Todah, Stephen Owen

Editorial

It was with disappointment, but not surprise, that we heard the news that Vancouver-Quadra Member of Parliament Stephen Owen has opted to leave federal politics.

When Owen entered Parliament in 2000, he brought a wealth of almost unprecedented international and domestic experience. He has a pile of degrees from prestigious universities, practised and taught law, served as British Columbia's ombudsman and deputy attorney general, and has been a national leader in the fields of law and dispute resolution. He has been flown into hotspots around the world, including the Middle East, to attempt to find resolutions to some of our generation's worst conflicts.

Owen has also been a stalwart friend of Israel and an admirable representative for his not-insubstantial constituency of Jewish voters.

In politics, Owen held several portfolios in Liberal governments and is now the party's critic for democratic reform. We can't help wondering if, had democratic reform taken place earlier, Owen might have had a more profound impact on national politics. His personal experience and insights, his brilliance, principle and decency are precisely what we seek in elected officials. But our party discipline system has a way of neutralizing the uniqueness that good people bring to office.

We do not know what Owen has planned for the coming years. But we suspect it will be interesting and meaningful and will have a positive impact on the world. We offer him best wishes and todah rabah.

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