Meena Wong runs for COPE mayoral nomination

The veteran activist is likely to be at the top of the Coalition of Progressive Electors’ slate in the November election

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      Her family’s past informs much of Meena Wong’s quest to become mayor of her adopted city.

      When she says Vancouver should be “a city for all and not just for people with power and connections”, part of that goes back to the values of her ancestors in China.

      “You are responsible to the people in your village,” Wong said in an interview at the Georgia Straight offices.

      The 53-year-old community organizer is seeking the nomination of Vancouver’s best-known left-wing party, the Coalition of Progressive Electors, as its mayoral candidate in the November 15 municipal election.

      “So when there’s a famine, when there’s a flood, and there’s a lot of refugees flowing in,” Wong continued about her forebears, “they open up their granaries, and they do feed the people, because you have to support the people in need. That’s what they always believed. Because in their way, they say that if you don’t look after the people in need, it’s like the water, people are like water: the water can hold a boat; it can also sink the boat.”

      Part of the reason why she wants people to have a say in government is her family’s experience during the Cultural Revolution in China. Her parents—both medical doctors—were persecuted. She recalls feeling terrified when the Red Guards entered her home.

      “I saw how a government, when they’re actually in power, what they could do to people, to citizens, and citizens have no voice and no choices,” Wong said.

      Wong was 11 when she and her younger brother were brought to Hong Kong by their mother to start a new life. They left her father behind in Beijing. It took seven years before the family was reunited.

      She recalled that one day, her mother brought her and her brother outside the health department’s offices when China-trained doctors who’d fled to Hong Kong petitioned to be allowed to practise medicine. They succeeded, and that was how her parents became doctors in the British colony.

      “That’s my first experience in a free, democratic country: how citizens can influence government decisions and actually benefit the society,” Wong said.

      Wong was 19 when she came to Canada as an international student. She landed in Vancouver and stayed for a while in Alberta, meeting many warm and welcoming Canadians.

      Her pleasant experience informs one piece of advice she gives to newcomers: “I always say that when people on the street smile, make sure you smile back.”

      Wong later moved to Ontario, where she studied arts. While in Toronto, she met two city politicians who would later be part of the federal NDP’s breakthrough in Canadian politics. Then-councillor Jack Layton was to become New Democrat leader, shepherding his party in 2011 to its first time as the official Opposition in Parliament. From 1999 to 2002, Wong was assistant to Layton’s wife Olivia Chow, then a Toronto councillor. The Hong Kong–born Chow eventually joined Layton in the House of Commons as an MP, and she’s currently running for mayor of Toronto.

      Wong eventually returned to Vancouver, where she began her extensive involvement with COPE. In 2011, she ran in Vancouver South as part of the federal NDP’s so-called Orange Crush.

      According to Wong, housing affordability is a top concern among people in the city. It’s an issue about which Vancouver may learn a lesson or two from Hong Kong, where Wong spent part of her younger years.

      “Hong Kong, even in the ’70s, has its own housing [authority],” she said. “Right now, Hong Kong has over 50 percent housing built by the city, by the government, that’s catered towards affordability, some for rental, some for ownership. Why can’t Vancouver do something like that? That’s what I question.”

      In addition to housing, Wong also sees transit as a major issue that needs to be addressed. “I want to see more buses,” she said. “I drive; I ride my bike. I also take public transit all the time. And I can tell you, there’s not enough buses on the road.”

      In a city where more than 40 percent of residents are immigrants, Wong is confident that she can effectively engage new Canadians, especially Chinese. She speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, and Shanghainese.

      If Wong defeats Mayor Gregor Robertson and the NPA’s Kirk LaPointe, she’ll become Vancouver’s first female mayor and the first mayor of Chinese descent.

      COPE members will nominate their candidates for mayor, school board, and park board on Sunday (September 7) at the Japanese Hall (487 Alexander Street, at Jackson Avenue).

      Comments

      18 Comments

      Sid Tan

      Sep 3, 2014 at 6:01pm

      Good news for COPE. Not meaning to seem lookist/sexist but Meena Wong is better looking than Gregor Robertson and has more gravitas than Kirk LaPointe. I'm liking how she is looking and what she is saying...

      Meena Wong

      Sep 3, 2014 at 6:20pm

      Wow, a real coup for COPE. Is there actually hope?

      West 10th

      Sep 3, 2014 at 6:44pm

      Maybe this city has a crying chance after all.

      Imtiaz Popat

      Sep 3, 2014 at 7:14pm

      Meena Wong will bring excitement and real substance to Mayoral race and maybe now people will have real hope for real change and a real choice over twiddle dum and twiddle dee maybe people will pay attention and will have a reason to go out and vote.

      Boris Moris

      Sep 3, 2014 at 7:43pm

      What a wonderful candidate. I sure hope mainstream mass media dutifully covers her candidacy. Fat chance of that happening as their very own spin doctor/turd polisher, LaPointe, is running for the ridiculously named right wing Non Partisan Association.

      Voter

      Sep 4, 2014 at 12:41am

      Meena Wong, candidate.

      1 vote

      Sep 4, 2014 at 7:48am

      For some reason, I don't think she's owned by the developers like Vision Vancouver is.

      Save Vancouver

      Sep 4, 2014 at 8:24am

      I applaud the long overdue presence of an Asian Canadian candidate for mayor (it shoulda been Raymond Louie in 2008 but Gregor parachuted in and waltzed off with the Vision nomination). However, this is kind of liking seeking to be nominated captain of the Titanic.

      cathy

      Sep 4, 2014 at 8:42am

      The race for the Mayor Chair's has just gotten hot!

      Looks like the real issues will be addressed by a smart political savvy woman.
      How will Robertson's male dominated Vision and the 'ol boys' NPA LaPoint's spin doctors handle this?
      Gonna get interesting.....

      Tommy Khang

      Sep 4, 2014 at 8:56am

      Sorry to burst everyone's bubble but the Mayoral race in 2014 is going to be a popularity contest and one based on name recognition at least among the vast majority of undecided voters.

      So the key questions here that the COPE base should be asking about Meena is what her DJ abilities are like, how photogenic she is and what her stance on Bike lanes are? Because those three things will determine her chance of victory come November 2014. I also feel like that these three criteria also apply to Kirk.