Michael Lee ( zh, t=李耀華; born ) is a Canadian politician who represented the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of Vancouver-Langara in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

from 2017 until 2024. A member of the

BC United BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

caucus, he served as its Critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. He ran for the party's leadership in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Background

Born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, Lee is the son of immigrants from

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. His mother and father worked as a nurse and a pharmacist respectively. He attended the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in biology in 1986, Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in political science in 1989, and Master of Arts in political science with a focus on environmental regulations in 1992. He subsequently attained a law degree from the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, then practised business law in the resource sector, eventually becoming partner at Lawson Lundell LLP. Lee is married with three young adult children.

Political career

Lee worked as an assistant to former

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician who was the 19th prime minister of Canada from June to November 1993. Campbell is the first and only female prime minister of Canada. Prior to becoming the f ...

during her time as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

and Minister of National Defence, and was a youth organizer for the Progressive Conservatives. He also assisted in Tung Chan's successful campaign for

Vancouver City Council Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city ...

in the 1990 municipal election. He joined the

British Columbia Liberal Party BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

in 2002, serving as its membership chair at one point. He then ran for the Liberals in the 2017 provincial election, in which he was elected

member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) for Vancouver-Langara for the first time. He was re-elected MLA in the 2020 provincial election. During his time in the legislature, Lee has served as the Official Opposition Critic for Transportation, Infrastructure and TransLink; Official Opposition Critic for Justice; and Official Opposition Co-Critic for Indigenous Relations. In September 2017, Lee announced he would run for the leadership of the BC Liberals. Despite winning the most votes over the first four rounds, he finished in third place behind winner Andrew Wilkinson and runner-up

Dianne Watts Dianne Lynn Watts (born October 30, 1959) is a former politician in British Columbia, Canada. She won her first federal election campaign in October 2015 to become a federal Member of Parliament for South Surrey—White Rock. In 2017 she resign ...

. On June 9, 2021, Lee announced he was running again for the leadership of the BC Liberals. This time he finished third behind winner

Kevin Falcon Kevin Falcon is a Canadian provincial politician who has been the leader of BC United since 2022 and was the Leader of the Opposition from 2022 to 2024. He was the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the district of Vancouver-Quilchena ...

and runner-up Ellis Ross on the fifth ballot. On July 11, 2024, Lee announced that he would not be seeking

re-election The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be a ...

and instead be returning to the private sector at the end of his current term in office.

Other activities

Lee has served as the past chair of the board of directors of Arts Umbrella, and Alumni UBC, the

alumni organization. He has also served as a past vice-chair and board member of Science World British Columbia, S.U.C.C.E.S.S., and Leadership Vancouver. Lee is a past board member of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

of Greater Vancouver Foundation, the Justice Education Society of BC, Sustainable Cities International, and the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.

Electoral record

References

External links

MLA: Michael Lee
– Legislative Assembly of British Columbia biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Michael BC United MLAs Lawyers in British Columbia Living people University of British Columbia alumni University of Victoria alumni Canadian people of Chinese descent Politicians from Vancouver Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia