The Richmond Sentinel sat down with NDP, District of Richmond South Center, MLA Henry Yao. We talked about his background, his experience as a new MLA, what he learned during the past 4 years, his concerns, the NDP’s achievements, what challenges lie ahead and his reason to run in the next BC election.

To start at the beginning, Henry Yao immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of 11, making Richmond BC their home. Today, some 30 years later Henry is married with two children and still resides in Richmond.

Henry attended Kingswood Elementary, McRoberts Junior High and McNair Secondary Schools before going on to UBC where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. In 2004, he was diagnosed with two different kinds of lymphoma cancer and with the support of family and friends Henry fought hard to put the cancer into remission. This experience convinced him to leave a financially stable employment and follow his passion for a career in youth work. 

Henry is grateful for the role he played in developing career building and leadership skills in Richmond’s youth group. Through his personal experiences he realized the importance to give back to his community and volunteered with numerous organizations and service clubs.

Henry was instrumental in co-founding Dialogue Richmond Society, an organization dedicated to promote respectful and constructive dialogue when addressing difficult topics affecting the community.

In October 2020, Henry registered to run in the BC election with the NDP Party and successfully won his riding—Richmond South Centre.

RS: Henry, you were a first-time candidate when the country was pretty much shut down in March, 2020 what was this like?

HY: It was very challenging, we were not together in Victoria and all meetings were held on our computers at home or our riding office. I do want to say, to finally sit down in Chamber with my colleagues made a huge difference in being part of a team and working together. It was a reminder of why we were all here.

RS: Let’s talk about your first term and why you have decided to run again.

HY: As you said earlier, I won the election for my district and being a first-time MLA was a huge learning curve compounded by the effects of the pandemic shutdown until we finally returned to Victoria in October 2021. To have access to all the resources and our Ministers and to be updated on a regular basis has enable us to have an understanding and more in-depth perspective. I also became a new dad twice, during all of this so balancing my life was very important. 

Regarding my decision to run for a second term will be based on, if I earned the voters’ trust during the last 4 years. I hope my constituents will recognize that I have worked hard and have the community’s best interest at heart.

RS: Let’s address some of the issues starting with, housing affordability.

HY: This is a really important question. The NDP government has put a lot of policies in place to streamline the process by reducing barriers, reducing red tape and to financially support communities. It’s been made very clear housing is also an economic issue. If people cannot afford to live in a community where they work, we’re going to lose a lot of front-line workers. 

This is a huge challenge and something that’s going to take years of investing in, and working with local governments and developers to speed up the process. That’s why the government came up with the speculation tax and short-term rental policies. We want to bring more housing units into the market.

“We need a community that is healthy and our government is doing their best to tackle every challenge we can think of.”

RS: Let’s talk about the cost of living. What are your constituents saying about the financial burdens?

HY: I want to emphasize, I think you’re absolutely right to ask this question. Politicians like myself would probably say we are doing a great job because we’re addressing affordable housing, addressed rebates for BC Hydro, ICBC, child care and health care but when people have a hard time putting food on the table, it’s not good enough. 

RS: Another issue that we hear a lot about since the NDP government took office is health care.

HY: COVID-19 accelerated health care issues. It brought a lot of pain to the community and a lot of lives were lost. Reality is, if health care challenges had been addressed earlier, 10 – 15 years ago it could have alleviated today’s stress. Things like building a medical school, expediting foreign doctors to enter the system, increase training of nurses, improving payments to doctors, building urgent primary care centres and the Richmond hospital expansion. Our health care needs help! 

“We’re on the right path but there’s still a lot more work to be done. We need to keep pushing forward and continue our investment that wasn’t invested in the past.”

RS: One last thing I’d like to ask you about is education.

HY: If you visit the communities—there’s one common theme. Communities are growing, student enrollment is growing, classrooms are over capacitated, investment should have happened years ago. Our government is playing catch up. 

I’ve advocated for 150 more seats at Brighouse school and another 125 extra seats at Cook school and we need a new school in City Centre. In addition to this, we’ve had to go through seismic school upgrades. We’re also working with the teachers’ union and the Ministry on anti-racism, indigenous reconciliation and an inclusive holistic accepting environment programs.

RS: In closing Henry, tell our viewers why you want to continue serving Richmond.

HY: Being a new parent has brought a whole new perspective to me – I want to help build a better world for my kids, your kids. This is why I fight so hard for a better education system, for better health care and fight for protecting our environment. As a parent I understand why people worry, why they care but, people want the elected officials to understand.

“I hope that worry, anxiety and fear will humble me, so that when I serve, I serve as a parent, I serve as a son and I serve as a member of our community.”

For the video interview in full go to richmondsentinel.ca/videos