Lawrence Chen (陈卫平) | Ep. 3: A Third Choice | 2026 BC Election Interview
https://youtu.be/F-vjazWzxZI
(Transcript from the episode's English subtitles; speakers not labelled. Host: Sarah Yu.)

[0:00] Highlights
So in the past, capitalists had a voice: the Liberals, for example. And the unions had theirs: the NDP. But the real grassroots, at the very bottom— no one was looking out for them. Could we take all these small parties— combine all the small parties into a real third option? I'm a man of my word. I talk less and do more.

[0:27] CanWest vs. the NDP
From what you've just said, CanWest is a party close to ordinary people that reflects grassroots voices, right? And on health care and tax cuts— right, you advocate cutting taxes. But on being close to ordinary people, how is the NDP different from you? The NDP defines itself as blue-collar. Blue-collar— also leaning toward ordinary people, everyday citizens' voices. It's unlike the traditional BC Liberals. The BC Liberals are the party of the elite, with big business and big money behind it. Back then the NDP was built around unions. Unions represent the working class—by historical definition, an organization that takes on capitalists. So every year the union takes a small cut of members' wages as your dues. Then every four years, it pushes the employer to raise your pay. Now many employers are the government, like school boards, garbage workers, the post office too, and even, what's it called, the police. They're all government employees. So every four years, these unions go and ask the government to raise their members' pay. The NDP is built on that organization. So its policies favour, first and foremost, its blue-collar union members. We're not like that. We stand for all ordinary people. We speak up for them. So in the past, capitalists had a voice: the Liberals, for example. And the unions had theirs: the NDP. But the real grassroots, at the very bottom— no one was looking out for them. No one cares whether they live or die. No one listens to their voices. So we fill that gap. We go to the most ordinary people: "What do you think? You live here too, right? What should the government do better? Tell us, and we'll speak up for you." So we represent the real grassroots, the general public, while the NDP represents its union-centred membership. It's a little different. Ours is broader; theirs is narrower.

[2:37] Provincial vs. federal Conservatives
So this election comes two years early, and the BC Conservatives' leader recently announced his resignation, and then an interim leader took over. What's your take on all this? It's not truly conservative. "Conservative" is just a name. Also, the BC Conservative Party is totally different from the federal one. Lately many friends keep telling me that they think the BC Conservatives and the federal Conservatives might be the same, a single entity. There's a misconception. People may think the Liberals stand for liberty. Not so. It's just called "Liberal." "Conservative" means very conservative? Not so either. It's only a name, right? So first, let's be clear: the federal Conservatives are one party, the BC Conservatives are another. The two aren't connected in that way. Back then, BC Liberal candidates came into the party, while some of the original BC Conservatives weren't as... There's a lot of internal discord. Their politics are completely different, even 180 degrees apart. Like, I want things fully open, you want something else—they clash. There's no reconciling it. As for our party, we don't have that many candidates.

[3:51] Two CanWest candidates
I'm running for MLA in Richmond Centre. Another member of ours, Keenan Yang, is running in Richmond South. So far we've fielded only two candidates since there wasn't enough time to prepare.

[4:02] Can you join more than one party?
Lao Chen, how can someone join? Can a person join several parties at once? Or, say, someone wants to join your CanWest Party— - Yes, they can. But they were in the Conservatives before, or the NDP—can they still join CanWest? Yes. Party membership here is open. It's simply about sharing a set of ideas. If today I back your party's leadership and platform, I can join and become your supporter. If later you fall apart and I'm not happy with you anymore, I'll leave and join someone else. That's completely fine. What we've mainly talked about today is your party's platform. You've gone into a lot of detail about people's daily lives, right? And these are real things happening. So looking ahead, can you predict how the NDP and the Conservatives will do this time, and how things will look across the province?

[5:01] Who will win?
Who wins, who loses? Who gets a majority? Right. I think the NDP will still govern. It's because they've already made thorough preparations for this election. Relatively speaking, By comparison, the NDP has its own system, a relatively stable one. Right. That's how it'll be. Which means we have to endure the NDP's high taxes again. So the voices of ordinary citizens like us need your party to carry them upward.

[5:30] At least we can speak up
What we can do now is at least speak our minds during the campaign. Reporters interview me every day now, and I've shared all my views with them. English-language reporters. At least they can get my message out. They think what I say makes sense, too. Like what I said earlier about education. They realized a child who doesn't speak may not actually have autism, right? They learned that through me. But they have no way to communicate with parents. Parents can shout all day; they ignore you. So in this election, whoever wins, at least through this platform we tell everyone we're here. We can speak for the grassroots now. Going forward, after this election, we hope our party can gradually grow and attract more members. Those who share our values, who want to help ordinary people and have ideas—join us. That way, four years from now, we'd actually have 93 MLA nomination slots available. Yes, we should fill them. As a provincial party, you must run all 93. Among all the parties this time, from what I saw in yesterday's reports, maybe only the BC Conservatives have filled all 93. The NDP seems to have one riding unfilled. I'm not sure I read that right. But the two of them have each nominated over 90. The other small parties have two or three, or four or five. Actually, in BC, as for the small parties, I think they should stop going it alone.

[7:00] Small parties, joining forces
Could we take all these small parties— combine all the small parties into a real third option? That way, voters would have a really good choice. These small parties are all out of power, meaning we're all on the outside. We carry no baggage of corruption or scandal, since we've never governed. These people all want BC to do better. They don't like the current NDP, nor the current BC Conservatives. So if it's possible to take all the small parties in four years and build them into a third party, then quite possibly we'd give voters a third option. Right now, if voters want a third option, in some ridings there isn't one. It's just two candidates. In some ridings, like mine, there is one. At least they say, "If you run—" my friends say, "If you run, I'll vote for you. If you don't run, I won't vote at all." My diehard supporters—what we call a loyal base of voters.

[7:58] A loyal base in Richmond
In Richmond I have about 2,000 to 3,000 loyal voters. I don't need to campaign; if I run for mayor, they'll vote for me. Win or lose, they don't care. It's about political identity and values. They're behind you. If I don't run, they'll never vote for anyone else. That's something very hard to change. Campaigning won't change it. Because in Canada, no law binds candidates—saying, "In the election, you promised to do this once elected. If you don't do it once in office, I'll remove you." There's no such law. So before elections they promise the moon: "I promise this, I promise that." After making all those promises, once they're in office, it's bye-bye. Promises broken. Federally, it's the same; provincially too, and municipally too. So in this situation, people just don't believe anyone. These friends of mine just don't believe what anyone says. They say, "I only trust Lao Chen. If you get in, you'll do what you say." Because I'm a man of my word. I talk less and do more. I'd never make grand promises and then deliver nothing. I'm not that kind of person. So those who know me know my character. So wherever I go—if I run provincially, they follow me there. If I run for school trustee, they vote for school trustee. If I say I'm not running for mayor, they won't vote for mayor. That's how it is.