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Bob Mackin

A B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) tribunal has given approval to Creative Energy Senakw LP (CESLP) for a thermal energy system to heat and cool the first two phases of towers on Squamish Nation land beside the Burrard Bridge.

The Oct. 26 decision allows CESLP to build a power plant in a parkade to be constructed next to Chestnut Street, on the west of the Senakw site, for more than $30 million. CESLP will operate the low carbon electrified energy system for its only customer, developer Nch’kay West, with electric chillers and heat captured from Metro Vancouver sewage.

Chestnut entrance to the Senakw construction site (Mackin)

The BCUC tribunal was chaired by commissioner Carolann Brewer, a lawyer from the Smalqmix first nation, with commissioners Anna Fung and Blair Lockhart.

The system is expected to be in service by February 2025 and the seven residential towers are scheduled to be occupied between 2025 and 2027. CESLP originally applied Oct. 20, 2022 for the certificate of public convenience and necessity.

“The panel finds a need for low carbon heating and cooling for the Senakw development,” said the decision. “Further, of the low carbon technologies that CESLP evaluated including biomass and ocean heat recovery, the panel agrees with CESLP’s conclusion that sewer heat recovery is the most reasonable alternative to meet the developer’s requirement for a low carbon energy system.”

CESLP satisfied a key requirement of the application when it filed its agreement with Metro Vancouver on Sept. 18. 

“Under the terms of the sewage diversion agreement, there is no cost for the waste heat, subject only to heat policy changes by Metro Vancouver, in which case parties have three years to negotiate rates,” said the BCUC decision. “If no agreement is reached within that time either party can terminate the agreement.”

The agreement includes escape clauses for either party, subject to three years notice, during the first 20 years of the agreement.

“The panel finds that the Senakw [district energy system] is properly sized to meet forecast demand, and that it includes a justifiable level of redundancy for heating. In addition, the panel finds that CESLP has appropriately identified key risks and adequately addressed them, in particular the risks associated with construction costs and fuel availability,” said the decision.

CESLP’s design engineer, Stantec, retained consultant BTY Group to estimate the cost of project construction at $26.4 million in 2022 dollars or $30.026 million when the project is fully in operation and servicing phases one and two.

Residential Consumer Intervener Association (RCIA) was the sole intervener registered. Kits Point Residents Association (KPRA) and the Squamish Nation provided two letters of comment during the proceeding. The Squamish Nation disagreed with the BCUC decision to hold a hearing. KPRA said there had been a lack of public consultation — there was but one public meeting, on Oct. 3, 2022. KPRA also expressed various concerns about odour and noise from the plant, impacts on the neighbourhood and Vanier Park, and whether Metro Vancouver would receive fair compensation. 

The tribunal called KPRA’s concerns about neighbourhood impacts “rather unspecific.” It ruled that CESLP had addressed KPRA concerns on noise and odour because CESLP said the system was a closed loop and primarily underground. 

“Public engagement on the Senakw DES was included in the description of the Senakw development, and while KPRA has raised concerns in relation to engagement, the DES is clearly not the focal point for public concern,” the tribunal said.

In late September, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carla Forth dismissed the KPRA bid to quash the City of Vancouver’s 120-year agreement to service the Senakw project. The agreement had been negotiated and agreed behind closed doors, without public consultation. But Forth decided the agreement was valid, the city acted within the law and that no civic official acted in bad faith. 

The federally approved project is slated to contain 6,000 residential units by 2030. At the groundbreaking ceremony in September 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a $1.4 billion loan through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to finance half the units in the first two phases. It is officially a partnership between Westbank Corp. and the Squamish Nation’s Nch’kay Development Corp. 

A 2019 expert report for Squamish Nation members estimated the project could bring as much as $12.7 billion cashflow for the band and developer. 

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) tribunal

Business, News, Opinion

For the week of Nov. 5, 2023:

Finally, the Government of Canada has banned the use of WeChat on government devices.

Prof. Benjamin Fung (McGill/YouTube)

Two years since the 2021 federal election, in which Conservative Kenny Chiu was subject to disinformation and lost his Steveston-Richmond East seat. Five months after proof that another Conservative, Michael Chong, was targeted by a Chinese diplomat. 

Treasury Board president Anita Anand announced the ban of the Chinese social media, messaging and payment app on the same day she banned the use of Russian-made anti-virus products. 

One of Canada’s top professors on datamining and cybersecurity said the federal ban was overdue.

Benjamin Fung of McGill University’s School of Information Studies had been warning officials for years about how the Chinese Communist Party has manipulated WeChat for its goals. 

Fung is host Bob Mackin’s guest on this week’s edition of thePodcast. 

Plus, headlines from the Pacific Rim and the Pacific Northwest. 

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For the week of Nov. 5, 2023:

Business, News

Bob Mackin 

A woman who fled to China after allegedly killing the passenger in a Seattle-area Porsche crash legally crossed the border en route to Vancouver International Airport, according to the Bellevue Police Department (BPD). 

“I can confirm that, based on information we received from [Canada Border Services Agency], Ting Ye crossed into Canada Oct. 9 at 11 p.m. at the Surrey border crossing,” said Officer Seth Tyler, BPD’s acting public information officer.

Ting Ye: wanted in Washington State

Ye, 26, crashed a 2020 Porsche 911 at 3:45 a.m. on Sept. 30. Passenger Yabao Liu, 27, was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Tyler said Ye crossed the border legally in a vehicle driven by an acquaintance at one of the two Surrey crossings. He said she flew out on Oct. 11 and, “at this time we do not believe any Canadian individuals assisted her with her escape.” 

He indicated that police know her flight destination in China.

“We have no information to indicate she had accommodation in Canada. I do not believe that the flight information will be released as it would compromise our ongoing investigation,” Tyler said.

There is no extradition treaty between the U.S. or Canada and China. 

A prosecutor’s vehicular homicide charge against Ye in Superior Court of Washington for King County was dated Oct. 6, but filed Oct. 9. The state requested $2 million bail and for Ye’s passport to be turned over to the court. But she left hospital later that day. 

Ye’s last known address was an apartment in the South Lake Union area of Seattle, a hub for major tech companies. She was to be arraigned Oct. 23, but did not appear in court. A warrant was issued for her arrest.

The court filing said Ye was exceeding 144 kilometres-per-hour and heading towards State Route 520 in downtown Bellevue early Sept. 30. 

“She failed to maintain control of the car and crashed violently. The car went airborne striking several objects before landing upside down,” the document said. 

“Responding police and firefighters smelled the strong odor of alcohol coming from the defendant’s breath every time she spoke. Because of her injuries, no other observations could be made. A search warrant to extract and test her blood was approved and executed three hours after the crash. Those results are pending with the toxicology laboratory.”

The 2020 Porsche 911 was worth $97,000 to $133,000 and Ye obtained a Washington State driver’s licence in 2021, but had no known history of criminal or traffic violations.

It is not the first time a Chinese national has fled from police through Vancouver International Airport.  

In 2002, Simon Fraser University student Ang Li abruptly returned to China after reporting his girlfriend, Amanda Zhao, missing. 

Zhao’s body was eventually found in a suitcase near Mission’s Stave Lake. 

Rather than send him to Canada to face charges, the Chinese government agreed not to seek the death penalty. Li was sentenced to life in prison for first degree murder in 2012. Upon appeal, that was downgraded in 2014 to seven years for manslaughter. 

Li resurfaced earlier this year in a New Zealand Herald interview after the New Zealand government refused his refugee claim. Li had illegally entered the country in 2019 under an alias and began a family in Auckland. He denied he killed Zhao, claimed she was still alive, and said he fled to New Zealand to avoid Chinese Communist Party harassment. 

Vancouver East NDP MP Jenny Kwan asked then-attorney general David Lametti to contact New Zealand counterparts to brief them about Li’s Canadian murder case. She said Li was both lying and lacking remorse.

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Bob Mackin  A woman who fled to China

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Bob Mackin

Taxpayers were charged almost $207,000 to fly Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his staff and family on trips aboard a Royal Canadian Air Force jet last April. 

That included the $52,000 cost for the Bombardier CC-144D Challenger that took Trudeau, Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau and their three children to Montana for an Easter weekend vacation at the Big Sky ski and snowboard resort.

Inside a Bombardier Challenger jet.

Based on the total costs and length of corresponding flight times listed in the documents, which were released under the access to information law, the cost-per-hour for the Challenger jet is $6,340. 

Before the pandemic, records about Trudeau’s trips in July and August 2019 showed that the average hourly cost was $5,636. He flies aboard military jets for security reasons.

The request about the Montana trip specifically sought details of any cost recovery, but no records were provided. Government policy states that, when the travel is for personal reasons, staff ask a travel agent to quote the lowest commercial fare on a comparable flight and then issue an invoice for that amount. In September 2019, Trudeau was invoiced $2,450.73 after a family vacation to Tofino. However, that did not cover a half-hour of jet use. 

The documents from the Department of National Defence (DND) show there were five “missions” on which Trudeau traveled during 15 days in April. 

The trip to Montana came after a series of April 2-6 photo ops in Quebec with Premier Francois Legault and Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante after an ice storm, a speaking engagement at the the Eurasia Group consultancy’s summit in Toronto and a tour of a Honda factory in Alliston, Ont.

Fifteen hours after returning to Ottawa from Bozeman, Montana, Trudeau left aboard the Challenger for another campaign-style trip, from April 11-16 to Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina and Richmond. It included a meeting in Toronto with Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, a grocery rebate program photo op in Regina and Indigenous health funding announcement and town hall meeting with the Squamish Nation in North Vancouver. 

On April 21, Trudeau made a one-day trip to London, Ont., to announce a subsidized Volkswagen electric vehicle battery plant. From April 26 to 28, it was New York City for the Global Citizen Now summit. On April 30, a one-day Toronto trip for the Vaisakhi Parade. 

Justin Trudeau, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and Xi Jinping (PMO)

The busy month was prior to the Liberal Party’s May policy convention in Ottawa and sparked speculation that Trudeau might call another snap election by fall, two years before the next scheduled election. But that was scuttled by a  perfect storm of foreign interference by China and India, economic headwinds, the rise of the opposition Conservatives in opinion polls, and the collapse of Trudeau’s marriage. 

The Trudeaus announced Aug. 2 on social media that they had legally separated. Last month, the National Post reported on a divorce petition filed April 26 by the ex-wife of an Ottawa surgeon, Dr. Marcos Bettolli, alleging he had “re-partnered with a high-profile individual who attracts significant media attention, and presents significant security considerations.” The newspaper reported that the individual was Gregoire Trudeau. The court filing was less than three weeks after the Montana vacation. 

Meanwhile, the documents also show that Anita Anand, who was Minister of National Defence at the time, charged $121,728 for an April 20-22 round trip to Germany with three staff members, chief of defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre and four senior Canadian Armed Forces officers to the headquarters of the U.S. Army Europe and Africa in Wiesbaden and a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at the Ramstein Air Base. 

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon’s only trip of the month was April 25-27 to Yellowknife, which cost $50,720 for the Challenger jet. 

The access to information application was originally filed May 2. Federal government offices are legally required to respond within 30 days or invoke an extension beyond 30 days, but DND did not. 

Leslie Mayo, acting deputy director for the DND information and privacy office, said in an Aug. 15 email that the file had been “just assigned” to her team. Senior analyst Alain Pouliot said Oct. 6 that consultation was ongoing, but refused to say with whom. On Oct. 26, Mayo blamed a backlog.

“We do not give out information about internal processes and the employees involved as our employees have been targeted in social media and in the news for delays that are not their fault,” said chief of operations Leslie Larabie.

The records were finally disclosed Nov. 2. 

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Bob Mackin Taxpayers were charged almost $207,000 to

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Bob Mackin 

After losing two June by-elections, BC United also lost fundraising momentum. 

The Kevin Falcon-led party reported $399,209.70 in contributions for the July to September quarter, according to the Nov. 2-released Elections BC political fundraising reports.

Kevin Falcon enters the Wall Centre ballroom on Feb. 5 (BC Liberals/Facebook)

While that is better than the $355,852.80 from the same quarter in 2022, it is substantially less than the $768,091.62 BC United raised in 2023’s second quarter. Through three quarters, the official opposition party has raised $1.8 million. 

The B.C. NDP, meanwhile, took-in $867,611.92 during the summer, 12% less than the $988,265.53 in 2022’s third quarter.

The year-to-date total is almost $2.65 million, an $850,000 advantage over BC United. The NDP lead over BC United had shrunk to $380,000 at the midway point of the year. 

The next scheduled election is Oct. 19, 2024. 

Of the NDP donors, nearly 800 gave greater than $250 ($433,044.82) and 6,686 gave $250 or less ($434,957.10). BC United reported 448 donations more than $250 ($257,510.31) and 2,949 for $250 or less ($141,654.40). 

BC United, known as the BC Liberals until April 12, included on their list of prohibited donations a sum of $1,267.67 returned Oct. 11 to Falcon, because he had exceeded the contribution limit. 

The 2023 ceiling on individual donations to each registered party, including candidates and constituency associations, is $1,401.40. Falcon already contributed $1,401 on Feb. 16, the same day his wife Jessica gave $1,401. 

The NDP appears to be sustaining its momentum. There are 15 party events listed on its website, including Nov. 4 campaigning in the NDP-held North Vancouver-Lonsdale and North Vancouver-Seymour  ridings and a Nov. 15 reception at the Hotel Grand Pacific with Premier David Eby. 

The BC United website lists only two upcoming events, both featuring Falcon, at the Grove Vale Golf Club in Victoria on Nov. 8 and the Royal Seafood Restaurant in Richmond on Nov. 24. The latter event features Richmond Centre candidate Wendy Yuan.  

Meanwhile, the BC Greens reported $161,711.48 in contributions during the third quarter, but returned $100 to federal co-leader Elizabeth May on Aug. 10 for exceeding her 2023 limit. 

The Conservative Party of B.C., under leader John Rustad, reported $52,562.19. The party gained official status in the Legislature after the Sept. 13 defection of Abbotsford South BC United MLA Bruce Banman to the Conservatives. 

The summertime quarter also included the half-year, taxpayer-funded allowance payments on July 15, based on vote totals in the 2020 election: NDP ($786,086); BC United ($556,629.50); Greens ($248,632.12) and Conservatives ($31,414.25).

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Bob Mackin  After losing two June by-elections, BC

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Bob Mackin

Vancouver city hall has not decided whether to remove WeChat from its devices, like it did after the federal and B.C. governments banned TikTok earlier this year. 

On Oct. 30, citing privacy and security concerns, Treasury Board president Anita Anand gave the immediate order to remove the Chinese social media, messaging and payment app from federal devices and to ban any further downloads. 

Products from Kaspersky Lab, the Russian anti-virus software company, were also banned.

Vancouver city hall (CoV) 

“Following the Government of Canada’s decision to remove WeChat and Kaspersky from mobile devices issued to staff, the City of Vancouver is currently reviewing our technology acceptable use policy which governs city-issued devices,” said a statement provided by Phoenix Lam of Vancouver city hall’s communications department. “At this time, we have not banned or removed WeChat and Kaspersky apps from City of Vancouver devices.”

The Communications Security Establishment’s 2023-2024 National Cyber Threat Assessment warned that WeChat “has been used to spread misinformation, disinformation and malinformation and propaganda specific to the Chinese diaspora.” WeChat has figured in recent Global Affairs Canada warnings about foreign interference and targeting of politicians.

After Anand’s predecessor, Mona Fortier, announced a ban on the TikTok video app on Feb. 27, it took more than two weeks for Vancouver city hall to follow. Of the 2,700 devices in its fleet, city hall counted 132 iPhones that contained TikTok. 

The city’s chief technology officer Tadhg Healy initially expressed reluctance, even after B.C. Citizens’ Services Minister Lisa Beare quickly followed the federal lead. The decision to remove TikTok and block further downloads was finally announced March 14. 

The Ministry of Citizens’ Services said that Kaspersky is not on any B.C. government-managed device and that WeChat has not been permitted on such devices for nearly four years. 

“In early 2020, it was communicated by the office of the Chief Information Security Officer to all security leads across all government ministries that WeChat was not permitted on government managed devices,” said a statement provided by public affairs officer Farah Tarannum. “Those security leads then ensured the application was uninstalled and reported back when the application was uninstalled. The ministry continues to monitor applications for any potential cybersecurity risks that may be associated.”

Despite that, the ministry considers WeChat to be “an important tool to share information about government programs, services, and information with people in their preferred language.” 

The B.C. government’s WeChat account was originally registered for personal use by Bruce Ralston when he was Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology in 2018, the same year that Premier John Horgan led a trade mission to China. Horgan announced a tourism promotion agreement with WeChat when he met with executives from its parent company Tencent. 

Ralston, the NDP government’s liaison to the B.C. diplomatic corps, transferred the account to the government in 2020 and it is managed by contractor Fan Rong Marketing Ltd.

One of Canada’s top professors on datamining and cybersecurity said the federal ban was overdue.

“We have been demanding the government to ban this app for a very long time,” said Benjamin Fung of McGill University’s School of Information Studies. “Actually, It was five or six years ago, the U.K. government gave the the first official warning on this app. So it takes several years for the Canadian government to actually take some action.”

Fung said WeChat is prone to Chinese Communist Party censorship and propaganda. The risk to users is threefold: privacy, security and trust. The app requests access to all files on a device, the camera and microphone, and nearby devices. 

“No matter if it is within China or outside of China, it is clear that the Chinese government and the Tencent company are monitoring all the communications,” Fung said. 

WeChat is relied upon by many in the Chinese diaspora in order to stay in touch with friends and relatives in China.

“There are not many other alternatives,” Fung said. He advised that those in need of WeChat use it on an older smartphone, without any other communication or email apps. 

“That will be a trade-off for individuals if they want to improve their security and avoid being a target for foreign interference.”

In mid-August, the B.C. government announced it had opened an account on the Weibo platform, to post messages in Chinese about public safety, emergency preparedness, cost of living, housing, education, health care and justice services. Third-party contractor Catalyst Agents was hired for the job.

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Bob Mackin Vancouver city hall has not decided

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Bob Mackin 

Digital-savvy activists with national environmental charities were a driving force of the Oct. 30 pro-Palestinian protests at federal constituency offices. 

They used old-fashioned sit-ins to promote their campaign for a ceasefire in Gaza.

David Suzuki employee Anjali Appadurai promoted sit-ins (X/Appadurai)

“What was new was the particular cause the protests were dedicated to, and the particular messages that were communicated,” said University of B.C. sociology professor David Tindall, who analyzes protest movements.

The protesters, who said they were with the Palestinian Youth Movement, targeted the offices of 17 Members of Parliament across the country, including NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s in Burnaby South and Liberal Joyce Murray’s in Vancouver Quadra. 

The Trudeau Liberal government condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, that resulted in 1,400 dead and 200 hostages. The government also supports Israel’s right to defend itself, but 33 Liberal, NDP and Green MPs signed an open letter last week calling for Trudeau to ask for a ceasefire.

At Singh’s office, co-organizer Atiya Jaffar, campaigns manager with 350 Canada, was joined by Harsha Walia, the former B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director who praised Hamas’s tactics during an Oct. 9 rally in downtown Vancouver. 

Jaffar did not respond for comment. Another 350 Canada employee, field organizer Emma Jackson, was involved in Edmonton. 

Among those supporting them on social media were the Leadnow social campaign group and David Suzuki Institute campaigns director Anjali Appadurai. Appadurai unsuccessfully sought the B.C. NDP leadership last year and narrowly lost a bid for a seat in parliament in 2021 with the NDP in Vancouver-Granville. 

Nico Slobinsky, vice-president for the Pacific region of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, called Appadurai an apologist for Hamas in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“If you really cared for the people of Gaza, you should demand that terror organization Hamas: Hands over food, fuel and medicine to Gaza’s civilians, immediately releases all hostages, stops firing terror rockets at Israel [and] unconditionally surrenders,” Slobinsky wrote.

Harsha Walia and co. in Jagmeet Singh’s office (X)

David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) clean electricity campaigner Katie Rae Perfitt participated at the Ottawa-Vanier office of Mona Fortier. 

Theresa Beer, spokeswoman for the Vancouver-based foundation, said Perfitt attended and participated “as an individual citizen, not on behalf of the DSF.” 

“To the best of our knowledge,” Beer said, Perfitt was the only person from DSF involved in the protest.

“DSF does not have a public position on the conflict at this time,” she said, referring questions about Appadurai to the Institute. 

Suzuki’s Salt Spring Island political advocacy arm did not respond by deadline. Likewise for 350 Canada and Stand.earth.

Stand.earth senior climate finance organizer Maya Menezes and senior digital campaigner Batul Gulamhusein were among those that Toronto Police removed from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s Toronto office. 

The sit-ins came two days after a rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery where Langara College English instructor Natalie Knight gained international attention for calling Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack “amazing, brilliant.” 

Knight had kept a low-profile since early 2020’s nationwide Shut Down Canada campaign. The American led protests that blocked transportation networks in support of the Wet-suwet-en hereditary chiefs and their opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline. 

Langara College said Monday that Knight does not represent the college and the matter is now under investigation.  

An article by University of Toronto assistant professor Chandni Desai, published in the May 2021 edition of the Journal of Palestinian Studies, said the Palestinian Youth Movement was among Shut Down Canada’s supporters. 

“At around the same time that Indigenous nations were resisting this colonial encroachment within Canada, Palestinians were protesting the ‘Deal of the Century’ devised by the Trump administration as a Middle East peace plan,” Desai wrote. 

Tindall said that progressive social movements are attracted to actors and causes they perceive as underdogs. Environmentalists are also increasingly interested in social justice, beyond the core issues like stopping clearcut logging or protecting parkland. 

However, while protesting for a ceasefire in Gaza, they could alienate supporters of their environmental activism.

“At the Ivy League universities in the U.S., you’re seeing a lot of the donors with deep pockets,  especially, that have some kind of connection to the Jewish community. They’re withdrawing some of their donations, or they’re saying they’re not going to donate to these institutions in the future,” Tindall said. “Hypothetically, that’s also a possible risk for some of these organizations [in Canada].”

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Bob Mackin  Digital-savvy activists with national environmental charities

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Bob Mackin

The provincial government refused to say when it expects the Broadway Subway to be in service.

Broadway Subway (B.C. Gov)

Last November, after a summertime concrete supply strike, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure moved the completion target from late 2025 to early 2026. February’s project status update showed the revised date for service commencement was Feb. 7, 2026. But that date was omitted from the April version of the report. 

After the boring machine for the inbound tunnel, named Phyllis, reached the future Oak-VGH Station on Oct. 12, the Ministry said the budget remains $2.83 billion, but refused to disclose a construction schedule update. 

“Once boring is complete, we will have more clarity on the timing of the remaining construction activities and overall project schedule,” according to the statement, provided by representative Murray Sinclair.

The outbound tunnel boring machine (TBM), named Elsie, reached Oak-VGH Station on Saturday morning, according to the Ministry’s Monday announcement. It said the TBMs have each dug two kilometres. 

However, based on its original Oct. 7, 2022 announcement, they should have been approaching their destination at Cypress Street near the future Arbutus Station by now. 

Broadway Subway (B.C. Gov)

At the time, the Ministry said “each TBM is expected to take about a year to carve out the subway’s inbound and outbound tunnels.” 

They were launched separately from the Great Northern Way-Emily Carr station on the six-station, 5.7 kilometre Millennium Line extension. After Oak-VGH, the next station is South Granville, which is more than a kilometre west. Cypress Street is a further 700 metres. 

In April, a reporter asked under the freedom of information law for a copy of the most-recent project status report for the Broadway Subway. The confidential internal report, co-authored by project director Javier Sanz of contractor Acciona, was not disclosed until October. It said that as of the end of February, Elsie had travelled 735 metres, or almost 21% of its route, with 2.8 kilometres remaining. Phyllis had completed almost 554 metres, more than 15% complete, with three kilometres remaining.

The October 2022-launched Elsie is named for the world’s first aeronautical engineer Elsie MacGill. Phyllis, named for mountaineering pioneer Phyllis Munday, followed in late November.

The report censored sections in their entirety about the critical path schedule and the reasons for deviations from the original schedule. Similarly, both the cost performance and cashflow were censored from an executive summary report. 

The documents said there had been a total of 248 first aid and 44 medical aid incidents since the project began. There had also been 67 reports of near-misses and 53 incidents of equipment, vehicle and property damage. 

Incidents averaged one per day in February. There were five sprain/strain injuries, four for debris in eyes, one each for a sliver, concrete burn and strike in the eye. A worker slipped on waterproofing membrane at Broadway City Hall station and sustained a hairline arm fracture.

There were six cases of property damage, including a fence that fell on a car at Great Northern Way, a large piece of sandstone that came loose and struck and damaged an excavator window at Oak-VGH and shotcrete that struck an apartment building at Arbutus.

WorkSafeBC issued an order for failing to conduct silica monitoring at the start of tunnel boring activities. The WorkSafeBC website calls silica “one of the most common hazards on a worksite.” Exposure to silica dust can cause workers to develop lung cancer. 

WorkSafeBC also found that terms and conditions were not followed for ventilation, diesel equipment and hours of work. A ventilation survey was not performed nor was an air monitoring plan developed.

The biggest environmental incident report for the month happened Feb. 7 and said “approximately 28,000 gallons of turbid water was released to a catch basin.”

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Bob Mackin The provincial government refused to say

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For the week of Oct. 29, 2023:

Established in 1979, British Columbia’s Office of the Ombudsperson is the independent voice for fairness and accountability when public bodies fall short. 

Jay Chalke, the Ombudsperson since 2015, is the watchdog for 1,000 public bodies. He also oversees the province’s whistleblower protection law. Government has gotten bigger and citizen complaints more complex since 2020. 

Last year, the office received more than 7,300 complaints under the Ombudsperson Act, mainly about the decisions or outcomes of decisions by public bodies, their procedures and how they communicate. ICBC, ministries involved in child protection and poverty reduction attracted the most complaints.

Listen to host Bob Mackin’s interview of Ombudsperson Jay Chalke. 

Plus, headlines from the Pacific Rim and the Pacific Northwest. 

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

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For the week of Oct. 29, 2023:

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Bob Mackin

Lawyers for the former Mexican general who fled to B.C. four years ago will be allowed to present evidence that could cast doubt on the Mexican government’s extradition case. 

Eduardo Leon Trauwitz, 56, was arrested in December 2021 and freed on bail conditions in March 2022. The Mexican government wants Canada to return Trauwitz to face trial on organized crime and fuel theft charges. It alleges that Trauwitz, while working as head of security for state oil company Pemex, facilitated theft of 1.87 billion litres of hydrocarbons from clandestine taps in Pemex pipelines.

B.C.-arrested Eduardo Leon Trauwitz

Trauwitz’s lawyers asked to submit a three-page typewritten statement from March 2020 in which former Pemex worker Moises Angel Merlin Sibaja expressed concern that his version of events had been distorted and words were put in his mouth “with apparent political motives.”

Sibaja originally told Mexican prosecutors in February 2017 and January 2019 that he was among workers threatened with firing if they did not follow orders from Trauwitz and four other public officials about a new December 2015 procedure to neutralize and not report clandestine taps.

B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes gave the defence more time to correct deficiencies in its application. On Oct. 19, she deemed some, but not all, of Sibaja’s statement admissible to the extradition hearing. 

The defence had included 2023 letters from a lawyer and notary that were involved in taking and verifying Sibaja’s 2020 statement, and a new and notarized August written statement by Sibaja. 

“The 2023 statement covers most of the same ground as the 2020 statement, but also includes a notary’s certification, including of Mr. Sibaja’s identity as the maker of the statement,” Holmes wrote in her decision. “The notary’s certification in turn also provides information about the process by which the notary received Mr. Sibaja’s declaration. This contrasts with the 2020 statement in the version proposed for admission, which did not include similar details in the English translation.”

Trauwitz’s lawyer told the court in December 2021 that he had been the victim of a politically motivated prosecution.  

“Mr. Trauwitz was the one who was trying to stop hydrocarbon theft and his actions actually prohibited other corrupt individuals from engaging in carbon theft,” Tom Arbogast said.

In May, the court approved Trauwitz’s move from Surrey to the Burquitlam area of Coquitlam. 

Trauwitz’s original bail conditions included a $20,000 surety, requirement to live with his daughter, an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, around the clock wearing of an electronic monitoring device and regular reporting to a probation officer.

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Bob Mackin Lawyers for the former Mexican general

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