RICHARD LEE INDPENDENT
The lack of a recognizable name and the absence of a connection between them and Richmond was the catalyst for Richard Lee to enter the race.
Lawyer Lee, whose law office has been in the Richmond Centre riding for eight years, sat down with the News moments after filing his candidacy papers Friday at the city's Election BC office on No. 3 Road.
He said the BC Liberals and NDP's decisions to respectively parachute Teresa Wat and Frank Huang into the picture was all the motivation he needed.
And he believes those two selections will do nothing to correct the riding's embarrassingly low voter turnout (second lowest in B.C. at last provincial election).
"I actually think it would be even worse if the likes of myself didn't step up," insisted Lee, a former Merritt and Burnaby school trustee, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Richmond in 2011, albeit garnering a healthy 9,000 plus votes.
"Neither Ms. Wat or Mr. Huang live or even work in Richmond and that turns people off. In my humble opinion, they are not known names and faces in this city and it's not as if they're going to bring in more voters."
And the people who voted last time don't have a connection, suggested Lee, because "all the candidates are different."
"I have had a law office here since 2005 and have lived here since 2006 and have served as a Salvation Army volunteer and on several health-related committees," added Lee.
On the issue of population growth and the possibility that 40,000 people will move into Richmond by 2040 - many of whom will descend to the Richmond Centre riding - Lee would like to have "more reliable forecasts" with regard to what school capacity is needed.
"We need to hire very competent people and I think we need to be pro-active in so much that the developers have to be part of the planning process.
"We should not be encouraging the development without the infrastructure growing with it or in place already."
On the subject of multiculturalism in the city, Lee said, "we all have to lead by example and every one of us has to be a bridge between the different cultures in Richmond.
"It rubs me the wrong way when I hear candidates saying they will be that bridge."
When the city's Chinese media outlets heard Lee was intending to run, he was apparently asked why he was running, as there were already four other Asian candidates. "It was suggested that I would simply split up the Asian vote too much," said Lee.
"It never crossed my mind to refer to it as the Chinese vote. A vote is a vote and those votes are mine to go and get."
