Wai Young

Wai Yee Young^[a] (née Siu; born May 20, 1960) is a Canadian politician from Vancouver, British Columbia. She was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2011 election, representing the electoral district of Vancouver South as part of the Conservative Party of Canada, but was defeated by Liberal Party candidate Harjit Sajjan in the 2015 election.^[1] She subsequently contested the 2018 Vancouver mayoral election as leader of Coalition Vancouver, and the 2019 federal election as a Conservative candidate, but was unsuccessful.

She was born in Hong Kong,^[2] and immigrated to Canada at the age of four.^[3] She attended Killarney Secondary School in Vancouver,^[4] and graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1982 with a degree in sociology.^{[3] [5]} Young has also taken post-graduate coursework in Mass Communications and Urban Planning and Design at Simon Fraser University and the British Columbia Institute of Technology. She is a mother of twins and has been the foster parent of seven children.^[4]

After graduating from UBC, Young worked for the provincial Ministry of Children and Family Development and the federal Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration.^[3] She then founded a consultancy business in 1993, helping community groups access funding from different levels of governments;^[3] her clientele included the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association, South Vancouver Policing Centre and S.U.C.C.E.S.S. ^[4] Some of her work includes developing services for immigrants, and helping to found the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance (CISSA). Young founded and chaired Canada's first Youth-At-Risk Task Force, which became the National Crime Prevention Program;^[6] she also established Canada's longest-running breakfast program for underprivileged children.^[4]

Young has spent over thirty years working and volunteering in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and served in various capacities at a number of community agencies, including as president of the Strathcona Community Centre Association, and as a director of YWCA Vancouver.^[4]

She ran as a Conservative candidate in the 2008 federal election, facing Liberal candidate and former Premier of British Columbia Ujjal Dosanjh in Vancouver South. Initial validated results indicated both candidates received 38.4% of the vote, with Dosanjh winning by 33 votes over Young.^[7] The slim margin automatically triggered a recount, which confirmed Dosanjh's victory but only by a margin of 22 votes.^[8] The Conservative Party requested a second judicial recount, which again confirmed Dosanjh as the victor.^[9]

Young once again faced Dosanjh in the 2011 federal election, this time defeating him by a margin of nearly 4,000 votes;^{[3] [10]} she became the first Conservative member of parliament (MP) to be elected in Vancouver since 1988. As the only government MP in Vancouver, she championed for various projects within the city, including the Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, Supportive Community Housing, the Salvation Army Deborah's Gate Program, the Wavefront Wireless Commercialization Centre Society and the Asia Pacific Gateway Skills Program.^[6] Regarding the first SkyTrain faregate, Young said, "The new faregates will make SkyTrain service safer and more secure for commuters."^[11] On January 7, 2014, Young announced 2ドル.5 million of federal funding towards the Killarney Seniors Centre.^[12]

On October 26, 2011, Young was elected vice-chair of the Canada-China Legislative Association (CCLA); she was subsequently elected as chair on March 5, 2013. This association provides a forum for discussing bilateral and multilateral issues facing both Canada and China.^[4]

After being defeated by Liberal Party candidate Harjit Sajjan in the 2015 federal election,^[1] she considered contesting the Non-Partisan Association nomination for the 2018 Vancouver mayoral election,^[13] but instead formed her own municipal party Coalition Vancouver on June 21, 2018;^[14] she came in fourth place at the October 2018 mayoral election.^[15] In July 2019, Young was announced as the Conservative candidate in Vancouver South for that year's federal election, but lost in a rematch with Sajjan.^[16] She subsequently sought the Conservative nomination for Richmond East—Steveston in the 2025 federal election,^[17] but was unsuccessful.^[18]

• Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal Recipient ^[6]
• YWCA Woman of Distinction Award Nominee^[6]
• Volunteer of the Year, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation ^[6]

• Wai Young – Parliament of Canada biography

• 1960 births
• Living people
• British Columbia Institute of Technology alumni
• Businesspeople from Vancouver
• Canadian businesswomen
• Women members of the House of Commons of Canada
• Conservative Party of Canada MPs
• Hong Kong emigrants to Canada
• Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia
• Naturalized citizens of Canada
• Politicians from Vancouver
• University of British Columbia Faculty of Arts alumni
• Women in British Columbia politics
• 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada
• 21st-century Canadian women politicians
• Canadian people of Chinese descent

• Articles containing traditional Chinese-language text
• Pages using template Zh with sup tags
• CS1 uses Chinese-language script (zh)
• CS1 Traditional Chinese-language sources (zh-hant)
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from October 2022
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use Canadian English from January 2023
• All Wikipedia articles written in Canadian English
• Use mdy dates from August 2021