Michael Lee, a candidate in the BC Liberal Party’s leadership race, attended an event at Parksville’s Morningstar Golf Club to speak with party members about his campaign and ideas on Thursday (July 15).
Lee has been the MLA for Vancouver-Langara since 2017 and ran for the party’s leadership that same year, when Andrew Wilkinson was elected. He said he learned a lot from the campaign.
“I talked a lot about the need to renew the party and broaden our appeal. I believe that our focus, in the eyes of the public, became too narrow — just on jobs and the economy, which are very fundamentally important,” said Lee.
“We need to engage on the real issues that people are concerned about as well, like healthcare, education, our environment — lowering our carbon footprint. We need to do things in a more balanced way and in a more inclusive way.”
Lee said the current leadership race is about rebuilding the party and restoring the voters’ trust. His campaign will make stops in Port Alberni, Courtenay and Nanaimo before heading back to the mainland for an event in West Kelowna July 19.
The leadership vote will take place in February 2022 for people who joined the party as members by Dec 29, 2021.
Before entering politics Lee was a prominent business lawyer in Vancouver, where he worked for 20 years with forestry, mining, energy and technology companies across B.C. He also has a record of community service for over 30 years, including with social service, educational and children and youth organizations. A son of immigrants, Lee was born and raised in Vancouver. He and his wife Christina have three young adult children.
