During the 1980s and 1990s, Owen worked for the government of British Columbia as a non-partisan official. He served as that province's ombudsman from 1986 to 1992, and as Commissioner for the ground-breaking Commission on Resources and Environment, which pioneered the province's multi-stakeholder land-use planning approach, from 1992 to 1995.[4][6] After serving as Deputy Attorney General for B.C. from 1995 to 1997, he joined the University of Victoria as David Lam Professor of Law and Public Policy, and director of the university's Institute for Dispute Resolution.[4][6] He concurrently served as commissioner and vice-president of the Law Commission of Canada from 1997 to 2000.[5][6]
Federal politics
Owen ran as the Liberal candidate in Vancouver Quadra at the 2000 federal election, defeating Kerry-Lynne Findlay of the Canadian Alliance to become the riding's Member of Parliament.[2][7] 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.[2] On December 12, 2003, Owen was promoted by the newly appointed Martin to Minister of Public Works and Government Services.[2] In this capacity, he was a frequent target of opposition questions on the "sponsorship scandal". During his tenure, Owen was involved in the recovery of misappropriated public funds from Hewlett-Packard; 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.[8]
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%.[9] He was named Minister of Western Economic Diversification and Minister of State for Sport on July 20, 2004.[7] 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 Winter Olympics in British Columbia.[citation needed]
Owen resigned his seat on July 27, 2007, to become UBC's vice-president of External, Legal and Community Relations,[12] finishing his five-year term in 2012.[13]