Joe Tay

Joe Tay is a Hong Kong-Canadian actor, singer and politician.

Joe Tay
鄭敬基
Joe Tay in 2014
Born	British Hong Kong
Alma mater	University of Toronto[1]
Occupations	Politician Actor Singer TV Host Radio personality
Political party	Conservative Party of Canada
Movement	Hong Kong democracy movement
Partner(s)	Winsome ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 1998)​ [2] Angie (麥曉安) ​ ​ (m. 2016)​ [3]
Children	2
Musical career
Genres	Cantopop
Instrument(s)	Guitar, Piano
Years active	1986 -
Website	Joe Tay | Don Valley North | Conservative Candidate

Early life

Tay was born into a Christian Hong Kong family. His name "King Kei" and his twin sister's name "Oi Kei" mean "to revere and love Christ".^{[4][dead link]} He went to Canada for undergraduate studies and enrolled in the University of Toronto in 1981. He returned to Hong Kong after graduating in 1985.^[5][6]

Career

In 1986, Tay co-founded the musical duo Wind and Cloud (風雲樂隊) with university colleague Ringo Chan. The duo gained recognition with their song "Anita."^[7] After the duo disbanded, Tay continued his music career. Beyond music, Tay expanded into acting, securing roles in television series produced by TVB and RTHK, as well as in films, with notable television appearances such as Burning Flame.^[8]

In September 2019, TVB stopped renewing his contract, which was believed to be related to his participation in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests.^[9] On July 2020, he revealed that he and his family had returned to Canada and would continue to push for democracy in Hong Kong from overseas.^[10]

In 2021, he started the YouTube channel "HongKonger Station" in Canada. On 22 January 2024, he announced on his channel that he would run for the 2025 Canadian federal election in the riding of Markham—Unionville as a Conservative Party candidate against former MP Bob Saroya.^[11]

On December 24, 2024, the Hong Kong Police Force's National Security Department issued a warrant for Tay's arrest and offered a bounty of HK$1,000,000. The HKPD alleged that Tay violated the Hong Kong National Security Law, including charges of "inciting secession" and "colluding with foreign forces". The warrant and bounty are widely criticized as a form of "transnational repression" to "silence dissent",^[12][13] as well as an attempt to interfere with Canada's upcoming election.^[11] On the same day, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly, issued a statement saying that "Hong Kong authorities are targeting" Tay (and other people) for exercising freedom of speech and that Canada "deplores" the warrants and calls to "end prosecution of individuals under this law".^[14]

On 24 March 2025, the party shifted him to the riding of Don Valley North.^[15] During the 2025 Canadian federal election, Tay rejected an apology from Liberal Party candidate Paul Chiang who remarked in January that someone should claim the bounty place on Tay. Chiang later resigned after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police opened an investigation into Chiang's comment.^[16] In April, Canada's Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force identified an online repression campaign against Tay involving amplification of content against him and suppression of keywords related to him on China-based social networks.^[17]

Electoral record

v t e 2025 Canadian federal election: Don Valley North
The 2025 general election will be held on April 28.
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Green	Andrew Armstrong
	Liberal	Maggie Chi
	No affiliation	Xiaohua Gong
	People's	Ivan Milivojevic
	New Democratic	Naila Saeed
	Conservative	Joe Tay
Total valid votes/expense limit
Total rejected ballots
Turnout
Eligible voters
Source: Elections Canada[18]