Richard Lee (Canadian politician)
Richard T. Lee | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia | |
In office September 28, 2015 – June 22, 2017 | |
Preceded by | Douglas Horne |
Succeeded by | Greg Kyllo |
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Burnaby North | |
In office May 16, 2001 – May 9, 2017 | |
Preceded by | Pietro Calendino |
Succeeded by | Janet Routledge |
Personal details | |
Born | 1954 Zhongshan, People Republic of China | (age 67)
Political party | BC Liberal |
Residence | Burnaby, British Columbia |
Richard T. Lee (simplified Chinese: 李灿明; traditional Chinese: 李燦明; c. 1954) is a Canadian politician. He was born in People's Republic of China in 1954. He was a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Lee served four consecutive terms for 16 years as MLA. He also served as the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
Lee was the Liberal Party of Canada's candidate with New Democratic Party's Jagmeet Singh and Conservative Party of Canada's Jay Shin for a by-election in Burnaby South that was held on February 25, 2019.[1]
Career[]
Lee represented the riding of North Burnaby since the 2001 election. He was re-elected in the 2005 election, 2009 election and 2013 election before being defeated in 2017. He served as Parliamentary Secretary for the Asia-Pacific Initiative from June 2005 to May 2009. Lee previously served as deputy chair of the Special Committee to Appoint a Merit Commissioner and chair of the Government Caucus Asian Economic Development Committee.[2][3]
In June 2013, Lee was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for the Asia Pacific Strategy to the Minister of International Trade and Minister Responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy and Multiculturalism.[2]
In December 2013, Lee was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for traditional Chinese medicine.[4]
In April 2015, a constituent in Burnaby North launched a Recall petition under the BC Elections Act.[5] The proponent turned in less than 10% of the required number of signatures and the petition failed.[6][7]
In September 2015, Lee was appointed as the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the first MLA of Asian descent in B.C. to serve in that capacity.
2015 Detention in China[]
In November 2015, Lee and his family were detained by the Chinese Public Security Bureau upon arrival to Shanghai, China. During his detention, Chinese officials examined his personal phone, and BC Legislative Assembly phone. Lee and his family were released without charge and was forcibly removed from China.
Lee later recounted his experience to various members of Canada's Federal Cabinet and then-Chinese ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye, but received no acknowledgement of the incident from both the Government of Canada, nor the Government of China. Lee elected not to publicly disclose the incident until November 2019, citing concerns of creating a rift in Canada–China bilateral relations.
The Prime Minister's Office acknowledged receipt of Lee's correspondence 4 years later, in November 2019.[8]
Partial electoral results[]
Canadian federal by-election, February 25, 2019: Burnaby South Resignation of Kennedy Stewart | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
New Democratic | Jagmeet Singh | 8,848 | 38.90 | ![]() | ||||
Liberal | Richard T. Lee | 5,919 | 26.02 | ![]() | ||||
Conservative | Jay Shin | 5,147 | 22.63 | ![]() | ||||
People's | Laura-Lynn Thompson | 2,422 | 10.65 | New | ||||
Independent | Terry Grimwood | 242 | 1.06 | New | ||||
Independent | Valentine Wu | 168 | 0.74 | New | ||||
Total valid votes/Expense limit | 22,746 | 99.17 | – | |||||
Total rejected ballots | 190 | 0.83 | +0.23 | |||||
Turnout | 22,936 | 30.10 | -30.68 | |||||
Eligible voters | 76,204 | |||||||
New Democratic hold | Swing | +5.84 | ||||||
Source: Elections Canada[9] |
2017 British Columbia general election: Burnaby North | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
New Democratic | Janet Routledge | 11,448 | 48.57 | +1.75 | $53,926.39 | |||
Liberal | Richard Lee | 9,290 | 39.42 | −4.43 | $62,342.21 | |||
Green | Peter Hallschmid | 2,831 | 12.01 | +5.01 | $1,106.54 | |||
Total valid votes | 23,569 | 100.00 | – | |||||
Total rejected ballots | 171 | 0.72 | −0.03 | |||||
Turnout | 23,740 | 60.39 | +5.36 | |||||
Registered voters | 39,312 | |||||||
Source: Elections BC[10][11] |
2013 British Columbia general election: Burnaby North | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
Liberal | Richard Lee | 10,543 | 46.82 | |||||
New Democratic | Janet Routledge | 9,875 | 43.85 | |||||
Green | Carrie McLaren | 1,577 | 7.00 | |||||
No Affiliation | Wayne Michael Marklund | 523 | 2.32 | |||||
Total valid votes | 22,518 | 100.00 | ||||||
Total rejected ballots | 170 | 0.75 | ||||||
Turnout | 22,688 | 55.03 | ||||||
Source: Elections BC[12] |
2005 British Columbia general election: Burnaby North | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
Liberal | Richard T. Lee | 10,421 | 45.59 | |||||
New Democratic | Pietro Calendino | 10,356 | 45.31 | |||||
Green | Richard Brand | 1,763 | 7.71 | |||||
Democratic Reform | Matthew Laird | 316 | 1.38 | |||||
Total Valid Votes | 22,856 | 100.00 | ||||||
Total Rejected Ballots | 155 | 0.68 | ||||||
Turnout | 23,011 | 59.76 |
References[]
- ^ Zussman, Richard; Boynton, Sean (19 January 2019). "Federal Liberals tap former B.C. MLA Richard Lee as new candidate in Burnaby South". Global News. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ a b https://www.leg.bc.ca/mla/40thParl/lee-Richard.htm
- ^ 李灿明 四度成功攻顶 Archived 2014-08-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Moreau, Jennifer. "Burnaby MLA Richard Lee appointed parliamentary secretary for Chinese medicine". Burnaby Now. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- ^ "Burnaby resident files petition to recall 'failed' MLA - CTV News". bc.ctvnews.ca. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- ^ "Elections BC » Burnaby North Recall Petition Unsuccessful". Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- ^ "Summary of Recall Petitions | Elections BC" (PDF).
- ^ Cooper, Sam (29 November 2019). "B.C. politician breaks silence: China detained me, is interfering 'in our democracy'". Global News. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ "February 25, 2019 By-elections Election Results". Elections Canada. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
- ^ "2017 Provincial General Election - Statement of Votes" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
- ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
- ^ "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
External links[]
- Richard T. Lee's official MLA site
- Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, North Burnaby MLA: Richard T. Lee
- 1954 births
- Living people
- British Columbia Liberal Party MLAs
- Chinese emigrants to Canada
- Naturalized citizens of Canada
- People from Burnaby
- People from Zhongshan
- 21st-century Canadian politicians
- Canadian politicians of Chinese descent
- British Columbia MLA stubs