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In 2021, Ken Sim's team approached me,

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hoping I'd run for city council.
At the time,

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I was reluctant. Why?

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Because I'd be giving up a lot. Back then,

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I'd just had a baby,

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my one and only child.

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We'd only just had
our baby in November 2021.

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I also worried about my child

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growing up in Vancouver:

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later on, could they find a better job?
Could they

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afford a home?
Would they face racial discrimination?

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So actually, I was moved by his sincerity,

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and in 2022,
I decided to step up and join him

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in running for Vancouver city council.

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Lenny Zhou, as an ABC Vancouver

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city councillor currently in office,

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running for re-election this year,

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how are you feeling during this campaign?

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Well, here's how I see it.

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Over the past four years,
I think Vancouver,

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under ABC Vancouver and Mayor Ken Sim's

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leadership, has in many areas

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actually made some very good progress.

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For example, the city is safer now.

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That's because we invested

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in public safety, so the Vancouver

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Police Department,
for the first time in 15 years,

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got adequate funding.

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And what was the result? Vancouver's

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violent crime is at its lowest

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in 23 years. There's real data on that.

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And crime rates across the board,

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in almost every neighbourhood,

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are going down. So that's been fairly good

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on that front. Another thing is

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affordability, which is also

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one of our signature policies.

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I saw a news story saying that this year,

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Vancouver really did
manage not to raise taxes.

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Yes. This year,
Vancouver's property tax increase is zero.

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And we've promised that after this year's

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election, if we're elected,

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next year's property tax
increase will again be zero.

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Because when we talk to residents,

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affordability is the biggest issue.

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If you leave it to us at City Hall—

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of course, affordability is very complex—

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say, asking City Hall to solve the trade

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dispute with the US, that's impossible.

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It's not realistic, right? But we

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use the tools in our toolbox

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to support affordability. So property tax

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is a very important issue.

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And we managed it without cutting any core

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services.
We achieved a zero property tax increase.

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We did all of this with our

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residents' wallets in mind.

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This year,
out of over a thousand cities in Canada,

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only three had a zero
property tax increase.

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But Vancouver is the biggest. For a city

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of Vancouver's size, we're the only

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one. So all of this is for our residents.

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What you've achieved over
these four years. Yes.

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I looked into your background.
You've always been—

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actually, before this you were
at BC Children's Hospital,

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Yes, in management.

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Right.
So you were in healthcare management,

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and a top student as well.

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No, no, I wouldn't say that.

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So what twist of fate

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led you into politics?

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Well, I've always been
interested in politics.

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So after I came to Canada,

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finished my studies and stayed on to work,

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I'd been volunteering all along,

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supporting other candidates,

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helping them campaign. Then in

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2021, Ken Sim's team approached me,

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hoping I'd run for city council.
At the time,

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I was reluctant. Why?

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Because I'd be giving up a lot. Back then,

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I'd just had a baby,

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my one and only child.

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We'd only just had
our baby in November 2021.

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At the time, I felt

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I'd have to give up far too much,

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and my child was still so young.

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But later, I was truly moved by

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Mayor Ken Sim's vision.

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He really wanted to make this city

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better. And at the time,
Vancouver really was

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facing a lot of problems
in the post-pandemic era,

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like racial discrimination,

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like public safety, and also

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the issue of affordability.

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I also worried about my child

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growing up in Vancouver:

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later on, could they find a better job?
Could they

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afford a home?
Would they face racial discrimination?

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So actually, I was moved by his sincerity,

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and in 2022,
I decided to step up and join him

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in running for Vancouver city council.

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So over these four years, do you feel

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you've made sacrifices,
or felt a sense of accomplishment?

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Both, of course:
sacrifices and a sense of accomplishment.

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I believe this city,
in my view, has become

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better, and that's a very good thing.

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Because a better city isn't just

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for my child, it's for everyone.

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In these four years in office,

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how many hours a day
do you work on average?

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Honestly, the hours are very long.
No exaggeration:

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I work 15 hours a day,

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at least six days a week,

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sometimes seven, with no

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rest at all, because weekends

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are even busier,
with all kinds of events to attend.

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My longest stretch,

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I remember, was 32 days in a row

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without a single day off,
working 15 hours a day.

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And with a young child at home,

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how do you handle things with your family?

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You'd have to ask my wife.

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Because she does complain a lot,

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often because I really
don't get to see our child.

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Yes. But I also tell her
that what we're doing,

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all of this, is to make the city better,

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and it's also for our child, right?

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So I think one day,
when our child grows up,

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they'll understand.

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You're one of the few, representing us
Chinese Canadians from mainland China,

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who've been elected to city council.

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And your wife must be,

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with you, from mainland China,
in politics here,

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actually very proud of you

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at home. You'd have to ask her.

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Honestly, I'm not a very good...

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So in that sense, I owe them.

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But you also carry the hopes
of many of us from mainland China,

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right? And there's hope; they

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also hope that while you're in office,

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in your four years in office, you can

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get more of a voice
for us Chinese Canadians.

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Yes, that's true.

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That's what I've been doing
these past four years.

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Because before, I felt that

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City Hall and our communities, especially

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the Chinese community, were disconnected.

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People didn't know
what City Hall was doing.

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So after I was elected,

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I started what's called
the “City Hall Express” program,

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to help people learn
some political basics,

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and at the same time, tell everyone about

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some of what City Hall is doing,
and send out updates.

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And through this platform,

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I also gather people's feedback,

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and bring that feedback

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to city council, where it becomes

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an important factor in our policymaking.

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So I've been doing this for the past

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four years. Especially on issues that

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our Chinese community cares about,

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like property tax and drugs,

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I've listened to what people have

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to say, and helped them
make their voices heard.

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So on that front,
over the past four years,

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I think, as a start, we've done well.

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But you're the best person
to speak to this, because you

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have spent these four years involved in

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a lot of the government's business.

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Because the rest of us don't really know

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what it's actually like
once you're inside,

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how the work flows. Could you

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walk us through it, or share some

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stories about how you've
pushed things forward?

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Sure. If you compare the city government

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to a company, city council

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is like the company's board of directors.

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The mayor is like the chair of the board,

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and we're like the board members.

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We set the city's
overall policy direction,

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the major policies,
the direction of the city's growth.

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But most importantly, there's another key

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position, called the city manager.

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The city manager is like

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the CEO of the company, or of the city.

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He has to execute. So this

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role comes down to understanding council's

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intent, the direction council wants to go,

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and then making it happen.
It's a very key position.

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The CEO really plays a crucial

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role. So there's only one CEO?

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Right, only one. Just one city manager.

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That must be exhausting,
taking all of your

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voices, your council's direction, and

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all the rules, and carrying them all out.

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He has to lead the whole team.

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Exactly. So last year,

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we brought in a new city manager,

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a new person in the role, so he

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can better help carry out

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these policies. So I believe this...

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What's the CEO's background?

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He's basically been a city manager

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in other cities before.
He has prior experience.

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Yes.

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He has other experience
and knows city operations better.

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So he's the one who puts
our policies into practice.

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That position is very, very important.

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So I think that after we changed

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city managers last year,
he can better help

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us deliver on the city's direction

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and major policies. So going forward,

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I think a lot of it,
we're hoping he'll carry out.

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Also...

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When you changed CEOs,
was it very difficult?

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Of course. Because actually,
not many people

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can do this job, this role.

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Because this job is very, very hard.

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It means coordinating all the departments,

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especially in such a huge

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government. It's not like some

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small city. The City of Vancouver,

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we have 10,000 employees, nearly 10,000.

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So it's a very, very large

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city. Every department

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needs to be coordinated and briefed,

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and has to understand clearly: this is

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council's priority, the policy we're

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prioritizing, so carry out this one,

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not that one. So how to coordinate

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all of this so the whole city

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runs more smoothly—that's

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a very important responsibility he faces.

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So does the CEO often come out

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and speak publicly? Or is it mostly you,

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the councillors and the mayor,
who speak for the city?

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We're the ones speaking out front. We

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set the city's big strategic

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policies and overall direction,

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but he carries it out in the background.

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So what people see

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out front is probably mostly

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us politicians, right?

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But behind the scenes,
it's mostly the whole management team.

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A while ago, I remember

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seeing a news post from you

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about adding, on the ballot,

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your own name in Chinese. And before that,

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this may have been opposed, and then you

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actually took it to the Supreme Court,
was it?

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The BC Supreme Court.

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The BC Supreme Court.
Then, after a hearing,

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it was approved.

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That's great. For us

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Chinese Canadians, winning more rights

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is a really big step.

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What I'd like to know is,

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court processes usually

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take a long time for a single case.

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Why did you get a result so quickly?

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Right. That's because under the rules,

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this was an urgent case.

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Vancouver had to print
the ballots at the time,

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so there had to be a ruling
by that Friday.

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So it was that Friday afternoon

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that the BC Supreme Court judge

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made the ruling.
So it was an urgent situation

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that had to be handled and heard urgently.

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So I think this

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is very good not just
for our Chinese community

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but for all minority communities.

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Especially for us
first-generation immigrants.

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We weren't born in this country.

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We already had our names
where we came from.

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If we want a new generation of

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immigrants to take a better part in

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politics, and in public service,

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then we should create
better conditions for them.

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Before, in the 2018 election

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and the 2022 election, everyone felt

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it didn't matter, and it just fizzled out.

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That's why it dragged on until now.
If we don't fix

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this, then in the next civic election,

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in 2030 and beyond, we'll still run into

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the same problem. So I felt

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we couldn't put this off any longer.

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We had to get a clear answer. For our

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next generation,
for our future minorities,

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first-generation immigrants
in the Chinese community,

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we need to create good conditions
to take part in politics.

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So I felt that on this,

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I had to stand up for everyone's

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rights. And the good thing is,

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I think the judge also delivered

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a fairly good ruling.

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And this, I think,
is something that changes

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Vancouver's whole political system,

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its electoral system. I believe

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for our young people in the future,

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first-generation immigrants
coming to Canada,

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getting into politics in Vancouver,

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it creates good conditions
and makes things easier.