Bert Chen is a small business owner on Vancouver Island that is running to represent the Cowichan Valley and bring his experience with BC’s industrial sector and mill towns to Victoria.
A lifelong British Columbian, Bert grew up in a rural community where his family ran a small gas station and his first job was working behind the pump. Bert has seen the effect of our once strong resource economy diminished due to overly long permitting processes and knows that we need to grow BC’s economy by fast tracking projects to provide decent, stable jobs for hardworking British Columbians.
Throughout his career, he has worked in small remote communities across Canada, including BC and the North, including many where he was honoured to work with First Nations in developing critical infrastructure projects to support communities.
As the owner of a local Vancouver Island firm that provides project management and construction services for power plants and other large industries across Canada, he has worked to build clean power projects around the world, including those on Vancouver Island and the BC Coast.
Alongside his work, Bert has served with the Elks of Canada and the BC Elks Association as its long time finance director, helping to manage the charitable organization and its kids camps across the province.
In his leisure time, Bert and his wife enjoy sailing off Maple Bay.