Question: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Answer: I'm originally from Northern Ontario, ... upon my teens, I ended up moving down to Ottawa, where I got to witness political action firsthand. Following university, at Ottawa U, I ended up going to China. My studies were political science with an Asian influence, so I wanted to study first hand; I wanted to witness what life was like in Asia.
Q: How long have you lived in Burnaby?
A: Just two years, I've been here two years, almost to the day.
Q: Why do you think you are uniquely qualified to represent this riding?
A: Particularly because I live here. I'm right on the mountain, and I work in the same riding as well. I do most of my personal day-to-day business within the local riding. I'm very familiar with local businesses, with my neighbours, and I have a good connection to a lot of the different ethnic groups, a lot of the different backgrounds of people who live in the area.
Q: What would be your personal priority if elected as an MLA?
A: To re-establish confidence in the political system with the voters, with the constituents. Right now, I feel people have been left disenfranchised; they've come under the impression that we don't represent them anymore. ... The Green party doesn't have a whip system. We're here to represent the voters, and I want them to hold us accountable. ... The constituent comes first - that is democracy.
Q: What accomplishment in your life are you most proud of?
A: Simply the ability to retain optimism and happiness, given the life I've been served. ... I did go through a lot of hardships. I lost my mother. My father suffered a massive head injury, for which my sister and I had to care for him since my teens.
Q: Who is your role model?
A: My father. He was a labourer, he was a miner for most of his life. He did it out of duty, not out of passion, and he had no qualms about travelling an hour each day, back and forth in northern Ontario, ... just to be a good father, just to provide for the family. In my youth, I was fully aware of the difficulties he had with this job, but it made him a very stubborn and wonderful man, and I aim to be just as stubbornly wonderful.
