Lawrence Chen (陈卫平) | Ep. 2: Four Months for a Scan | 2026 BC Election Interview
https://youtu.be/P_atcxwUZao
(Transcript from the episode's English subtitles; speakers not labelled. Host: Sarah Yu.)

[0:00] Highlights
Don't give me the grand talk about spending tens of billions on big buildings. That has nothing to do with us. Not that it's completely unrelated, but we think the urgent priority is to cut wait times for medical care right away. Wait too long and people die. I looked at the provincial NDP government's report on health care. They say they've invested a huge amount of money, but we can't see it. This isn't what a developed country looks like. Right? How can you make a patient wait four months? They'll pass the debt on to us ordinary people. We'd been preparing for a 2028 provincial election. We weren't ready either.

[0:40] Four months for a knee scan
Lots of friends tell me, "Lao Chen, medical wait times are far too long. Shouldn't this be raised?" Right. When people raise concerns like this— I've been through it myself. I needed a scan on my leg, and it took four months to get in. And even four months was only by squeezing in. The hospital said, "Either you wait six months, or someone just cancelled within four months— can you be here at 8 a.m.?" I said yes. Even jumping the queue, it still took four months. So I've felt this firsthand too. - Your knee? Was it a CT scan? - Yes, a CT. What else would it be? A CT scan—if you were in China, you'd get the results the same day. Same day. In China, it's always same day. But here you wait four months. Clearly, with Canada's free health care system, the queues are really, really long, and doctors and facilities really still need a lot of improvement for now. That isn't what a developed country looks like. Right? How can you make a patient wait four months? So when our voters, our friends, our neighbours have these concerns and I feel the same way, then I think this becomes part of our party's platform. A party— as a grassroots party, we listen to the people and speak for them, taking their hardships to the provincial government in the hope that it will improve things. That's what a political party is for. Have you looked into, say, health care—suppose your party had a real voice and got elected. On health care, what would you actually do?

[2:14] One CT scanner?
I looked at the provincial NDP government's report on health care. They say they've invested a huge amount of money, but we can't see it. Take Richmond Hospital. However much money you put in, why is there only one CT scanner? This is really simple. A CT scanner isn't big money, is it? But what year was there only one? Surely not now? Richmond Hospital really has just one? Go and try it. Try waiting in that line. Then why not choose another hospital? Because where you are— I was living in Richmond then, and the family doctor, you know— No matter how many you have—two, three— your patients, your population, are out of proportion to the machines. For a government, investing in a CT scanner should be a simple thing. This problem isn't just a year or two old. It's been years. I've been here almost 30 years. I came out in '98, left China. It was like this 30 years ago, and 30 years later, it's still the same. That's clearly the government's problem, not the people's. Right? So in this situation, our party's platform is to speak for the people and tell the province: when it comes to medical equipment, shouldn't you invest more precisely? Invest in what we can see, what we urgently need. We don't feel it. You say you've invested so much, but we can't see it. Or rather, patient wait times haven't come down.

[3:40] Not enough family doctors
They haven't come down. Right? A key problem right now is that wait times are too long. It's not that your equipment is bad, or that your doctors are bad. The doctors are great, the equipment is great, but after a month of waiting, I'm already dead. In the end, a lot of my friends went back to China for surgery, and it went fine. Within a week of getting there, it was done. Here, a one-month wait counts as short. So aren't you going to fix this? You can tell us how much you invested, but ordinary people can't see it at all. We only need the most basic things, like family doctors. There aren't enough bilingual family doctors, right? At least not in this area. It's hard to see a doctor, hard to find a family doctor. These are the most basic needs in people's lives. As the government, you should address them. Don't give me the grand talk about spending tens of billions on big buildings. That has nothing to do with us. Not that it's completely unrelated, but we think the urgent priority is to cut wait times for medical care right away. Wait too long and people die. Long-term planning and short-term problems both have to be addressed.

[4:46] Taxes are too heavy
Of course. So on health care, we know voters have strong demands, so we amplify that voice. That's one of our platform planks. The second: people's tax burden is far too heavy now. How many taxes does BC have? The province is raising the PST again, raising the vacancy tax again. Why raise taxes? I've seen the province's report too. From 2017, before the NDP took office, to now, compared with its predecessor, the debt—the government's debt burden is up 136%. In other words, it owes more. They say it's all been spent. No matter where it went, once the government's in debt, it raises taxes. Right? They'll pass the debt on to us ordinary people. Yes. So is the government spending this money on things that are all reasonable? This country doesn't have anything like China's Discipline Inspection Commission or supervisory commission. Nobody oversees it. Only the opposition keeps watch. But the opposition doesn't watch either, because its MLAs are in there too. It's not as if the NDP has all 93 MLAs—they're not all yours. The others are in there too, right? So in this situation, you spent all that money, and in the end you say, "We're in heavy debt," and raise taxes, so the whole burden falls on us ordinary people.

[6:06] Left with a few dollars after property tax
A while back—in July, June or July—I watched a video of an elderly white woman. She recorded a video, and she was nearly in tears while recording it. She said she'd just paid her property tax, and after paying it, she found she had only a few dozen dollars left in the bank. Taxes are too heavy. So, I mean, after I watched that video, I thought, how are people supposed to live? So this NDP government, on these two fronts, has done very poorly, in my view. Ordinary people generally think so too. I often go out to listen to people, talk with them, and ask, "Are you happy in this society? Is your happiness level high?" Lately, not really. Lately, prices across the board have been— because when taxes are high, everything keeps going up.

[6:55] Why an early election
So how do you see it? I mean, now since the NDP has some people voicing dissatisfaction— Many people are dissatisfied. then why is Premier David Eby calling an election? Everyone should know his goal by now. His opponent is the BC Conservatives— not the federal Conservatives, the BC Conservatives. Infighting has left them without a leader, and lots of members have left too. He figures that in this gap, with the whole Conservative Party leaderless, he sees it as a... - Opportunistic, you mean? - Yes. He wants to expand his seats. He actually already has a majority. So in principle, it shouldn't matter much for pushing his own policies. But he wants to expand his seats even more, so with his rival in crisis, he moved it up two years. We'd been preparing for a 2028 provincial election. We weren't ready either. Two years early, it's suddenly been changed to a new election for MLAs, for the legislature. He thinks that with his rival this weak, he can expand his seats and govern four more years— two extra years. Because you haven't governed well. Granted, if you'd governed well, that'd be fine. But this way, if he doesn't win, that's also a... Right, so it's really a kind of gamble. It is a bit of a gamble. Right now, the general reaction is negative: why did you have to lump it in with the municipal elections this time, right?