For the California Dreams actress, please see Jennie Kwan.

Jenny Wai Ching Kwan （Chinese: 關慧貞; pinyin: Guān Hùizhēn）is a Chinese-born Canadian politician. She is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party and currently serving as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the 39th Parliament of British Columbia.

Kwan emigrated to Canada at age 9 from Hong Kong. She graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts in criminology and was a community legal advocate in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

In 1993, Kwan became the youngest-ever member of Vancouver City Council. She was the sole representative of the COPE party throughout her term on council.

In 1996, she moved to provincial politics. She ran in the electoral district of former Premier Michael Harcourt who had resigned. Running in the East Vancouver electoral district of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, she successfully won her seat for the NDP.

After two years in a variety of parliamentary secretary positions, Kwan was promoted to cabinet as Minister of Municipal Affairs. She remained in cabinet from 1998 to 2001, going on to serve as Minister of Women’s Equality and Minister of Community Development, Cooperatives and Volunteers.

Kwan, along with Joy MacPhail, was one of two NDP MLAs to survive the party's electoral wipeout of 2001. She has since served as the chair of the standing committee on public accounts in the legislature.

Kwan, as expected by many pundit, was re-elected in the 2005 British Columbia Provincial Election; she was one of only 2 MLA's from the New Democratic Party to face re-election. The other was Jagrup Brar.

In the 2009 British Columbia Provinicial Election, Kwan was easily re-elected for the fourth straight time as MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant. She received 11,196 votes or 64% of the vote.

Between the 2001 and 2005 elections, Kwan was invited by director Ling Chiu to play the part of eldest sister in the 2004 short film A Fortune In Frozen Dim Sum.

Jenny is married and lives in East Vancouver with her husband, daughter, son and stepson.

External links

• Jenny Wai Ching Kwan