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Bob Mackin

The union representing B.C.’s 33,000 government workers is targeting one of the biggest government revenue generators in its first strike action.

BCGEU logo

B.C. General Employees’ Union announced Aug. 12 afternoon that it would be in a legal position to strike at 2:46 p.m. on Aug. 15. The union waited until Monday morning to announce its first round of picket lines. 

Picket lines went up at B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch wholesale and distribution warehouses at 3:30 p.m. in Delta, Kamloops and Richmond and the Victoria wholesale customer centre. While the Burnaby wholesale customer centre and cannabis customer care centre are included in the job action, there will be no picket line.

“Retail liquor and cannabis stores will not be part of this phase of job action,” said the news release.

Restaurants, bars and privately owned liquor stores are bracing for impact. Ian Tostenson of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association said he would be able to comment “once we understand the contingency LDB plan.”

The most-recent BCGEU contract expired April 1. Negotiations began Feb. 8, but reached an impasse on April 6. Members voted 95% to strike in a tally announced June 22. 

There was no progress when the two sides met in July and an attempt to resurrect talks last week failed. The union had until Sept. 20 to serve strike notice.

The union rejected a nearly 11% increase over three years plus up to $2,500 per member signing bonus offered by the government. Its key demand is for a cost of living adjustment clause to keep up with inflation. When talks began in February, inflation was 5.7%. It hit a 40-year high of 8.1% in May.

BCGEU is a fraction of the 400,000 public sector workers whose contracts have expired or will expire this year. The outcome of the BCGEU dispute is expected to influence all other contracts. Every 1% increase in total compensation across B.C.’s public sector costs taxpayers $311 million.

Anjali Appadurai, a challenger to NDP leadership frontrunner David Eby, threw her support behind the BCGEU on Twitter Aug. 12.

“Our province benefits from a strong public sector that provides workers with safe workplaces, secure jobs, and good wages to help make ends meet,” she wrote. “My solidarity is with BC’s public service workers. I’ll see you on the picket line.”

Appadurai, a registered lobbyist with the David Suzuki Institute’s Climate Emergency Unit, formally launches her campaign in Vancouver today. 

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Bob Mackin The union representing B.C.’s 33,000 government

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Different name, same face. 

The Vancouver chapter of Extinction Rebellion has spawned another protest sub-brand that disrupted traffic Aug. 15 for an anti-shale gas march from Vancouver city hall to the CBC studios, via the Cambie Bridge.

Muhammad Zain Ul-Haq resurfaced as a central organizer of Stop Fracking Around (Instagram)

The central coordinator of Stop Fracking Around (SFA) is Muhammad Zain Ul-Haq, the Save Old Growth (SOG) co-founder. The 21-year-old Pakistani Simon Fraser University student was detained by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in June for allegedly violating terms of his student visa. Haq was freed after a closed-door Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) hearing on June 23, but neither IRB nor CBSA will comment on the outcome.

SOG has failed to convince the NDP government to stop old growth logging. SFA pledges to disrupt infrastructure and tourism sites until Vancouver city council bans residential use of shale gas by 2025. SFA/SOG member Sophie Papp was arrested Aug. 10 for pouring molasses on the Gastown Steam Clock.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge sentenced Haq in February to 14 days in jail for contempt of court after blocking Trans Mountain Pipeline construction. The judge’s verdict said he was also national action and strategy coordinator for Extinction Rebellion. The court database shows Haq is scheduled for trials on mischief charges in November, January and February.

SOG’s website says the group receives most of its funding for recruitment, training, capacity building and education from the Climate Emergency Fund (CEF), a California-based charity whose board includes an heiress to the Getty oil fortune. The New York Times reported SOG has received US$170,000 in grants from CEF, which was co-founded by Trevor Neilson, chairman of natural gas-from-trash and agricultural waste marketer WasteFuel.

Haq did not respond for comment. 

Haq is one of five people listed on the Jan. 27 federal incorporation for Eco-Mobilization Canada. Another is Ian Shigeaki Weber, 26, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 days in jail on July 20 for mischief and violating an undertaking to not block traffic. 

At that hearing, Crown lawyer Ellen Leno said there had been 43 arrests of 31 individuals from Save Old Growth in the Vancouver area and 96 arrests of 71 individuals from Extinction Rebellion protests. 

Vancouver Provincial Court Judge James Sutherland agreed to the joint sentencing proposal from Leno and Weber’s lawyer, Sarah Grewal, which also included 18 months probation and an order to not intentionally block roadways. 

Weber had been arrested for blocking traffic on Broadway near Environment Minister George Heyman’s office last September, near Vancouver International Airport and the north end of the Burrard Bridge last October, and the Upper Levels Highway near the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal at the end of January. 

Mixed messages from Save Old Growth about Ian Shigeaki Weber (Instagram)

Leno told the court that Weber continued coordinate SOG’s April roadblocks. 

“There was a minor collision caused because of one of them,” Leno told the court. “There was a woman who was in labour who police had to escort over the Lions Gate Bridge after they cleared a blockade, and frustrated motorists did attempt to physically pull protesters off the roadway before police arrived.”

Three vehicles seized by Vancouver Police from a June 13 protest at the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge were registered to Weber and Eco-Mobilization Canada. 

Sutherland noted the YVR protest was near Canada’s second-busiest airport and a COVID-19 testing site. 

“The interruption of traffic flow to the airport was not only one that affected citizens in terms of their mobility and travel but also placed at risk emergency services as well,” he said.

The court heard that 26-year-old, Richmond-born Weber has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from UBC and has worked as a dog walker and for Uber Eats, but is otherwise unemployed. Weber did not express remorse in a statement he read to the court. Instead, he admitted he was scared to go to jail, but even more fearful of the perceived lack of action by governments toward climate change. 

“Somebody like Mr. Weber is passionate enough, committed enough and bright enough to be creative enough, I’m sure, to pursue his passions, but in a way that conforms with the rule of law,” Sutherland said. 

Ultimately, the judge said, “it’s the method that’s the rub.” 

“Without the rule of law, random anarchy results,” Sutherland said.

Sutherland waived the $100-per-offence victim fine surcharge because he said Weber had devoted more time to environmental pursuits than earning an income.

Weber was released after nine days in jail. SOG resumed its roadblock campaign on July 29.

A month earlier, on June 29, SOG announced it stopped roadblocks. That was also the day Ian Wilton Schortinghuis, 30, pleaded guilty to three counts of mischief and two counts of breach of undertaking. He had been in jail since his June 13 arrest at the Massey Tunnel. Judge Laura Bakan freed him June 30 on a conditional discharge and 24 months probation due to his remorse and desire to pursue training to be an auto mechanic.

“He fits the profile of some persons that I find, unfortunately, are used by organizations as foot soldiers while those behind organizing stay safe and sound,” Bakan said.

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Bob Mackin Different name, same face.  The Vancouver chapter

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For the week of Aug. 14, 2022:

Returning to theBreaker.news Podcast is Jim Mullin, with the view from Bowen Island. 

Mullin is the president of Football Canada, general secretary of the International Federation of American Football and host of Krown Gridiron Nation on TSN.

He joins host Bob Mackin to weigh-in with the latest gridiron trends and sets the scene for this October’s Bowen Island election. Growth and the environment are the big issues in his slice of paradise, in Howe Sound. 

Also, headlines from the Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest. 

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn or Apple Podcasts.

Now on Google Podcasts!

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

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For the week of Aug. 14, 2022:

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Bob Mackin

The union representing B.C. government workers could serve 72-hour strike notice on Aug. 12, according to a source familiar with negotiations.

Stephanie Smith (BCGEU)

That would mean either job action early next week or a return to the bargaining table with the NDP government. 

On Aug. 10, Danielle Marchand, press secretary for B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) president Stephanie Smith, neither confirmed nor denied that strike notice was in the works for the end of this week. She said Smith was on vacation for a couple of days and expected back on Friday.

“We just have nothing to say until we have something to say,” Marchand said.

In June, BCGEU announced its workers voted 95% in favour of striking for a new contract. Turnout was 80% for the May 16-June 22 poll. Talks broke down more than a month ago.

The union, which represents 33,000 workers, rejected a nearly 11% increase over three years plus up to $2,500 per member signing bonus offered by the government. Its key demand is for a cost of living adjustment clause to keep up with inflation.

When talks began in February, inflation was 5.7%. It hit a 40-year high of 8.1% in May.

Nearly a month ago, on July 15, president Stephanie Smith released a video that said BCGEU was negotiating with the government over minimum staffing levels to maintain health, safety and welfare. 

Before striking, Smith said the union was considering other tactics, such as work to rule, including bans on overtime, circulating petitions at the workplace, holding lunchtime information lines, refusing hazardous work and any tasks that fall outside of classification duties. 

Bobbi Sadler (BC Gov)

The union faces a deadline of Sept. 20 to take job action. 

However, in a July 28 bargaining update, the union said it was being prevented from a legal strike position because of government’s insistence on high essential service levels. That prompted a  complaint to the Labour Relations Board.

Deputy Minister Bobbi Sadler, the head of the public service, did not respond for comment. 

BCGEU is a fraction of the 400,000 public sector workers whose contracts have expired or will expire this year. The outcome of the BCGEU dispute is expected to influence all other contracts.

“An increase of 1% in total compensation for all B.C. public sector employees is estimated to cost $386 million,” says a government website about public sector bargaining. “For union and other negotiated agreements, a 1% increase would cost nearly $311 million.”

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Bob Mackin The union representing B.C. government workers

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Bob Mackin

A leaked document shows at least one member of the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association’s staff is connected to a dark money political action committee backed by sportswear and real estate mogul Chip Wilson.

Jeff Conatser of Pacific Prosperity Network and NPA (Twitter)

Jeff Conatser is listed as data and social media manager on the NPA contact list. He also appears on the Pacific Prosperity Network (PPN) website as its director of technology and digital. The June 2021-registered society offers training, software, websites and apps to right-leaning municipal election candidates. 

Elections BC regulates individual donations to elector organizations and candidates, as well as entities that register as third-party advertisers. Political action committees are not regulated, so Elections BC does not require PPN to disclose its donor list.

Neither Conatser nor NPA president David Mawhinney responded before deadline. PPN executive director Micah Haince said Conatser works part-time with PPN and his involvement with the NPA is “completely outside of any role that he holds with PPN.”

Two sources said Conatser also collaborated with former NPA staff member Angelo Isidorou on an anonymous website and Facebook account. Views of Vancouver purports to be a platform for a “grassroots organization dedicated to promoting Vancouver and protecting and enhancing its reputation as a world-class city.” 

Isidorou did not respond for comment. Haince said PPN is not involved with Views of Vancouver and has chosen to stay out of the Vancouver election campaign, due to free enterprise vote-splitting against incumbent Mayor Kennedy Stewart.

Views of Vancouver Facebook page (Facebook)

The Facebook ad library shows that Views of Vancouver spent $20,952 on 36 ads since January 2021, many of which are critical of Mayor Kennedy Stewart. The Facebook ads feature NPA purple designs, promote party policies and encourage users to add their name, postal code, email address and phone number to a petition “aimed to address pressing issues in Vancouver, such as soaring crime, vandalism, pollution, affordability and so much more!” Such online petitions are common tactics to build voter identification databases, but there is no personal information consent disclaimer on the Views of Vancouver website. 

Isidorou said in an interview after John Coupar quit Aug. 3 as the party’s mayoral candidate that the party feuded over whether to accept financial support from real estate tycoon Peter Wall. 

In that interview, Isidorou identified himself as a volunteer. But a June 28 cease and desist letter from NPA lawyer Bruce Hallsor says otherwise. 

“You have recently revealed to NPA officials that you have been being paid by a third party without the NPA’s knowledge, for the work you have done on some of our digital media campaign activities,” Hallsor wrote to Isidorou. “You have done this contrary to NPA policy and contrary to the B.C. Local Elections Campaign Financing Act.”

Stick a fork in John Coupar, he’s done (NPA)

Hallsor demanded Isidorou immediately return all electronic media information, passwords and data, including the Facebook master ownership permission and any information about supporters or donors.

Before he quit, Coupar, a Park Board commissioner since 2011, had demanded the NPA board approve a campaign budget and accept fundraising support from Wall, who provided office space downtown in the Wall Centre complex and workers for the campaign. 

Wall is a longtime BC Liberal supporter who backed Vision Vancouver under Gregor Robertson’s leadership. In 2018, he funnelled $85,000 into a billboard and social media campaign for YES Vancouver mayoral candidate and former NPA councillor Hector Bremner. The controversy sparked amendments to campaign finance laws. 

Haince worked on the Wall-funded Bremner campaign. In 2022, Wall is not involved in the Wilson-backed PPN. “They would never work on the same team,” Haince said. 

PPN lists the address of law firm Bennett Jones as the registered office. PPN also calls itself Pacific Prosperity Foundation, but it does not appear on the Canada Revenue Agency charities list and does not issue tax receipts.

Wall did not respond for comment. 

After the Aug. 4 Coupar bombshell, the NPA moved its campaign office to Kerrisdale. The party is seeking a replacement candidate. Nomination for the Oct. 15 civic election ballot runs Aug. 30-Sept. 9.

Coupar was the first candidate to declare a run for the mayoralty in April 2021 and is the first to depart the race. His closed-door appointment by the NPA board sparked resignations of 2018-elected NPA councillors Sarah Kirby-Yung, Lisa Dominato and Colleen Hardwick. Kirby-Yung and Dominato joined the Ken Sim-led ABC Vancouver party. Hardwick is running for mayor under the Team for a Livable Vancouver banner. 

After Coupar left, NPA city council candidate Mauro Francis defected to Progress Vancouver, the party formerly known as YES Vancouver. Its mayoral candidate is BC Liberal and federal Liberal backroom strategist and lobbyist Mark Marissen, the former husband of ex-Premier Christy Clark.

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Bob Mackin A leaked document shows at least

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Sixteen people died from heat-related illness in British Columbia during the summer of 2022’s longest heat wave so far, according to preliminary figures released by the B.C. Coroners Service. 

The total covers the period of July 26 to Aug. 3. The worst day for fatalities was July 29, with five deaths recorded.

B.C. Coroners Service

By comparison, the B.C. Coroners Service confirmed 619 people died in the worst natural disaster in Canadian history, B.C.’s June 25-July 1, 2021 heat dome.

“The data are considered preliminary and subject to change as coroners’ investigations conclude,” said the Aug. 9 report. “These data were compiled by Coroner notification date, which may differ from the date of injury.”

Half the 16 deaths occurred in the Fraser Health region and six in Interior Health. Only one each have been recorded so far in Vancouver Coastal and Island Health. 

Six of the deaths were in the 70-to-78-year-old age bracket. There were two each in the 40-49 and 50-59 age groups, three in 60-69 and three 80 and above. 

Vancouver Police and Surrey RCMP said they saw no noticeable uptick in general sudden death calls between July 26-Aug. 1. There were 28 calls in Vancouver, higher than the seven-day average of 23, and 14 in Surrey. Neither police department was able to say how many were heat-related and referred questions to the coroner.

Environment Canada issued heat warnings for most of the province on July 25 lasting through Aug. 1. Many areas saw temperatures 10 degrees Celsius higher than normal and daily records fell throughout the Interior, Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island. 

The heat wave was less-severe than the record-breaking heat dome of late June 2021, when Lytton set a new Canadian record of 49.6 Celsius. 

This time, there was a greater emphasis on preventive messaging from provincial and municipal authorities. 

A June report from the Coroners Service found the NDP government and municipalities did not do enough to warn the public of the 2021 heat dome event. It cited a lag between Environment Canada’s official heat alerts and the response of public agencies. 

Premier John Horgan, April 19 (BC Gov)

More than 800 deaths were investigated, and 619 were deemed to be heat-related — 98% of which happened indoors. Most victims lacked access to cooler buildings or air conditioned spaces and many were older adults with chronic physical or mental health conditions. 

The report did not include a timeline, but the first Environment Canada alert came June 23, 2021 with an ominous warning of record-breaking heat and the elevated potential for heat-related illnesses. Neither the Ministry of Health nor the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General called a news conference or issued a warning in 2021. They left it to regional districts and municipalities. 

Records released under freedom of information show public health officials waited until the afternoon of June 25, 2021 to declare an extreme heat alert, but the official public bulletin was delayed in the bureaucracy for almost three hours.  

Premier John Horgan came under heavy criticism for telling reporters on June 29, 2021 that the public bore a level of personal responsibility for the disaster and “fatalities are a part of life.”

Although the coroner’s report called the 2021 heat wave “unprecedented,” newspapers in 1925 reported on a similar heat dome during the same days after the summer solstice up and down the west coast. It contributed to wildfires, including one that burned most of the summer in the Capilano watershed. 

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Bob Mackin Sixteen people died from heat-related illness

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Coquitlam RCMP finally released what it calls high resolution photos of the alleged accomplices in gangster Rabih Alkhalil’s escape from North Fraser Pretrial Centre. 

Mounties said Alkhalil, 35, was dressed in a black jumpsuit and high visibility vest when he left in a white Ford Econoline van at 6:48 p.m. July 21 with two men posing as contractors.

The next day, RCMP released photographs of the alleged accomplices and claimed they had identified them. RCMP was forced to admit July 23 that the photographs were not of the suspects, but stock photos published around the internet that resemble the suspects. 

The photographs released Aug. 9 show one suspect wearing a white hard hat, high visibility vest over a black shirt, black pants, black gloves and black boots. The second suspect wore a black baseball cap, black shirt, black pants, black boots, black gloves and glasses. Both wore facemasks.

One of the photos shows the second suspect inside a building, near a door, and wearing what appears to be a decal on his chest. The photos do not show Alkhalil and the location is not mentioned. 

RCMP also provided an eight-second clip from a surveillance cameras of the white van going left to right on the screen, outside of a tire store. 

RCMP say they have reviewed all CCTV footage that has been obtained and established the route the getaway vehicle took from North Fraser Pretrial Centre to where it was abandoned. The route is not included in the news release. 

Escaped gangster Rabih Alkhalil (RCMP)

The investigation also includes B.C.’s anti-gang squad, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of BC, Vancouver Police, Canada Border Services Agency and international law enforcement agencies. 

Two experts familiar with North Fraser Pretrial Centre earlier said they were surprised by the dearth of images released. 

“I have never in my 32 years in policing, and my time since policing, seen such an inept investigation on a suspected murderer that has escaped from one of our secure institutions,” said former Kash Heed, the Solicitor General and Public Safety Minister in 2009 and 2010. 

“It’s not clear whether these two accomplices even entered the institution,” said Alan Mullen, the former chief of staff to Speaker Darryl Plecas and a former corrections manager at Kent Institution. “It’s not clear whether they were on the compound or just outside the fence, whether they were in the building, we don’t know, how deep they actually got in.”

Alkhalil was one of four men convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a 2012 murder in Toronto’s Little Italy during a Euro soccer watch party at a cafe. He was arrested in Greece in 2013.

Alkhalil’s first degree murder trial continues without him in B.C. Supreme Court. He is charged with the Jan. 17, 2012 killing of gangster Sandip Duhre at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel in Vancouver. Hells Angel Larry Ronald Amero is also standing trial for conspiring to murder Duhre.

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Bob Mackin Coquitlam RCMP finally released what it

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Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart says he raised more than $1.13 million since launching his first campaign four years ago.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart (Twitter)

In a list of people who donated $100 or more released Aug. 8, Stewart’s political party Forward Together says it has received donations from 2,473 people since May 2018.

The disclosure covers the period from May 10, 2018 to June 30, 2022 and discloses 6,480 separate donations averaging $175.01.

For the first half of 2022, Forward Together has received donations from 335 people, on pace to beat the 2021 total of 482 well before the Oct. 15 election day. 

In the last two years alone, Stewart received almost $14,000 in donations from members of the Aquilini family, owners of the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena, and real estate partners with the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, three of the four first nations supporting the Canadian Olympic Committee’s bid to bring the 2030 Winter Olympics to Vancouver. 

The list shows 2021 donations from brothers Francesco ($1,238.07) and Roberto Aquilini ($1,239). Francesco and Roberto Aquilini each gave $1,250 in 2022, along with father Luigi, Roberto’s wife Deanna ($1,250) and Aquilini children Dax, Karsyn, Keely, Pierce and Quinn. 

After coming to power in 2017, the NDP government banned corporate and union donations in provincial and municipal campaigns. Since then, names of prominent donors’ relatives have appeared more frequently on campaign finance lists.

Jim Chu, the former Vancouver Police chief now working as a vice-president of Aquilini Investment Group, is on the list for $1,239 in 2021 and $1,250 in 2022. 

In April, Francesco Aquilini threw his support behind Stewart’s re-election campaign, when he hosted an April 25 fundraiser at the Captain’s Room in Rogers Arena. The event was officially called the Mayor’s Engagement Lunch. Stewart advertised tickets for the event at $600, $900 and $1,250. The latter was considered a  “leadership donor” purchase that includes attendance for all campaign events and is the maximum allowable by individuals under Elections BC rules for the year.

In 2014, Aquilini companies donated $60,000 to Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver, three times as much as they gave the opposition NPA. Aquilini companies donated $12,500 to the Burnaby Citizens’ Association in 2013 and 2017. In 2020, Francesco Aquilini gave $1,200 personally to the NDP-aligned council majority party. 

Aquilini Investment Group and MST Development Corp., the Musqueam-Squamish-Tsleil-Waututh real estate company, plan to redevelop the former B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch site on East Broadway. AIG, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh co-own the Willingdon Lands in Burnaby. 

In 2016, MST hired AIG president David Negrin with the support of Luigi Aquilini. Negrin advised MST on its purchase of the province’s Jericho Lands, after MST combined with Canada Lands Co. to acquire the federal parcel and two other federal properties. 

Negrin donated $1,239 to Stewart in 2021.

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Bob Mackin  Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart says he

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The Chinese government is scolding Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart again. 

This time, after a Chinese language newspaper quoted Stewart for supporting U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan.

U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left) and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei (ROC/Twitter)

Last fall, then-Consul-General Tong Xiaoling publicly berated Stewart for considering a friendship city relationship with Taiwan’s second-biggest city, Kaohsiung. 

Tong finished an almost five-year term at the end of July. But, last week, an unnamed spokesman at the People’s Republic of China consulate in Vancouver called Stewart’s remarks to Sing Tao Daily on Aug. 3 “ridiculous and unacceptable” 

In the story, translated to English, Stewart said “[Pelosi] is a politician who has long supported democratic, free human rights. Her decision is right.” He also told a reporter that he wants to visit Taiwan.

A statement on the consulate’s Chinese website told Stewart to “be cautious in his words and deeds on Taiwan-related issues, and to focus on solving the livelihood and security of [Vancouver] citizens, especially in eliminating crimes of hatred and discrimination against Asians.”

“Don’t waste your time to win fire for Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China, take advantage of the Taiwan issue to gain personal political interests, and don’t play with fire on the Taiwan issue and send wrong signals to the separatist forces of ‘Taiwan independence’, otherwise those who play with fire will burn themselves.”

The latter phrase echoed Chairman Xi Jinping’s words in a July 28 call with U.S. President Joe Biden, who has pledged to defend Taiwan. Pelosi’s visit triggered live fire war games by China’s navy and air force off Taiwan’s coast and in Taiwanese airspace. China also sanctioned Taiwanese businesses and stopped climate change talks with the U.S. Foreign ministers of G-7 countries, including Canada, criticized China for its “unnecessary escalation.”

Stewart said in 2021 that he would not meet with Chinese government officials after Beijing sanctioned several Members of Parliament, including friend and Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong. China’s move was in retaliation for Canadian government sanctions several senior officials after the House of Commons declared China is committing genocide against Uyghur Muslims.

Kennedy Stewart and the Taiwan government’s B.C. envoy, Angel Liu, discuss twinning Kaohsiung and Vancouver. (TECO/Twitter)

In the Sing Tao story, Stewart said he is critical of the Chinese government, but has no prejudice toward Chinese people and treats all citizens equally. He also said he would be willing to talk to the mayor of Guangzhou, Vancouver’s Chinese sister city. “I just choose not to meet with Chinese government officials,” he said.

Stewart’s office has not responded for comment.

At the end of May, Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents warned Stewart that the Chinese government could meddle in the Oct. 15 civic election. 

The Chinese Communist Party maintains an official program called the United Front Work Department which aims to influence foreign countries via state-sponsored disinformation, hacking, spying, co-opting of politicians and intimidation of the Chinese diaspora.

CSIS director David Vigneault has pinpointed the governments of Russia and China as primary threats to Canada’s national security.

“Efforts by foreign states to target politicians, political parties, and electoral processes in order to covertly influence Canadian public policy, public opinion and ultimately undermine our democracy and democratic processes represent some of the most paramount concerns,” Vigneault said in a 2021 speech.

The United Nations has recognized only Mainland China since 1971 and Mainland China considers Taiwan a rebel province. Xi has threatened to use force to take control of Taiwan, an independent, democratic country with a free press and 23 million people living on a land mass similar in size to Vancouver Island. 

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Bob Mackin The Chinese government is scolding Vancouver

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More than two months after overspending to win the BC Liberal leadership, Kevin Falcon ran a balanced by-election campaign in Vancouver-Quilchena.

North Vancouver-resident Falcon handily won the April 30 by-election by a 3,610-vote margin.

He was sworn in May 16 to fill the seat vacated by ex-leader Andrew Wilkinson.

Kevin Falcon

Elections BC returns released Aug. 4 show that Falcon received $84,374.37 in transfers from party headquarters and spent the same amount in his MLA comeback.

Falcon spent $40,302.09 on advertising, including lawn signs, promotional materials, door-to-door and phone canvassing, social media and polling. Salaries and benefits were the next-biggest line item at $9,647.06. 

He sought reimbursement for $33,539.87, half the eligible expenses counted under the campaign finance subsidy program. 

The biggest supplier at $13,860 was ElectRight Inc., a company that advertises polling, robocalling and telephone townhall services. 

Falcon’s biggest fundraiser netted $27,348.59 on April 8 at the Shun Feng Seafood Restaurant in Richmond, attended by 23 people. 

NDP runner-up Jeanette Ashe, the wife of Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, received $53,704.43 in transfers from her party’s headquarters and reported $53,662.92 in expenses.

Ashe spent $12,509.87 on professional services and only $10,997.02 on advertising. The biggest single supplier was Airbnb for $6,279.96. She sought reimbursement for $21,896.16 in expenses.

Ashe’s major fundraiser was April 8 at the Croatian Cultural Centre in East Vancouver, where the party netted $12,692.69 at an event involving seven caucus members, including Adrian Dix and David Eby. The party’s biggest fundraiser during the by-election period was Premier John Horgan’s April 21 hometown fundraiser in Langford, which netted $24,000.38. 

In June, Falcon reported his leadership campaign cost $1.078 million, almost $500,000 more than the party-imposed cap for each contestant. Falcon spent more than $519,000 during the leadership campaign on professional services, but neither Falcon nor the party provided details.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s wife, Jeanette Ashe, appears on the right in Stewart’s first anniversary video (City of Vancouver)

The party said it was satisfied Falcon followed appropriate rules and guidelines, so it did not fine or disqualify him. He was, however, fined $500 by Elections BC for late filing. 

The race was held under a cloud of controversy as Falcon’s six opponents complained about thousands of fraudulent memberships sold by Falcon’s team. A B.C. Supreme Court judge rejected a party member’s petition that aimed to delay the release of results by 15 days in order to investigate the allegations.

The next provincial election is scheduled for October 2024, but Falcon will not face Horgan, who announced in late June that he would retire from the premiership this fall. David Eby is the only declared candidate and could be acclaimed Horgan’s successor if nobody else enters by Oct. 4.

Meanwhile, the BC Liberals are on track to beat their 2021 fundraising total and the NDP is lagging behind last year’s pace.

The second quarter figures released Aug. 5 by Elections BC show the opposition party under Falcon raised $667,866.45 from April 1 to June 30 for a half-year total of $993,555.31.

In 2021, the year after their worst election defeat in three decades, they raised $1.42 million. 

The ruling NDP reported $988,717.09 in donations in the second quarter, for a total of $1.73 million. In 2021, Horgan’s party took in almost $3.6 million. 

The B.C. Greens, meanwhile, have raised $471,926.57 after two quarters. They reported almost $1.1 million in 2021. 

In May and June, the BC Liberals transferred $30,414.79 to Elenore Sturko’s campaign for the upcoming Surrey South by-election to replace BC Liberal Stephanie Cadieux, who quit to become the first federal chief accessibility officer.

Premier John Horgan, April 19 (BC Gov)

The party transferred $106,780 to Falcon’s by-election campaign on April 29, the day before the vote, and $63,658.98 between April 7 and June 30. 

On July 15, the three parties also received their latest bi-annual instalments of taxpayer-funded allowances under a program to replace the 2017-banned corporate and union donations. Until this year, the payments were annual. 

Sums for the NDP ($786,086), BC Liberals ($556,629.50) and Greens ($248,632.12) are based on $1.75 per vote from the last election and doled out every January and July. 

Instead of phasing out the allowances, the NDP made them permanent, but subject to the consumer price index beginning in 2024. 

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Bob Mackin More than two months after overspending

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