In this edition, the Richmond Sentinel covered the 2024 BC Provincial Election. All candidates running for office in Richmond were asked the following questions and could answer one or all, time permitting. Health Care - Safety and Crime - Decriminalization of drugs - Affordable Housing

Richmond Bridgeport

Name: Glynnis Chan

Affiliation: Independent

Resides in Burnaby

Our health system is broken, and I want to do more than just raise funds for people. If we cannot propose an improved health system with more family doctors, it won’t be good for our residents, our health issue is a top concern. Since our province is called Beautiful British Columbia, if we can attract more tourists to our province it will generate more business and job opportunities. If we can earn an income then we can afford to rent or buy a house, if we can’t that’s not good. We have to focus on how we develop a better economy to generate more revenue for our people. Of course we will try to pay more attention to low-income families and help them settle down wherever there is space available.

Name: Linda Li

Affiliation: BC NDP

Resides in Richmond

As the ambassador of Richmond Hospital Foundation, it allowed me to know how urgent we need the help and why our system needs new towers. The NDP government helped us expand our hospitals and opened two urgent primary care centres. The BC NDP government hired 800 doctors and 6300 nurses allowing 400,000 people connect with family doctors. We are focused on saving lives and helping them get the treatment they need. The BC NDP government recently added 650 treatment beds, and we added 250 officers to tighten laws against drug dealers.

Name: Tamás Revóczi

Affiliation: BC Green Party

Resides in Richmond

I have been doing a lot of advocacy and discovered I enjoy helping the community and building relationships with different levels of government. I feel there is a real opportunity to improve healthcare, urgent care is one of those opportunities. More urgent care solutions are needed, and maybe more health cooperatives. Preventative healthcare is my big focus, health and sport are also my focus to make sure people are well and don’t have to end up in the hospital as often. Recently there’s been an increase in crime incidents in Burkeville and it’s made me think of our old block watch program. The community feeling of people looking out for each other is really important thing and that will automatically reduce the concerns and worries of safety.

Name: Charlie Smith

Affiliation: Independent

Resides in Vancouver 

I want to elevate the level of political discussion in Richmond about a range of public policies, including housing, the toxic-drug crisis, global heating, and arts and culture. I support the creation of a regional police force for communities south of the Fraser River, communities on the Burrard Peninsula, and those in the North Shore. This will result in better coordination and result in more professional policing. I support decriminalization of marijuana. For hard drugs, decriminalizing small supplies with exception to crystal meth, which should remain illegal. I support the B.C. NDP government’s Bill 44, which makes it more difficult for city councils to adopt anti-housing policies near rapid-transit stations. There should be more housing on Sea Island, which was home to just 820 residents, and the 90-unit supportive housing project that B.C. Housing was hoping to build at Sexsmith and Cambie roads.

Name: Teresa Wat

Affiliation: Conservative Party

Resides in Burnaby

Our healthcare system is a big mess, many don’t have a family doctor, we had the best cancer care seven years ago now it’s the worst in Canada. We will focus on patients first.  Regarding safety and crime, the problem arises from drugs. Since the NDP have been in power, they’ve been supplying so-called safe drugs to people taking drugs. We can see that it is not working. We need a common-sense change. We’re going to turn safe consumption sites into safe intake centres, which means we will bring those who take drugs into voluntary treatment. Affordable housing the NDP has promised 114,700 affordable units when they were campaigning; now less than 10 per cent have been built. We will provide $300 for renters and mortgage payers every month so they can claim the tax rebate as credit which will help a lot of British Columbians.

Richmond Centre

Name: Hon Chan

Affiliation: Conservative Party

Resides in 

No response at the time of publication

Name: Dickens Cheung

Affiliation: Independent

Resides in Richmond

Our healthcare is in shambles. if elected, I would do a top-down audit of the current system so we can match the needs of our citizens. We need to identify gaps in our system and address the problems. Once we have a good understanding we can decide how much private healthcare we’ll allow and if we should do a two-tier system. Regarding crime, as a province, we can be a little tougher in terms of interpreting the criminal code; talking to law enforcement officers they all say “we can’t do our job, even if we wanted to”. That is an issue regarding community safety and we must work closely with the federal government to communicate our concerns. Housing is a long-term structural issue, if we take a controlled approach to the supply and demand side, we could make housing a lot more affordable than it is right now.

Name: Sunny Ho

Affiliation: Independent

Resides in Richmond

The government doesn’t care about Richmond, we don’t have a new hospital but in Surrey you can find a new one. I am fighting for more funds for a new hospital in Richmond. The NDP have the funds for supportive housing but no more senior housing in Richmond. Why not change the Cambie location to a senior affordable housing. Our government has money for those job takers but none for affordable housing for seniors. The problem with housing is democracy not efficiently using the funds and resources in Richmond. I will form a community to handle that, we have manpower, funds, and people in need, what we need is cooperation and efficiency to finish that job.

Name: Henry Yao

Affiliation: BC NDP

Resides in Richmond

As a Richmond resident with a family, healthcare is extremely important. NDP government supported the Richmond Hospital expansion, added two urgent primary care centres and added a second medical school in BC so that we continue to increase the number of doctors and nurses needed. We also added about 250 police officers to the system to increase safety and protect the people of Richmond. We need to understand when we talk about decriminalization we’re talking about people; authorities now have the option to treat cases as a healthcare issue instead of a criminal one. We don’t allow drug consumption in public areas including parks and school grounds. Regarding housing, young people should have the right to live in a community of their choice. The NDP are looking at densification with Bill 44 and transit-oriented zones in Bill 47 and addressing the speculation tax to free up more supply.

Name: Wendy Yuan

Affiliation: Independent

Resides in Richmond

Healthcare is a problem in this province, we have a crisis. One out of five people in BC does not have a family doctor and that is not acceptable. If elected, I will make sure we have enough doctors by looking at foreign trained doctors that can pass certain requirements to qualify to fill that hole. Safety and crime is an important issue as Richmond  has a rising crime rate. The current legal system often releases criminals that are apprehended, called catch and release, that needs to be dealt with. We need to protect citizen’s safety and criminals need to pay for their crimes. This decriminalization of hard drugs is only decriminalized in BC, I am for free treatment and address this in a compassionate way ensuring there is treatment first and support them to become a member of society again. Regarding housing, I would introduce a rent-to-own program.

Richmond Queensborough

Name: Steve Kooner

Affiliation: Conservative Party

Resides in Surrey

Our healthcare system is in crisis, hospital emergency departments are shutting down and people are having to wait 7 to 10 hours to be seen. Our ‘Patients First’ healthcare plan will expand excess to care, stop ER closures, end long wait times, and get British Columbians a doctor. Crime has skyrocketed jeopardizing the public safety of British Columbians. We will make public safety a priority so that British Columbians can feel safe again in their homes and in the community. The Conservative Party will stop handing out free drugs and focus on recovery to get people the help they need. Housing has become grossly unaffordable and a significant portion of British Columbians are thinking of leaving BC. The Conservative Party’s housing plan includes measures like the Rustad Rebate to provide real relief on the cost of homes, speed up approval processes, and get homes built.

Name: Errol Povah

Affiliation: Independent

Resides in N. Vancouver

Regarding healthcare I believe the minister of health doesn’t care about public health and safety especially with response to the COVID pandemic. Healthcare was in a crisis before COVID. Safety and crime sky rocked over the last 3 to 4 years. Look at the number of healthcare workers who were fired because they refused to be vaccinated, many found another career but could have contributed to homelessness, drugs and crime problem. Affordable housing is a huge problem, I don’t have a solution but would support anyone who can solve it. Immigration is out of control we need to take care of the people here first and then re-open immigration. 

Name: Aman Singh

Affiliation: BC NDP

Resides in South Vancouver 

The NDP government has been focusing on making healthcare better for everyone. We inherited a healthcare system that wasn’t invested in for over a decade, the Richmond Hospital is an example of that. The NDP are committed to building the hospital, a new acute care, cancer care centre and we opened two new urgent primary care centres. The former government when they got into power they shut down courts and cut victim services and the people that deal with the court system were not compensated properly. We’ve changed all that and came up with a solid plan to deal with the issues. There’s a lot more work to be done and the NDP are heading in the right direction.  A government that is empathetic, caring and compassionate is a government that all British Columbians deserve.

Name: Cindy Wu

Affiliation: Independent

Resides in Richmond

Involved with community work; Success, Food Bank, Meals on Wheels. With regard to healthcare, there is not enough hospital funds more is needed to open a new hospital and implement more programs including Chinese medicine. We could develop more creative ways in terms of healthcare like adding children to assist seniors with crafts and reading at little cost. If elected we will definitely hire more RCMP officers for our area and promote drug education in high schools. Regarding affordable housing, I want to have at least 15,000 affordable housing units for Canadian citizens. For low-income families especially those with children we should have more funding for more childcare spaces and programs. 

Richmond Steveston

Name: Kelly Greene

Affiliation: BC NDP

Resides in Steveston

We’re about to complete the first phase of the Richmond Hospital expansion of ER, beds and operating rooms. We want to invest in family doctors and in the last year we’ve hired over 800 family doctors and reduced a waiting list of 300,000 people in B.C. We will continue to hire doctors, nurses, radiologists to keep up with our growing community. Regarding safety and crime the bail conditions are set Federally and NDP government is leading the provinces to tell the Federal government change is needed. The NDP reinstated specialized teams that follow up with folks who were recently released to keep communities safe. Regarding decriminalization we’re offering an avenue for people to get treatment. Affordable housing the NDP will make changes with short-term rentals, ensuring homes are not left vacant, invest in public housing and partnering with municipalities to build appropriate housing for people.

Name: Jackie Lee

Affiliation: Unaffiliated

Resides in Steveston

Healthcare is an important issue. Having first-hand experience with my Dad who waited for 9 hours in emergency, I understand the frustration and that’s one reason why I am running. I want to use my experience serving the community for 30 years and as an independent candidate I can push the governing party to fast track the building of Richmond Hospital and acute care centre. Safety and crime, I belong to Block Watch and if elected will encourage funding to support Block Watch as a positive preventative measure where people in our community can watch out for each other. Decriminalization of drugs without the safeguards it has proven it is the wrong way to go. We need to ensure that everyone who needs help will get the best help. Affordable housing Bill 44 and 47 is a concern expressed to me by Steveston residence.

Name: Michelle Mollineaux

Affiliation: Conservative Party

Resides in South Vancouver

No response at the time of publication

Name: Elodie Vaudandaine

Affiliation: BC Green Party

Resides in UBC campus

We need to ensure healthcare providers can focus on what they do best. Under a privatized health care model, health care providers need to act as business owners and administrators, taking away from caring for patients, extending wait times, and decreasing efficiency. We need to reorient our priorities to alleviate staff shortages in public hospitals and ensure everyone has quicker access to better care. The BC Green Party supports adapting emergency response services, by adding a mental health response option. Regarding decriminalization of drugs, people often use substances to cope, it is essential to save lives and encourage people get the treatment they need. Decriminalization needs to come with solutions for economic inequalities and institutionalized discrimination responsible for unsafe conditions for users and turning to substance as a coping mechanism. BC Green Party will allocate $1.5 billion annually to construct 26,000 non-marketing housing units every year.

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed are those of the candidates being interviewed and not of the Richmond Sentinel.