Bob Mackin
One of NDP leader David Eby’s key campaign handlers quit his job as press secretary in the Office of the Premier in March to become a lobbyist with the University of Victoria (UVic).
During the snap election campaign, Jimmy Smith is on leave from the university’s government relations department, according to its website.
Jimmy Smith nodding to David Eby on Oct. 14, 2026 (Mackin)
Jimmy Smith and twin brother George Smith accompanied Eby to the only televised debate of the snap election on Oct. 14 at the CBC studios. During the post-debate news conference, Jimmy Smith stood on the camera riser directly in front of Eby and nodded throughout the Premier’s time at the microphone.
In April, when theBreaker inquired, UVic’s communications office said university staff are not required to register with the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists (ORL), as most public post-secondary institutions are defined as provincial entities.
UVic’s 2025-2026 three-year plan forecast $312.8 million in provincial grants this fiscal year.
The Smith twins are not related to Matt Smith, Eby’s chief of staff from 2022 to 2024 who left the Office of the Premier with a $278,629 termination settlement before Christmas 2024. That Smith is now executive vice-president for Western Canada at Pollara Strategic Insights.
Jimmy Smith is not the only lobbyist on Team Eby.
Richard Zussman, the star candidate in Saanich South, left Global TV in late 2025 to become vice-president of public affairs for Burson (formerly Hill and Knowlton).
Before the election, Zussman was registered to lobby the NDP government for five clients: Mazda Canada Inc., ALK-Abello Pharmaceuticals Inc., Dexcom Canada Co., Seqirus Canada Inc. and Northeastern University.
All five Zussman registrations are listed as inactive.
In West Vancouver-Capilano, the NDP candidate is Honieh Barzegari.
Barzegari’s LinkedIn profile said she has a 2003 medical doctor degree from Islamic Azad University in Tehran, Iran. Instead, she works as a public affairs principal with the lobbying firm Earnscliffe. She is not registered in the ORL.
Barzegari had a job inside the NDP government from March 2023 to September 2025, as ministerial advisor in the Office of the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs and in the Office of the Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport.
Last June, the Eby cabinet appointed Barzegari to the board of Langara College until the end of July 2027.
B.C.’s Lobbyist Transparency Act sets a two-year prohibition on lobbying for a former member of cabinet or individual formerly employed in the office of a cabinet member or parliamentary secretary.
The law also prohibits a lobbyist from giving or promising a gift or benefit, directly or indirectly, to a public office holder that the lobbyist is lobbying.
Around the Rim
In Focus Taiwan, five people were charged in New Taipei for allegedly staging a motor vehicle crash that injured anti-Xi Jinping comedian Huang Yi-hao.
Prosecutors allege a Chinese national paid people to attack Huang on Sept. 11. Five suspects are accused of working to “suppress dissent, create fear in society and undermine Taiwan’s democracy and rule of law.”
Huang satirized Xi’s appearance, including his resemblance to Winnie the Pooh, and mocked his education.
ABC News Australia reported that fishermen in Port Lincoln fishermen rescued a kangaroo three kilometres offshore.
“Diver and farmer Jake Murray was able to keep the waterlogged animal calm as the boat ferried it back to shore.”
When the boat returned to dry land, the kangaroo rested and then bounded away.
Beijing’s watch over Hong Kong is increasing.
Hong Kong Free Press reported CCTV cameras at Hong Kong malls to be linked to police surveillance network.
“The police force was in the final stages of discussion with private shopping centres, with an aim of bringing 60,000 cameras into the integrated police system by 2028.”
Police commissioner Joe Chow said in February that facial recognition would be incorporated in police-managed surveillance cameras “within this year.”
Cascadia Calling
The story of the deepfake that wasn’t, in the Oregonian.
A clip, allegedly from Somali TV of Minnesota, shows Washington County Commissioner Nafisa Fai in front of an upside down American flag. Oregon Journalism Project reported it was a deepfake.
Fai’s campaign “couldn’t say for sure whether the screenshot was real. Fai said she had tried to get the original video or photos from the event, to no avail.” The Oregon Journalism Project retracted its story.
Sound Transit says it needs $10 billion to expand light rail to Ballard by 2042.
The Seattle Times reported on a meeting at the National Nordic Museum that also heard that a tunnel from Sodo to downtown and Seattle Center would cost $18 billion.
“The public already pays $2.4 billion a year or $700 per capita to Sound Transit in property, sales and car-tab taxes, half borne by businesses, to finance the nation’s biggest local transit expansion. The current 58-mile system serves 165,000 daily riders, steadily growing as lines extend.”
A Canadian living in Point Roberts, Wash. has died at age 61, after being targeted for deportation for allegedly voting in a U.S. election.
Paige Adamson, 61, had been held last month for six hours by U.S. border police and ordered to appear at a November hearing. Cascadia Dailiy News reported she had been feeling ill after a fall at her home and reluctant to see a doctor, for fear of being barred from re-entering Point Roberts.
