Question: How long have you lived in Burnaby?
Answer: I've been living in Burnaby since 1986 so it has been many years.
Q: Why do you think you are uniquely qualified to represent the riding?
A: I may not be uniquely qualified - there are many people qualified to actually represent the riding. But I think that I work hard, I know the riding, and because of my background, my multicultural background. And it's very diverse, in Burnaby North, as you can see. I actually like to serve the community and multicultural groups together. So I think with my language background as well - I think there are more than, probably, 30 per cent of the population speaking Cantonese or Mandarin - so I think with that advantage I can directly communicate with them.
Q: What would be your own personal priority as an MLA?
A: My personal priority actually is serving the community. I have been talking to a lot of people. I get their concerns sometimes, their problems, sometimes their connection with the different ministries. I am able to make a connection for them, so that they can actually get their problems solved. It's useful for me to listen, to see what they need. And our office is always open, so everybody can make an appointment to see me. And every month we have open coffee meetings, so we have meetings in a coffee shop every month on a Saturday, so my constituents, if they are working during Monday to Friday, or during office hours, they can actually come in and talk about their issues and hopefully I can help them.
Q: What accomplishment in your life are you proudest of?
A: For the past 12 years, I've been working as an MLA representing this riding. This is an honour and it's also (been) an opportunity for me to serve the community.
Also, making different connections with different people, I think that's the most powerful moment I have, is helping someone to solve their problems and to be able to do that because of either my staff or myself working with them, to get to the essence of the problem and what's the barrier, to remove those barriers. I think those are the moments we enjoy, to be an MLA.
Q: Who, in your life, has been a role model?
A: I think my grandfather probably is my role model. He worked really hard.
He was a farmer. He came to this country in 1913 and of course at that time paid for the head tax. He went back and forth to China a couple of times, but he settled down in this province.
He contributed his work, every day going to the farm and getting up early to work, and then harvesting the food, taking it to market.
So I think this is the contribution I sort of transfer, to hope I can learn from him more, every day get up early, at 5 o'clock and working until after sunset - for him it was after sunset. For us (MLAs) it can be quite late, too.
To view a video of the interview with Lee, click here.
