Richard T. Lee ( zh, s=李灿明, t=李燦明; born 1954) is a Canadian politician. A

city councillor A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

, British Columbia since 2022, he previously 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 ...

Burnaby North Burnaby North is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. History MLAs Election results , - , - , - , NDP , Pietro Calendino , align="right", 5,99 ...

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 2001 to 2017, as part of the

BC Liberal 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.

Background

Born in

Zhongshan Zhongshan ( zh, c=中山 ), alternately romanized via Cantonese as Chungshan, is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is n ...

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 1954, Lee lived in

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 ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

before moving to Canada in 1971 to join his grandfather, who entered the country in 1913 by paying the

Chinese head tax The Chinese head tax was a fixed fee charged to every Chinese person entering Canada. The head tax was first levied after the Canadian parliament passed the ''Chinese Immigration Act'' of 1885 and it was meant to discourage Chinese people from e ...

. He studied physics and mathematics at 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 ...

, earning a bachelor of science degree in 1976 and a master of science degree in 1980; he also worked at the university as a programmer analyst at

Triumf Triumf may refer to: * TRIUMF, Canada's national particle accelerator centre * 14959 TRIUMF, a minor planet * S-400 Triumf, a Russian anti-aircraft weapon system developed in the 1990s * Triumf Riza (1979–2007), Kosovo police officer and member o ...

. He has lived in

since 1986 with his late wife Anne, with whom he raised three children.

Political career

A member of the

BC 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 ...

since 1993, Lee first contested the riding of

in the 1996 election, but lost to Pietro Calendino of the BC New Democratic Party (NDP). He faced Calendino again in the 2001 election, this time winning the seat with 54.37% of the vote. He was re-elected in the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

elections before losing to the NDP's

Janet Routledge Janet Routledge is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2017 provincial election.2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. During his time as

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), he served as Parliamentary Secretary for the Asia-Pacific Initiative from June 2005 to May 2009, as well as deputy chair of the Special Committee to Appoint a Merit Commissioner and chair of the Government Caucus Asian Economic Development Committee. He 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 in June 2013, and Parliamentary Secretary for traditional Chinese medicine in December of the same year. In April 2015, a constituent in Burnaby North launched a recall petition under the ''British Columbia Elections Act''. The proponent turned in less than 10% of the required number of signatures and the petition failed. In September 2015, Lee was appointed Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the first MLA of Asian descent in B.C. to serve in that capacity. Following the resignation of Karen Wang, Lee took over as the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

's candidate in the

2019 Burnaby South federal by-election A by-election was held in the federal riding of Burnaby South on February 25, 2019 following the resignation of incumbent New Democratic Party, New Democratic MP Kennedy Stewart (Canadian politician), Kennedy Stewart on September 14, 2018. Jagmee ...

, against

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

leader

Jagmeet Singh Jagmeet Singh Jimmy Dhaliwal (born January 2, 1979) is a Canadian former politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2017 to 2025 and as the Member of Parliament (Canada), member of Parliament (MP) for Burnaby Sou ...

and

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

candidate Jay Shin. Lee finished in second place behind Singh, with 26% of the vote. Due to his wife's illness, he declined to seek the Liberal nomination for

Burnaby South Burnaby South () was a federal electoral district in British Columbia. It encompasses a portion of British Columbia previously included in the electoral districts of Burnaby—Douglas and Burnaby—New Westminster. Burnaby South was created b ...

in the October 2019 federal election, thereby ruling out a rematch with Singh. Lee joined municipal party One Burnaby in 2022, and was elected to the

Burnaby City Council The Burnaby City Council is the governing body for the City of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The council consists of the mayor and eight elected city councillors representing the city as a whole. Municipal elections also select seven school ...

in that year's

municipal election In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct var ...

2015 detention in China

In November 2015, Lee and his family were detained by the

Chinese Public Security Bureau A public security bureau (PSB; ) of a city or county, or public security department (PSD; ) in a Provinces of China, province or Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic of China is a generic term for a police dep ...

upon arrival to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, China. During his detention, Chinese officials examined his personal phone, and

British Columbia Legislative Assembly 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 Columb ...

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 Lu Shaye (; born October 1964) is a Chinese diplomat currently serving as the Special Representative of the Chinese Government for European Affairs since February 2025. Lu previously served as Ambassador of China to France and to Monaco from 2 ...

, but received no acknowledgement of the incident from both the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

, nor the

Government of China The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's congresses. ...

. 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.

Electoral record

Federal elections

Provincial elections

Municipal elections

2022 Burnaby City Council election

References

External links

Richard T. Lee's official MLA site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Richard 1954 births Living people BC United MLAs Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Chinese emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Burnaby city councillors People from Zhongshan 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia Canadian people of Chinese descent University of British Columbia Faculty of Science alumni