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Michael Lee

BC Liberals candidate for Vancouver-Langara

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Children, Childcare, & Youth in Care

Childcare

BC Liberals's promise

Provide $10-a-day childcare to families making up to $65,000 annually, and stepped rates of $20 or $30-a-day for families of incomes up to $125,000; Build 10,000 new childcare spaces across BC; Expand access to before-and-after school care in schools.

Implement a new, online province-wide electronic application that is voluntary for parents and required for all providers receiving government funding. The parent would have the option to reject an invitation for an available space and wait for the next one.

Encourage and support a variety of non-profit and market-based child care providers.

Expand training and support for better qualified child care workers.

Replace the Minister of State for Child Care with a full Ministry to manage licencing (sic), funding and oversight.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Early childhood development

BC Liberals's promise

Expand the Baby's Best Chance support programme for parents of newborns to support healthier outcomes for children; Increase supports and earlier assessments for identifying learning needs.

Youth in care

BC Liberals's promise

Extend supports for foster children to age 25.

Climate Change & the Environment

BC Parks

BC Liberals's promise

Double number of provincial park campsites in areas with growing demand; Improve safe parking & amenities in high-use day areas; Create a Work Experience for Students programme to provide work-experience opportunities for young people in provincial parks; Improve reservations.

Improve the [...] BC Parks camping reservation system, to provide short-notice camping options for local residents, and make the reservations process fairer for all.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Carbon tax

BC Liberals's promise

Work with federal government to review scheduled increases in the Carbon Tax in light of the current economic recession.

Conservation

BC Liberals's promise

Ensure no net loss of wetlands in BC; Take more aggressive control of invasive species; Ensure ongoing restoration of wildlife populations; Accelerate reforestation programmes; Appoint a Minister for Fisheries and Coastlines.

Work with federal, municipal and First Nations partners, as well as outdoor recreation and conservancy organizations, to ensure the ongoing restoration of wildlife populations.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Ensure hunting and other wildlife fees are used to fund enhancement of our wild spaces and wildlife populations.

Accelerate reforestation programs with priority to high-value fish-impact watershed reclamation.

Adopt robust salmon and steelhead conservation measures [...]

Support food share programs to keep food out of landfills, and get it to people who need it, to reduce both hunger and landfill methane.

Implement enhancements to Okanagan Lake Water Level Management for flood control and mitgation.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Electric vehicles

BC Liberals's promise

Ensure charging stations are widely available.

Emissions

BC Liberals's promise

Support investments in renewable energy and technology solutions such as carbon capture; Ensure a comprehensive greenhouse gas strategy that reduces emissions while allowing resource development and Indigenous land use.

Plastic waste

BC Liberals's promise

Implement a programme to engage the public on reducing plastic and Syrofoam waste in oceans and waterways.

Retrofits

BC Liberals's promise

Encourage retrofitting of homes and businesses; Improve the provincial building code to maximize energy-efficiency while avoiding one-size-fits-all costs.

Education

Adult learning

BC Liberals's promise

Create a Work Experience for Students programme with the federal govt.; Streamline registrations and credentialing for apprenticeship training; Bring trades competency into the K-12 system; Have secondary school trades programme begin credentialling earlier.

Mental health and schools

BC Liberals's promise

Increase mental health supports in public secondary schools, such as registered psychiatric nurses.

New schools

BC Liberals's promise

Build new schools throughout the province, and expand new school construction in areas with rapid population growth.

School infrastructure

BC Liberals's promise

Upgrade K-12 facilities and ensure they are properly equipped.

School tuition

BC Liberals's promise

Adopt the disclosure-requirements of the UK Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, to ensure all BC students know, before they register, the total costs of a programme, the graduation rate, and employment rate.

Schools and COVID

BC Liberals's promise

Implement a province-wide framework for hybrid and online learning options; Promote distance learning programmes; Restore $12 million of funding for Independent Distributed Learning programmes.

Special learning needs

BC Liberals's promise

Increase supports and earlier assessments for identifying learning needs; Provide school instruction that meets diverse learning needs.

Healthcare

Care homes & assisted living

BC Liberals's promise

Invest an additional $1 billion over 5 years in new long-term care facilities; Work towards private rooms for all seniors in long-term care who want them; Work with care home operators to address chronic worker shortages.

Care homes and COVID-19

BC Liberals's promise

Launch an independent review of the response to COVID-19 in long-term care and assisted living homes; Implement measures to allow family to safely visit seniors in long-term care, assisted, and independent living during COVID-19.

Health infrastructure

BC Liberals's promise

Upgrade and expand emergency rooms, mental health beds, and primary care clinics; Complete new Surrey Hospital, new acute care tower for Richmond Hospital, Mills Memorial Hospital, and the Burnaby Hospital Redevelopment.

Healthcare staffing

BC Liberals's promise

Increase training spaces for doctors, nurses, and other health professionals; Expand opportunities for international graduates in health professions; Work to attract health professionals to under-serviced areas; Ensure all workers experience a violence-free workplace.

Homecare

BC Liberals's promise

Implement a tax credit for seniors of up to $7,000/year for up to $20,0000 of homecare, housekeeping, and home repairs; Expand programmes to assist seniors and people with disabilities with home renos; Reinstate the Home Adaptions for Independence grant programme.

Inclusiveness

BC Liberals's promise

Work to eliminate systemic racism and unconscious bias across the healthcare system, and to ensure services equitable and accessible for all.

Pandemic response

BC Liberals's promise

Establish an emergency Pandemic Response Committee to work with all parties and the Provincial Health Officer to manage the current and future pandemics.

Prescription drugs

BC Liberals's promise

Implement a provincial prescription drug monitoring programme to prevent addiction with early referrals and specialist care and treatment options.

Sexual assault

BC Liberals's promise

Increase number of nurses in BC hospitals trained to conduct medical and forensic exams for sexual assaults.

Vaccinations

BC Liberals's promise

Make the flu vaccine free for all British Columbians.

Wait-times

BC Liberals's promise

Improve Ambulance Service response-times, especially in rural communities; Increase online booking of medical appointments; Improve public reporting of wait-times; Accelerate adoption of virtual medical consultations; Expand online prescription-renewals, optional home delivery.

Housing & Homelessness

Homelessness

BC Liberals's promise

Invest in getting homeless British Columbians a home and connecting them with the health and social service supports they need.

Housing affordability

BC Liberals's promise

Establish an incentive fund for municipalities with policies that increase the construction and supply of new housing; Implement tax and permitting changes to boost housing supply; Review current property tax structure to incent affordable housing and prevent speculation.

Require reviews of Official Community Plans every five years that are public, robust and transparent; require that zoning bylaws then be updated to reflect changes to the plan within one year after adoption; and allow for the waiving of hearings for Official Community Plan compliant projects.

Support zoning reform to provide inclusionary (sic) zoning and to ensure that the Residential Tenure Zoning (RRTZ) tool cannot be used to devalue and downzone property.

Ensure no net loss of rental units in real estate redevelopment projects.

Implement split assessments for the commercially-rented portion of buildings through a new commercial property sub-class.

Create a new residential property sub-class for rental housing of three or more units.

Change BC Assessment practices to ensure rental properties are no longer valued based on the highest and best use, but rather on actual rental use.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Use provincial and municipal land for affordable housing.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Enable affordable condominium strata insurance by: encouraging and facilitating self-insurance models for stratas; eliminating the practice of "best-terms" pricing; and reducing statutorily-required insurance for strata properties from full replacement value to a level in line with actual claims cost history.

Reduce delays in building-permit approvals and new homeowner costs.

Improve the municipal development approval process, based on best practices.

Strengthen and enforce Regional Growth Strategy targets so they are robust and effective.

Provide provincial funding to create a digital tracking tool to allow municipalities and applicants to track the progress of individual applications and identify roadblocks.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Support and develop co-operative housing and other alternative ownership models.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Housing speculation

BC Liberals's promise

Change the real-estate speculation tax to a condo-flipping capital gains tax; Implement higher property-taxes for non-residents of Canada.

Rent and evictions

BC Liberals's promise

Implement a short-term commercial-rent relief plan that flows relief directly to tenants and supports small businesses unable to access current relief programmes.

Stratas

BC Liberals's promise

Encouraging and facilitate self-insurance models for stratas; Eliminate the practice of "best-terms" pricing; Reducing statutorily-required insurance for strata properties from full replacement value to a level in line with actual claims cost history.

Human Rights & Equality

Accessibility

BC Liberals's promise

Increase the supply of fully-accessible housing units for persons with disabilities in newly-built multi-unit residential buildings; Modernize the BC Building Code to address accessibility.

Diversity in government

BC Liberals's promise

Adopt and ensure diversity commitments for hiring in the public service and for government-appointed boards.

Gender pay gap

BC Liberals's promise

Require companies with at least 50 employees to report the compensation paid to categories of male and female employees, via the Equal Pay Reporting Act.

Gender-based violence

BC Liberals's promise

Extend the Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act beyond public post-secondary institutions to all of government; Adopt Clare's Law, making violent criminal histories open to those at risk, esp. potential partners.

Policing

BC Liberals's promise

Establish more Integrated Mobile Crisis Response Teams to respond to mental health calls; Require police services to adopt anti-racism & anti-discriminatory conduct policies; Establish standards to eliminate arbitrary racial-profiling; Increase use of non-armed police patrols.

Racism

BC Liberals's promise

Ensure all government services are free of racism and prejudice, and require all government offices to follow anti-racism policies.

Systemic discrimination

BC Liberals's promise

Require every provincial employee to undertake cultural safety and humility training.

Indigenous Issues

Indigenous culture

BC Liberals's promise

Work with Indigenous peoples to provide interpretation and education services in parks and enhance cultural and environmental understanding.

Indigenous jobs & investment

BC Liberals's promise

Provide financing mechanisms to enable First Nations to access affordable capital to co-invest in revenue-generating economic opportunities; Prioritize sector-specific job-training opportunities for Indigenous peoples.

Self-determination

BC Liberals's promise

Work with Indigenous peoples to resolve issues of rights and title; Work to clearly define how UNDRIP relates to land use decisions; Work with Indigenous communities to identify gaps and update a resource management framework.

Jobs, the Economy, and Affordability

Agriculture

BC Liberals's promise

Implement a Trespass Act to protect farmers' properties; Implement reforms to the Agricultural Land Commission to allow farming and ranching families to earn supplemental income on their farms and lease secondary residences; Ensure access to water for crops and livestock.

Car insurance

BC Liberals's promise

Open up the automobile insurance market to private insurance vendors; Give all new drivers credit for up to four years of driving experience when they demonstrate safe driving habits.

Financial assistance

BC Liberals's promise

Eliminate the PST for one year, then set it to 3% after that.

Infrastructure investment

BC Liberals's promise

Invest an additional $8 billion in infrastructure improvements over 3 years.

Restauraunts & hospitality

BC Liberals's promise

Cap online food delivery charges at 15%; Provide a loan guarantee programme for tourism and hospitality businesses; Allow liquor delivery with takeout; Wholesale pricing from any liquor store; Streamline approval of patio and outdoor dining.

Single parent employment

BC Liberals's promise

Expand the provincial Single Parent Employment Initiative to train and support single parents as they seek employment.

Small businesses

BC Liberals's promise

Eliminate the 2% small business income tax; Implement a short-term commercial-rent relief plan that flows relief directly to tenants and supports small businesses unable to access current relief programmes; Provide support for PPE from WorkSafeBC surpluses

Provide full disclosure of the basis for WorkSafeBC premiums.

Conduct a full review of property taxes to ensure small businesses can survive.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Implement split assessments on property taxes.

Appoint a non-partisan panel to help dramatically reduce the red tape burden on small businesses, by reviewing regulatory requirements and costs, and providing recommendations on the best steps to fuel economic recovery.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Help small businesses prepare for online business and commerce, to be able to market their products and services to the world.

Address skilled labour shortages throughout BC.

— From Restore Confidence. Rebuild BC.

Tech & Innovation

BC Liberals's promise

Expand measures to increase access to capital and investment for the tech sector and new start-ups; Ensure a competitive business environment.

Tourism

BC Liberals's promise

Provide a loan guarantee programme for tourism and hospitality businesses; Implement an aggressive agenda to rebuild and expand BC's tourism sector; Develop and grow regional tourism hubs across BC.

Trucking

BC Liberals's promise

Undertake a commercial trucking review, including truck parking capacity and brokerage, to keep trucking industry operating safely and efficiently.

Mental Health, Drugs, & Addiction

Abstinence-based treatment

BC Liberals's promise

Remove restrictions on government funding for abstinence-based treatment.

Mental health support

BC Liberals's promise

Expand Foundry Centres and Integrated Mobile Crisis Response Teams to respond to mental health-related emergency calls.

Treatment

BC Liberals's promise

Increase addiction-treatment and recovery programmes; Clearly recognise that addiction is a medical disorder, and ensure a focus on public health and safety in the treatment of people suffering form addictions; Introduce a Safe Care Act to safely help young people into treatment.

Public Safety

Gang violence

BC Liberals's promise

Aggressively crackdown on gangs; Prosecute people who transport illegal handguns in cars.

Photo-radar

BC Liberals's promise

Ban photo-radar for speeding in BC.

Public safety funding

BC Liberals's promise

Increase funding for public safety by $58 million; Hire 40 additional full-time Crown prosecutors and additional support staff; Provide tools to the BC Prosecution Service to reduce delays and aggressively crackdown on crime.

Public safety personnel

BC Liberals's promise

Fund the hiring of 200 additional police officers and 100 more psychiatric social workers/nurses.

Roadside panhandling

BC Liberals's promise

Vigorously enforce ban on unsafe roadside panhandling.

Surrey Police transition

BC Liberals's promise

Pause the transition in policing in Surrey and hold a referendum on whether to continue it.

Resource Extraction & Export

Forestry

BC Liberals's promise

Reinstate the Rural Dividend Fund; Implement a market-pricing stumpage system; Modernize forest management practices; Aggressively defend BC's interests in softwood lumber trade issues; Increase investments in silviculture; Support development of mass timber structural products.

LNG

BC Liberals's promise

Expedite Indigenous-lead LNG export projects through collaborative agreements with Indigenous groups; Work with Indigenous groups to establish accelerated review and approval processes.

Mining

BC Liberals's promise

Implement a fully online digital regulatory system by 2025; Improve the process for mine development, permitting, inspection, and remediation, and cut permit-processing time in half; Pursue benefit sharing for small and rural communities.

Transit & Transportation

BC Ferries

BC Liberals's promise

Review ferry schedules with goal of hourly service on high-frequency routes.

Infrastructure

BC Liberals's promise

Widen the Trans-Canada highway in the Fraser Valley to six lanes all the way to Whatcom Road; Increase funding for road and bridge maintenance; Upgrade highway rest areas; Enforce open procurement on public infrastructure projects.

Massey Tunnel replacement

BC Liberals's promise

Replace the Massey Tunnel with a 10-lane bridge with dedicated transit/HOV lane in each direction.

Transit service

BC Liberals's promise

Expand public transit options; Continue TransLink expansion in areas of population growth, including south of the Fraser, the Fraser Valley, and North Vancouver; Increase transit hours in the Interior, North, and Vancouver Island.

Misc. topics

Arts & culture

BC Liberals's promise

Protect funding for arts and culture organizations forced to suspend operations as a result of COVID-19.

Blockades

BC Liberals's promise

Ban the blockading of public roads, bridges, and railroads for peaceful protests.

Elections

BC Liberals's promise

Strengthen fixed election date legislation and ban early elections during provincial emergencies.

Family services

BC Liberals's promise

Develop family counseling and law centres, modeled on Family Services Centres in Australia.

Foreign money

BC Liberals's promise

Ban foreign money and influence in BC politics.

Rural communities

BC Liberals's promise

Establish a northern Premier's Office in Prince George; Significantly expand high-speed broadband and mobile coverage across BC in rural and remote communities, by leveraging governments purchasing power as part of the procurement of telecommunications services.

Senior drivers' medical exams

BC Liberals's promise

Make Driver Medical Examination Reports free for seniors.

Taxes

BC Liberals's promise

Appoint an independent Fair Tax Commission to review all provincial taxes and suggest taxes for adjustment or elimination.

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Biography

submitted by the candidate or their team

The son of Hong Kong immigrants, Michael Lee grew up near Queen Elizabeth Park, went to pre-school and summer camps at the Jewish Community Centre, and attended Vancouver College for 12 years. In his student days at UBC, Michael was AMS student body president.

Michael is a business lawyer with 20 yearsâ€™ experience in mergers and acquisitions, financings and corporate governance and is a partner with a leading Canadian business law firm based in Vancouver. He has also served as corporate secretary to BC Hydro and acted as general counsel to its subsidiary, Powertech Labs Inc. Prior to obtaining his law degree at UVic, Michael worked as a Special Assistant to the Right Honourable Kim Campbell in Vancouver and Ottawa.

Over the past 30 years, Michael has served our community on numerous boards and is currently a Member of the Board of Trustees of the YMCA of Greater Vancouver Foundation. He has served as the Past Chair of the Alumni Board of UBC and the Board of Directors of Arts Umbrella, as well as a past Vice-Chair and Board member of SUCCESS, Science World British Columbia and Leadership Vancouver. Michael is also a past Board Member of Sustainable Cities International, the Justice Education Society of BC and the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.

Michael and his wife, Christina, have three young adult children, all living in Vancouver.

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