There are four new faces on the Richmond First slate for the civic elections this November.
The group, as well a familiar list of incumbents, was introduced at an event Tuesday in a packed ballroom inside Shiang Garden Seafood Restaurant.
New on the ballot will be Andy Hobbs and Elsa Wong, who will challenge for seats on city council, and Kevin Lainchbury and Peter Liu, who will run for a term as a school trustee.
Of the four, Hobbs is the only one with prior experience as an elected official - he was a local school trustee from 2002 to 2008.
They join council incumbents Derek Dang, Bill McNulty, and Linda McPhail, and current trustees Donna Sargent, Eric Yung, and Debbie Tablotney.
Hobbs, 55, a former, 35-year member of the Vancouver Police Department, said he decided to get back into local politics because he considers public service a big part of his life.
"Public service is who I am," he said, adding he enjoyed his time as a school trustee and after retiring as a superintendent with the VPD this May, wanted to rekindle his interest in local affairs, this time at the city level.
"I really do love Richmond; I grew up here," he said. "Our family has very deep roots here. It's a way of giving back to the community, which I know sounds corny and trite in some ways, but I actually do believe that."
If elected, Hobbs said he'd like to use his experience in law enforcement to the issue of public safety in Richmond.
Hoping to hit the right notes with voters on the council ballot is Wong, who moved to Richmond from Hong Kong in 1992. A former professional pop singer in Hong Kong, Wong has for the past nine years served as president of the Canada Asia Pacific Business Association. Currently, she runs a real estate marketing consultancy with her husband, local realtor Thomas Wu.
Wong said she aligned herself with Richmond First because of similar core values such as maintaining low taxation and public safety.
As a Chinese-Canadian, Wong sees her role as voice within that community which represents the majority of the local population.
Trustee hopeful Lainchbury moved to Richmond in 1997 after spending nine years living in Tokyo, Japan and decided he wanted to add to his list of community volunteer work that includes scouts, rotary and Richmond's sister city committee.
"I wanted to do something more public and make a difference," Lainchbury, 48, said, "especially given the current labour climate we have."
Fellow trustee candidate Liu moved to Canada from Tianjin, China in 2002 and had lived in Richmond since 2006. He is a director of Canadian Community Service Association (CCSA) and the Secretary of Sino-Canada Business and Trade Association (SCBTA).
Currently, he runs an investment company with business interests in Canada, U.S. and China, and also exports wines from Canada and the U.S. to China.
Richmond First campaign co-ordinator and former longtime councillor Kiichi Kumagai said the departure of incumbent Coun. Ken Johnston will not significantly affect his group's campaign.
