Henry Yao (姚君宪) | Ep. 2: Infrastructure Long Overdue | 2026 BC Election Interview
https://youtu.be/S7oKE33pn3w
(Transcript from the episode's English subtitles; speakers not labelled. Host: Sarah Yu.)

[0:00] Highlights
The NDP's deficit after nine years in government is fairly serious. What's your view? Nobody should want to see a deficit, because a deficit means our kids will have to pay that debt. But sometimes we also look at it from another angle. This deficit: Richmond Hospital should have been built long ago. We're already 50 years late. This is the price our generation is paying for not investing enough in the past.

[0:23] The next four years: water security
So over the next four years, in terms of planning ahead, what new plans will you put forward? In BC, the mountain snow is melting really fast because of the greenhouse effect, so our water storage isn't in good shape now. I'm also worried that in the future we'll face droughts and floods, and food shortages too. I hope we can work with the government and really find ways to protect our future water security. That way, our society can be stable in the future. There was hardly any snow last year. Right. Barely any snow last year. This year, if I remember right, starting in May or June, we couldn't freely wash our cars. So water is slowly becoming a big problem.

[0:59] What the trade war taught us
Our biggest water use is actually agriculture. Farming uses the most. If we don't protect our water properly, and farms run short of water, we'll end up with food shortages. We also know that now, our trade war with Trump — that trade war reminds us of one thing: we must... we use something called Economic Sovereignty, meaning we need to be economically independent. We need to diversify our economy, so that we won't be tied down by any one side.

[1:18] Disaster readiness in low-lying Richmond
Richmond is actually low-lying land. Whether it's an earthquake or otherwise, does Richmond have disaster and earthquake preparedness plans and measures? I also know Richmond seems to still lack Urban Search and Rescue. It's a team that specializes in what to do if a big earthquake hits and buildings collapse, how to send people in to rescue others. That department hasn't been set up? It's not that it doesn't exist. Burnaby has one, but Richmond doesn't. I think for Richmond, I hope that for Richmond I push a bit, because if the bridges collapse, we're stuck. When disaster strikes, I think if you want to get out of Richmond, it's very, very hard. Because of traffic jams. And all sorts of things. Right. Very hard. And when lives are at stake, like I said, when it's about saving lives, we have to fight for every minute, every second. So we hope... I hope that if I have the honour, I'll fight for Richmond to get Urban Search and Rescue funding and the staff we should have here. Great. I think you're thinking very long-term.

[2:07] Rising homelessness
But I also know that now the community faces another big issue: the number of homeless people in Richmond is growing very fast. Back in 2023, as we know, at Richmond's Brighouse Park, some homeless people suddenly set up tents. When I found out about it, I called a meeting with federal and city officials, provincial officials, various community services and the RCMP. Because it happened so fast, we couldn't cope right away. So I was glad the city decided then to step up and say we'd first extend the emergency weather shelter. So I hope to use this opportunity to keep helping our community reduce the number of homeless, help seniors on fixed incomes stay in their homes, and care for women facing domestic violence, so they can escape it. We also hope that people with unstable mental health or people dealing with addiction can find a safe place to settle, so they're not roaming the streets, wandering around. That wandering issue. Another key point is that many of our homeless people are women. For women living outside on their own, it's very dangerous, and it's very sad. They're often exploited, coerced and exploited. So we hope caring people in the community will work with us to care for every one of them. After all, everyone is someone else's father, mother, brother or sister.

[3:21] Why he lost in 2024
What went wrong last time? At the time, people were very unhappy about supervised injection sites in many communities. And even though I stepped up back then, because city council passed it 7 to 2, and through the province, we blocked it, people were still unhappy about it, so emotions ran very high. Richmond didn't want it back then, so we took those concerns to Vancouver Coastal Health to ask them. Their experts and doctors back then said Richmond's death rate was low, the addiction rate was low. No need, not the... The numbers. No need, right. Not the numbers. So first, I spoke out. Second, I also hoped, through education and working with the community, to keep it down. But back then, many voters wanted me to say I'd never accept it. But from a government's standpoint, we can't flatly reject any life-saving measure. So what I said at the time, personally, was that I hoped we'd rely on community efforts to lower the death rate and addiction rate.

[4:11] An election two years early
This time, Premier David Eby called an early election. What's your view on this? Privately speaking, I was hoping he'd wait until after the civic election. I wanted to finish my civic campaign. So I hoped to see the civic race through and then talk about any provincial opportunity after that. You were originally running for mayor. For mayor. But it was because they wanted me in the provincial race that I was called on to run. Will you still run in the civic election? No, no, I won't. I think as a candidate, if you have a foot in both camps, it's not fair to the community. If you win both, which do you pick? That's not reasonable for them. We face many new challenges, like tariffs, our economic downturn, rising oil prices, and the troubles facing the world economy. We also hope to diversify our trade. All this needs a capable government to take things forward. Although for me, timing-wise, I'd rather the election weren't now, I can understand why he needed to call it now. It's not something anyone wants, but when it's necessary, this hard decision has to be made.

[5:11] A new bridge, ten years away
Take today's traffic, especially on Fridays: the bridge in Richmond basically gets badly jammed. I'd heard before that another bridge would be built, which would take about ten years to complete. What do you think about that? You're right. I think for the BC NDP, what's unfortunate is that when we took over the provincial government, Richmond Hospital was designed for just 50,000 people, but we already had 200,000 people by then. So a government can save money, but when infrastructure doesn't keep up, in the end you pay that debt in the future. That is, if your hospital isn't adequate, then when people need a hospital, it can't keep up. Because these things should have been done long ago. So back to your question: why build a bridge? If we need a bridge, we should do it as early as possible, not keep delaying. But as a government, we also have to consider whether the budget can afford it.

[6:03] Nine years in government — and the deficit
The NDP's deficit after nine years in government is fairly serious. What's your view? I think anyone, whether they're from the NDP, the Conservatives, the Greens or the Liberals, none of us wants to see a deficit. Nobody should want a deficit, because a deficit means our kids will have to pay that debt. But sometimes we also look at it from another angle. This deficit: like I just said, Richmond Hospital should have been built long ago. We're already 50 years late. If you can imagine, if it had been built 50 years ago, today's deficit wouldn't be ours to bear. Not enough schools, not enough hospitals, not enough doctors. It's all a problem. This is all needed infrastructure that never got done. This is the price our generation is paying for not investing enough in the past. So we have debt now. Of course we don't want debt. And we want them to rein in the debt. But I think another important point is that infrastructure investment we need still has to be made. The infrastructure that should be built, we still need to invest in our infrastructure. Great. It's been an in-depth talk today. Thank you.