Canada’s youngest candidate in the October federal election may end up being in Richmond Centre after the Green Party of Canada endorsed recent high school graduate Vincent Chiu last week.
The 18-year-old Richmond Secondary graduate will take on long-standing MP Alice Wong, the minister of state for seniors.
Chiu is calling on the federal government to fix wage stagnation and reverse the trend of seniors working to make ends meet, as well as inaccessible jobs for young adults.
“I strongly disagree with Ms. Wong’s increase of the retirement age from 65 to 67,” Chiu said via email.
“She argues that we live longer, which is true. However, a higher standard of living is not a good excuse for working more. The main ideas that came from the Industrial Revolution were that industry would bring about workers working less. Ms. Wong clearly demonstrates that her vision of our purpose in life is working as much as possible. My vision is to ensure that the standard of living increases and we reap the benefits of our labour.”
Chiu likened employment to an escalator, whereby older people have been forced to work longer, thus jamming the escalator by not getting off and providing fewer opportunities for younger people to enter from below.
“If we don’t get Millennials onto the escalator, we’re going to have difficulties adjusting to the dramatic shift of baby boomers leaving the escalator all at once. By delaying the process, Canada’s economy is at great risk,” he said.
Chiu was one of several high school speakers at the Richmond Earth Day Youth Summitt in April. There, he spoke of the need to transform environmental discourse in the public realm.
His resume is already chock-full of local environmental and community initiatives in which he has participated and led.
For three years, he served as a Green Ambassador with the City of Richmond and the Richmond School District. The city also awarded him a U-Roc award for leadership in the community. Chiu has also participated in various regional environmental conferences.
Chiu said he is self-taught in management and marketing and is acutely aware of the importance of intergovernmental collaboration.
Aligning with his party’s overarching goal of reversing climate change, Chiu pulls no punches when it comes to the Conservative’s natural resource extraction and economic policies.
“I would love it if Ms. Wong stops focusing on the 2.5 per cent of the economy of Canada and approximately zero per cent of the business of her constituency that is represented by oil and starts concentrating on the other 97.5 per cent of the economy,” wrote Chiu.
If elected, Chiu said he would be an advocate for direct online engagement between the public and politicians by having mobile apps that prompt citizens to vote on particular issues.
Richmond Centre is now complete with candidates from the four represented parties in Ottawa — accountant Lawrence Woo is running for the Liberals, while teacher Jack Trovato is running for the New Democrats.
