Kevin VuongKevin Vuong is the Member of Parliament representing Toronto’s Spadina-Fork York community in Ontario, Canada. He was elected in 2021 at the age of 32, and in his three years of service, he has become a widely known national figure who has spoken out strongly on issues such as combating crime, hate and antisemitism, and foreign interference.
Outside of his political career, Vuong has built businesses, lectured on leadership and financial markets at the University of Toronto and Western University, respectively, and earned the rank of Lieutenant(Navy) in the Canadian Forces Naval Reserve. He was appointed a NATO 2030 Young Leader in 2020 by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and a medalist of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Her Majesty The Queen’s Young Leader for Canada in 2017.
Q: How did your upbringing influence your career decisions and your political ambitions?
MP KEVIN VUONG: My upbringing gave me a strong sense of gratitude and duty to give back to Canada, for welcoming my parents as refugees and other Boat People fleeing the violence of the Vietnam War. I’m a proud Canadian of Chinese heritage and the first in my family to be born and raised in Canada. My parents instilled in me the ethic of hard work and civic responsibility. They lost their country, an aspiring democracy, and ensured I knew not only how lucky I was to grow up in a free and democratic country, but also the duty we have to protect and defend it.
After receiving my degree from the University of Western Ontario, I started my career on Bay Street as a rotational program associate at TD Securities. I later went on to co-found a govtech business, Delphic Research Group, and also co-founded a mask company, TakeCare Supply, during the pandemic to address shortages in PPE and relieve demand pressures on medical grade PPE for healthcare workers. My drive to find solutions, whether at the bank or during the pandemic, led to me becoming an entrepreneur, and I found success with these and other businesses. But I was also driven to pursue public service, first with the Canadian Forces as a naval reserve officer, and now as a Member of Parliament. I care deeply about the direction this country takes, and I want it to remain as strong and full of opportunity as it has been for me and my family.
Q: In 2019, you were appointed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to represent Canada as one of 14 Young Leaders from NATO member nations to advise the alliance as part of its NATO 2030 initiative. Can you tell me what you learned from that process about international relations?
MP KEVIN VUONG: It was an incredible honour to represent Canada, and give a voice to young Canadians who will inherit the Alliance in the coming decades. I worked with 13 other leaders to advise Secretary General Jens Stoltenburg and offer recommendations for the NATO 2030 agenda. We considered the impacts of emerging and disruptive technologies on the defence efforts by the Alliance, and consulted on measures to move towards a more sustainable future. It was invaluable to hear and see up close the perspectives of not only my co-Leaders, but also the Parliamentarians, the leaders in the private sector, and the civil servants from NATO countries who all contributed their wisdom to the initiative. It was an honour to be a small part of shaping NATO’s future.
Q: Since the events of October 7, 2023, you’ve been a vocal supporter of Israel and Jewish Canadians as they face discrimination. How did you come to have such a strong stance on this issue?
MP KEVIN VUONG: As a visible minority, I know what it’s like to experience discrimination and racism. I sympathize with Jewish Canadians who have been targeted and attacked based on their ethnicity. I also believe in the right of the State of Israel to exist, and to exist peacefully, and I’ve spoken out against terrorist organizations who want to destroy that right. It’s alarming to see the spike in antisemitic acts in our country, and I’ll always stand against hate speech and discrimination. Those who have been silent must recognize that someone who hates a person for being Jewish would also hate me for being of Chinese heritage as they would hate my wife and I for being Catholic. It’s why I sponsored a petition to Parliament this summer calling for our government to take strong action to combat the proliferation of hate speech in Canada. The Jewish community, like all Canadians, deserves to live without fear.
Q: You’ve also been vocal about the rights of communities with regards to the introduction of drug injection sites in their neighbourhoods. What do you see as the best outcome around this issue?
MP KEVIN VUONG: The best outcome is one where those living with addiction are given the support they need to break the cycle of addiction. It’s easier said than done as substance abuse is a complex issue and there is no silver bullet, but what is straightforward is the fact that you do not make a community safer by sacrificing the safety of one vulnerable group – children – for another. You don’t have to be a public safety expert to know that locating sites where dangerous illicit drugs will be consumed should not be by schools and daycares. Most importantly, a democratic society does not force decisions with significant consequences on communities without giving them a say.
We need to provide proper support and treatment facilities to address the epidemic of addiction in our city, province, and country. But that common-sense compassion for addicts cannot extend to inviting them to practice a drug-use lifestyle, with all of the chaos and criminality that it brings, into otherwise peaceful neighborhoods, in the name of sharing the burden. The externalities of drug injection sites cannot be isolated – they can and have harmed communities, and no amount of statistic-skewing can erase that simple fact. When you build these sites without adequate support and treatment facilities to go along with them, you’re making a bad thing worse, and you’re hurting families who are trying to raise their children without having to walk around needles and the risk associated with the illegal drug ecosystem. It’s a significant public safety issue, and I’ll continue to do everything I can to protect my constituents and advocate for real solutions.
Q: You’ve recently called for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to release the names of the 11 MPs who have allegedly been implicated in a foreign interference investigation. Why do you feel it’s important for the Prime Minister to do this immediately?
MP KEVIN VUONG: This is another safety issue, but it’s much bigger – it’s an issue of national security. There is no excuse for the Prime Minister to withhold these names, which have been known since April, from other Parliamentarians and, most importantly, from the Canadian public. These are serious allegations of foreign interference in our election process and our democratic institutions. Until we know who is involved, wittingly or unwittingly, as they say, there’s a cloud of suspicion over all MPs and Senators, and over our entire system of government. We know we have foreign interference here in Canada, particularly by the Chinese Communist Party whose interests and tactics are well known. I believe that I was also targeted by them for my anti-CCP stance. I’ve consistently advocated for full disclosure of the names and will continue to do so until all of them are released. Canadians deserve to know the truth.
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