Katrina Chen
MLA
Minister of State for Child Care of British Columbia
In office
July 18, 2017 – December 7, 2022
PremierJohn Horgan
Preceded byStephanie Cadieux (as Minister of Children and Family Development)
Succeeded byGrace Lore
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
for Burnaby-Lougheed
Assumed office
May 9, 2017
Preceded byJane Shin
Personal details
Born (1983-07-14) 14 July 1983
Taichung, Taiwan
Political partyNew Democratic Party

Katrina Chen (Chinese: 陳葦蓁; born 14 July 1983) is a Canadian politician who has represented the electoral district of Burnaby-Lougheed in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia since 2017. She was the first Taiwanese-Canadian elected and appointed to B.C. Cabinet and Executive Council as the Minister of State for Child Care from 2017 to 2022. She was the Chair of the Child Care Working Group and served on many Cabinet committees including the Covid Working Group, Priorities and Accountability Committee and Social Initiatives Committee. She was also the Co-Chair for Premier David Eby's leadership campaign in 2022. Throughout her career and activism, Chen has always been a strong advocate for equity and inclusion.

Early life and career

Chen was raised in Taichung, Taiwan, where her father was a member of the city council.[1] She immigrated to Canada on her own and completed her education in British Columbia.

She has served as a trustee on the Burnaby Board of Education, and worked in both provincial and federal government constituency offices for over 10 years. She has a bachelor of arts degree with a political science major and a history minor from Simon Fraser University, and also earned a certificate in immigration laws, policies and procedures from the University of British Columbia. She has also worked as a community organizer with ACORN, emceed for major cultural festivals, and volunteered as an executive member for several local non-profit organizations for many years.

Political career

Chen was first elected to the legislature in the 2017 British Columbia general election.[2] After the NDP formed government, Chen was appointed to the cabinet of John Horgan as Minister of State for Child Care.[3]

During her time as a Cabinet Minister, Chen led the Child Care BC plan to start a new social program in BC - an affordable, quality, inclusive early learning and care system for all families, and successfully negotiated the first Canada-Wide early learning agreement with the federal government with billions of new funding for child care. [4] [5]

As part of an initiative to increase the number of early childhood educators in the province, she has championed dual-credit programs throughout BC which will allow grade 11 and 12 students to earn post secondary credits toward early childhood careers.[6] During her tenure, she led the implementation of over four dozens of new initiatives to bring down the cost of child care, to support the early childhood education workforce including the new wage enhancement program, and to accelerate the creation of new child care and before and after school care spaces across B.C. communities.

After Horgan announced his retirement as premier and party leader, Chen was suggested by pundits as a possible candidate in the party leadership election.[7] Instead, she endorsed David Eby, doing so before Eby had announced his intentions.[8] After Eby formally announced his leadership bid, Chen joined as co-chair of his campaign, alongside Ravi Kahlon.[9]

After Eby was successful in his leadership bid and sworn-in as premier, Chen was speculated to receive a major role in his cabinet.[10] However, Chen declined to join the new cabinet, and stepped down in order to deal with long-term trauma.[11]

Electoral record

2020 British Columbia general election: Burnaby-Lougheed
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticKatrina Chen12,57460.25+12.19$45,187.71
LiberalTariq Malik5,38625.81−11.15$32,865.72
GreenAndrew Williamson2,62812.59−1.18$5,054.75
LibertarianDominique Paynter2811.35+0.78$0.00
Total valid votes 20,869100.00–
Total rejected ballots   
Turnout   
Registered voters
Source: Elections BC[12]
2017 British Columbia general election: Burnaby-Lougheed
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticKatrina Chen10,91148.06+3.80$74,356.10
LiberalSteve Darling8,39136.96−3.63$71,973.42
GreenJoe Keithley3,12713.77+5.54$8,745.26
IndependentSylvia Gung1450.64–$87.90
LibertarianNeeraj Murarka1290.57–$329.94
Total valid votes 22,703100.00–
Total rejected ballots 1880.82−0.29
Turnout 22,89160.81+4.57
Registered voters 37,641
Source: Elections BC[13][14]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Katrina Chen.

References

  1. ↑ Peng, Jenny (1 August 2017). "Born in Taiwan, serving Canada". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  2. ↑ "NDP makes gains in Tri-Cities, Burnaby with upsets". CBC News British Columbia, May 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ McElroy, Justin (June 29, 2017). "B.C.'s new NDP government sworn into office". CBC News. Archived from the original on October 9, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  4. ↑ Government, BC (May 1, 2022). "Minister's statement on child care month".
  5. ↑ "PM Trudeau on Child Care in B.C." CPAC. December 2, 2022. Retrieved Feb 21, 2023.
  6. ↑ Cobb, Ian (11 August 2022). "Dual-credit programs for high school students expanded | Columbia Valley, Cranbrook, East Kootenay, Elk Valley, Kimberley, Ktunaxa Nation". East Kootenay News Online Weekly.
  7. ↑ "B.C. NDP should pick a leader with Horgan's cross-province appeal, says analyst". Victoria Times Colonist. Archived from the original on 2022-07-02. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  8. ↑ Balzer, Jess (July 6, 2022). "Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Katrina Chen says she would support David Eby for BC NDP leadership". Burnaby Now. Archived from the original on July 14, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
  9. ↑ Balzer, Jess (2022-07-22). "Burnaby MLA Katrina Chen to co-chair David Eby's BC NDP leadership campaign". Burnaby Now. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  10. ↑ DeRosa, Katie (2012-12-05). "David Eby's cabinet shuffle likely to prioritize younger, diverse MLAs". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  11. ↑ Clarkson, Becca (2022-12-07). "B.C. MLA Katrina Chen reveals history with gender-based violence, asks to be kept out of new cabinet". CTV News. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  12. ↑ "2020 Provincial General Election Final Voting Results". electionsbcenr.blob.core.windows.net. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
  13. ↑ "2017 Provincial General Election - Statement of Votes" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  14. ↑ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
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