Colin Hansen (born 1952) is a former politician in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He served as member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1996 to 2013, representing the electoral district of Vancouver-Quilchena. As a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party caucus, he served in a variety of cabinet posts while that party was in power, including as the 11th Deputy Premier from June 2009 to March 2011, and twice as the province's Minister of Finance.
Early life and education
Hansen was born and raised in the city of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. He served as vice-president of finance and administration for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, before founding Vancouver-based promotional products company Image Group with his wife Laura in 1988.
While the Liberals formed the official opposition between 1996 and 2001, Hansen served as critic for health, employment and investment, and labour.
On March 30, 2010, Hansen introduced legislation to bring in the harmonized sales tax (HST), replacing the previously separate 5% federal goods and services tax and 7% provincial sales tax. However, the proposal was met with strong opposition from most members of the public. Facing low approval ratings, Campbell announced his intention to resign as Premier and Liberal leader on November 3, 2010. Hansen threw his support behind Kevin Falcon in the ensuing Liberal leadership election, which was won by Christy Clark in 2011; she did not name Hansen to a cabinet post. In September 2012, Hansen announced he would not seek re-election as Vancouver-Quilchena MLA in the 2013 provincial election.
Post-politics
After politics, Hansen served from 2014 to 2019 as the president of AdvantageBC, a non-government organization dedicated to promoting British Columbia as a place for international business. He continues to sit on the board of AdvantageBC following his term as president.
He serves on several not-for-profit boards including serving as Chair of the Fraser Basin Council, Honorary Governor of the Vancouver Foundation, Arthritis Research Canada, Jack Austin School of Asia Pacific Business Studies and the Canada-Japan Society.