Stephen Douglas Owen (September 8, 1948 – June 29, 2023) was a Canadian lawyer, administrator and politician. From 2000 to 2007 he served as Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Vancouver Quadra, encompassing the western end of the City of Vancouver. As part of the Liberal Party of Canada caucus, he was a member of Prime Minister Paul Martin's government, serving in cabinet as Minister of Public Works and Government Services from 2003 to 2004, and as Minister of Western Economic Diversification and Minister of State for Sport from 2004 to 2006. He left parliament to join the University of British Columbia (UBC) as the vice-president of External, Legal and Community Relations, serving in that role until 2012.
Early life and career
Born in Vancouver on September 8, 1948, He went on to receive an LL.M. from University College London/University of London in 1974, and an MBA from the International Management Institute at the University of Geneva in 1986. In 1975 he began a two-year assignment with Canadian University Service Overseas teaching high school in Nigeria, before returning to Canada in 1977 to work as a staff lawyer with the legal aid office in Surrey, eventually becoming executive director of the Legal Services Society of British Columbia. He was appointed Secretary of State for both Western Economic Diversification and Indian Affairs and Northern Development by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on January 15, 2002.
Owen defeated former provincial cabinet minister and Conservative candidate Stephen Rogers in the federal election of 2004, receiving 52% of the vote compared to Rogers' 26%. He was named Minister of Western Economic Diversification and Minister of State for Sport on July 20, 2004. With the Liberals becoming the Official Opposition, Owen was named critic for democratic reform.
Owen resigned his seat on July 27, 2007, to become UBC's vice-president of External, Legal and Community Relations, finishing his five-year term in 2012. His cousin Philip Owen is a former mayor of Vancouver, and uncle Walter Stewart Owen served as Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia from 1973 to 1978.
Owen died at a care home in Vancouver on June 29, 2023, at age 74. He had dementia in the years leading up to his death.