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For the week of June 29, 2025: thePodcast before Canada Day and U.S. Independence Day explores two urgent cross-border security issues. 

Hear Canada’s fentanyl czar, Kevin Brosseau, deliver the keynote speech to the Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute’s 2025 Asset Recovery conference. The former senior RCMP officer outlines the most-important assignment of his career. 

Alan Mullen, who was chief of staff to the B.C. legislature’s 2017-2020 speaker Darryl Plecas, reflects on his meeting with the late Melissa Hortman. Mullen said Canadian authorities must do more to combat political violence after the June 14 assassination of the Minnesota legislature’s ex-speaker.

As usual, Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and the Virtual Nanaimo Bar.

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For the week of June 29, 2025:

Bob Mackin

The tourism minister responsible for B.C. co-hosting the 2026 World Cup said the NDP government told FIFA it wants more matches at B.C. Place Stadium, if one of the other 15 cities cannot deliver.

“Why couldn’t we host eight or nine or 10?” Spencer Chandra Herbert told CTV News. “We made that offer.”

NDP minister Spencer Chandra Herbert (right) with FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani on June 11, 2025 outside B.C. Place Stadium.(Mackin)

On June 24, the government released an updated budget for seven matches and the FIFA Fan Festival in June and July 2026. The $624 million estimate is more than double the original 2022 budget and will go higher, because the province needs more federal security funding.

Chandra Herbert spokesperson Jill Nessel told theBreaker.news that he was “unavailable for an interview at this time” and refused to say when he might be available.

The FIFA budget hike came the week after the Ministry of Health discontinued its $1 million a year payment for a drug to treat a nine-year-old Langford girl with a rare disease. The parents of Batten disease patient Charleigh Pollock were told that Canada’s Drug Agency recommended it stop funding the drug. Premier David Eby dismissed granting an exemption. He said June 25 that he prefers physicians, instead of politicians, make the decisions.

“There is no happy solution here,” Eby said.

Coincidentally, Chandra Herbert’s son Dev was diagnosed with a rare disease. Chandra Herbert revealed in May 2023 that he had relocated from his Vancouver West End riding to the Victoria suburb Colwood because of his son’s medical needs. The BC United opposition had discovered Chandra Herbert spent $70,000 traveling from Vancouver to Victoria since 2019.

“My son’s been very sick, he got sick here in Victoria, he’s been in and out of Victoria General, it’s been the worst year and a half of my life,” Chandra Herbert told reporters. “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

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Bob Mackin The tourism minister responsible for B.C.

Bob Mackin

Elections BC has ordered Vancouver’s mayor and the financial agent of his political party to pay almost $12,000 in fines for violating campaign financing laws.

Vancouver city hall (Mackin)

A June 24 enforcement notice named ABC Vancouver leader Ken Sim and financial agent Corey Sue for accepting prohibited donations and failing to return contributions within the legal deadline.

ABC raised $2 million for the successful 2022 campaign to dominate city hall, park board and school board elections. Individual donations to parties and candidates in 2022 were capped at $1,250. Unlike federal and provincial donations, they are not tax deductible.

A rival party said the fines that total $11,888 are a “slap on the wrist.” TEAM for a Livable Vancouver president Chris Johnson called for law reforms because the low fines have become “a manageable cost of campaigning.”

Elections BC fined ABC $5,248 for accepting 11 prohibited donations totalling $13,125.74. Sim accepted 12 prohibited donations totalling $14,204.10 and was fined $5,680. Elections BC also fined Sim $960 for failing to return $2,400 in donations.

Elections BC could have issued up to $60,000 in fines, but said ABC co-operated with the investigation and had not been previously penalized.

The investigation, which began in spring 2024, included reviews of the party’s PayPal account, Square payment system and bank statements from the 2022 campaign.

Costly defeat

Sim defeated incumbent mayor Kennedy Stewart, whose Forward Together party was slapped with a $7,392 fine for failure to pay creditors.

Under the Election Act, an unpaid debt for an election expense is counted as a campaign contribution if unpaid six months after the due date.

Elections BC investigators determined Stewart’s campaign owed $287,792.86 to 13 vendors. Some of those suppliers agreed to payment plans and one, ad agency Point Blank Creative, filed a lawsuit.

“It is estimated the total amount owed to vendors after six months of the debts becoming due is $61,276.79,” said the June 24 Elections BC letter. “In some cases, attempts to enter a payment plan may have gone unanswered,” said the notice. It included a list of six suppliers: Amacon, Loden Hotel (Amacon), Marine Printers, Research Co. and Toptable. The biggest bill was the $18,624.17 owing to Marine Printers.

Forward Together could have been fined as much as $122,553.60.

Multiple violations

Mark Marissen (right) with Daoping Bao, his daughter and Sam Sullivan (Marissen/Facebook)

Progress Vancouver was fined $13,740, almost two years after Elections BC deregistered the party and disqualified all of its candidates from running until after the 2026 general local elections.

Progress Vancouver’s founder, longtime Liberal Party operative Mark Marissen, finished fourth in the 2022 race for the mayoralty. .

Elections BC cited Marissen’s party for accepting a contribution other than through a financial agent and accepting a prohibited loan. Both financial agents were also fined for accepting prohibited contributions. One of them also failed to return prohibited contributions.

In the most-serious case, which attracted a $4,500 fine, Progress Vancouver told Elections BC in August 2023 that it accepted a prohibited loan for $45,000. By February 2025, $41,766.20 was still outstanding.

Marissen had originally disclosed to Elections BC that the loan from Jason McLean was worth $50,000 in order “to finance the day-to-day administration of Progress Vancouver’s elector organization office intended to operate on a continuing basis outside campaign periods.”

The McLean loan was due for repayment on the Oct. 15, 2022 election day, subject to a 5% interest rate.

Elections BC had the discretion to fine Progress Vancouver as much as $32,000.

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The Two Rennies

Meanwhile, Elections BC fined Namrata Takkar, the financial agent for Vision Vancouver, $750 regarding two donations from real estate marketer Bob Rennie.

Rennie donated the maximum $1,250 to the party on July 7, 2022. He made another donation, under Robert Rennie, for the same amount on Oct. 14, 2022. Elections BC deemed the second donation illegal and also found that Takkar did not return the contribution within 30 days of becoming aware it was prohibited.

The NDP/Liberal Vision Vancouver coalition dominated civic politics from 2008 to 2018 under then-Mayor Gregor Robertson, who made a comeback in 2025 as the Liberal housing minister under Prime Minister Mark Carney.

In 2024, Vision Vancouver reported $70.92 in contributions.

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Bob Mackin Elections BC has ordered Vancouver’s mayor

Bob Mackin

One-hundred years ago today, the South Coast of British Columbia experienced the kind of weather that would not happen again until June 2021.

An unusual heat wave during the long days just after the summer solstice, with little relief during the short, hot nights.

“Whole Coast is Gasping For Air” screamed the Vancouver Province front page headline on June 25, 1925.

Fire in Rapid Creek area. Photo taken from downtown Vancouver in 1925 (L. Frank photo; courtesy Vancouver Public Library, cat. No. 5997).

The hottest day of that year, 29.4 degrees Celsius by noon. Vancouver beaches “began to resemble the sacred watering places of India, so great was the crowd seeking relief.”

Ishmael Aeli, a 40-year-old, collapsed in front of his home on East Hastings near Abbott. He was in serious condition.

“Hot weather passed the joke stage today,” the Province reported.

Vancouver was not alone. Medford, Ore. reached 42.6 degrees Celsius. Aberdeen, Wash. 37.7 degrees. A day earlier, Portland was 37.2.

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Even B.C.’s capital Victoria was sweltering. The Daily Colonist newspaper reported that it experienced bright sunshine on average 15 hours per day for three days and the thermometer hit 31 degrees at the Gonzales Observatory on June 24, 1925.

“The warmest day in June since the records were kept here, covering the long period of 51 years, was reported here yesterday,” according to the Colonist.

Conditions were ripe for wildfires.

On the June 26, 1925 front page, “Fire Wipes Out West Coast Indian Village of Clayoquot.”

Twenty-three houses and the Roman Catholic Mission Church burned. No mention of lives lost or injuries in the telegram.

A bigger, more consequential fire on Vancouver’s North Shore, near what is today Capilano Lake.

“Two bridges, one donkey engine, more than 1,000 acres of logged off lands and about 300,000 feet of merchandisable timber on the outskirts of timberlands went up in flames [June 25] when fire starting this afternoon, three miles above the Capilano intake spread rapidly to the surrounding country.”

Officials of the Capilano Logging Company said they brought it under control. But that was only temporary.

The Rapid Creek Fire, as it came to be known, burned through the summer. Protecting the watershed became a primary focus of the 1924-formed Greater Vancouver Water District and its 1926-hired Commissioner Ernest Cleveland.

Fast forward to 2021, when 619 people died of heat-related illness between June 25-July 1, according to the B.C. Coroners Service. The deadliest natural disaster in Canadian history.

It reached 38 Celsius with humidex in Abbotsford on the first day, 40 Celsius in Victoria on June 28 and an all-time Canadian record 49.6 Celsius in Lytton on June 29, 2021.

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Bob Mackin One-hundred years ago today, the South

Bob Mackin

The cost of hosting FIFA World Cup 26 in Vancouver has increased again — up to 140% higher than the original 2022 estimate.

In April 2024, the B.C. NDP government estimated it would cost $483 million to $581 million to stage seven matches at B.C. Place Stadium and a Fan Festival at the PNE in June and July of 2026. Vancouver will also host the 76th FIFA Congress in April 2026.

FIFA World Cup 26 countdown clock unveiling in Vancouver on June 11, 2025 (Mackin)

In a background report linked to a June 24 tourism ministry news release, the NDP government said the new estimate is $532 million to $624 million. That includes direct costs of $261 million to $281 million to City of Vancouver, but not the $135 million to build the Freedom Mobile Arch amphitheatre at the PNE.

Further increases are possible, according to the five-page, cost update background report.

“Updates to hosting requirements, confirmation of which teams will play here, finalizing the FIFA Fan Festival and updating safety and security plans will help to further refine the gross core cost estimate range,” said the report, which does not contain an author’s name. “Gross core cost estimates have assumed a general inflation rate of 3% per year for operating costs and 6% per year for capital costs. In addition, the gross core cost estimate includes contingency allocations of up to 25% for operating and capital costs to account for normal risks.”

The province says there are $145 million in contingencies built-in and it assumes raising $250 million to $260 million in a 2.5% City of Vancouver hotel room tax through 2030.

When Vancouver was named one of 16 FIFA host cities in 2022, the province estimated the cost total $240 million to $260 million.

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Now, the province estimates that, after revenues and recoveries, the net cost could be $85 million to $145 million. But that is also subject to change, due to inflation, supply chains and less-than-expected revenue from the host city commercial program, which offers local sponsorship packages beginning at $195,000.

There is another, big question mark.

The province and City of Vancouver need more from the federal government than the $116 million already promised. Public Safety Canada has refused to disclose to theBreaker.news its budget for World Cup safety and security and other federal services in Vancouver and Toronto.

“The province and its partners anticipate that the federal government will be a full partner in helping to manage and fund extraordinary risks that materialize for the FIFA World Cup 26 event, such as potential global economic downturns, natural disasters like fires and floods and increasing threat levels from rising geopolitical tensions,” the backgrounder says.

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Bob Mackin The cost of hosting FIFA World

Bob Mackin

An embarrassing situation for the Surrey Police Service (SPS).

A photograph circulating online appears to show one of the force’s marked sport utility vehicles in a ditch — displaying the “safer, stronger, together” slogan — with a Surrey Fire Service truck in the background.

Surrey Police Service SUV in a Newton ditch.

Sgt. Tige Pollock, the force’s public information officer, confirmed it is legitimate. No officers or citizens were injured when the SUV wound up in a Newton ditch on June 23.

“The incident occurred yesterday at approximately 11:25 a.m. near King George Boulevard and Hall Road,” Pollock said by email. “Officers were responding to assist RCMP Surrey Provincial Operations Support Unit members with an investigation.”

Damage to the vehicle is unknown at this time, Pollock said.

The incident happened, coincidentally, while the SPS is in the market for 11 Chevrolet Police Tahoes, two Chevrolet Police Silverados and “supplier(s) to provide a variety of SUVs and vans for its fleet.”

Deadline for bids is July 10.

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Bob Mackin An embarrassing situation for the Surrey

Bob Mackin

In a new B.C. Supreme Court filing, Elections BC admits its vote-by-mail team erred in the Surrey-Guildford riding, where NDP candidate Garry Begg won by 22 votes on a judicial recount.

But it says the Conservative Party of B.C. runner-up, Honveer Singh Randhawa, filed a petition to invalidate the result more than a month after the deadline.

Premier David Eby named Begg solicitor general after the recount gave the NDP a slim 47-seat majority in the 93-seat Legislature. Randhawa held a 103-vote edge on election night, but wants the result invalidated and a by-election ordered due to irregularities.

John Rustad (left) and Honveer Singh Randhawa (IG)

In a June 19 response, Elections BC chief Anton Boegman and returning officer Rana Malhi said mail-in voting packages for 22 voters were requested Oct. 4 and 7, 2024, with a common email address and phone number. Each requested package used the last six digits of a social insurance number as the voter’s unique identifier.

Elections BC had decided before the election to permit an individual to assist more than one voter with a mail-in package, provided the individual was appointed as an election official under the Election Act.

“Upon receiving these requests, the [three-member] vote by mail team noticed the pattern of multiple requests originating from a single source and session; however, the team also noted that the requests came from a care facility with resident individuals,” said the court filing.

“The vote by mail team decided to fulfill the requests from (censored) to ensure the voters received their mail-in voting packages on time. However, the team failed to follow-up with the district electoral officer, Ms. Malhi, to confirm that an individual at (censored) was appointed as an election official.”

Elections BC said all 22 certification envelopes were signed, but three were not counted as they did not meet certain requirements for counting. It also said no individual was identified as assisting a voter on any of the 22 packages.

Elections BC said that Randhawa should have filed his petition no later than Dec. 12, a month after the writ for the riding was returned and the result declared official.

“This admission sharply contrasts Elections BC’s public narrative,” said Randhawa’s lawyer, Sunny Uppal. “In their 2024 provincial election report, Elections BC repeatedly praised the security of mail-in ballots and their successful administration of B.C.’s 2024 provincial election, while also accusing Mr. Randhawa and the Conservative Party of spreading misinformation. At no point in their 2024 provincial election report, did Elections BC disclose their now admitted error.”.

In a June 18 decision, ahead of a hearing to decide Randhawa’s petition, Justice Barbara Norell ruled that identities of voters be redacted from the court documents and replaced with an agreed number, such as Voter 1, and that any names be banned from publication.

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Bob Mackin In a new B.C. Supreme Court

Bob Mackin

Construction of the 10,000-seat Freedom Mobile Arch at the PNE has surpassed the halfway mark with less than a year until its scheduled opening.

PNE President Shelley Frost said on June 20 that the $135 million-budgeted concert venue is on track for completion in May 2026, in time to be the centrepiece of Vancouver’s FIFA Fan Festival at the PNE.

The original price tag was supposed to be $65 million.

“Like you are hearing everywhere, this is a challenging construction cost time, but we are still looking to be on track, and on track with time,” Frost told theBreaker.news. “We do still have some pieces that need to be tendered and so we’ll know the final cost once those final pieces are tendered.”

Frost’s name appeared in the B.C. Registry of Lobbyists in April, targeting the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport — the ministry leading provincial preparations for FIFA World Cup 26 — in search of general program and project funding.

“We’re just putting a more formalized structure in place where we can have some conversations about how to bring all three levels of government to the table to help support an incredible venue,” Frost said.

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Frost said she is seeking both capital funding and support for major events and festivals, at a time when U.S. tariffs are affecting construction material prices.

“Those are the kinds of things that are always on our mind. But anything that we can do to reduce the load on the PNE, in terms of the amount that needs to be paid back [to city hall], is just helpful for us, to be able to start investing into other parts of the site,” Frost said.

The vast, wooden roof of the Freedom Mobile Arch will be longer than the 2008-opened Richmond Olympic Oval. The latter used lumber from pine beetle-killed B.C. interior forests. Meanwhile, for the Arch, Frost said “a lot of it is coming from Quebec, but it is all-Canadian wood.”

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Bob Mackin Construction of the 10,000-seat Freedom Mobile

For the week of June 22, 2025: For two days last week, legal experts from across Canada, U.S., U.K. and Ireland discussed ways and means of taking away ill-gotten gains from criminals. 

Kim Campbell, Canada’s first female attorney general and defence minister, chaired the Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute’s 2025 conference on asset forfeiture. She became the country’s first and only female Prime Minister in 1993. 

In the closing address of the two-day conference, Campbell sounded the alarm about the rule of law and privacy under Donald Trump’s second presidency. On this edition of thePodcast, hear Campbell’s full speech. 

As usual, Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and the Virtual Nanaimo Bar.

CLICK BELOW to listen or watch. Or go to TuneIn, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

NEW: Subscribe to theBreaker.news on Substack. Find out how: Click here.

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For the week of June 22, 2025:

Bob Mackin

Vancouver city hall rubber-stamped the renaming of Trutch Street on June 17 after keeping the program secret for years.

In September 2022, the Musqueam Indian Band proposed a new name for the street, from the surname of B.C.’s controversial first lieutenant-governor to “šxʷməθkʷəy ̓ əmasəm,” or Musqueamview Street. It held a ceremony with then-Mayor Kennedy Stewart.

Design for the new signs replacing Trutch Street in Vancouver (Pete Fry/City of Vancouver)

When theBreaker.news sought an update almost a year later, and with Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC party in power, bureaucrats at 12th and Cambie demanded payment of $270 for briefing notes and reports about the feasibility, logistics and cost/benefit analysis for renaming. theBreaker.news wanted to know about changing the signs, changing the name on maps and in databases for Canada Post, ICBC and BC Hydro.

Kevin Tuerlings in the information and privacy office claimed it would take 12 hours to search, compile and process the records. He suggested in a Sept. 16, 2023 letter to narrow the request to feasibility, logistics and cost/benefit analysis,” because records held by Engineering Strategy and Standards could be found within three hours.

theBreaker.news agreed. But, on Dec. 5, 2023, city hall opted to withhold all responsive records.

A letter said the city feared disclosure could harm intergovernmental relations or Indigenous self-governance or treaty negotiations. It also feared release of the information could cause “damage to or interfere with the conservation of fossil sites, natural sites, valuable anthropological or heritage sites, or endangered, threatened, vulnerable or rare living resources.”

The renaming of Trutch Street was communicated to the public as an act of reconciliation and the signs are created by the city’s sign shop of synthetic material.

After City of Victoria decided to rename its Trutch Street as “Su’it Street,” Victoria city hall disclosed records, showing $3,124 in costs to change the name, including $900 in payments to three local First Nations members for attending the 2022 renaming ceremony.

Vancouver’s sign shop was already printing signs the weekend before the council vote and an unveiling ceremony was already scheduled for June 20, the day before National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Prior to Sir Joseph William Trutch representing Queen Victoria in B.C. from 1871 1876, he was the B.C. land commissioner who reduced the size of Indian reserves.

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Bob Mackin Vancouver city hall rubber-stamped the renaming