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A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that a close associate of Richmond real estate and immigration lawyer Hong Guo abused the court process for a baseless claim.

Hong Gun (left) and Wolfgang Richter (PSTV)

In her April 19 verdict, Justice Heather MacNaughton said that Wolfgang Richter and his company, Richter and Associates Inc., used the courts in a bid to “extort a settlement payment” over a failed real estate deal.

Beginning in March 2021, Richter sued 1075 Nelson Street Development Holdings Inc. and Henson Developments Ltd. and its CEO Xuexin “Henry” Liu and filed certificates of pending litigation against 1075 Nelson. 

1075 Nelson was the registered owner of 1059 and 1075 Nelson Street, assessed last year at $16.4 million each, and formerly held the lands as agent, bare trustee and nominee for Henson.

MacNaughton’s verdict said Guo, a 2018 Richmond mayoral candidate and who once worked in the Chinese Communist government’s state council, claimed in a WeChat message on March 2, 2021 that she had a buyer lined up to offer Henson $110 million.

Henson had conditionally agreed the previous month to sell the Nelson lands to Montreal-based Brivia Group Ltd. and enter a joint venture to build a 60-storey condo tower. Brivia was to have 54% interest and Henson 46%, and retire the existing Nelson mortgages worth $77 million. 

1075 and 1059 Nelson Street (Google Maps)

Henson’s lawyer advised Richter on March 19, 2021 that the Nelson lands were under an unconditional contract and it could not entertain any other offers.

“Mr. Liu’s uncontroverted evidence is that no agreement was ever reached with Richter Inc. The negotiations that were facilitated by Ms. Guo were for a back-up offer in the event that Brivia did not waive the conditions in the Brivia agreement,” MacNaughton wrote.

Liu is also director of Evervan Enterprises Group Ltd. and Vanluxu Enterprises Ltd., companies that jointly owned property on Wentworth Avenue in West Vancouver. He swore in an affidavit about a February 2021 agreement to sell that land to 1291059 BC Ltd., a numbered company controlled by Hong Xu, a friend of Guo. 

Liu’s evidence said Guo brought an unnamed caucasian man to meetings, to discuss the properties. The numbered company claimed in a March 5, 2021 court filing that it had a deal to buy the lands and registered CPLs against the property. The claim was settled a week and a half later when the numbered company received $900,000 to relinquish the claim. 

A division of Brivia bought 2510 and 2480 Wentworth in May 2021. The two properties were assessed at a combined $18.9 million last year.

MacNaughton wrote that Richter used the numbered company’s notice of claim as a template for his action, and that that Richter’s true purpose was not to advance a genuine claim, but register the CPLs for “collateral and improper purposes.”

“In his submissions, Mr. Richter said that he commenced the action and filed the CPLs to let Brivia know what he said was the dishonourable nature of Mr. Liu, the person they were dealing with. The amended claim pleads no facts supporting an agreement or an interest in land. Material facts within the pleading were misleading in order to present what appeared to be a legitimate claim. The only reasonable inference that can be drawn is that the action was commenced, and the CPLs registered, as leverage to obtain a settlement as had been achieved in 1291’s action, albeit in very different circumstances.”

The judge did not admit an affidavit filed by Richter because it was filed late without explanation and contained inadmissible hearsay, unidentified sources of information and argument. “Although Mr. Richter is not legally trained, he is a sophisticated business person,” she said. (Richter is a former high school teacher who founded a company promoting the Garibaldi at Squamish ski resort near Squamish now proposed by the Aquilini Investment Group and the Squamish Nation’s Nch’kay Development Corp.

Hong Guo’s 2018 mayoral campaign sign. She finished fourth.

Although Guo was not a party to the lawsuit, MacNaughton’s ruling referred to Guo’s ongoing battle to remain licensed as a lawyer in B.C.

“While the action purports to be filed by Richter Inc., acting through its authorized representative Mr. Richter, without counsel, the address for service is Ms. Guo’s law firm,” she wrote.

“Ms. Guo has an extensive disciplinary history with the Law Society of British Columbia. It includes two findings of professional misconduct, one on November 4, 2020, and the other on May 20, 2021. She is currently facing another citation for professional misconduct, dated July 23, 2021. It includes a number of allegations of: practicing while suspended, breaching Law Society orders, making misrepresentations to the Law Society, dishonesty and misrepresentations to others, and acting in a conflict of interest.”

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled

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It cost taxpayers almost $3,000 in airfare to send NDP Environment Minister George Heyman to last fall’s Glasgow conference to discuss cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

George Heyman and two bureaucrats hired a car to see a hydrogen train in Scotland (Twitter/BC Gov)

Heyman and two bureaucrats represented B.C. at the 26th United Nations climate change conference, also known as COP 26. The Glasgow conference was postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic. Unlike many events, it did not pivot to a web-conference, despite business travel coming under criticism for polluting the planet. 

Heyman’s Air Canada booking cost $2,889 but an additional $628 charge to cancel the London portion of his trip shows up on purchasing card statements, according to documents released under freedom of information. The reason for the cancellation was not included. 

Heyman and aide Kelly Sather also charged $628 for privately administered COVID-19 tests by a Victoria company, in order to satisfy United Kingdom entry requirements. Before he left, Heyman charged taxpayers $6.13 for hand sanitizer and, before he returned, $140 for a PCR test in Glasgow.

Heyman and Sather’s airfare and accommodations were booked in July for $9,071. Their required government travel authorization forms had estimated costs at $5,910 for Heyman and $6,410 for Sather for Oct. 30 to Nov. 7. They were granted per diems for meals and other expenses at the rate of GBP104.84, or approximately $178.

The name of their hotel was kept secret, as per government security policy. Based on visible directions to a train station, the hotel was near George Square, three kilometres from the Scottish Event Campus conference venue. 

The third member of the delegation, Jeremy Hewitt, the assistant deputy minister and head of the climate action secretariat, estimated costs at $7,221 because he was staying until Nov. 14. 

Hewitt’s assistant, Cheryl Tromp, asked conference organizers for an urgent move to another hotel, because of “the unsafe neighbourhourhood” of the original booking.

During the conference, Heyman’s administrative coordinator, Alyssa Hrenyk, arranged for a car at the cost of $450 to take Heyman, Sather and Hewitt to a train station in the town of Bo’ness, about 75 minutes out of Glasgow, to see a ScotRail electric train converted to hydrogen-power. The train includes fuel cell modules supplied by Burnaby’s Ballard Power. 

The type of car and whether it was gas or electric is not mentioned. Bo’ness has frequent scheduled rail and bus service to and from Glasgow. 

The highlight of the conference, according to B.C. government announcements, was Heyman accepting the Under2 coalition award for the NDP’s CleanBC plan to grant $43 million to 32 pollution-reducing projects.

Heyman also Tweeted several photos of meetings in Glasgow with people from B.C. or elsewhere on the Pacific Coast, such as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. He also met with Chief Judy Wilson and Karissa Glendale from Alert Bay’s Namgis First Nation. 

Neither Heyman nor Sather responded for comment. 

B.C. NDP environment minister went all the way to Scotland to meet Washington’s governor and California’s natural resources secretary. (Twitter/Heyman)

The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions 2018 report said aviation emissions account for roughly 3.5% of total human-caused warming of the planet. A World Resources Institute working paper on business travel and climate released last October said that, based on total emissions from in 2018, air travel would have been equivalent to the sixth-largest carbon emitter in the world, between Japan and Germany. 

“If we are to meet Paris Agreement targets to limit global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, organizations must find effective ways to reduce business travel,” the World Resources Institute paper said. 

When a reporter asked for Heyman’s travel budget for COP 26 last October, staff in the Ministry of Environment and the Government Communications and Public Engagement department refused to comment, despite being reminded of the standard pre-trip budget estimates and travel authorization filings by politicians and their staff. The freedom of information disclosure shows that Heyman and Sather’s were filed in July. 

A committee of eight bureaucrats, including Sather and Hewitt, issues manager Alissa Brandt (now executive director of the NDP caucus), and Heyman’s other aides Desmond Pollard and Reamick Lo, were on the internal email chain. 

They strategized on whether to answer questions about the budget for Heyman’s travel to the conference. After 10 days, they eventually settled on the line: “The trip is funded out of the ministry budget. Final costs will be released after all expenses are tabulated.”

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Criminal Intelligence Service Canada logo

Two of the 14 groups considered high level national threats by Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) are involved in public sector infiltration.

In its 2021 Public Report on Organized Crime, the nation’s crime intelligence agency highlighted threats to the public sector, including transportation and construction, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, waste management, law enforcement, defence and foreign affairs. 

Four national high level threat organizations have significant influence in the public sector, including decision-making functions or demonstrated corruption, according to CISC. Thirty-one of the assessed organized crime groups (OCG) have access via jobs within Canadian public sector agencies or departments. Neither the names of the agencies and departments, the locations nor the groups were named in the report.

“Of these, 26% are Mafia groups, 10% are outlaw motorcycle gangs and 6% are street gangs. 

While infiltration of the public sector seems to occur mostly at the local/regional levels, (OCG) may be using the benefits for interprovincial or international criminal activities,” the report said. 

CISC’s report said public sector infiltration leads to rising costs of goods and services, misallocation of public resources, weakened policymaking and damage to public confidence in government and law enforcement. 

Familial or romantic relationships and monetary benefits appear to be principal factors motivating corruption and infiltration of Canada’s public sector, the report said.

source: Dirty Money by Peter German (2018)

“Some industries (e.g., construction, transportation, and warehousing), have inherent risks associated to them, such as privileged and sensitive information and monetary gains through government contracts, which could be more attractive to OCGs.” 

CISC said 81 organized crime groups are associated to transportation and warehousing businesses, 20% of which are tow truck companies. Meanwhile, 71 are related to construction companies and 25 linked to professional, scientific and technical services. 

The actual amount of organized crime groups targeting public sector entities could be much higher, the report said. “The involvement of almost two-thirds of assessed OCGs in this sector is unknown. Of those who are, some have ties with municipalities through associates or personal relations within Canadian cities.” 

The report said there could be more than 2,600 organized crime groups operating in Canada and 469 have been assessed and assigned a threat rating. They have links to 54 countries, but the top five are U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Dominican Republic and China, because they are generally source countries for drug precursor chemicals and for moving methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin and cocaine. 

The report put transnational organized crime networks at the top of the CISC national priorities list, above outlaw motorcycle gangs, Mafia, street gangs, fentanyl and methamphetamine dealers, money launderers and cybercriminals. 

The 14 top threats, CISC said, maintain “multiple criminal associations to other OCGs,” including Asian-based OCGs and Mexican cartels. 

“The majority use strategic violence to maintain their market shares, including extortion/intimidation, homicide, kidnapping, assault, and arson. Several  use their associations to street gangs to carry out criminal activities and violence on their behalf, insulating themselves from direct involvement.” 

When Chief Supt. Rob Gilchrist, the director general of CISC, testified at the Cullen Commission on Money Laundering in B.C. in June 2020, he pointed to professional money launderers being a key cog in the wheel of organized crime in Canada, flowing money to and from casinos and real estate. 

“Clients of professional money launderers would be high-level threat organized crime groups that are involved in criminal markets that generate large amounts of proceeds of crime and require a diverse set of money laundering activities to avoid detection and disruption, and organized crime groups that simply do not have the resources or expertise to successfully launder a larger quantity of proceeds of crime themselves,” Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist was most-concerned with money service businesses that are owned, controlled or influenced by organized crime group members. 

“As money service businesses are cash intensive, they can easily facilitate the placement of illicit funds into the financial system and economy,” he said.

A month from now, May 20, is the deadline for submission of the Cullen Commission’s final report to the NDP cabinet. Hearings wrapped up last Oct. 19. 

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Bob Mackin [caption id="attachment_12101" align="alignright" width="150"] Criminal Intelligence

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The B.C. NDP government ended the “wild west” of political campaign financing after it came to power in 2017, but left the door wide open to lobbying by party friends and insiders. 

“So corporate money has moved that way,” said Daniel Gold, who studied the history and regulation of lobbying for a doctorate in constitutional law and public policy at the University of Ottawa.

Just as the corporate money moved to lobbying, so did party insiders.

Premier John Horgan (left), Minister Sheila Malcolmson and ex-party president Craig Keating (Horgan/Twitter)

Ex-B.C. NDP president Craig Keating joined two former party executive directors at the Vancouver office of a Seattle-based lobbying firm, Strategies 360, and registered April 7 to lobby for marijuana farmer Tantalus Labs. Former Ministry of Health communications executive director Jeffrey Ferrier is now a senior vice-president at Hill and Knowlton, where he registered on behalf of COVID-19 vaccine-maker AstraZeneca. 

Gold authored the doctoral thesis “Lobbying Regulation in Canada and the United States: Political Influence, Democratic Norms and Charter Rights” in 2020. He analyzed the history and ethics of lobbying, as well as the lobbying and campaign donations axis. 

“They’re both ways of influencing political figures and, in many ways, they work together,” Gold said. “So if you give a donation, then you get access to politicians. And once you have access to politicians, you can raise your concern. The politician [that] feels indebted to you is more likely to take your concerns seriously.”

In 2017, Premier John Horgan’s party fulfilled a campaign promise to ban corporate and union donations, and set an annual cap for individuals. They also strengthened lobbying regulations, but did not go far enough to close the revolving door. 

“They’ve left, maybe deliberately, maybe accidentally, a lot of loopholes out. And the revolving door issue is maybe one of the biggest ones,” Gold said.

NDP lobbyists Jeffrey Ferrier (left) and Craig Keating (H&K/S360)

Certain senior public office holders, such as cabinet ministers and deputy ministers, are banned from lobbying for two years after they leave government. But other public employees, who may have worked even closer with key decision makers, are allowed to become lobbyists after they quit, with no cooling-off period. Ferrier falls in the latter category, because he officially worked in Government Communications and Public Engagement, not directly under Health Minister Adrian Dix. 

Gold said the revolving door ban should be a full-term of government, rather than just two years. “We have to take account for that, and when we don’t, we end up with situations like this.”

Keating entered the lucrative lobbying industry when he exited the party presidency last December after eight years. Something that would be frowned upon federally, where the code of conduct says a former party executive is in a conflict of interest when a sense of obligation exists with a public office holder that the lobbyist helped elect.

Horgan and Sihota in 2016 (Asian Journal)

B.C. doesn’t have a standalone code of conduct. The lobbying registrar unsuccessfully proposed in 2013 that it be built into the law. The BC Liberal government and the NDP one that followed didn’t agree. Instead, a lobbyist need only pledge to follow guidelines set by a trade group. In Keating’s case, that’s the Public Affairs Association of Canada.

“The [Lobbyists’] Code of Conduct doesn’t stop everything, but at least tells you there are boundaries and encourages people to stick within those boundaries, and B C’s failure to enact a code of conduct or, or take that code of conduct and turn into regulation and some other form has has left this loophole,” Gold said.

Keating joined Strategies 360 almost a year after former NDP executive director Raj Sihota became a vice-president for the firm. Michael Gardiner was already there. The president of the Canadian division is another former B.C. NDP executive director who managed Horgan’s winning leadership campaign. One of Gardiner’s clients is also one of the government’s biggest suppliers, Telus. 

The number of former party officials now working for Strategies 360 echoes an earlier era. After Mike Harcourt led the NDP to victory in 1991, the core of his campaign team, Ron Johnson and Shane Lunny, opened ad agency Now Communications Group. The firm continues to this day, regularly scoring government advertising contracts. 

More than 30 years later, lobbying has gained power while traditional, mass-media advertising is diminished amid media fragmentation and the rise of social media and micro-targeted campaigns. 

Keating and Ferrier aren’t the only party insiders who benefited from the lobbying revolving door. Horgan’s former speechwriter, Danielle Dalzell, joined Earnscliffe Strategies in 2020. Jean-Marc Prevost became associate vice-president in 2021 of Counsel Public Affairs after working as senior communications director for the Ministry of Health. His job included writing scripts for Dr. Bonnie Henry. One of Prevost’s first clients was AstraZeneca contractor Emergent BioSolutions.

Premier John Horgan and speechwriter Danielle Dalzell, before she quit to become a lobbyist. (Twitter)

Maybe nobody should be surprised that the revolving door works so smoothly, because Horgan himself benefitted from it. After the NDP fell from power in 2001, Horgan and fellow out-of-work political aides John Heaney and Ian Reid formed the IdeaWorks consultancy. They helped casino clients successfully lobby Vancouver city hall to overturn its ban on slot machines.

“The influence, the combination of lobbying, combined with sort of public pressure has changed, you’re no longer trying to get all the public behind something unless it’s a really big thing,” Gold said. “Mostly, you’re just trying to get the key decision makers and maybe a few key supporters behind something, and you can do that without the public ever seeing what it is. You can do that just by specifically targeting that person.”

Ultimately, Gold said, lobbying is a core tenet of the democratic process. But it is also corrosive to democracy. 

“If you think about the interactions, you know, we elect a government every four years, whereas the lobbyists might be into the same office once a month, sometimes once a week, raising their concerns and, I’d say, massaging the output of government.”

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Trying times for Rugby Canada continued April 17 with HSBC Canada Sevens attendance less than half of pre-pandemic levels and a 10th place finish at B.C. Place Stadium.

Happier times for Rugby Canada: Canada Sevens at B.C. Place Stadium in 2017 (Mackin)

Almost a month ago, a scathing report pointed to the organization’s leadership for the men’s team missing the 15-aside World Cup for the first time next year in France and the women’s sevens squad’s failure to defend its bronze medal at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics. 

The board-ordered report, by Calgary-based STRAAD Consulting, said current and former players confessed they were not proud to wear the Rugby Canada jersey.

“Either through acts of ‘omission or commission’ the leadership of the organization – board, executive, operations, and coaches – have not effectively managed the short-term and long-term needs of the high-performance program,” said the STRAAD review.

CEO since 2016 Allen Vansen announced his departure last November, the month the review began. Earlier in 2021, Rugby Canada lost women’s sevens coach John Tait (quit after a report into player complaints of bullying and harassment) and national development coach Jamie Cudmore (fired over social media posts).

Rugby Canada said neither interim CEO Jamie Levchuk nor chair Sally Dennis were available for an interview. But the organization said it is taking steps to improve governance, finance management and athlete relations, and striking a working group to deal with high-performance. 

Its next event is April 30-May 1 in Langford’s Starlight Stadium, beside the Al Charron Rugby Canada National Training Centre that was singled out by STRAAD. Headquarters in the Victoria suburb were deemed both expensive and isolated, “an undeniable challenge.”

“We have a great relationship with the City of Langford,” said a statement from Rugby Canada attributed to Levchuk and Dennis. “The review was authored by independent consultants, and while the report identified some challenges with the location of Langford, we view those challenges as strengths and opportunities. Langford is the home of Rugby Canada.” 

Rugby Canada will have to find a way to make it work. The $7.9 million private-public partnership with City of Langford opened in 2018, with $2.9 million in federal grants and $2.6 million in fundraising. Rugby Canada began paying the city almost $100,000-a-year for a 15-year lease in 2018. At the end, Rugby Canada can own the facility and land for $1 million. 

Before then, it will need to fix athlete relations for the long-term. In 2019, the B.C. Labour Relations Board certified the United Steelworkers Local 1-1937 as the bargaining agent for the men’s sevens team. The players’ vote to unionize was a first for a Canadian national team. Scott Lunny, the USW’s district 3 director for Western Canada, said players across the entire national program are now working towards a single players’ association. 

Members of Team Canada celebrate their rugby sevens bronze medals at the Rio 2016 Olympics (Mackin)

“We will continue to back sevens because we have those legal representation rights and will back the players’ association to whatever extent they want to have a relationship with the Steelworkers, or any other union, if they felt that was the right,” Lunny said. 

Said Rugby Canada: “USW currently holds the certification pending court appeal. Discussions continue, and all parties support the ongoing development of the Canadian Rugby Player’s Association to serve as a representative body for all four national teams.”

The 2022 edition of the 16-nation Canada Sevens reported less than 34,000 fans, compared to almost 75,000 in March 2020, three days before the World Health Organization’s coronavirus pandemic declaration temporarily shut down spectator sports. The September 2021 version was limited to a 13,500-per-day capacity due to public health orders.

At least one more edition of the men’s Canada Sevens remains next year. World Rugby has yet to announce 2024 host cities. “At this time, we do not have a confirmed decision date,” said Rugby Canada.

According to its 2020 financials, the $1.57 million from Rugby Canada-owned Canada International Sevens GP Ltd. was the biggest source of revenue after Sport Canada’s $2.01 million grant.

Except when the Grey Cup comes to Vancouver (the most-recent was 2014), Canada Sevens is B.C. Place’s biggest weekend of the year. The 2020 disclosure said Rugby Canada rent was between $139,000 and $167,000 rent, subject to a 1.96% annual increase. In 2020, the sevens events company paid $489,000 for sponsorship, marketing and operations to TTG Strategic Marketing & Communications and related company Torque Marketing Strategies. John Furlong Enterprises receives a $4,000-a-month retainer through June 2023. The former Vancouver 2010 CEO and Rugby Canada’s Gareth Rees collaborated on the bid to bring sevens to B.C. Place beginning in 2016. 

The sevens events paid $43,200 in 2020 and $91,304 in 2019 to board members and their companies for honorarium fees, sponsorship commission, retainer fees and bonuses. 

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The Somalian refugee who became a Victoria city councillor in 2018 won’t run for re-election in October. 

On Twitter April 19, diversity and housing advocate Sharmarke Dubow cited the upcoming 10th anniversary of his move to Canada as the reason to explore other opportunities.

Sharmarke Dubow (City of Victoria)

The Esquimalt resident ran on the left wing Together Victoria ticket and finished seventh in the race for eight seats. He did not respond for comment. 

Judging by the reaction of angry and disappointed citizens in early 2021, a second term was far from certain. That is because Dubow brought himself national media attention as one of several Canadian politicians who disobeyed pandemic public health orders and traveled during Christmastime 2020. 

Dubow flew to his homeland, Somalia, and initially claimed the trip was his first to East Africa since fleeing civil war in 1992. He had Tweeted in December 2019 about visiting Ethiopia, and said at the time it was his first visit there since 2001.

Instead of answering a Times Colonist reporter’s pandemic travel questionnaire on Jan. 5, 2021, Dubow revealed on Facebook that he had entered 14-day quarantine at a Vancouver hotel the previous day after returning from Somalia. “I know now that I should not have gone,” Dubow said, apologizing to Victorians. 

That sparked a flurry of emails and texts from more than 100 citizens by the end of Jan. 6, 2021.

“Ontario’s Rod Phillips resigned as finance minister Thursday after returning from a Caribbean trip. You should too.” said one of the city hall-anonymized messages, obtained under freedom of information.

Another expressed disillusionment: “Man, actions by politicians (yourself included) have me seriously questioning if COVID is even real, and maybe the crazy assholes posting about covid hoaxes may not be crazy after all.”

A common theme was personal sacrifice.

“I hope this trip was worth it,” wrote another. “With your upcoming unemployment you will have lots of time to go and visit your family. I haven’t seen my family all year because they are dealing with COVID patients.”

Another emailer said: “My family didn’t get together this Christmas. My grandmother is 100 years old and getting weak. This might have been her last Christmas, but we made the difficult choice to follow public health recommendations.”

Sharmarke Dubow in 2019 in Ethiopia (Twitter)

An emailer said Dubow would never get their vote again: “Just to put your behaviour into perspective, my daughter gave birth to my first grandchild a few days before Christmas. From the time she was a little girl, I had promised her I would be by her side when she had her first baby. Instead, I was following health orders and staying home.”

Sense of betrayal was another theme. 

“I voted for you, and asked my friends and family to do the same,” wrote a woman who said she was the daughter of a refugee and had black family members in a country that was censored. 

She suggested Dubow’s voyage could have put scarce medical supplies and the health of Africans at risk. “We have raised thousands of dollars to support COVID response in sub-Saharan Africa, through [censored]. I can’t wrap my head around what you did.”

In a separate message, “People took to heart when you arrived here and people supported you to try to make your life better, to help engage in your new community. In fact, they said, we’ll support you to run for city council!”

Wrote another: “I voted for you in the last election and I am very, very disappointed in your actions. Is this the thanks Canadians get for supporting you in your new home. I am a senior and do not appreciate having you and other Canadian politicians like yourself who feel there Is one rule for themselves and one rule for the rest of us.” 

Another texter, claiming to be a Dubow supporter, suggested he resign immediately, run again in 2022, and “then let the voters decide if your sense of responsibility was enough to assuage them.”

He only received a few unconditional support emails. One suggested Dubow helped create jobs. “There should be no shame in safe travel.”

Someone from Cloverdale offered sympathy for Dubow traveling to see family “in a perilous land ravaged by civil war.” 

“I’m sorry that the mayor of Victoria isn’t supporting you, but please know that I & others are.”

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said all council members “should be exemplary role models,” but they answer to the public, not each other. “The next steps are left in his hands,” she said on Jan. 6, 2021. 

According to a Jan. 25, 2021 poll by ResearchCo., 61% of B.C. respondents agreed that politicians who travelled during the holiday season should resign or face a recall vote.

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A B.C. Supreme Court judge threw out a University of Victoria graduate’s bid for a class action lawsuit over the university’s refusal to refund parking passes when the pandemic hit.

In September 2019, fifth-year mechanical engineering student Aaron Timothy Elsser paid $568.05 for a parking permit lasting through the end of August 2020. In March 2020, after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus pandemic, the university moved classes online and much of the campus closed.

Victoria courthouse (Court Libraries BC)

Elsser argued that because the university switched to remote learning, there was no reason to park on campus. Thus, his contract was “frustrated and/or breached” and pass holders should be reimbursed on a prorated basis.

The university refused to issue partial refunds. Had the pandemic affected operations during the first four months of the contract, Justice Catherine Murray said, Elsser would have been entitled to a refund. 

Elsser did not dispute the decision to move to online learning and told the court that he did not attend the campus between March 23 and Aug. 31, 2020. 

While the judge accepted switching to online learning and closing the campus made the parking contract less useful, it was not rendered fruitless.

“The plaintiff argues that it is common sense to conclude that only people that were attending the University or working there would buy an annual parking permit,” said Murray’s judgment. “That may be so, but it was not a term, either express or implied, of the contract. The plaintiff did not need a reason to park on campus to purchase a permit. Parking permits are not only available to people that work or attend classes on campus. The parking contract is quite simply that — a contract for a parking spot. The pandemic did not change the fundamental contractual obligations. The plaintiff could still park at the University after learning went online and the gym closed.”

Elsser contested the university’s application to quash the lawsuit, claiming it was premature because he had not received disclosure from the university. But Murray called that irrelevant. How or why the university chose not to offer refunds would not determine whether the contract was breached or frustrated.

“The University’s ‘decision-making process,’ the amount of parking permit money refunded, what the University did with the money it did not refund, or cost savings to the University during the pandemic do not need to be investigated in order for the plaintiff to put his best foot forward on this application or for the court to determine whether the breach of contract or frustration claims should be dismissed,” Murray wrote. “Nor will any of that disclosure raise a triable issue.”

Murray found the claim the parking contract was breached had no chance of success and dismissed the action with costs to the university.

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For the week of April 17, 2022:

Mayors of Vancouver and Whistler, along with leaders of four First Nations, are exploring a bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Coun. Collen Hardwick (left) and Mayor Kennedy Stewart at the April 12 city council meeting (City of Vancouver)

Fewer cities can afford the Games, so the International Olympic Committee now prefers closed-door negotiations over bidding wars. It wants to pick the 2030 host next year, that’s why Coun. Colleen Hardwick proposed a plebiscite on the Oct. 15 civic election ballot. Let the people decide whether to host another multi-billion-dollar mega-event. 

“So does this council support our citizens’ right to vote or not?” Hardwick asked on April 12. “Someone really needs to second this motion and to get it on the table. We have speakers signed up. Let them speak.”

To her surprise, none of her nine fellow councillors nor Mayor Kennedy Stewart put up a hand.

The public hasn’t been told how much a 2030 Games could cost. That could come before summer, when a feasibility study is expected. But the public doesn’t really know the cost of the 2010 Games, because organizing committee board minutes and financial records won’t be open to the public until October 2025. 

Vancouver’s Olympic bid is alive, but is democracy dying? 

On this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast, here the entire segment of the April 12 city council meeting.

Also, commentary and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. 

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For the week of April 17, 2022:

Business, News

Bob Mackin

Vancouver city hall is an “outlier” because it lacks a policy for handling public whistleblower complaints and relies on the human resources department to investigate, according to a report from the civic auditor general.

Vancouver civic auditor general Mike Macdonell (City of Vancouver)

“Vancouver’s Auditor General has no role with respect to whistleblowing and is required to comply with the city’s whistleblowing policy,” said Mike Macdonell’s report to the April 22 committee meeting. “This means that a whistleblowing complaint from city staff, received by the Auditor General, is to be referred to the general manager of human resources. While there is nothing that prevents the Auditor General from investigating any matter, the requirement to refer complaints to city management is inconsistent with the independence of the office.”

Macdonell reported that a summary of whistleblower complaints and investigation outcomes is supposed to be submitted annually to the city manager and city council, however, “We were informed that no such summary report has been written or reported to council.”

He obtained a spreadsheet showing complaints from 2015 to present day. In 2021, there were 113 complaints logged. 

Council approved an update to its 2008 whistleblower policy in 2017 and another review took place in 2020. Macdonell recommended council direct city staff to revise the policy so that it addresses complaints from external sources and considers whether the existing policy should be revised now that there are independent offices of the auditor general and integrity commissioner at city hall. 

The city website includes an online form to report misuse of public funds, conflict of interest, abuse of position, manipulation or falsification of data and harm to people or property.

Protecting whistleblowers’ confidentiality, investigation of all valid complaints and independence from management are hallmarks of an effective whistleblowing process, he wrote. 

Vancouver city hall at night (City of Vancouver)

The report was not an audit, so it did not gauge the effectiveness of Vancouver’s system. But Macdonell looked at Toronto, Ottawa and Calgary, which have auditors general or similar. 

Toronto opened a fraud and waste hotline in 2002 for city staff, the public and anyone doing business with the city. The Toronto Public Service bylaw requires employees to report wrongdoing to their manager, division head or the auditor general’s office. 

“Toronto’s Auditor General reports that, between 2017 and 2021, a total of $28 million in actual losses were found and another $1 million in potential losses were prevented,” said the report. 

In 2021, Toronto’s auditor general received 820 complaints about 1,200 allegations and 90 were investigated. Last year 11% were substantiated. 

Ottawa launched its fraud and waste hotline in 2005 and expanded it to the public in 2009. It is operated by an independent third party. 

Two-thirds of last year’s 301 reports were from employees and the rest from the public. 

A third were related to alleged misuse of city property, information or time, a quarter about alleged violations of laws, regulations, polices or procedures, and 10% about alleged theft, embezzlement, fraud, conflicts of interest or falsification of data. Thirty-one of the complaints closed in 2021 were substantiated. 

Calgary established its whistleblower program in 2007. Historically, employees have accounted for 56% of reports received, but, in 2021, employees reported 64% of all concerns.

Vancouver appointed Macdonell its first auditor general last summer after Coun. Colleen Hardwick spearheaded the establishment of the office. In the next three years, Macdonell plans to focus on a dozen areas, including procurement, police performance monitoring, cybersecurity, grants and capital infrastructure. 

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Bob Mackin Vancouver city hall is an “outlier”

Business, News

Bob Mackin

Vancouver stock promoter David Sidoo is one of 15 men charged in a vast US$194 million securities fraud scheme that spans three continents. 

(SEC)

In an April 14 filing in the Southern District of New York, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges the defendants ran pump-and-dump schemes between 2006 and 2020 using encrypted messaging, various front companies and offshore accounts to hide their transactions. SEC charges them with fraud in the offer or sale of securities, fraud in connection with the purchase or sale of securities and unregistered offerings of securities. 

The defendants stretch from Vancouver to Bulgaria and London to the British Virgin Islands.

SEC says it’s one of the most complex microcap stock fraud schemes ever. 

Sidoo is accused of collaborating with three other Canadians: Ronald Bauer, aka Ronald Jacob Bauer, Craig James Auringer, and Adam Christopher Kambeitz. SEC believes Bauer and Auringer to be in the U.K., and Kambeitz is believed to be in the Cayman Islands.

Bauer is a central figure to the scheme. In recent years, he gained attention for collaborating with Nolan Bushnell, the father of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, on the Black Sheep Ventures sports gambling promotion. 

None of the allegations has been tested in court.

“David Sidoo denies the allegations contained in yesterday’s SEC filing in New York,” said his Boston-based lawyer Martin Weinberg. “He will not have further comment about these proceedings.”

Dylan (left), David and Jordan Sidoo

In what the filing described as the “Sidoo and Bauer Ring,” Sidoo is alleged to have coordinated the fraudulent promotions and transactions of North American Oil and Gas stock from July 2013 to August 2014 and American Helium between March 2018 to February 2020. The latter allegation against Sidoo coincides with the period in which he was facing charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud for paying six-figure sums to have someone else write his sons’ university entrance exams. In March 2020, he pleaded guilty and spent three months in jail in fall 2020. 

The SEC filing said Sidoo collaborated with Bauer, Arranger and Kambeitz in a fraudulent penny stock dump involving North American Oil, which originated as a shell company named Calendar Dragon Inc. that Sidoo acquired for $350,000 on April 3, 2012 via a wire payment from a Swiss banking platform to a California law firm’s trust account. 

“Despite being beneficial owners of well over 10% – indeed 100% – of North American Oil’s securities, defendants Sidoo, Bauer and Auringer never made any 13D or Form 4 filing with the Commission,” the court document said. “These defendants’ failure to disclose accurate – indeed, any – information about their beneficial ownership of, trading in, or agreements concerning, North American Oil’s securities, in the face of duties to do so, defrauded investors by depriving them of this highly material information to which they were, by law, entitled.”

The court document also said Sidoo coordinated the promotional campaign for American Helium between March 2018 and July 2018.

SEC alleges proceeds from the North American Oil and Gas pump and dump were $15.23 million and $1.45 million for American Helium. 

“Like others, Sidoo used offshore omnibus vehicles and front companies to conceal the fact that he was the beneficiary of stock sales, and failed both to disclose his beneficial ownership and trading and to register his stock sales as legally required.” 

The SEC wants to permanently ban the defendants from being a director, promoter or trader of any penny stock, and to surrender all ill-gotten gains earned from the schemes.

Canadian Ronald Bauer (right) with Atari and Chuck E. Cheese pioneer Nolan Bushnell (RonBauer.vc)

In a related criminal action, Bauer, Auringer and five other Canadians are charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, which is punishable by up to five years in jail, plus with four offences that carry maximum 20-year jail sentences: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

The FBI complaint names Burnaby Hells Angels Nomads member Courtney Vasseur (aka Black Water, Cyrill Vetsch, Arctic Shark and Oscar Devries), former Eron Mortgage principal Curtis William Lehner (aka Santa), Julius Csurgo, aka Gyula Karoly Csurgo, and his Canadian/British Virgin Islands company Antevorta Capital Partners, Domenic Calabrigo, believed to be in the Bahamas, and Dean Shah, who is believed to be in Spain. 

Vasseur and Lehner appeared in B.C. Supreme Court on April 14 to begin extradition proceedings.

Vasseur and Craig Leonard Retvedt were acquitted of possession of fentanyl for the purposes of trafficking in 2017, more than four years after police found drugs in the Cadillac Escalade that Retvedt crashed into a Coast Mountain bus on Cambie and 16th. 

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Bob Mackin Vancouver stock promoter David Sidoo is

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