Ying Hope

Ying L.K. Hope (刘光英)P. Eng. (1923 – November 12, 2007) was a Chinese Canadian politician, Toronto Public School Board trustee and Metro Toronto Councillor and Toronto Alderman.

Hope's grandparents, great uncles and aunts emigrated from China to Victoria, British Columbia in the 1880s as part of a wave of Chinese immigrants working on the railway and in mines. His father and uncle established "Wo Hope Tailoring" ("peace and unity" in Chinese). Though the family's surname was Low, it was assumed by the doctor delivering Hope's eldest brother that the family surname was Hope so it is that name that was put on all of his siblings birth certificates, and his.^[1]

He left Canada in 1946 to study engineering at the University of Washington, earned his degree, and settled in Toronto.^[1] He was elected to as a trustee to the Toronto Board of Education in 1964 and elected chair in 1968.^[2] He was elected an alderman on Toronto City Council in the 1969 municipal election representing Ward 5. He remained on council until he was defeated in the 1985 municipal election by Ron Kanter. He won a seat as a Metro Councillor representing Midtown Ward in a 1987 by-election but was defeated the next year, in the 1988 election, by Ila Bossons.^[3] He attempted to return to council again in the 1991 election but was defeated by John Adams in Ward 13 by a narrow margin of 747 votes.^[4]

Hope also ran for office at other levels. In the 1967 provincial election he was the Ontario Progressive Conservative candidate in Riverdale placing second to James Renwick of the Ontario New Democratic Party. Decades later he ran for a seat in the Canadian House of Commons in the 1984 federal election as a Progressive Conservative but placed third in the riding of Spadina which included the Ward 5 Toronto seat he represented on city council.

After leaving politics, Hope continued his activity with the Chinese community as an advocate for reparations for the Chinese head tax^[5] After leaving politics he worked as a consultant for Environment Canada's "green plan" in the early 1990s^[6] and pursued a career as a real estate agent.

Hope died at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto on November 12, 2007.

Hope was survived by his second wife Audrey and children Judy, Michael and Madeline, from his first marriage to Alice Hope.

Electoral record (partial)

1980 Toronto municipal election, Toronto City Councillor, Ward Five (two members elected)

Candidate	Total votes	% of total votes
(x)Ying Hope	9,926	37.07
Ron Kanter	6,409	23.93
Menno Verster	5,777	21.57
David Scott	3,218	12.02
Jimmy Kabitsis	912	3.41
Vincent Corriero	537	2.01
Total valid votes	26,779	100.00

146 out of 148 polls reporting.

Canadian federal election, 1984: Spadina
Party		Candidate	Votes
	New Democratic	Dan Heap	13,241
	Liberal	Jim Coutts	11,880
	Progressive Conservative	Ying Hope	8,061
	Libertarian	William E. Burt	358
	Rhinoceros	Mara Maria Proussaefs	289
	Independent	Sam Guha	98

References

1. "From the head tax to hope" by Nicholas Keung, Toronto Star, February 15, 2006, page H5
2. The Chinese Community in Toronto page 148
3. "Hope loses in upset to community activist Bossons" by Lorne Slotnick and John Allemang, Globe and Mail page A20, November 15, 1988
4. "Metro Toronto election results", Toronto Star, November 13, 1991 (special section)
5. "PM must keep Tory pledge to repay head tax" by Ying Hope, Toronto Star page A13, October 11, 1993.
6. "The greening of Ying Hope", Globe and Mail, August 14, 1992

External links

• Ying L.K. Hope, 84: Head-tax apology his crowning triumph
• From the head tax to hope