By Li Baodong, Xia Lin
OTTAWA, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Just three months in office, but with a heavy agenda, Jean Yip has to ramp up her daily schedule to sustain her late husband's legacy: serving the society better, including the Chinese community.
The 49-year-old was just elected from Ontario to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election on December 11 last year and sworn in on January 29, representing the district of Scarborough-Agincourt as a member of the Liberal Party.
"I stood by his side and I could see how the community supported him. Not just the work he did as a MP, but also as a person living with (nasopharyngeal) cancer and I felt that it was important for me to give back to the community," Yip told Xinhua.
Yip is the widow of her predecessor Arnold Chan, and first became prominent in the riding when she took time to assist her husband with constituency duties during his cancer treatment.
SHORE UP CHINESE CANADIANS
Now, in her own MP office, Yip works alone to receive guests, cracking smiles to them while mulling efficient feedback.
"It's such an honor and privilege to be Scarborough-Agincour's voice in Ottawa. And not only am I proud to represent this riding but also to be of Canadian Chinese descent," said Yip.
As a newcomer but not a rookie, Yip knows full well how to cope with ongoing and upcoming challenges in her parliamentarian job, including the enhancement of the status of Chinese Canadians.
"We now have more representation than any other time in Canadian history with respect to Chinese Canadian representation in politics," said Yip, adding that there are currently seven Chinese Canadian parliamentarians, and many more work at the municipal level and jostle at the provincial elections right in sight.
According to latest census, 540,000 ethnic Chinese live in the Greater Toronto Area alone and 1.8 million in whole Canada.
"The Chinese community is very talented. They're very entrepreneurial. They have a lot of professional associations as well as business groups to support themselves in their regions," said Yip.
Though things go well, Yip still insists that more efforts and progress are to be made to ensure overall representation of different Chinese communities across Canada, as they have become the largest visible minority in the country.
"We maybe acquaint ourselves better with China and with other Asian nations. It can certainly help Canadian society and business," she added.
TRADE AND TOURISM WITH CHINA
Born into a first-generation immigrants' family in Canada, graduating from the University of Toronto and rising up in the sector of insurance, Yip loves the country and is always devoted to making it better and stronger, lest missing any opportunity to promote business with China, a country in her eyes with a burgeoning economy and ensuing full range of cooperation.
"China is our second largest trading partner and we always are very happy to increase our bilateral trade between the two countries," said Yip.
The bilateral trade volumes between China and Canada reached around 64.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2016.
Besides for trade, tourism is another pillar that Yip expects to further buttress the bilateral exchanges.
By 2020, Canada hopes to double the amount of Chinese tourists and encourages Canadians to visit China as well. Meanwhile, Canada also receives the greatest number of international students from China.
"We have a lot in common like food and family and that's why I believe that we are one of the leading tourist destinations for Chinese tourists," she said.
Over 610,000 Chinese visited or studied in Canada in 2017, according to official figures. Foreign students in Canada topped 414,946 in 2016, with those from China and India making up over half of them.
DISAGREE WITHOUT BEING DISAGREEABLE
Yip has been involved in the Liberal Party for over 20 years and currently works on the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament which overlooks government agencies, a demanding job that she has to fulfill by juggling multiple duties and interests.
High on Yip's agenda is to support seniors, youth, mental health, transit, affordable housing and building a local town into a community hub which combines health, recreation and social services in one place, in addition to child and parental benefits for families, tax breaks to make taxes fairer as well as worker benefits.
Always binding herself as amenable politician, she has confidence to live up to her post and the public expectation, thanks to the full support of her three sons, respectively 18, 16 and 14 years old.
"The message that resonated most with me was that it's okay to disagree without being disagreeable. I am happy to talk to and work with all political parties," added Yip. Local media said Yip is the 11th Canadian woman who followed the steps of their husbands deceased or resigning over ailments to become parliamentarians, and one of the very few of Chinese descent to embrace such a glorified challenge.
