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HomeStandard Blog Whole Post (Page 165)

One week left in the fall sitting of the British Columbia Legislature. Fundamental promises made in last February’s throne speech remain unfulfilled.

In the wake of the Legislature corruption scandal, which eventually led to the retirements of the clerk in May and sergeant-at-arms in October, the NDP government promised new accountability and transparency measures.

Including the expansion of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to finally cover the Legislature.

At his penultimate news conference of the sitting on Nov. 21, Premier John Horgan said the latter was still a work in progress. He gave no hint when the February-promised bill would be tabled.

“We’ve had some challenges when it comes to the Legislative Assembly Management Committee, it’s a year since we had what can only be described as an extraordinary day here at the Legislature,” Horgan said, referring to the Nov. 20, 2018 suspension and RCMP investigation, of Craig James and Gary Lenz. “So with that backdrop, the challenge is of coming to a place where all members of the legislature are comfortable with the changes we would make to the role and function of independent officers is a work in progress.”

Despite running in 2017 on a platform that included reforms to the FOI law, Horgan said the vast majority of the public is more interested in gas price and mobile phone billing transparency.

“I’m focusing on the things that matter to people, we’ve been here two years and we’ve addressed almost 80% of the commitments made and we’ve got two years left in the mandate. So, be patient and we’ll clean up that last 20%.”

Listen to highlights from Horgan’s news conference. He remained upbeat despite the lack of a new contract with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the prospect of Unifor drivers and mechanics shutting down the Coast Mountain Bus and SeaBus system on Nov. 27.

Also, listen to several lawmakers pay tribute to Spirit of the West’s late John Mann, who passed away Nov. 20 after a battle with Alzheimer’s. Plus headlines and commentaries.

Click below to listen or go to Apple Podcasts and subscribe. 

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theBreaker.news Podcast: Overdue FOI reforms take a backseat to Horgan's push for gas price and cell phone bill transparency
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One week left in the fall sitting

Bob Mackin

Almost three weeks after Craig James was suspended with pay, RCMP officers seized a wood splitter bought with public funds from his Saanich house, according to documents released by a Provincial Court judge on Nov. 22.

The wood splitter trailer outside Craig James’s house in Saanich last year (Speaker’s Office)

The information to obtain a production order, sworn by RCMP Const. Rafida Yonadim, offers a glimpse into the investigation into the purchase by the disgraced former clerk of the B.C. Legislature of the wood splitter and its trailer that he kept at his house for a year.

James’s oddball purchase was revealed in Speaker Darryl Plecas’s report to the Legislative Assembly Management Committee last January, which explained some of the reasons why Plecas called the RCMP to investigate corruption at the Legislature.

Yonadim’s documents said there were reasonable grounds to believe that James, between Nov. 17, 2017 and Dec. 7, 2018, committed breach of trust to obtain a benefit from the purchase of a trailer and wood splitter paid with public funds, for a purpose other than public good, contrary to section 122 of the Criminal Code.

James retired in May on the eve of a report by former Supreme Court of Canada chief justice Beverley McLachlin that found he had committed misconduct. Neither James nor Gary Lenz, the retired sergeant-at-arms, have been charged. James and Lenz were both suspended with pay and escorted out of the Parliament Buildings on Nov. 20, 2018.

Lenz retired in October, the week before a report was published that said he had breached the Police Act for lying to McLachlin, who had cleared him of wrongdoing in May. In a news conference on Nov. 26, 2018, they both said they did no wrong and they demanded to return to work.

Gary Lenz (left), ex-speaker Linda Reid and Craig James (Commonwealth Parliamentary Association)

The heavily redacted documents were released after an October-heard application to unseal the file by Postmedia in Surrey Provincial Court.

Yonadim, an officer from the Federal Serious and Organized Crime’s Financial Integrity office, wrote that officers from E Division attended James’s house at 9:50 a.m. on Dec. 7 last year. A tow truck driver loaded the wood splitter onto a flat bed truck and took it to a secure bay at Totem Towing. Police found evidence that it had been used.

The trailer had been returned earlier to the Legislative precinct. The documents say that a black trailer was found parked beside sea containers on the Legislature grounds on Oct. 22, 2018. One of the witnesses interviewed said that “James suddenly returned the trailer because ‘we were pestering the Clerk to… you know… park it back on the ground’.”

James had purchased the P.J. D5102 Dump trailer and Wallenstein WX450-L log splitter for a total $13,230.51 in fall 2017. Witnesses interviewed indicated that James had insisted on picking them up himself, with his white 2017 GMC Sierra Crew Cab truck. The trailer could have been delivered to Vancouver Island, but witnesses said James insisted on using his own pickup truck to retrieve it from the Lower Mainland, instead of one owned by the Legislature, because it supposedly had the correct hitch.

“I believe, for James, as clerk of the house, to pick up the trailer and wood splitter, or any equipment on behalf of facilities services, is outside the scope of his duties,” Yonadim wrote.

The infamous wood splitter, photographed on the Legislature grounds on Nov. 20, 2019. (Mackin)

A $65,000 business continuity business plan from Oct. 25, 2017 had contemplated the purchase of equipment in case of a natural disaster, but there was evidence that James did not follow the proper procedures to approve the purchase.

“None of the witnesses police interviewed had seen the trailer prior to the beginning of this investigation,” Yonadim wrote. “I believe that given the totality of all the information learned, James picked up the trailer on his own accord, drove it to his property, kept it there and used it, until he discovered there was an investigation into the whereabouts of the trailer at which point he arranged to bring it back. None of the witnesses police interviewed ever saw a wood splitter on Legislature property after it had been purchased.”

A source with knowledge of the investigation, but not authority to speak publicly, said the wood splitter and trailer are the subject of one of the first reports sent to special prosecutors for their approval to lay charges.

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ITO-2018-7549.pdf by Bob Mackin on Scribd

Postmedia Network Inc v Attorney General of Canada Et Al by Bob Mackin on Scribd

Bob Mackin Almost three weeks after Craig James

Nov. 20, 2018, 11:06 a.m.

NDP Government House Leader and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth stood in the Legislature, to ask for support to immediately and indefinitely suspend the Legislature’s clerk, Craig James, and sergeant-at-arms, Gary Lenz, while under investigation.

The motion passed unanimously.

Mike Farnworth announcing the suspension of the B.C. Legislature clerk and sergeant-at-arms on Nov. 20, 2018. (Hansard TV).

Farnworth didn’t say, but he met the previous evening with the two other party house leaders, BC Liberal Mary Polak and Green Sonia Furstenau, and Speaker Darryl Plecas — who had called the RCMP in months earlier to investigate corruption. Two special prosecutors joined in at the start of October.

James and Lenz were escorted from the Parliament Buildings. They held a news conference the following week, to deny wrongdoing and to demand their jobs back.

In May, James was found in misconduct. In a September report, Lenz was found to have broken the Police Act.

They both retired in disgrace.

The police investigation is ongoing. Meanwhile, Plecas and chief of staff Alan Mullen have shaken-up the Legislature and put it on the road to reform.

Catch-up on the scandal at the B.C. Legislature. Click the headline links below.

The story is far from over. 

What we know about the B.C. Legislature scandal

Analysis: Excluded from FOI law, B.C.’s Legislature was a scandal waiting to happen

More questions than answers about spending by suspended Legislature officials

Plecas’s “final straw” was Clark’s plan to politicize riding offices

Conniving for cash: Plecas report says suspended officials plotted to pad their paycheques

Fact-checking as the suspended Legislature duo responds to the Plecas Report

Plecas eviscerates suspended Legislature duo in rebuttal report

Disgraced clerk Craig James quits, rather than face firing for misconduct

Inside the misconducts of the McLachlin Report: “It is hard to understand what was going through Mr. James’s mind”

Mystery surrounds Craig James’s legal costs and why he was forgiven for ill-gotten gains

B.C. Auditor General quits after discredited report on Legislature spending scandal

Gary Lenz quit because he was going to be fired for “egregious breach of public trust”

Follow theBreaker.news and theBreaker.news Podcast for the latest developments in the Scandal at the Legislature.

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Nov. 20, 2018, 11:06 a.m. NDP Government House

Bob Mackin

The law firm that represents Gary Lenz, the B.C. Legislature’s former Sergeant-at-Arms, has billed taxpayers almost $50,000.

But the firm retained by ex-Clerk Craig James has not submitted any invoices to the Legislature.

Ex-Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz (left), ex-Speaker Linda Reid and Acting Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd (BC Leg)

theBreaker.news confirmed with the Clerk’s office that McEwan Cooper Dennis LLP has been paid $49,966 during the fiscal year that began April 1. As of last week, no invoices had been submitted by James’s lawyers at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP.

Procedural clerk Artour Sogomonian said the Legislative Assembly does not disclose the specifics of what legal services were provided, to whom, or for what purpose, in part because solicitor-client privilege applies.

Lenz retired Oct. 1 before the release of a report that found he breached the Police Act by lying to former Supreme Court of Canada chief justice Beverley McLachlin. Her misconduct investigation cleared Lenz last May. The Police Act investigation by former Vancouver Police deputy chief Doug LePard also found Lenz failed to investigate James’s 2013 bulk removal of liquor from the Legislature.

A year ago, on Nov. 20, 2018, British Columbians were shocked when James and Lenz were both suspended with pay and escorted out of the Parliament Buildings after unanimous vote of the Legislature. The RCMP admitted the duo had been under investigation for several months and special prosecutors David Butcher and Brock Martland had been appointed. Speaker Darryl Plecas had called in the RCMP, after he and chief of staff Alan Mullen found evidence of corruption.

James retired in May on the eve of the release of McLachlin’s report. She found James had committed misconduct by purchasing more than $4,000 in suits and luggage for personal use and by creating a $257,988 retirement allowance for himself. She also cited James for the 2013 booze removal and for keeping a wood splitter and trailer bought with Legislature funds at his house for almost a year.

The RCMP investigation continues. A source familiar with the investigation, but not authorized to speak publicly, told theBreaker.news that the first charge recommendation reports are in the hands of the special prosecutors.

Clerk Craig James swore Christy Clark in as Westside-Kelowna MLA in 2013, near Clark’s Vancouver office. (Facebook)

After the suspensions, Deputy Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd became Acting Clerk and Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms Randy Ennis took over from Lenz. Ennis retired at the end of last May. Greg Nelson was appointed Acting Sergeant-at-Arms in October.

In the wake of the Nov. 20, 2018 drama, James and Lenz demanded their jobs back. At a Nov. 26, 2018 news conference at the Fasken law office in Vancouver, a CTV reporter asked James and Lenz who was paying for lawyers Mark Andrews and Gavin Cameron. 

Said James: “There is a policy in the Legislative Assembly whether the legal fees in matters such as this would be borne by the Legislative Assembly. But the policy also exists that at the end of the day, if somebody is found guilty, that money would have to be repaid. It’s like the government’s indemnity program.”

After James finished his answer, Cameron said: “Just to be fair, I don’t think you should take from that that that’s where my fees are being paid from. I’ll leave it at that. But I don’t want that impression.” 

Cameron did not reply to theBreaker.news. Reached by phone Nov. 18, Andrews declined to answer questions about the lack of invoices by his firm to the Legislature.

“I don’t think you have any business asking me any more questions about how [James] is or is not funding his legal fees,” Andrews said. “That’s a privileged, confidential matter and not something which you should be asking about, in my view.”

Speaker Darryl Plecas (left) and chief of staff Alan Mullen (Mackin)

Could the invoices have gone elsewhere in the B.C. government? Sogomonian said no.

I can confirm that any invoices received for legal services provided to the Legislative Assembly, a member or an employee of the Assembly (past or present) would be approved and paid by the Assembly from Vote 1 [Legislative Assembly] funds,” he said. “Such costs would not be transmitted to another party for payment.”

Robert Cooper, on behalf of Lenz, and Cameron, on behalf of James, both appeared in Surrey Provincial court Oct. 9 to argue against an application by Postmedia to unseal the RCMP’s April information to obtain an evidence production order.

The Fasken website says that Andrews is the lead counsel for BC Hydro in the successful defence of the $10.7 billion Site C dam in B.C. and federal cases filed by environmental and aboriginal groups.

BC Hydro’s financial information returns from 2012 to 2019 show payments totalling $36.49 million to Fasken.

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Bob Mackin The law firm that represents Gary

Bob Mackin

Three investment companies want a B.C. Supreme Court judge to enforce a Chinese court’s decision against the owners of seven residential properties in the Lower Mainland.

Some of the luxury houses owned by Chinese recycling tycoons (BC Assessment)

Shanghai Zhong Jia Xing Hua Chuang Ye Investment LLP, Yangzhou Jia Hua Chuang Ye Investment LLP and Nantong Jian Hua Chuang Ye Investment LLP claim in Nov. 13 filings that Liaoning Muchang International Environmental Protection Industry Co. Ltd., a company owned by West Vancouver’s Bing Bai and his wife Yan Ma, was convicted of breaking China’s environmental laws in October 2018.

“In September 2014, the defendant Bai started ordering this employees to bury approximately 1,500 tons of hazardous waste directly under the soil,” said the court filing by Angel Jingling Wang of Jing Ling Wang Law Corp., a Burnaby lawyer representing the three plaintiff firms.

The company had guaranteed the three plaintiffs that it would not violate laws and regulations, that it would make full disclosure of company information to the plaintiffs and that it would apply to be listed on a public exchange by the end of June 2016.

“The crime impacted [Bai and Ma’s] company and they did not meet profit goals and became disqualified for a public listing due to the crime.”

The statement of claim alleges the investors transferred a total 3,360 million renminbi — more than $600 million Canadian — for 14.93% of shares in Bai and Ma’s hazardous waste and recycling company at Christmastime 2014. The plaintiffs claim permanent resident Bai and Canadian citizen Ma and their adult child Mu Qing Bai, also a Canadian citizen, used some or all of that money to buy real estate in West Vancouver, Vancouver and Richmond. 

The statement of claim says that in March 2017, Liaoning Muchang’s management was arrested by Chinese police. By December 2017, Bai and Ma allegedly stopped sending company financial information to the plaintiffs. Details of the October 2018 convictions and sentencing were not included in the court document, which says a middle level court in China upheld the ruling last March.

(lnmchb.com)

None of the allegations has been proven in court. The defendants have yet to file a response.

The three plaintiffs want enforcement of the Chinese court verdicts or an order that they breached contracts and committed conversion and unjust enrichment. The claim is for the equivalent of $8.39 million Canadian.

Attached to the statement of claim are land titles records that show five properties registered in the name of Yan Ma, one under her pseudonym Sapphire Mar and another 99% owned by Mu Qing Bai, and 1% by Ma. Bai is not named in any of the seven documents. Five of the seven properties were purchased between 2016 and 2019.

Ma’s occupation varies by registration: She is identified as a businesswoman, manager, self-employed or student. The real estate portfolio is currently worth almost $24.7 million, including Bai and Ma’s $6.34 million Gleneagles residence in West Vancouver and Mu Qing Bai’s $2.983 million Caulfeild residence in West Vancouver.

Ma’s name is also on the deed for a $3.09 million house in West Vancouver’s Altamont and a $4.339 million house on Queens Avenue, a $4.45 million house in Shaughnessy in Vancouver, a $2.85 million house in Blundell Road in Richmond and condo on Elmbridge Way in Richmond.

A Chinese business website says Bai and Ma’s company employs more than 200 and is involved in collection, transportation, storage, incineration and landfill of industrial and hazardous waste, chemical and medical waste and electronics.

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Bob Mackin Three investment companies want a B.C.

Bob Mackin

The not-for-profit society behind the Concord Pacific-sponsored new year’s eve fireworks festival owes Vancouver city hall more than $40,000, theBreaker.news has learned.

(Tourism Vancouver)

The Vancouver New Year’s Eve Celebration Society announced on Hallowe’en that it would not ring-in 2020 with a bang at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Instead, it pledged Concord’s New Year’s Eve Vancouver would return on Dec. 31, 2020 in eastern False Creek. A news released mentioned plans for a bigger, better fireworks display next year, but did not mention the society’s finances.

City hall spokeswoman Ellie Lambert told theBreaker.news that City of Vancouver invoiced the society $41,560 last June for traffic management and engineering operational support.

“The invoice had been sent to the NYE Society and we are awaiting payment,” Lambert said.

Standard terms are payment within 30 days. No interest has been charged to date, she said. Taxpayers took care of the $60,016 in policing costs. 

Vancouver Convention Centre was the host venue on Dec. 31, 2018-Jan. 1, 2019. In addition to the free outdoor spectacle, organizers sold passes to indoor events for $59 to $159.

B.C. Pavilion Corporation spokesman Duncan Blomfield declined to release the amount owing.

“We can confirm PavCo did not provide a grant for the event,” Blomfield said.

theBreaker.news sought an interview with Dani Pretto, the society’s chair. Instead, spokeswoman Heather McKenzie-Beck sent a statement that said the new venue at False Creek will offer more  opportunities for revenue and long-term financial stability.

“We’re currently working closely with our partners and stakeholders to ensure that there is a plan in place for any balances that are currently outstanding, and look forward to putting on yet another free community celebration in 2020/21,” McKenzie-Beck said.

The society originally planned to launch Dec. 31, 2014, but organizers fell $100,000 short of meeting their $300,000 goal. When they started 2016 with a blast, they laid claim to the largest public new year’s eve event in Canada. A year later, the federal agency behind Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations kicked-in $226,000.

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Bob Mackin The not-for-profit society behind the Concord

Wing-Tung Ho was born in 1997, the year that the United Kingdom handed Hong Kong back to China. 

She studies in Taiwan, where she has organized mass-protests against Mainland China’s efforts to erode Hong Kong’s free economy, free press and rule of law. 

Hong Konger Wing-Tung Ho, a student activist in Taiwan, at the Hong Kong: Now What?! forum in Vancouver (Mackin)

“I don’t think the situation of Hong Kong or Taiwan is positive,” Ho said.

“One country, two systems is clearly a lie of China, Hong Kong people, or everyone else in the world, should not believe any promise from China.”

With protests reaching the six-month mark, Ho was in Vancouver Nov. 11-12 to speak to members of the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement and Canadian Friends of Hong Kong.

She sat down for an exclusive interview with theBreaker.news Podcast host Bob Mackin, who asked about the escalating violence. Ho said Hong Kongers are afraid of police brutality and ultimately don’t want to let Beijing make their city the next Xinjiang or Tibet.  

“We have to show that we want to protect our people, we want to protect every protester on the streets, we want to protect every citizen,” Ho said.

“The protesters don’t have much weapons, all they have is some umbrellas, some fire. It can’t compare to the police.”

Meanwhile, the first anniversary of the revelation of the Scandal at the B.C. Legislature is Nov. 20.

Gary Lenz (left), ex-speaker Linda Reid and Craig James (Commonwealth Parliamentary Association)

On that day, in 2018, lawmakers voted unanimously to immediately suspend Clerk Craig James and Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz. James and Lenz were walked off the property. Within hours, British Columbians learned that the RCMP had been investigating for several months and two special prosecutors had been appointed.

But, in a bizarre twist, the opposition BC Liberals and some of their allies in the press gallery targeted the whistleblowers, Speaker Darryl Plecas and Chief of Staff Alan Mullen. In late January, Plecas released a report through the Legislative Assembly Management Committee that shed light on the years of corruption that cost taxpayers in the millions of dollars.

One year later, separate investigations found James committed misconduct and Lenz in breach of duty. Despite claiming their innocence and demanding their jobs back, they both retired in disgrace.

Meanwhile, the investigation continues and special prosecutors are pondering charges. British Columbians are waiting for the NDP government to deliver promised integrity measures, such as adding the Legislature to the freedom of information law.

Listen to highlights of the last 12 months on this special edition of theBreaker.news Podcast.

Click below to listen or go to Apple Podcasts and subscribe. 

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Wing-Tung Ho was born in 1997, the

Bob Mackin

A philanthropist who is one of the biggest shareholders in the Vancouver company planning to market Chinese-built electric cars is suing a fellow investor for defamation after being blamed for her losses.

Megan Martin, also known as Li Ma, filed the lawsuit Nov. 8 in B.C. Supreme Court against Shaughnessy resident Yan Wang, aka Marisa Wang.

Foundation CEO Genesa Greening, Megan Martin (second from left) Megan Martin, chair Karim Kassam and senior director Carleen Pauliuk (B.C. Women’s Health Foundation)

Martin claims that Wang published an article under the pseudonym Ma Mingda on WeChat and four Chinese-language websites that alleged Martin had “colluded with westerners to deceive compatriots” to invest in Electra Meccanica Vehicles Corp. (EVC).

EVC went public on the Nasdaq over-the-counter exchange in September 2017. In October 2017, Zongshen Industrial Group Co. Ltd. of Chongqing, China agreed to build 75,000 of its single-passenger Solo electric cars. A Nov. 8 EVC news release said the company plans to begin the Solo rollout in 2020 in Los Angeles.

Martin’s statement of claim said she learned of EVC in 2015 and the company became known as an investment opportunity among certain members of the Lower Mainland’s Chinese community in 2016 and 2017. Martin said she was introduced to Wang by a mutual acquaintance and, in turn, introduced Wang to EVC CEO Jerry Kroll in October 2017.

Martin claimed Wang wanted to invest $4 million in EVC, but she urged her to invest less than that. Shortly after the introduction to Kroll, Martin left on a trip to Europe, but discovered upon her return that Wang had decided to invest $1 million.

“The defendant seemed excited and pleased that she had been able to negotiate a reduced price for her shares,” according to Martin’s court filing. “The defendant thanked the plaintiff for the introduction.”

But, in July and August 2019, EVC’s share price dropped and Martin claims that Wang’s mood changed for the worse. On Oct. 3, according to Martin, Wang sent a fictitious article that she vowed to publish if Martin did not repay her investment. That article claimed Martin had sold her own shares and made a fortune, while duping others to invest in EVC.

EVC Solo

“Since Oct. 4, the defendant has embarked on a public campaign of defamation of the plaintiff,” said Martin’s filing.

None of the allegations has been proven in court. Wang has yet to file a response.

The company’s year-end report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for 2018 said Martin, her husband Yuan Sheng Zhang and their son Bo Hong Zhang together owned 14.4% (or 5.4 million shares) in EVC. Only Kroll (27.7%) and COO Henry Reisner (8.5%) owned more shares.

In 2015, Martin’s family donated $500,000 to the Richmond Hospital Foundation to buy imaging equipment. In October, Martin donated $200,000 to the B.C. Women’s Health Foundation.

The EVC board of directors includes retired Liberal Senator Jack Austin, who was president of the Canada China Business Council from 1993 to 2000, and Joanne Yan, who was involved in the Zongshen Industrial Group Co. Ltd. 49% purchase of Harbour Air. 

Last May, theBreaker.news reported that a numbered company, whose sole director is Martin, became the registered owner of a Sidaway Road mansion that was once used as an illegal casino. The transaction happened after the Director of Civil Forfeiture applied in June 2017 to seize the property from its previous owner.

On Nov. 12, EVC was trading at $2.12 per share. Prices have been on a rollercoaster over the past year. After peaking at $4.55 on Oct. 29, 2018, EVC (which trades under the symbol SOLO) plummeted to $1.35 by Feb. 12, 2019. But, two days later, it rallied to $4.81. Zongshen’s Chongqing production facility opened Feb. 22. 

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, EVC reported a net $5.3 million loss. EVC filings to the SEC said it envisions a base $19,888 price for the Solo. As of March 29, it had completed in-house production of 50 Solos and its Chinese partner had completed production of 20 pre-mass production models. The company’s showroom is in the Meccanica building near the Olympic Village. 

Kroll was a 2017 candidate for the B.C. Green Party in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, where he finished a distant second behind the NDP’s Melanie Mark.

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Bob Mackin A philanthropist who is one of

Bob Mackin

It was the autumn of ’99 when the “Summer of ’69” singer made a bold career move.

Rocker Bryan Adams added photographer to his resume with the publication of Made in Canada, a book of portraits of 89 Canadian women. In late October 1999, during a hiatus from recording and touring, Adams launched Made in Canada at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum. Adams-photographed Margaret Trudeau and astronaut Roberta Bondar were among the attendees. I was there to cover it, for the North Shore News.

West Vancouver painter and poet Jane Clark, the mother of Bryan Adams, at the Ferry Building Gallery on Sept. 15, 2019 (Mackin)

After my story hit doorsteps across North and West Vancouver, a handwritten note arrived at the newsroom. A proud local mother was absolutely delighted that her local newspaper had profiled her son’s new creative endeavour. The letter was from Jane Clark of West Vancouver. A painter and poet. The mother of Bryan Adams.

Fast forward to the last Sunday of the summer of ’19. It was the final day of Clark’s Changing Landscape of B.C. exhibit at the Ferry Building Gallery near Ambleside Beach.

I sat down with her to learn about her art and her travels to Northern British Columbia. The centrepiece of the exhibit was a pair of paintings done a generation apart of the Great Glacier. Clark, 91, chronicled stark evidence of climate change.

“I don’t think it lost any of its beauty, it has its own beauty, so from the point of view of an artist it’s still beautiful,” Clark said. “If you went there and haven’t been there 25 years ago, you’d still say it’s an absolutely stunning area to see. But having been there 25 years ago, I know that it’s a sad sight in many ways.”

Like her son Bryan did in 1999, Clark wants to take her work to Toronto.

“The people in Ontario have very little concept of what it is like here, and yet it is quite powerful what we have here,” she said. “We are the other side of the Rockies, if you like, so they don’t think of looking to us. But from our perspective they should look at it, because we are on the edge and we are going to feel the movement and the changes rapidly, probably more than they will in Ontario. They will get it later.”

On this week’s edition of theBreaker.news Podcast, listen to the interview with Jane Clark, in which she also discusses her relationship with sons Bryan and biochemical engineer brother Bruce.

Plus commentaries and headlines. 

Click below to listen or go to Apple Podcasts and subscribe. 

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

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theBreaker.news Podcast: Artist Jane Clark, mother of Bryan Adams, shines a light on B.C.'s changing landscape
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Bob Mackin It was the autumn of ’99

Bob Mackin

The British Columbia Supreme Court judge heading the public inquiry into money laundering in the province issued his first ruling on media access to documents, after an application by theBreaker.news.

Justice Austin Cullen (Mackin)

theBreaker.news sought copies of the applications for participant status by B.C. Lottery Corporation CEO Jim Lightbody and Fred Pinnock, the retired RCMP officer and whistleblower. Commissioner Austin Cullen decided Oct. 25 to grant Lightbody full standing, so that his lawyer could cross-examine other witnesses. Pinnock did not qualify, but he still may be called as a witness when hearings begin in spring 2020.

On Nov. 8, Cullen ruled in favour of the release of Lightbody’s submissions to theBreaker.news. But not Pinnock’s.

Lightbody’s lawyer, Robin McFee, consented to the release of his client’s documents, while Pinnock’s lawyer, Paul Jaffe, opposed the application. Commission rules call for applications for standing to be available to the public, but Cullen later directed that they be only be summarized in his findings. He cited a concern that premature disclosure might compromise the commission’s ability to pursue investigations into events detailed by applicants.

Cullen was satisfied that release of Lightbody’s material would not compromise the commission or result in unfairness to any third party not represented at the hearing. As for Pinnock’s supplementary materials, Cullen wrote that they contain serious allegations against specific named individuals.

“In his materials, Mr. Pinnock acknowledges he has no documents, emails or notes in support of any assertions made in his materials and “[a]ny corroboration in hard copy of what I have to say must come from other witnesses, or documents obtained through the [freedom of information] process,” Cullen wrote.

BCLC CEO Jim Lightbody

As such, Cullen ruled it would be inappropriate to release Pinnock’s material (except for email from September) at this time because premature disclosure of information could taint or influence the evidence of potential witnesses or lead to the destruction of documentary or electronic evidence.

“It is apparent that the allegations in Mr. Pinnock’s materials rest entirely on the reliability of third parties who spoke to Mr. Pinnock 12-14 years ago, about what they either observed or believed about the conduct of others,” Cullen wrote. “In other words, Commission counsel will need to obtain and review documents and interview a significant number of witnesses to determine whether and to what extent Mr. Pinnock’s materials reveal a viable body of evidence for the Commission’s attention and consideration.”

Cullen did, however, reveal the lengthy title of Pinnock’s undated supplementary submission, which was provided to the commission counsel on Oct. 17: “Summary of Observations, Recollections and Conclusions of Retired RCMP S/Sgt Fred Pinnock, relative to the performance of persons within the BC Liberal Party, BC Civil Service, “E” Division RCMP and the [Solicitor General ministry’s] Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch relative to legal gambling environments within British Columbia.” 

Lightbody’s supplementary submissions stated that he has “faced criticism in the media” and it specifically cited a story published by theBreaker.news last March under the headline: “It’s brutal: BCLC CEO calls spin doctors for help amid casino money laundering scandal.”

“Mr. Lightbody faces the possibility of further adverse comment or criticism during the course of the Commission that could affect his reputational, privacy and/or legal interests,” said Lightbody’s submission. “Standing is therefore necessary, as full participatory rights in the Commission will ensure that Mr. Lightbody’s counsel has the ability to properly safeguard his interests.”

Lightbody is on leave from BCLC to battle cancer. His temporary substitute is former Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore.

Pinnock was commander of the RCMP’s Integrated Illegal Gaming Enforcement Team from 2005 to 2008. He had warned the BC Liberal government that casinos were becoming a haven for organized crime, but Solicitor-General Rich Coleman disbanded Pinnock’s team anyway in 2009. At an Oct. 18 hearing before Cullen, Jaffe described difficulties in obtaining documents from the BCLC freedom of information office and suggested Cullen could “fast-track the FOI process and make an order.” One of the duties of the BCLC CEO is to decide which documents are released to FOI applicants.

Cullen decided last month that Pinnock did not meet criteria for participant status because the thrust of his submission was that “he was attempting to overcome the apathy of those charged with the relevant responsibility; not that he was a part of it.”

The last of the commission’s five scheduled public meetings is Nov. 14 in Prince George’s Ramada Plaza. 

Ex-BCLC VP Rob Kroeker’s lawyer Marie Henein (HHLLP.ca)

Lawyer for Ghomeshi and Norman retained by ex-BCLC exec

Meanwhile, theBreaker.news has learned that former BCLC head of security and compliance Rob Kroeker has retained one of Canada’s most-prominent defence lawyers.

Marie Henein confirmed to theBreaker.news that she is representing Kroeker, who suddenly departed BCLC on July 2.

Brad Desmarais, the vice-president of casinos, assumed Kroeker’s responsibilities on an interim basis.

Kroeker was the first individual granted standing by the inquiry. Sixteen others are corporations, associations, societies, unions and government agencies. Desmarais is also applying for standing in the inquiry.

Henein, of Toronto-based “litigation boutique” Henein Hutchinson LLP, defended former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi, who was acquitted of sexual assault charges in 2016. She was also the lawyer for Vice Admiral Mark Norman, Canada’s former vice chief of defence staff. Prosecutors stayed a breach of trust charge against Norman last May.

Henein’s law firm partner Scott Hutchinson successfully defended former BC Liberal Party executive director Laura Miller. Miller was found not guilty by an Ontario judge in early 2018 of attempted mischief to data and illegal use of a computer charges relating to her mass-deletion of documents while working in the office of Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty.

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019 James Lightbody Application for Standing Dated September 5, 2019 by Bob Mackin on Scribd

002 Lightbody Supplemental Submissions – Application for Standing on Behalf of James (Jim) Lightbody by Bob Mackin on Scribd

Bob Mackin The British Columbia Supreme Court judge