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Chungsen Leung

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Chungsen Leung
梁中心
Member of Parliament
for Willowdale
In office
May 2, 2011 – October 19, 2015
Preceded byMartha Hall Findlay
Succeeded byAli Ehsassi
Personal details
Born (1950-07-14) July 14, 1950 (age 74)
Taipei, Taiwan
Political partyConservative
Residence(s)Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alma materCarleton University
University of Southern California

Chungsen (C. S.) Leung (Chinese: 梁中心) (born July 14, 1950)[1] is a Taiwanese-born Canadian businessman and Conservative politician who was formerly the MP for Willowdale. After his election in the 2011 federal election, Leung was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism, a role he held until his defeat in the 2015 federal election.

Early life and education

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Chungsen Leung was born in Taipei, Taiwan on July 14, 1950.[1] He pursued his secondary education in Japan.[2] As the international community gradually recognized the mainland People's Republic of China in the 1960s, he feared that he could become stateless as a person born in Taiwan.[3] He immigrated to Canada in 1968, where he received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in economics and business at Carleton University.[4][5] Leung later earned a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Management and Engineering from the University of Southern California.[5]

Business career

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Leung is an entrepreneur with business experiences in disaster mitigation management, urban mass transit projects, building environmentally friendly houses, air & water purification systems, sports equipment retailing and red deer farming. Chungsen also has business experience in the tourism and hospitality sector.[citation needed]

He was a business owner and chief executive officer of four Richmond Hill small and medium size enterprises, as well as, a past director and audit chair of the Xenos Group,[6][failed verification] a Toronto Stock Exchange listed public company in software development and engineering, and a director with Active Growth Capital.[7][failed verification][8][failed verification]

His international business experience includes being a member of numerous federal and provincial trade missions during the last two decades; the Toronto-Chongqing Sister City Twinning Mission; organizing the 1st Team Richmond Hill Mission to Asia Pacific; Richmond Hill – Shijiazhuang Sister City Twinning Mission, a member of the Advisory Board for Ontario Export Inc. and the bid team leader to host the 1997 World Chinese Entrepreneur Convention in Toronto.[citation needed]

Leung has been: founding president of the Richmond Hill & Markham Chinese Business Association, a corporate cabinet director of the Conservation Foundation of Greater Toronto, a member of the Richmond Hill Naturalist, a director of the Richmond Hill Chamber of Commerce and numerous other bi-lateral trade or business related associations.[9][10]

Leung is a director of the York Central Hospital Foundation, and a director of the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority Foundation.[11]

Politics

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Before becoming the Conservative Party candidate in 2011, he was the party's candidate for Richmond Hill in the 2008 federal election, losing to Liberal candidate Bryon Wilfert.[12] He was also the candidate for Willowdale representing the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the 2000 federal election, losing to Liberal candidate Jim Peterson.[13]

Leung was elected to the House in 2011 as the MP for Willowdale, and has served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism since May 25, 2011.[1] During a meeting organized by The Association of North American Ethnic Journalists & Writers in January 2015, Leung was questioned over the closure of the Canadian embassy in Iran and was recorded saying: "Let me ask you, if you like Iran so much, then why do you come to Canada?" during a heated exchange.[14] Although Leung's staff indicated that this could have been the result of a miscommunication during cross-talk, it was a comment which angered some of those present, and Leung sent an email statement shortly after the incident stating that it was not his "intention to offend anyone. I regret if some attendees felt offended."[14]

Leung was defeated in the 2015 federal election by Liberal candidate Ali Ehsassi.[15]

Personal life

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Chungsen Leung is married to Deborah Chute, and together they have one child, Elysia.[5] He has lived in the Willowdale riding for over two decades.[4]

Leung trained to play the bagpipes at Cape Breton's Gaelic College after becoming enamored with the instrument during a family vacation to Scotland.[16] Leung played two times for Queen Elizabeth II: once in 2002 for her Ontario Golden Jubilee celebrations and again in 2004, when he was asked to play for her in her summer retreat at Balmoral Castle.[16] Leung also played the bagpipes for Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge during their 2011 royal tour of Canada.[16]

Chungsen Leung is a cross country skier, a scuba instructor, an Eagle Scout and the Parliamentary Liaison to Scouts Canada.[citation needed]

In 2003, Leung and his wife, Deborah Chute, received five national "Green" awards for building their energy efficient and environmentally friendly house in Richmond Hill. These awards are: Enerquality Corporation for a super R-2000 house, Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation for a healthy home, Canadian Home Builder Association for best environmental practices, Enbridge for low gas consumption guarantee, and Enerwork for being one of the first to use solar energy heating.[citation needed]

Electoral record

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2015 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Ali Ehsassi 24,519 53.4 +13.5 –
Conservative Chungsen Leung 16,990 37.0 -4.7 –
New Democratic Pouyan Tabasinejad 3,203 7.0 -11.4 –
Green James Arruda 1,025 2.2 +1.81 –
Independent Birinder Singh Ahluwalia 216 0.5 – –
Total valid votes/Expense limit 45,953 100.0     $206,712.87
Total rejected ballots 251 0.5 -0.1
Turnout 46,204 61.46 +3.06
Eligible voters 75,172
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +9.1
Source: Elections Canada[17][18]
2011 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Chungsen Leung 22,207 41.7 +9.2
Liberal Martha Hall Findlay 21,275 39.9 -8.8
New Democratic Mehdi Mollahasani 9,777 18.4 +8.2
Total valid votes/Expense limit 53,259 100.0
Total rejected ballots 295 0.6 +0.2
Turnout 53,554 58.4 +6.5
Eligible voters 91,631 – –
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing +9.0

References

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  1. ^ a b c "LEUNG, Chungsen, B.A., M.Sc". Library of Parliament. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  2. ^ "联邦大选 梁中心为保守党出征". Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  3. ^ From Taiwan's shores to Canadian MP, in one generation[dead link]
  4. ^ a b Cross, Allison (3 May 2011). "Conservatives take Liberal safe seat in Willowdale". Toronto Star. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  5. ^ a b c "Richmond Hill". CBC News. 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  6. ^ Chungsen Leung: Executive Profile and Biography - Businessweek[dead link] businessweek.com, April 19, 2011
  7. ^ Active Growth Capital Inc (ACK.V) People Reuters.com Reuters.com April 22, 2011
  8. ^ Company Summary TSX April 22, 2011
  9. ^ Federal Election Willowdale N.E. Neighbourhood Association willowdaleneighbourhood.ca, April 19, 2011[dead link]
  10. ^ Richmond Hill Naturalists Blog rhnaturalists.ca, April 22, 2011 Archived June 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ TRCA Board of Directors[failed verification] Archived June 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine trca.on.ca, April 18, 2011.
  12. ^ Richmond Hill - Canada Votes - CBC.ca cbc.ca, April 19, 2011.
  13. ^ Elections Canada Poll-by-poll Result Files, 1997 and 2000 General Elections. elections.ca, April 18, 2011.
  14. ^ a b "Toronto MP issues apology after comments anger Iranian-Canadians". CTV. January 27, 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  15. ^ Campbell, Megan (20 October 2015). "The loneliness of a losing candidate". Maclean's. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  16. ^ a b c Raj, Althia (30 June 2011). "Bagpiping MP to play for Will and Kate". Postmedia News. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  17. ^ Canada, Elections. "Voter Information Service - Find your electoral district". www.elections.ca.
  18. ^ Canada, Elections. "Error page". www.elections.ca. Archived from the original on August 15, 2015.
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