Recent Posts
Connect with:
Thursday / October 23.
  • No products in the cart.
HomeStandard Blog Whole Post

For the week of Oct. 19, 2025: 

Thanksgiving is over and Halloween is rapidly approaching. What better time for the MMA Panel’s quarterly look back and look ahead? 

Mario Canseco of Research Co and Andy Yan of the Simon Fraser University City Program joined host Bob Mackin for a live taping at Apollo’s on Commercial Drive. 

Plus, more from Alan Mullen, former chief of staff to Speaker Darryl Plecas (2017-2020) and Paul Stanley, former chief security officer for the B.C. government (2017-2022).

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

CLICK BELOW to listen. Or go to TuneInApple 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.

theBreaker.news Podcast
theBreaker.news Podcast
thePodcast: MMA Panel Returns
Loading
/

For the week of Oct. 19, 2025:  Thanksgiving

Bob Mackin

By the end of June, the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant cost taxpayers $668.6 million and the $193 million provincial subsidy was spent.

That is according to the annual progress report from Metro Vancouver to the provincial government, obtained by theBreaker.news under freedom of information.

The report said the project was 28% complete as of June 30. It was supposed to be finished by 2020 for around $700 million. But, in March 2024, the Metro Vancouver board revealed the cost ballooned to $3.86 billion with a new deadline of 2030.

North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant construction site on July 10, 2024 (Mackin)

Premier David Eby has refused calls from the North Shore Neighbourhoods Alliance to convene a public inquiry. The Metro Vancouver board halted its review in July, due to the scheduled 2027 civil trial against original builder Acciona.

Cost comparison

Top three line items through June: Design builder: $311.17 million; General contractor: $132.32 million; Designer $92.19 million.

Could the cost increase again? The report pointed to uncertainty around Trump tariffs.

Meanwhile, it also revealed the construction site is too small for storage and staging. So builder PCL leased 15 acres in Chilliwack — some 100 kilometres east — for project materials and equipment, including a covered area to keep equipment dry.

“This single site will minimize the amount of staff required to receive equipment, provide security, and will be easier to operate than multiple smaller sites,” the report said.

Critter removal

The election day storm on Oct. 19, 2024 flooded the Building 22 Influent Pump Station tank.

Meanwhile, in April, “a river otter was relocated from site, in coordination with the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship.”

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

Bob Mackin By the end of June, the

Bob Mackin

He got his start as an aide in Glen Clark’s NDP government almost 30 years ago. She is a business partner of jobs minister Ravi Kahlon’s sister.

On Oct. 10, a notice from Premier David Eby’s cabinet appointed William Duvall and Opreet Kang to the board of Clark-chaired BC Hydro through the end of July 2028.

Duvall and Kang will be paid a basic $17,250 per-year retainer and could earn up to $25,950 in meeting fees annually.

William Duvall (left) and Opreet Kang. (VCH/YouTube)

Local, regional government ties

Duvall is the former director of corporate safety, security and emergency management at Metro Vancouver. After eight years there, he joined District of North Vancouver as municipal solicitor in August 2024.

Coincidentally, the biggest construction project in the district is Metro’s $3 billion-over-budget North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Duvall began his career as ministerial assistant to NDP forests minister Dave Zirnhelt from 1996 to 1998. Zirnhelt famously said : “Don’t forget, government can do anything.”

Last May, North Vancouver district hall adopted the NDP government’s $10 charge on freedom of information applications.

Kang and Kahlon

Six months before the 2024 election, Kang partnered with Parm Kahlon to open the Core Firm consultancy. Kang was on the Vision Vancouver executive board from 2011 to 2018 and was elected to the NDP-aligned Vancity credit union board in 2023. The late John Horgan’s former chief of staff, Geoff Meggs, was among her endorsers.

Two-step

On March 31, the NDP government announced the installation of Duvall and Kang as health board chairs. Duvall in Vancouver Coastal Health, after Penny Ballem’s reassignment as CEO of Provincial Health Services Authority. Kang got a promotion from Fraser Health vice-chair to interim chair, when Jim Sinclair suddenly retired amid ongoing emergency room staff shortages.

Sinclair and Kang were named to the board shortly after the NDP came to power in 2017. Last fiscal year, Sinclair was paid $70,772.35 in retainer, fees and expenses, more than double Kang’s $32,720.20.

At VCH, Ballem made $72,307 as chair and Duvall $30,705.

The NDP processes patronage appointees through the Crown Agencies and Board Resourcing Office, headed by assistant deputy minister and longtime NDP insider Vanessa Geary.

When the BC Liberals were in government, it was known as the Board Resourcing and Development Office. BC Hydro and the health authorities are not subject to Merit Commissioner oversight.

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

Bob Mackin He got his start as an

For the week of Oct. 12, 2025:

New beginnings, the theme of the Thanksgiving Weekend edition of thePodcast.

Michael Sachs explains why he left Vancouver to become the senior director of the Jewish Federation of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he reacts to the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Also, the B.C. Legislature is back in session. What does the future hold for NDP Premier David Eby and Conservative opposition leader John Rustad? What about new Green leader Emily Lowan, who doesn’t have a seat in the Legislature?

Guests Alan Mullen (former chief of staff to ex-Speaker Darryl Plecas) and Paul Stanley (former B.C. government chief security officer).

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

CLICK BELOW to listen. 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.

theBreaker.news Podcast
theBreaker.news Podcast
thePodcast: Peace, politics and poultry
Loading
/

For the week of Oct. 12, 2025:

Scenes from the annual Taipei Economic and Cultural Office reception in Vancouver’s Fairmont Waterfront Centre Hotel on Oct. 4, hosted by director general Angel Liu.

The event marked the 114th Republic of China national day on Oct. 10 and included a parade of speeches by various federal, provincial and municipal politicians. Some emphatically applauded democratic Taiwan’s tenacity amid threats of invasion by the People’s Republic of China. Others carefully chose their words.

Some 45,000 Taiwanese-Canadians live in B.C., where the NDP government declared last July as Taiwan Heritage Month.

Two members of the Conservative Party of B.C. caucus attended, but did not show up on stage. According to senior assistant director of TECO, Hsiu-Chun Lao, Teresa Wat (Richmond-Bridgeport) arrived late and Hon Chan (Richmond Centre) left early.

On Sept. 23, according to the Chinese consulate, Wat and Chan attended a celebration of 76 years of Communist Party rule.

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

Scenes from the annual Taipei Economic and

Bob Mackin

Vancouver city hall refused to release a copy of all contracts, work orders, invoices and proof of payment about the replacement of Trutch Street signs with a name gifted by the Musqueam Indian Band.

theBreaker.news applied under the freedom of information law after the June 20 unveiling of new signs that read Musqueamview Street and šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm (pronounced “ShMusqueam-awsum”). City hall took an extra month because it claimed the request interfered with its operations. When it finally replied Oct. 6, it withheld all information, alleging that disclosure would harm intergovernmental relations and the interests of Indigenous people.

Signs on the former Trutch Street in Vancouver. (Mackin)

However, a document published on social media by Dallas Brodie, the OneBC MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena, shows the Musqueam Indian Band drafted a $33,500 budget for reimbursement of: expenses ($10,000), meeting fees ($6,000), work to design the signs, participate in a pronunciation video and lunch-and-learn sessions with city hall staff ($7,500) and planning and executing the renaming event ($10,000).

Payment revealed

Additional pages seen by theBreaker.news show Musqueam invoiced city hall $20,100 on June 16 for “capacity funding,” as per instructions to invoice for 60% of costs before and 40% after the event.

Another document shows that the city’s general manager of engineering services, Lon LaClaire, signed-off on $500 honorarium payments to Musqueam participants in the street renaming. The document does not indicate how many people were paid $500 to show up.

NDP uses UNDRIP to trump FOI law

Public bodies have the discretion to withhold information that could harm intergovernmental relations. In 2021, the NDP amended the FOI law to include “Indigenous cultural protections” clauses as part of its government-wide adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Trutch Street in Vancouver (Mackin)

However, in 2022, City of Victoria released documents to theBreaker.news that showed it spent $3,124 to change the name of its Trutch Street to “Su’it Street,” or truth street in the Lekwungen language. That included the cost of the signs and the event, with $900 in appearance fees paid to three local First Nation members.

Why ditch Trutch

Before he was B.C.’s first lieutenant-governor (1871-1876), Joseph Trutch worked as the land commissioner who disregarded aboriginal title and reduced the size of Indian reserves.

Deal with developers

Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh have overlapping land claims to a wide area that includes City of Vancouver, but none of the three is actively negotiating for self-government via the B.C. Treaty Commission.

The three tribes are partners in MST Development Corp., which requires Vancouver city council approval for its Jericho Lands, Heather Street Lands and former Liquor Distribution Branch site projects. MST partners include the federal Canada Lands Co. Crown corporation and Aquilini Investment Group, owner of the Vancouver Canucks.

In August, theBreaker.news reported that Premier David Eby and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim secretly signed a deal in September 2024 to pay the trio an initial $600,000 to participate in FIFA World Cup 26 planning meetings and events. The memorandum of understanding was not disclosed until after a photo op in late June of this year.

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

Bob Mackin Vancouver city hall refused to release

Bob Mackin

With just 245 days until kickoff, the parent ministry of the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency is refusing to disclose its budget for FIFA World Cup 26.

FIFA’s Vancouver and Toronto World Cup 26 logos (FIFA)

Toronto hosts the first of its six matches on June 11, 2026, opening day of the 16-city, North American tournament. Two days later, Vancouver hosts the first of its seven. Both cities are also sites of fan festival viewing parties through the July 19 final.

“Public Safety Canada, the CBSA and the RCMP are relying on existing resources to deliver essential federal services,” said a statement from spokesperson Louis-Carl Brissette Lesage. “Planning for safety and security operations of the event is ongoing; final costs will be made public post FIFA 2026.”

The Department of Canadian Heritage, which includes Sport Canada, is sticking to the $220 million figure it announced last year: $116 million for Vancouver and $104 million for Toronto. The money is earmarked for local operating and capital costs, “as well as providing essential services within federal jurisdiction, such as border, immigration, security, and health.”

Neither Public Safety Canada nor Canadian Heritage said whether additional funding is on the way in the Carney Liberal government’s Nov. 4 federal budget.

Rewind to 2010

FIFA 26, with Mexico and the United States, is Vancouver’s biggest global mega event since the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Vancouver’s 2003 Olympic bid book estimated security at $175 million. It ended up costing around $900 million.

Dave Jones, the co-lead for security with the Vancouver city hall’s FIFA 26 secretariat, said in a 2024 affidavit that World Cup security risks include terrorism, hacking, protest blockades, attack drones and vehicle ramming — one of which happened last April in Vancouver. Eleven people were killed at a Filipino cultural festival.

Big price tag

In April 2024, the B.C. NDP government estimated the FIFA 26 cost would range from $483 million to $581 million.

Last June, the estimate rose to $532 million-$624 million and the government said it expected more federal help.

“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,” said the spending update.

Teamwork?

Before Vancouver’s Olympic bid won in 2003, governments at all levels signed an agreement to define their roles, responsibilities and support for the project.

One does not exist for FIFA 26.

According to B.C.’s Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, “a multiparty agreement has not yet been finalized” between Ottawa and the host provinces and cities.

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

Bob Mackin With just 245 days until

For the week of Oct. 5, 2025:

In time for Taiwan’s 114th National Day on Oct. 10, highlights of an Aug. 27 panel discussion after the screening of “Invisible Nation,” a documentary that features Taiwan’s first female president, Tsai Ing-wen (2016-2024).

The democratic island nation, the size of Vancouver Island, thrives in the shadow of Communist China, whose leader, Xi Jinping, threatens to invade. 

Featuring: Filmmaker Vanessa Hope, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office director general Angel Liu, University of British Columbia political science Prof. Yves Tiberghien and moderator Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. (Footage courtesy of TECO Vancouver.)

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

CLICK BELOW to listen. 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.

theBreaker.news Podcast
theBreaker.news Podcast
thePodcast: Taiwan celebrates 114th national day, with hopes for many more
Loading
/

For the week of Oct. 5, 2025:

Bob Mackin

The organizers of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics faced a credit crunch just before and right after the Games, according to documents made public after a 15-year moratorium.
Details are contained in minutes of key Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) board meetings and confidential memos found by theBreaker.news in files unsealed Oct. 1 at the City of Vancouver Archives.

VANOC banker RBC sponsored the Vancouver 2010 torch relay. (RBC)

“Just in time” loan deal

VANOC struggled with the aftermath of the 2008 Great Recession. As the RBC-sponsored Olympic torch relay criss-crossed Canada, the bank and VANOC were in negotiations about reinstating VANOC’s borrowing agreement to $95 million, said minutes of a Nov. 18, 2009 board meeting. A crucial meeting was scheduled in Toronto on Nov. 27, 2009.

“The key challenge is ensuring that a credit facility sufficient to meet operational needs is in place. This is not currently the case,” said VANOC chief financial officer John McLaughlin’s risk report.

A crisis was averted, albeit temporarily and with help from taxpayers. Minutes for the board’s last pre-Games meeting on Jan. 20, 2010 state “the payment guarantee requested by RBC has been delivered by the Province of B.C.”

After the Games, VANOC faced another credit crunch, solved with a credit facility on April 19, 2010 that would last until the end of the calendar year. It included a $59.5 million line of credit secured by an indemnity of $62 million from the province, in favour of RBC, at an RBC prime interest rate.

“This agreement came just in time as the facility has been utilized to make payments to suppliers and meet other obligations,” said McLaughlin’s May 17, 2010 update to the board.

Don’t say a word

McLaughlin continued: “We are asking that the existence of the indemnity and its nature be kept strictly confidential as it could prejudice our ongoing negotiations with third parties and/or encourage potential claimants or litigants who might believe there is a financial opportunity for them arising from the Province’s indemnity of RBC.”

An official Muk Muk mascot key fob outside the City of Vancouver Archives on Oct. 1, 2025. (Mackin)

IOC negotiations

McLaughlin said he and finance vice-president Carey Dillen were progressing in talks with the IOC, hoping to resolve issues by mid-June.

“Our objective was to resolve all matters except the final $57 million contribution from the IOC. The IOC has asked that this be addressed in a later meeting when our financial results are known with more certainty,” McLaughlin’s memo said.

More time to wind down

VANOC finally dissolved in July 2014, claiming it balanced an operating budget of almost $1.9 billion. That included nearly $200 million in additional subsidies from the federal and B.C. governments.

VANOC was a federally incorporated, not-for-profit beyond the reach of B.C.’s freedom of information law. Its board never held an open meeting and B.C.’s auditor general did not conduct a post-Games audit.

Bob Mackin covered the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, beginning with the domestic bid phase in 1998. He is the author of Red Mittens & Red Ink: The Vancouver Olympics.

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

Bob Mackin The organizers of the Vancouver 2010

Bob Mackin

Less than a month after the B.C. NDP government increased tax breaks, the parent company of the province’s biggest video game studio is being taken private in one of the largest buyouts in history.

The consortium of the Saudi royal family’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake Partners and Affinity Partners is acquiring Redwood City, Calif. video game giant Electronic Arts Inc. for $55 billion. Affinity owner Jared Kushner is U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

Premier David Eby touring the EA Sports studio in Burnaby on July 7. (BC Gov/Flickr)

Premier David Eby and Minister of Finance Brenda Bailey toured the EA Sports production campus in Burnaby on July 7 to announce tax credits for the video game industry would be made permanent and rise from 17.5% to 25% on Sept. 1.

Bailey is the former CEO of the Silicon Sisters video game production company.

The EA takeover was announced Sept. 29, the same day that Trump said for a second time that he would slap a 100% tariff on films made outside the United States.

Tariffs, the sequel

Trump said on his Truth Social account that he will impose a 100% tariff on “any and all movies that are made outside of the United States,” because the business of making movies had been stolen, “like candy from a baby.”

Last May, Trump said he would authorize the Department of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to begin the process of instituting a 100% tariff.

During Trump’s first administration, the U.S. reached a free trade deal with Canada and Mexico in 2018. That deal is up for renegotiation.

“CUSMA’s cultural exemption will continue to provide stability to the Canadian screen industries and support key policy mechanisms such as federal and provincial tax credits and government investment in Canadian content,” said the Directors Guild of Canada in 2019.

Subsidies, the sequel

Premier David Eby touring the EA Sports studio in Burnaby on July 7. (BC Gov/Flickr)

Before Christmas 2024, Eby announced the tax credit for international film and TV projects would increase from 28% to 36% beginning in 2025. Those with production costs in B.C. greater than $200 million qualify for a 2% bonus.

B.C.’s production industry was worth $2 billion in GDP in 2023.

According to Creative B.C.’s latest in-production list, among the U.S.-targeted productions lensing in B.C. are: “In Alaska,” “Animal Control,” “Carrie,” and “Air Bud Returns.”

Coming to a theatre near you on Oct. 10: the Vancouver-shot, Disney sci-fi flick “Tron:Ares.”

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

Bob Mackin Less than a month after the