A member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP), he has served in the cabinets of Premiers John Horgan and David Eby.

[3] Chow reassessed his position on the safe injection site following its 2003 opening[5] and was subsequently recruited by Vision Vancouver to join its slate for his successful 2005 campaign.

[6] During the 2013 British Columbia general election, Chow contested the seat for Vancouver-Langara, a constituency which has only returned Liberal MLAs since its creation in 1991.

His tenure overlapped with a period of dramatic deterioration of Sino-Canadian relations, and Chow attracted numerous controversies for his perceived close relationship with Chinese Communist Party and its supporters.

[10] During the 2020 election, #NoBCforXi, a coalition of pro-Hong Kong, Uyghur and Tibetan human rights activists, deemed Chow to be “CCP leaning”.

A month after Meng was released, Chow appeared at an October 2021 event at Jack Poole Plaza hosted by organizations with direct links the United Front Work Department to celebrate the countdown to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the Chinese National Day Golden Week.

[11] In December 2022, less than a week prior to his demotion from cabinet and in the wake of rare protests in China and Vancouver calling for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s resignation, Chow attended the BC-Guangdong Economic and Trade Summit, hosted by the Canada China Business Council, and sat beside the newly arrived Chinese Consul General to Vancouver at the head table.