(Bert Chen)
Conservative candidate says he is qualified to run in Cowichan Valley despite not living here
Party pledges financial support for 'revitalization' of Crofton mill site
The Conservative Party of BC candidate for the Cowichan Valley doesn’t live in the riding.
But Bert Chen insists he has enough connections here to make him a legitimate candidate.
“My wife and I used to live in Maple Bay…for a year in 2020,” he told Six Mountains on Monday shortly before an all-candidates meetings sponsored by the Chemainus Residents Association.
“She ended up getting a job as a pharmacist on the Saanich Peninsula” and currently works for three pharmacists there, he said.
“We wanted to stay, but, unfortunately, my wife got transferred.”
Chen said he “basically works from home” but has an office in Victoria and has projects across Canada.
“I’ve been involved here working for the Crofton mill for more than five years” before moving to Maple Bay, he said.
“I was working with Paper Excellence. My background is in building power plants, so we were trying to keep the power assets alive….”
How was he chosen to represent Cowichan Valley?
“There were other candidates that were interested in this riding,” he said.
“However, based off my profile, working for the Crofton mill and my time here in Maple Bay, it was felt that I would be a suitable candidate.
“I’m familiar with the issues and I have a track record of getting projects built.”
There is no legal requirement for candidates to be living in the ridings in which they are seeking election.
Chen is up against the NDP’s Debra Toporowski, first elected in 2024, as well as Green Party candidate Justin Douglas.
(Debra Toporowski and Justin Douglas)
Communist Party of BC candidate James Chumsa is also running.
Watch Monday’s all-candidates meeting and learn about the candidates' platforms and responses to questions on a variety of issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALyUF9zO3Rg
The Conservative Party of BC issued a news release Monday saying Chen is “committed to secure a funding commitment of up to $10 million to support the revitalization” of the Crofton mill site.
The news release said the investment will provide support for the community following the mill closure, and to ensure continued clean drinking water for residents.
(https://conservativebc.ca/conservative-party-of-bc-candidate-commits-to-revitalization-of-crofton-mill-site/ )
Chen told Six Mountains the funding would “most likely be directed to the Municipality of North Cowichan to pay for needed infrastructure, whether it’s water or effluent related to the mill supplying the town of Crofton, as well as to work on the necessary land acquisitions to expand the ferry terminal.”
North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said in response Tuesday that he had not spoken to Chen about the funding and had no further information beyond the news release.
Douglas noted that this past summer Domtar agreed to continue to provide water to Crofton through spring 2029.
He added: “There is a treatment plant on the Crofton mill site. There has been some discussion of whether or not North Cowichan may want to make use of that in the future.”
Chen made national headlines in 2021 when he was suspended as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada's national council after spearheading an effort to trigger an early review of then-party leader Erin O’Toole following the party’s election loss to Justin Trudeau.
Chen said at the time he felt O’Toole had betrayed Conservative principles over policy decisions, such as adopting a consumer carbon price.
O’Toole was forced to leave the job in 2022 following an internal caucus revolt.
“I’m still a member of the federal party,” Chen told Six Mountains. “We had a very bad leader who decided to take a personal vendetta against people who were voicing their democratic opinion.
“When he left as leader, I felt I had accomplished my goal.”
In 2024, O'Toole testified at the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference, suggesting Chinese state-backed interference and misinformation campaigns may have led to his removal as party leader and the loss of up to nine seats in the 2021 election.
O’Toole presented no verifiable evidence, but once again Chen was thrust into controversy.
"That was a racist attack...with absolutely no grounds," he said Monday.
“I was born in Taiwan. My grandfather fought the communists.”
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/otoole-leadership-interference-1.7162568
The provincial election is October 24.
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— Larry Pynn, Oct. 20, 2026
