of Howard Pawley from 1986 to 1988, and was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from September 22, 1997, to April ...
. In the elections of
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
and
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
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 ...
from February 23, 1996, to July 15, 1998. He was appointed to cabinet on January 9, 2001, and served as Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) until January 15, 2002. His appointment to cabinet marked the first time in over 75 years that an M.P. from north Winnipeg became a member of the federal cabinet. As Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), Pagtakhan took on a number of tasks including representing Canada as Head of its delegation to the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.
On January 15, 2002, he was promoted to Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister responsible for Manitoba. In this capacity, he served on the Cabinet Committees on Economic Union, Social Union and Government Communications.
During his tenure as Minister responsible for Manitoba (also known as the Senior Minister for Manitoba), Pagtakhan was part of the government that funded major projects in Manitoba such as the expansion of the Red River Floodway and the
Canadian Museum for Human Rights
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR; ) is a Canadian Crown corporation and national museum located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, adjacent to The Forks. The purpose of the museum is to "explore the subject of human rights with a special but not ...
. Pagtakhan also served as
Secretary of State (Science, Research and Development)
In Canada from 1993 to 2003 and again from 2007 to 2008, secretary of state was a title given to junior ministers of state in the Government of Canada that sat outside Cabinet. Because it was a position that was assigned to assist Cabinet minist ...
from May 26, 2002, to December 12, 2003.
On December 12, 2003, new
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 ...
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 ...
appointed him as
Minister of Western Economic Diversification
The Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada () is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who served as the chief executive of Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD). The post was traditionally held by an M ...
. In this capacity he served on the Cabinet Committees on Domestic Affairs and Aboriginal Affairs. During his tenure in this position, Pagtakhan, amongst other things, announced funding for the Winnipeg-based International Centre for Infectious Diseases.
Further redistribution pushed Pagtakhan back into the riding of
Winnipeg North
Winnipeg North (french: Winnipeg-Nord) is a federal electoral district in Canada that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It covers the northern portion of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Geography
The riding includes the ne ...
Judy Wasylycia-Leis
Klazina Judith Wasylycia-Leis (; born 1951) is a Canadian politician. She was a Manitoba cabinet minister in the government of Howard Pawley from 1986 to 1988, and was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from September 22, 1997, to April ...
, who had been elected for
Winnipeg North Centre Winnipeg North Centre was a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that was represented by a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 2004. It is a largely working class riding in Winnipeg and has traditional ...
in 1997 and 2000.
Life after politics
Since returning to private life in 2004, Pagtakhan has been actively involved in numerous ventures. In 2005 and 2006, he served as the Founding Director of th Global College at the University of Winnipeg and Chair of the college's advisory board. He is currently co-chair of its Global Advisors. In addition, Pagtakhan serves as a Public Adjudicator of the Prairie Regional Panel of th Governor of th and Chair of the Manitoba Liberal Party's Election Readiness Committee. In 2017, he was made a Member of the
Order of Manitoba
The Order of Manitoba (french: Ordre du Manitoba) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1999 when Lieutenant Governor Peter Liba granted Royal Assent to The Order of Manitoba Act, the order is adminis ...