A former B.C. MLA will be facing off against federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh in the Burnaby byelection, replacing former candidate Liberal Karen Wang.
The Liberals announced its new candidate Saturday.
Richard Lee served 16 years as an MLA in the Burnaby North riding until 2017, when he lost re-election to NDP MLA Janet Routledge. During his time in office he became the first Chinese-Canadian to serve as Deputy Speaker of the Legislature.
In a statement on Twitter he said he is proud to call Burnaby his home.
. @liberal_party has announced that former MLA Richard T. Lee will replace Karen Wang in the Burnaby South byelection #cdnpoli More to come.
@BlackPressMedia https://t.co/KKILBU3a4v— Ashley Wadhwani (@ashwadhwani) January 19, 2019
“I’m looking forward to working with Justin Trudeau to keep making progress on Burnaby’s priorities, like investing in new affordable housing and better transit, creating good middle-class jobs, and protecting a healthy environment for our kids and grandkids,” he said.
READ MORE: Burnaby byelection turmoil sparks debate about identity issues in politics
WATCH: Ex-Liberal candidate in Burnaby says volunteer wrote controversial post
Wang announced she’d be dropping out as the candidate Wednesday, after a controversial comment was found by the Toronto Star on WeChat, a Chinese-language forum, pointing to her Chinese origin and Singh’s Indian background.
A day after resigning as candidate, Wang wrote to the Liberal party requesting she be brought back into the race, but it was rejected. According to Wang, the comment was written by a volunteer in her campaign.
More to come.
@ashwadhwani
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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