Quick Facts
Biography
Paramvir "Parm" Bains is a Canadian politician who currently represents Steveston—Richmond East as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. In the 2021 Canadian federal election, he defeated incumbent Kenny Chiu.
Prior to his election, Bains was an instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Previously, he was a media and public relations officer with the provincial government. He ran for Richmond City Council in the 2018 British Columbia municipal elections. He is originally from Victoria, British Columbia. He is married and has two children.
Prior to the 2021 Campaign Bains attended a controversial rally which broke COVID regulations and where a political organizer was found dead under suspicious circumstances. Bains is also alleged to have benefited from Chinese government misinformation efforts against Conservative Kenny Chiu, which ultimately helped Bains win. He has faced ongoing criticism for his close relationship with Chinese government affiliated individuals.
Electoral history
Federal elections
| 2021 Canadian federal election: Steveston—Richmond East | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Parm Bains | 16,543 | 42.47 | +7.36 | $107,393.91 | |||
| Conservative | Kenny Chiu | 13,066 | 33.55 | –8.11 | $88,909.23 | |||
| New Democratic | Jack Trovato | 7,525 | 19.32 | +4.25 | $9,430.58 | |||
| People's | Jennifer Singh | 955 | 2.45 | – | $2,482.99 | |||
| Green | Françoise Raunet | 860 | 2.21 | –4.87 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limits | 38,949 | 100.00 | – | $108,448.59 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 363 | 0.92 | –0.10 | |||||
| Turnout | 39,312 | 52.77 | –4.17 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 74,503 | |||||||
| Liberal gain from Conservative | Swing | +7.74 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada | ||||||||
Municipal elections
Top 8 candidates elected — Incumbents marked with "(X)". Elected members' names are in bold
| Party | Council candidate | Vote | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RITE Richmond | Carol Day (X) | 20,871 | 7.01 | |
| Richmond Citizens' Association | Harold Steves (X) | 19,136 | 6.43 | |
| Richmond Community Coalition | Chak Au (X) | 18,026 | 6.05 | |
| Richmond First | Bill McNulty (X) | 17,242 | 5.79 | |
| Richmond Citizens' Association | Kelly Greene | 16,464 | 5.53 | |
| Richmond First | Linda McPhail (X) | 15,521 | 5.21 | |
| RITE Richmond | Michael Wolfe | 13,627 | 4.58 | |
| Independent | Alexa Loo (X) | 13,212 | 4.44 | |
| Richmond First | Derek Dang (X) | 13,115 | 4.40 | |
| Richmond First | Andy Hobbs | 12,336 | 4.14 | |
| Richmond Citizens' Association | Judie Schneider | 11,672 | 3.92 | |
| Richmond Community Coalition | Ken Johnston (X) | 11,161 | 3.75 | |
| Richmond Community Coalition | Jonathan Ho | 11,140 | 3.74 | |
| Richmond Citizens' Association | Jack Trovato | 10,915 | 3.67 | |
| Richmond First | Sunny Ho | 8,933 | 3.00 | |
| RITE Richmond | Niti Sharma | 8,917 | 2.99 | |
| RITE Richmond | Henry Yao | 8,467 | 2.84 | |
| Richmond First | Peter Liu | 8,357 | 2.81 | |
| Richmond Community Coalition | Parm Bains | 7,973 | 2.68 | |
| Independent | John Roston | 7,961 | 2.67 | |
| Richmond Community Coalition | Melissa Zhang | 7,708 | 2.38 | |
| Independent | Kerry Starchuk | 6,959 | 2.34 | |
| Independent | Jason Tarnow | 5,720 | 1.92 | |
| Independent | Adil Awan | 4,278 | 1.44 | |
| Independent | Manjit Singh | 4,134 | 1.39 | |
| Independent | Dennis Page | 3,478 | 1.17 | |
| Independent | Andy Chiang | 3,337 | 1.12 | |
| Independent | Theresa Head | 3,251 | 1.09 | |
| Independent | Patrick J. Saunders | 2,241 | 0.75 | |
| Independent | Zhe Zhang | 2,241 | 0.75 | |
