Henry Jiun-Hsien Yao () is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2020 British Columbia general election. He represented the electoral district of Richmond South Centre as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP). He was defeated in the 2024 British Columbia general election running in Richmond Centre.
Biography Born in Taiwan, Yao immigrated to Canada at the age of 11, settling in Richmond, British Columbia. After graduating from Matthew McNair Secondary School, he studied at the University of British Columbia, from which he received a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. He was diagnosed with two types of lymphoma in 2004; after his cancer went into remission, he pursued a career in youth work.
He ran for Richmond City Council twice: the first time in 2014 as an independent candidate, then in 2018 as part of RITE Richmond. Both attempts were unsuccessful.
In the 2020 provincial election, Yao ran in the riding of Richmond South Centre as an NDP candidate, against Alexa Loo of the Liberals. He defeated Loo by a margin of 179 votes, becoming a member of the Legislative Assembly.
Electoral record
Provincial elections
Municipal elections Top 8 candidates elected — Incumbents marked with "(X)". Elected members' names are in bold
+2018 British Columbia municipal elections: Richmond City Council Party Council candidate Vote % RITE Richmond Carol Day (X) 20,871 7.01 Richmond Citizens' Association Harold Steves (X) 19,136 6.43 Richmond Community Coalition Chak Au (X) 18,026 6.05 Richmond First Bill McNulty (X) 17,242 5.79 Richmond Citizens' Association Kelly Greene 16,464 5.53 Richmond First Linda McPhail (X) 15,521 5.21 RITE Richmond Michael Wolfe 13,627 4.58 Independent Alexa Loo (X) 13,212 4.44 Richmond First Derek Dang (X) 13,115 4.40 Richmond First Andy Hobbs 12,336 4.14 Richmond Citizens' Association Judie Schneider 11,672 3.92 Richmond Community Coalition Ken Johnston (X) 11,161 3.75 Richmond Community Coalition Jonathan Ho 11,140 3.74 Richmond Citizens' Association Jack Trovato 10,915 3.67 Richmond First Sunny Ho 8,933 3.00 RITE Richmond Niti Sharma 8,917 2.99 RITE Richmond Henry Yao 8,467 2.84 Richmond First Peter Liu 8,357 2.81 Richmond Community Coalition Parm Bains 7,973 2.68 Independent John Roston 7,961 2.67 Richmond Community Coalition Melissa Zhang 7,708 2.38 Independent Kerry Starchuk 6,959 2.34 Independent Jason Tarnow 5,720 1.92 Independent Adil Awan 4,278 1.44 Independent Manjit Singh 4,134 1.39 Independent Dennis Page 3,478 1.17 Independent Andy Chiang 3,337 1.12 Independent Theresa Head 3,251 1.09 Independent Patrick J. Saunders 2,241 0.75 Independent Zhe Zhang 2,241 0.75
References