Bob Mackin
The president of a real estate agency that markets to Chinese-speaking buyers and sellers admits the artificial intelligence-generated graphic he posted to his WeChat account was “factually wrong.”
In a July 21 commentary, Jason Liu of Luxmore Group Realty pointed to a poll that suggested Coun. Kash Heed is a frontrunner in the race to become Richmond’s next mayor and urged the Chinese community to vote in the Oct. 17 election.
AI-generated image from Luxmore CEO Jason Liu’s WeChat account.
To represent Heed, Liu used a graphic showing a South Asian male in a turban, with an Indian flag backdrop.
“An ethnic group of 7.4% of the population is most likely to win the throne of mayor of a city with more than half Chinese,“ said a translation of Liu’s commentary.
Former B.C. solicitor general and West Vancouver Police chief Heed is Canadian — born in Kamloops — and does not wear a turban. He called Liu’s commentary “divisive.”
“People get put off because that’s not what Canadian society is,” Heed told theBreaker. “And if you think you’re actually helping a particular candidate based on race, the paradox is no, you’re not. You’re making it worse.”
Not Luxmore’s official position: Liu
A reporter reached Liu by phone for comment. Liu claimed he could not hear the reporter and said he would only communicate by email.
In a prepared response, Liu wrote: “The only target of criticism in my articles is the Chinese-Canadian community’s own 24.5% municipal turnout in 2022.”
Liu said he does not support, advise or endorse or work for any candidate and paid nothing nor received any payment for his commentary. Liu’s commentary is surrounded by Luxmore branding, but he denied it is the official position of the company.
Luxmore Realty Group CEO Jason Liu. (Luxmore)
“My stated position, published in Chinese and in my own English translation, is that I support whichever candidate Richmond voters elect on a high turnout — of any ethnicity,” Liu said by email.
In his bio, Liu describes himself as “a visionary entrepreneur operating at the cutting-edge intersection of AI engineering and luxury real estate. By introducing the Luxmore AI-native infrastructure, he empowers realtors to become tech-driven experts who deliver a seamless, premium experience to clients.”
Liu celebrated Liberal wins in controversial 2021 election
After the 2021 federal election, Liu celebrated Liberal Parm Bains’s upset of Hong Kong-born Kenny Chiu, the Steveston-Richmond East Conservative MP sanctioned by China’s Communist government.
“If you offend the Chinese, the whole group will be punished!” said an English translation of Liu’s commentary.
Liu also called the Conservative Party “extremist.”
Then-leader Erin O’Toole’s 2021 platform labelled the Chinese Communist Party a threat to Canada and promised a crackdown on real estate money laundering and a ban on foreign real estate purchases. O’Toole also criticized China’s treatment of ethnic and religious minorities.
Foreign interference was felt at the riding level in 2019 and 2021, according to 2025’s Hogue Commission final report. The Communications Security Establishment warned in 2024 that WeChat “has been used to spread misinformation, disinformation and malinformation and propaganda specific to the Chinese diaspora.”
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