Teresa Wat Explained

Teresa Wat
Honorific-Suffix:MLA
Birth Date:[1]
Birth Place:British Hong Kong
Assembly:British Columbia Legislative
Constituency Am:Richmond North Centre
Richmond Centre (2013–2017)
Term Start:May 14, 2013
Predecessor:Rob Howard
Party:BC Conservatives[2]
Otherparty:BC United (until 2024)

Teresa Wat (born 1949 or 1950) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2013 provincial election.[3] She represents the electoral district of Richmond North Centre as a member of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, while sitting with BC United she was appointed Minister of International Trade, and Minister Responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy and Multiculturalism on June 10, 2013, by Premier Christy Clark. While provincial minister of trade, Wat worked to court Huawei, China Poly Group, and other companies to invest in British Columbia.[4] [5]

In Opposition, Wat has served as the Official Opposition Critic for Trade; for Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Anti-Racism Initiatives; and, as of May 2024, the Shadow Minister for Multiculturalism, Anti-Racism Initiatives, Arts and Culture.

Wat is the president and CEO of Mainstream Broadcasting Corporation CHMB AM1320 and has also served as the news director at Channel M (now OMNI Television British Columbia); she previously served as a communications advisor at British Columbia's Cabinet Policy and Communications Secretariat. In 2010, Wat was appointed to the Canadian Women Voters Congress Advisory Board and was appointed one of British Columbia's top 100 most influential women by the Vancouver Sun. She is a former board member of the School of Journalism at UBC.

Elected as a member of the BC Liberals (renamed BC United in 2023), she defected to the Conservative Party of British Columbia in August 2024.[6]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Teresa Wat eyes Richmond Centrevan den Hemel, Martin. The Review [Richmond, B.C] 23 Jan 2013: 1.
  2. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mla-teresa-wat-defects-bc-conservatives-1.7279501
  3. http://www.richmond-news.com/news/retains+Richmond+Centre+Liberals/8385800/story.html "Wat retains Richmond Centre for BC Liberals"
  4. Web site: Richmond MLA tight-lipped on Huawei ties, as telecom giant's boss is bailed. Campbell. Alan. December 12, 2018. Richmond News. 2019-07-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20190720183304/https://www.richmond-news.com/news/richmond-mla-tight-lipped-on-huawei-ties-as-telecom-giant-s-boss-is-bailed-1.23532083. July 20, 2019. live.
  5. Web site: How a murky company with ties to the People's Liberation Army set up shop in B.C.. Cooper. Sam. Quan. Doug. 2017-08-26. Vancouver Sun. en. 2019-07-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20190720184757/https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/how-a-murky-company-with-ties-to-the-peoples-liberation-army-set-up-shop-in-b-c. 2019-07-20. live.
  6. Web site: Gangdev . Srushti . Brockman . Charles . 2024-07-29 . BC United MLA Teresa Wat defects to BC Conservatives . 2024-07-30 . CityNews Vancouver.