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Bob Mackin

More than 620,000 British Columbia chickens and turkeys died in the “heat dome” in late June.

Documents released to theBreaker.news under the freedom of information law contained preliminary estimates of 500,000 dead during the sizzler. 

(B.C. Chicken Marketing Board)

A June 29 situation report said B.C. Chicken Marketing Board estimated more than 250,000 mortalities, B.C. Egg Marketing Board 150,000 perished hens, and B.C. Broiler Hatching Egg Commission 25,000 dead birds.

B.C. Turkey Marketing Board reported six farms with significant loses.

“One farm housing 50,000 toms (750,000 kg) approaching shipping were lost as of late Sunday, with an additional farm of 11,000 hens that died Sunday-Monday, these birds were also approaching shipping weight,” the provincial government’s situation report said about the turkey scene.

The situation report from the Ministry of Agriculture indicated other challenges existed, from labour shortages to mass-disposal of carcasses.

“Continuous daily large mortality events will likely stress” West Coast Reduction and commercial composters, the report said. Gasification, on-farm compositing and landfill were alternatives, in that order.

Last week, B.C. Chicken told theBreaker.news that it counted 416,146 birds lost out of 2.5 million placed on 46 farms — a rate of 16%.

In its updated figures, B.C. Egg said it lost about 144,000 laying hens and pullets (young hens). There was no loss of food-quality eggs that are stored in walk-in fridges, said Amanda Brittain, director of communications and marketing.

B.C. Turkey lost 61,000 birds — 2.4% of production and a more than $2 million direct hit to farmers. 

Add it all up, and that’s 621,146 chickens and turkeys lost in the heat dome.

“Despite these losses, all turkey farmers remain active in the province,” said B.C. Turkey general manager Michel Benoit. “Although we have heard that both levels of government are considering recovery programs for farmers impacted by the heat dome, no special compensation has been offered to poultry farmers.”

The June 29 ministry situation report said there were three major concerns across horticulture (energy usage and costs, cooling systems struggling to keep up with demand and heat stress on labourers) and livestock (animal welfare, animal transport avoided or only at strategic times to decrease stress and untimely deaths, and heat related sudden death.)

(B.C. Turkey Marketing Board)

Meanwhile, Nov. 1-released figures from the B.C. Coroners Service say at least 595 humans died from the June 25-July 1 heat wave.

At least 526 deaths occurred during that period, and the rest in days and weeks afterward due to injuries suffered in the heat wave. Three-quarters were in the Fraser Health (273) and Vancouver Coastal (120) regions, with 69% aged 70 or older.

The investigation will continue, with a report by late spring 2022.

The NDP government has deflected criticism that it failed to adequately warn the public and industry about the heat wave. It did not centrally communicate or coordinate after Environment Canada’s June 23 warning of a “dangerous long duration heat wave.”

Premier John Horgan was forced to admit his government was focused instead on the July 1 deadline to lift pandemic public health restrictions.

Minister of Health Adrian Dix has consistently blamed climate change for what he called an “unprecedented,” once in 1,000 years disaster, ignoring the 1925 heat wave that occurred during the same week of June when B.C. receives maximum daylight. Like 2021, the 1925 heat wave stretched all the way down the West Coast and far inland.

On theBreaker.news Podcast, University of Washington atmospheric sciences Prof. Cliff Mass said the Pacific Northwest has warmed by 1 degree Celsius over the last 50 years. But, in the aftermath, politicians, activists and even some in the media exaggerated the role of climate change as a “political tool.”

“If you blame everything on global warming and fossil fuels, then you don’t do what’s needed to save and protect the population,” Mass said.

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Bob Mackin More than 620,000 British Columbia

Business, News, Sports

Bob Mackin

At least two people left in an ambulance from a Halloween party in the Billionaires’ Row mansion owned by David Sidoo, the ex-CFL star jailed last year for his role in the U.S. college admissions scandal.

Const. Tania Visintin said Vancouver Police officers were called to deal with a crowd of around 200 people while paramedics treated two people unconscious by either booze or drugs at the party. The two were taken to hospital.

David Sidoo (left) and Justin Trudeau in 2016 (PMO)

Shannon Miller of BCEHS said there were multiple calls for help in the wee hours of Oct. 31 to the $32.78 million mansion.

“Shortly after 1:30 a.m., five ambulance units responded to the scene for multiple reports of overdoses,” Miller said. “Three paramedic crews transported patients to hospital. BCEHS was called again to the address at 3:40 a.m. for an intoxicated patient.”

Visintin said nobody was arrested.

What were the substances that caused the overdoses and how did the partygoers obtain them?

Why did Sidoo allow a party at his mansion during the pandemic?

theBreaker.news wanted to ask Sidoo those questions and more. He answered the phone but hung up when this reporter identified himself. Sidoo did not respond to a subsequent email query.

One of his sons, Jordan Sidoo, later phoned and claimed responsibility for the party. He said his father was not involved in the event.

“He was not in the house, nor was he in town,” Jordan Sidoo told theBreaker.news. 

He said the the premises were rented to Sole Vodka and permitted via city hall, but he declined to show a copy of the permit. 

David Sidoo spent Halloween 2020 behind bars at the SeaTac Federal Detention Center in Tacoma after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. The University of British Columbia booster paid bribes so his sons could attend prestigious California universities instead.

Five days before his 61st birthday in July 2020, Sidoo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and went to jail for 90 days.

In 2011 and 2012, Sidoo paid $200,000 to consultant Rick Singer’s “side door” scheme that saw tennis pro Mark Riddell use false identification to pose as Jordan Sidoo and brother Dylan to ace their college entry exams. On two occasions, the Floridian flew to B.C. to write exams.

Dylan Sidoo was accepted to Chapman University, and later transferred to the University of Southern California. Jordan Sidoo entered University of California Berkeley. They both graduated.

UC Berkeley opened an investigation into the scandal. theBreaker.news asked Jordan Sidoo whether he still holds his diploma, but he declined to answer. 

Dylan (left), David and Jordan Sidoo (Facebook)

David Sidoo told a judge in July 2020 that the scheme was a “terrible mistake that has deeply affected our family.” He apologized to his former teammates and those that he said look up to him.

“You are quite evidently an intelligent, hardworking very successful businessman who overcame many hardships in your life, in fact a pillar of your community, and yet you have committed a crime that displays an unbelievable lack of integrity, morality and common sense,” Federal Judge Nathaniel Gorton said in the Zoom sentencing hearing.

“You have let your selfish desire, your pride, and your enormous wealth overcome all of what you apparently want to stand for by your works of charity.”

David Sidoo originally pleaded not guilty after his March 2019 arrest in San Jose, Calif. He initially faced charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy, but copped a plea bargain in early 2020 to avoid a jail sentence of up to 20 years.

His name was removed from Thunderbird Stadium at UBC, his Order of B.C. revoked and he withdrew his name from the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame.

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Bob Mackin At least two people left in

Business, News, Opinion, Sports

For the week of Oct. 31, 2021:

The 100-day countdown to next February’s Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics came and went last week.

Human rights protesters around the world called on western nations to boycott the most-controversial Olympics since Berlin 1936, due to China’s treatment of Uyghurs, Tibetans and Hong Kongers, and the threat to annex Taiwan.

Charles Burton (MLI)

On this edition, host Bob Mackin’s guest is Charles Burton, a former diplomat in Canada’s embassy in China and now a senior fellow in the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank. 

Plus commentary on the B.C. NDP’s controversial Freedom of Information Bill 22 and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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theBreaker.news Podcast: Less than 100 days to Xi Jinping's Games of vice and woe
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For the week of Oct. 31, 2021: The

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Bob Mackin

A Richmond real estate and immigration lawyer, who denied China is a human rights offender, is banned from practising law for a year.

Hong Guo is suspended beginning Dec. 1 after an Oct. 28-released decision from a Law Society of B.C. disciplinary tribunal.

Richmond 2018 Mayoral candidate Hong Guo

Almost a year ago, a tribunal found Guo had committed professional misconduct related to the 2016 theft of $7.5 million of client trust funds by her bookkeeper, Zixin “Jeff” Li.

Guo, 54, originally came to Canada in 1993 and studied law at the University of Windsor. She was called to the Saskatchewan bar in 2000 and B.C. bar in 2009. She also worked in the Chinese Communist government’s powerful State Council.

The three-member disciplinary panel could have disbarred Guo, but chose the lesser penalty due to mitigating circumstances.

“We understand that the respondent currently practises under supervision and does not currently operate a trust account,” said the decision from Jennifer Chow, Ralston Alexander and John Lane. “The respondent’s misconduct in creating the conditions that led to the massive employee theft is serious and warrants a suspension. However, since the respondent did contribute family funds, took steps to restore the stolen trust funds and to prevent pending client transactions from failing, a lengthy suspension is in our view not warranted.”

Guo facilitated bookkeeper Li’s theft by failing to supervise him and failing to ensure strict compliance with Law Society accounting rules. She left Li with blank, previously signed trust cheques, while she went on vacation for two weeks in March 2016. Some of those cheques were used in the theft. Li allegedly took the millions from 100 clients, laundered the cash at a casino and fled to China.

When Guo discovered the theft on April 1, 2016, she made reports to the Law Society and RCMP.

Richmond lawyer Hong Guo announced her run for Mayor of Richmond last June.

Over several months, she deposited more than $2.6 million of family money into her trust account. Until an insurer covered the missing $4 million, the clients and third parties were unsecured creditors who didn’t know whether they would see any of their money for at least 18 months.

With the exception of those who filed lawsuits against Guo, most, if not all, clients affected were eventually made whole, the tribunal said.

Guo testified that she suffered considerable stress and financial impact, but “we agree with the Law Society that the effect of the theft does not excuse the respondent’s misconduct.”

The decision also mentioned seven occasions between 2013 and 2017 in which the Law Society intervened in Guo’s practice.

“The Law Society emphasizes that the respondent ‘borrowed’ trust funds from her clients to cover her losses, disregarded her undertaking to the Law Society and disregarded a Bencher Order put in place to protect the public. The Law Society also points out that some of the proven misconduct occurred prior to the bookkeeper’s theft.”

The tribunal ordered Guo pay the Law Society $47,329.44 in costs at a rate of $1,000 per month until the full amount is paid. The Law Society had sought more than $70,000.

Guo finished a distant fourth in the Richmond mayoral election in 2018, shortly after she was originally cited for misconduct.

In an interview with theBreaker.news after an all-candidates meeting, Guo denied the existence of China’s well-documented human rights abuses, including the mass-detention of Uyghur Muslims and arbitrary jailing of journalists.

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Bob Mackin A Richmond real estate and immigration

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Bob Mackin

The Attorney General behind B.C.’s 1993 freedom of information law said the goal under NDP Premier Mike Harcourt was “to create the best legislation in the western world.”

Colin Gabelmann in 2015 (@JeanneCBC/Twitter)

“Whether we met that standard or not, I don’t know, but it was certainly the best legislation in Canada at that time, for sure,” said Colin Gabelmann in an exclusive interview with theBreaker.news. “Now they seem to be striving in the middle of the pack, to paraphrase the minister responsible now. I’m disappointed about that, that’s not what the NDP can be proud of.”

Gabelmann worries that today’s NDP under Premier John Horgan wants to ram through a bill harmful to citizens’ right to know. His biggest grievance is the plan to charge an application fee. Citizens’ Services Minister Lisa Beare has proposed a $25 charge for each FOI request.

“I argued all the time back in the ’90s, that if the governments of the day would just put everything that’s permissible online — and the internet was just developing in those days, it wasn’t as useful a tool as it has become — then people wouldn’t have to make these applications for information,” he said.

“There would still be some necessity to make application and some borderline and some grey areas, but, if the information belongs to the public, in principle, it should be the public’s information at no cost.”

There is no application fee today and applicants are entitled to three hours of free service. The law was originally written to allow fees be charged only for complex, time-consuming requests. The Information and Privacy Commissioner has the power to overturn unjustified fees. 

Bad actors? Premier John Horgan and Lisa Beare on the Riverdale set in 2019 (BC Gov/Flickr)

Gabelmann said the NDP government should refer Bill 22 to the all-party, statutory review committee that considers amendments every five years. The current version of that committee has yet to meet. However, the NDP used its majority Oct. 26 to defeat the BC Liberal motion to refer Bill 22 to that committee by a 50-29 tally.

One of those who voted on the government side was Oak Bay MLA Murray Rankin, who advised Gabelmann on development of the FOI law almost 30 years ago. In 2017, while he was the Victoria NDP MP, Rankin called FOI application fees a “tollgate” on the public’s right to know during a House of Commons access to information committee hearing. 

“[Rankin was] an invaluable asset to developing the ’93 legislation,” Gabelmann said. Fast forward to 2021, Rankin is between a rock and a hard place in a whipped caucus and subject to the traditions of cabinet confidentiality and solidarity. That means Rankin cannot publicly dissent without losing his post as the Indigenous Relations minister.

“I’m disappointed he’s not in a position to articulate what I know to be his values,” Gabelmann said.

Gabelmann said he is also concerned that Bill 22 proposes removal of the premier’s office from the list of public bodies. The NDP claims it doesn’t intend to ban FOI requests about the premier, but Gabelmann said “I’m not 100% sure of that.”

Only two new public bodies are proposed for inclusion in the amended law: the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police and B.C. Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police.

Another is conspicuously absent from Bill 22: the Legislative Assembly itself.

Mike Farnworth announces $2,000 fines on April 19 (BC Gov)

In February 2019, after Speaker Darryl Plecas’s report on corruption by the Clerk and Sergeant-at-Arms, the Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ombudsperson and Merit Commissioner publicly called for the NDP government to protect whistleblowers, mandate hiring and firing by just cause and designate the Legislature as a public body under the FOI law.

NDP House Leader Mike Farnworth promised it would happen: “Let me be really clear: Those three recommendations are going to be implemented,” Farnworth said in 2019.

theBreaker.news wants to interview Farnworth about the omission of the Legislature from Bill 22, but he has not responded.

Gabelmann agreed it should be added, but not before the all-party committee does its work.

CLICK HERE AND LISTEN TO COLIN GABELMANN ON THEBREAKER.NEWS PODCAST

When the NDP used its majority to defeat the referral motion on Oct. 26, it also voted to pass Bill 22 through second reading. Beare rose and briefly accused the opposition BC Liberals and Greens of fearmongering.

“I look forward to committee stage, which is where we’re going to have this debate — clause by clause, line by line — through this legislation, and I’m going to get the chance to outline what this means for British Columbians and how important it is,” Beare said in the Legislature.

No other NDP MLA stood to justify their support of Bill 22 on Oct. 26, which shocked a former BC Liberal Finance Minister and Attorney General. Abbotsford West MLA Mike de Jong said the NDP government had been “consumed by its own arrogance.”

“A government armed with a majority that now governs on this basis: we’ll do what we want, when we want, because we can,” said de Jong. He is an expert at spotting those warning signs, after spending 16 years in a government that was fond of using its majority whenever convenient. 

Also on Oct. 26, a coalition led by the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association urged Horgan and Beare to withdraw Bill 22, let the all-party committee do its work, and commit to introduce amendments to the law that reflect the recommendations of current and past committees.

In an open letter, BC FIPA called Bill 22 “regressive” and said the law would make it harder for everyone to get facts, rather than spin.

“This legislation would extend the ability of current and future governments to keep people in the dark about vital matters of public interest,” the letter said.

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Bob Mackin The Attorney General behind B.C.’s 1993

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Bob Mackin

It was B.C.’s Auditor General versus the Provincial Health Officer in a battle for media and public attention on Aug. 26.

Adrian Dix (right) and Dr. Bonnie Henry (BC Gov)

The winner was obvious. Dr. Bonnie Henry, Health Minister Adrian Dix and vaccine rollout czar/Vancouver Coastal Health chair Penny Ballem announced the schedule for third doses of the coronavirus vaccine at 1:30 p.m. They also held a 12:15 p.m. embargoed briefing for media. 

Auditor General Michael Pickup’s presser began at 2 p.m. and finished around 15 minutes later, while Henry et al continued with their presentation. Reporters from theBreaker.news and Canadian Press were the only two asking Pickup questions. 

It is standard operating procedure for the Office of the Premier and Government Communications and Public Engagement to avoid scheduling conflicts. 

Pickup was diplomatic when theBreaker.news asked whether he was disappointed that his important work wouldn’t get the maximum audience.

“My focus is on those who we are reporting to, what happens as a result, reasonably getting the message out and then other things that happen, happen,” he said.

Judging by what Pickup had released earlier in the day, this clock clash was no coincidence.

Michael Pickup, B.C.’s new auditor general (Nova Scotia)

For the 10th year in a row, the Office of the Auditor General disagreed with the way the government keeps its books, and said the government had under-reported revenue by $6 billion. Pickup’s staff found $550 million in errors in the financial statements.

Pickup also reported the government spent $10.8 billion on responding to COVID-19 in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. Once again, the Provincial Health Services Authority came under the microscope.

PHSA, responsible for buying $2 billion-a-year of medical goods, wrote-off $66 million in masks, gloves, goggles and other pandemic gear. Instead of specialized inventory management software to track goods between warehouses, PHSA used Google Spreadsheets.

“PHSA has two electronic inventory management systems: one to track the monetary value and quantity of inventory, and the other to track the movement of inventory between warehouses,” the report said. “The new third-party warehouses and PHSA owned warehouses that were commissioned in fiscal year 2020/21 did not use either system.”

Warehouse staff did not complete inventory reconciliations on time and even had to re-count $100 million worth of inventory at one warehouse due to errors.

Ex-PHSA CEO Benoit Morin (PHSA/Facebook)

Wrote Pickup: “COVID-19 revealed the dangers and challenges the health sector faces when buying PPE in a globally competitive environment, and how important it is to have strong procurement controls in place and to obtain expert advice when purchasing specialty products.”

theBreaker.news asked PHSA for comment, but it said it could not provide anything by deadline. 

It is not PHSA’s first PPE problem. CEO Benoit Morin was fired last February after it was revealed PHSA wrote-off $7 million in defective N95 masks from a Montreal company.

Morin never publicly commented on the panic buy so soon after he was hired. theBreaker.news revealed in July 2020 that a PHSA briefing note showed almost two-thirds of British Columbia’s pandemic supplies were never replenished before the novel coronavirus hit the West Coast. 

A February 2020 memo obtained under the freedom of information law warned that B.C.’s low supplies were not enough to meet requirements if a widespread pandemic occurred.

A widespread pandemic was declared the next month. B.C.’s supplies were so low, that Premier John Horgan’s deputy minister issued an urgent call for bureaucrats to search under their desks. 

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Bob Mackin It was B.C.’s Auditor General versus

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For the week of Oct. 24, 2021:

With so many health, environment and economic challenges facing Premier John Horgan, the NDP chose to attack the public’s right to know.

Just in time for the anniversary of his pandemic election victory.

Major amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act in Bill 22 propose charging fees to access public records and excluding the Office of the Premier from disclosing any documents. 

On this edition, hear former NDP Attorney General Colin Gabelmann, the “father” of B.C.’s FOI law, and veteran investigative reporter Salim Jiwa. They both say Horgan is making a big mistake.

Plus commentary and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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For the week of Oct. 24, 2021: With

Business, News

Bob Mackin

This is the story of how Freedom of Information-hating Premier John Horgan rode my coattails to power.

Premier John Horgan and his cabinet swearing-in, July 2017 (BC Gov/Flickr)

Since the NDP enacted the transparency law in 1993, there has been no application fee; citizens are entitled to three hours free service per file. In 2021, Horgan wants to change the law so that government ministries, Crown corporations, agencies and municipalities can charge $25 per request, on par with Alberta. There was no hint of this in last year’s election platform.

Under the NDP’s watch, government debt and preventable deaths from a communicable disease, drug overdoses and heat reached all-time highs in B.C.

Horgan’s solution? Make FOIs cost-prohibitive, so that fewer citizens (and reporters) can follow the money and/or find out who knew what and when.

Not only did the NDP have a love affair with FOI while in opposition for 16 years, but, to my surprise, they adapted the result of my digging about a Christy Clark scandal into a 58-second attack ad that contributed to the end of the BC Liberal dynasty in 2017. 

NDP 2017 campaign ad skewered Christy Clark’s taxpayer-funded private jet trips (BC NDP)

My quest started in 2011, when I began to notice in Clark’s calendar a preference to travel on private jets. So I kept track, by using the FOI law to obtain flight manifests and invoices. I tried asking Clark herself about it in the hallways of CKNW where I was producing radio documentaries in 2012. She ignored me and walked into an elevator.

After the 2013 election, Clark lost her Vancouver-Point Grey seat and became the long-distance MLA for a Kelowna riding. That is when her spending really took off.

I was threatened with a fee invoice once for about $100, but the amiable clerk suggested a solution that worked for both government and me, to split the file in two. I eventually got what I wanted. 

As I chronicled for The Tyee, the cost to taxpayers for Clark’s jet set lifestyle hit $335,000 in 2014, then $500,000 early in 2016. That’s when the major media and NDP opposition noticed.

The BC Liberals went into damage control mode. Clark even made a feeble attempt herself, Tweeting a photo from an Air Canada flight to Penticton in July 2016. She sat among the common people! 

During the campaign, on April 24, 2017, I received the NDP news release, along with everyone else, about the Air Christy Clark ad.

“The BC NDP released an online animated advertisement to show the difference between Christy Clark’s B.C and the reality for everyone else,” it said.

“In the ad, a woman is travelling in cramped economy seats on Air Christy Clark, where services are terrible and you have to pay for just about everything. Meanwhile in first class, Christy Clark sips champagne with rich BC Liberal donors and high-flying lobbyists.”

NDP news release about the Air Christy campaign ad (BC NDP)

It wasn’t the only ad in the NDP campaign mix, but it was the one that best-illustrated how the BC Liberals had become greedy and out of touch.

FOI is a quasi-constitutional right for all citizens to use, so we can keep the institutions we own accountable. Government records are public records and we need to access them so we can curb corruption and wasteful spending, and to keep our communities safe and healthy.

An FOI application fee is, as NDP cabinet minister and FOI expert Murray Rankin once said, a “tollgate” on the public’s right to know. 

An exorbitant fee wouldn’t just throw a curveball at a certain reporter who is starting to notice Horgan’s own charter jet spending.

It would hurt all British Columbians, especially students, seniors and the working poor that the NDP claim to represent.

So I am doing whatever I can to draw attention to Horgan’s most-awkward way of celebrating the first anniversary of his pandemic power grab election win.

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Bob Mackin This is the story of how

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Bob Mackin

Vancouver City Manager Paul Mochrie announced a vaccine mandate for civic workers on Oct. 18.

They must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 6 or they won’t be permitted in the workplace.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s first dose in May 2021 (Twitter/Kennedy Stewart)

The detailed policy is under development, but Mochrie’s announcement said those that require an exemption will be accommodated.

The vaccine mandate does not apply to the Mayor and 10 councillors.

Nonetheless, on Oct. 19, they issued a joint statement headlined: “City Council confirms all members are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.”

Following yesterday’s announcement that the City of Vancouver will require all City staff be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 6, 2021, the members of Vancouver City Council are confirming they are all already fully vaccinated.

As elected officials are not subject to the same employment terms as City employees, the new staff policy does not apply to members of Council. Notwithstanding, all members of Council want to assure members of the public that they are voluntarily following the intent of the policy, as well as advice from public health.

theBreaker.news wanted to know whether that is true. All council members were contacted by email with two questions:

  • Where and when did you receive the vaccination? (Dates and places, please). 
  • Will you provide me your proof of vaccination? (Subject to reasonable redaction to protect personal information). 

Three councillors did not reply. But five showed proof of full vaccination. Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s spokesman only provided proof of partial vaccination.

Got the shot

Four Vancouver city councillors provided proof of vaccination (submitted)

Coun. Colleen Hardwick (TEAM for a Livable Vancouver) and Jean Swanson (COPE) were the only two to show theBreaker.news copies of the Immunize BC cards provided to them at the vaccine clinics.

Hardwick’s shots were April 22 and June 30, Swanson’s April 1 and June 23.

Coun. Melissa De Genova (NPA) said she received hers at VCC East May 10 and July 25, and provided a copy of the BC Vaccine Card obtained Oct. 20.

Coun. Lisa Dominato (Ind.) said she received hers May 12 and July 9 at the Vancouver Community College, and provided a copy of the BC Vaccine Card, obtained Sept. 12.

Coun. Pete Fry (Green) said he had his May 11 and June 14 in Vancouver, and showed a Sept. 7-issued BC Vaccine Card.

Stewart’s spokesman Alvin Singh provided a May 14 Tweet showing Stewart getting the jab at the Vancouver Convention Centre East. But he did not provide information about a second dose.

She said, she said

Coun. Rebecca Bligh (Ind.) said she received her doses in May and the end of June.

Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung (Ind.) said she received hers in May at Killarney and July at Vancouver Tech.

No reply

Green Councillors Adriane Carr and Michael Wiebe and OneCity Coun. Christine Boyle did not reply.

Question: Are all members of Vancouver city council fully vaccinated?
Fact Check Status: Unproven

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Bob Mackin Vancouver City Manager Paul Mochrie announced

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Bob Mackin

The virtual public inquiry into money laundering in British Columbia is now over.

Commissioner Austin Cullen (Cullen Commission)

Justice Austin Cullen signed-off for the last time on Oct. 19, after replies from lawyers for the Governments of Canada and British Columbia, and the B.C. Lottery Corporation. Even Greg DelBigio, the lawyer for accused loan shark Paul King Jin, the poster boy for the inquiry, had one last chance to defend his client.

But it’s not over until it’s over.

“There is still much to be done for the commission and myself,” Cullen said.

Now we wait. Cullen has until Dec. 15 to write his final report and recommendations and deliver it to the NDP government for release on a day to be announced.

“What I hope will be a success that will bring some reason and rationale to the issues that confront us,” Cullen said.

How it started

David Eby (left), John Horgan and Carole James, May 15 in Victoria (Mackin)

Premier John Horgan, Attorney General David Eby and then-Finance Minister Carole James bowed to public pressure and announced the public inquiry on May 15, 2019, with a final report deadline of May 2021.

That was supposed to be six months before the next provincial election.

Testimony began Feb. 24, 2020, as the coronavirus was spreading.

When it reconvened in late May 2020, it was via webconference, due to the pandemic. And it would stay that way to the end.

The fall 2020 sessions were delayed two weeks, until after the snap election Horgan called. No surprise, there was an extension granted March 19, 2021, but a hard deadline for Cullen of Dec. 15, 2021.

Horgan was initially reluctant. He had expressed reservations that the inquiry would cost a lot, make lawyers rich and end up with a final report that sits on a shelf and gathers dust.

A little known-fact: Before he ran for public office in 2005, Horgan was a lobbyist in Vancouver for the Plaza of Nations casino and for the controversial installation of slot machines at Hastings Racecourse. 

By the numbers

Cullen heard 198 witnesses over 138 days.

Another 23 gave evidence by affidavit.

There were 1,063 exhibits, more than 70,000 pages of documents and he made 36 procedural rulings.

Highlights

Peter German (April 12-13, 2021)

The former head of the RCMP in Western Canada whose two Dirty Money reports set the table for the inquiry. German painted the picture for how B.C. became a money laundering mecca.

Peter German’s Dirty Money report was released June 27 (Mackin)

“We are in many ways an Asian-looking city. We look to Asia, our commerce is to Asia as well as to the United States. Everybody in the Lower Mainland lives within probably an hour of the US border. There’s a lot of north/south movement and including to Mexico these days with visa access being what it is. And all of this is COVID aside, if you get my drift. So you’ve got a large port, you’ve got a large airport, among the largest on the western seaboard of North America. We are a high-tech location here in Vancouver and British Columbia. We have excellent financial systems. We have excellent communication systems. We’re really well situated and we’re — it’s a prosperous  economy. We also have a really ethnically diverse province and city, which is really, I think, one of the things that makes it so appealing to live here in terms of culture, ethnicity and everything else. We are quite unique.

“On the flip side of this, organized crime sees all these reasons as well.

“All of those issues that make this a great place to live also make it quite attractive, in my opinion, to organized crime.”

I could go over each of those again, but you can sort of put it together. It’s the easy access in terms of ports, airports, United States, Asia. We’re very well situated. Add to that the fact that we have a very fair and, I would say, small L liberal criminal justice system. We don’t lock people up and throw the key away. I spent four years as a Deputy Commissioner of federal corrections. I’m quite familiar with our penitentiary system, and we have a parole system that is top class in terms of the world. But for organized crime, the downside isn’t all that great if you end up going to jail. You’re probably not going to go for long, and that’s a reality. We’ve also made it very difficult in recent years — and this isn’t the work of any one person but through a collection of circumstances — very difficult to investigate financial crime in this country. It’s not easy, and I’m happy to go into that in some detail.

“So you put that together and then add to it that we have a fairly, again, small L liberal culture when it comes to drug use. A lot of drugs are consumed in this part of the country, not to say that they aren’t consumed elsewhere as well, but it just makes us very attractive to organized crime.

“And where you have organized crime, you have money laundering.”

Ross Alderson (Sept. 9-10, 2021)

The former B.C. Lottery Corporation anti-money laundering manager blew the whistle. Without him, there probably would not have been an inquiry.

He was one of the last to testify. He explained why he risked his job.

Whistleblower Ross Alderson featured on CTV’s W5 (CTV)

“I saw nothing being done. Nothing being done. And the more I got involved, I joined — I became on the board of directors of the certified anti-money laundering group in Vancouver, and I saw how many of these patrons were linked into real estate transactions, into other transactions that these were people with criminal links, and I was getting information from police, and not only that, some very concerning links to the Chinese Communist Party, and I felt that a lot what was being undermined — I mean, I lived in Amsterdam when I was 22 years old. It was the first time and I was a country boy from New Zealand who really had my eyes opened about drug problems.

“But when I came to Vancouver and I would drive from Vancouver head office to the downtown area to go to my meetings, I would drive through Hastings and Main, and what I saw down there, you know, you know, it just — you don’t see too many places in the world. It’s disgusting. And I — I just — the whole thing to me was distasteful, and I felt that I was in a position that I had the information that this needed to be out in the public forum and that was my frustration.”

Walter Soo (Feb. 9, 2021)

The former vice-president of Great Canadian Gaming was key in attracting Asian high roller junkets to River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, the epicentre of B.C. casino money laundering.

Ex-Great Canadian Gaming VP Walter Soo with Mike Tyson

“But in another twist of fate what happened was SARS happened in 2002. The people of Macau, the people of Hong Kong, Hong Kong particularly, blamed the Chinese government for covering that up and that SARS was hitting southern China and affecting them.

“The Chinese government as part of the damage control allowed the borders to be open from China to Macau, China to Hong Kong to repair any damages done by that period. And when that border opened the Chinese people gushed into Macau. And again, the Chinese people immigrated to Vancouver, now ready, stocked and prepared to play, and for years overlapping from 2005 to 2012, these people just kept flowing in. They just — it may sound crude, but they just washed up onshore.”

Christy Clark (April 20, 2021)

The former Premier, under whose watch casino crime and real estate prices ballooned. Her BC Liberal Party held many fundraisers at casinos and took donations from casino companies. (If the commission lawyers had fact-checked her testimony, they could’ve investigated her for perjury.)

Christy Clark testified April 20 at the Cullen Commission (Cullen Commission)

“Well, government, you know, political parties still to this day take donations from organizations and businesses across the province that we regulate. So forestry companies donate to political parties. That’s a regulated business. Mining as well. Liquor companies, also regulated. I mean, you could go right across — pharmaceutical companies, also regulated. So, I mean, there’s a lot of — that exists right across government, so, you know, it’s not unique to gaming by any stretch of the imagination. And, you know, but, again, most donors give money to all the political parties they’re allowed to. For the most part they weren’t allowed to give it to the BC Liberal Party.”

Shortfall

The inquiry was supposed to probe money laundering in all its forms, from casinos to real estate to cars to currency and stock trading… who knew what and when. But in the end, it became a probe of casinos.

The Cullen Commission was patterned after Quebec’s Charbonneau Commission, the public inquiry into construction industry corruption. That was a four-year quest for truth that led to the resignation and conviction of two mayors. It exposed secrets about Montreal’s mafia and SNC-Lavalin. 

Who didn’t testify

Former BC Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell

Former Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson

Robertson’s chief of staff Mike Magee

Joan Elangovan (second from left) in Beijing in 2017 with Mayor Gregor Robertson.

Former Vancouver City Managers Penny Ballem and Sadhu Johnston

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie

Former Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan

Former Burnaby Coun. Richard Chang

Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer

Former Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu 

BC Liberal campaign manager and casino lobbyist Patrick Kinsella

Great Canadian Gaming ex-CEO Rod Baker

Real estate tycoon Peter Wall

Real estate tycoon Ian Gillespie

Real estate marketer Bob Rennie

BC Liberal fundraiser, former BCLC chair and Paragon Gaming director Richard Turner

Accused money launderer Paul King Jin

Gambler and People’s Liberation Army veteran Rongxiang “Tiger” Yuan

Online gambling pioneer and cryptocurrency magnate Calvin Ayre

Liberal Senator Larry Campbell

Trudeau-appointed Senator Yuen Pau Woo

Former Liberal MP and real estate lawyer Joe Peschisolido

Investor/stock fraudster Paul Oei

Real estate and immigration lawyer and former China state council lawyer Hong Guo

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Bob Mackin The virtual public inquiry into money

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