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Bob Mackin Digital-savvy activists with national environmental charities

Tunnel boring slowly reaches another milestone under Broadway, but province coy about subway completion

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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November 1, 2023

Bob Mackin The provincial government refused to say

Business, News, Opinion

thePodcast: Ombudsperson Jay Chalke on the challenge to keep a growing government accountable to citizens

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.

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

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theBreaker.news Podcast

thePodcast: Ombudsperson Jay Chalke on the challenge to keep a growing government accountable to citizens

00:00 / 00:26:29

October 29, 2023

For the week of Oct. 29, 2023:

Judge allows new evidence into extradition case for ex-Mexican general

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

Busy implementing B.C.’s whistleblower law, Ombudsperson Chalke regrets ferries not under his watch

Bob Mackin

Ombudsperson Jay Chalke’s office investigates complaints from citizens about the services of 1,000 British Columbia public bodies.

But there is an important one that is missing: BC Ferries.

B.C. Ombudsperson Jay Chalke (Office of the Ombudsperson)

This year, the beleaguered ferry corporation received a $500 million infusion from government and went through an executive shuffle. The management-heavy company continues to grapple with staffing shortages that have delayed or cancelled sailings.

In 2003, the BC Liberal government transformed it from a Crown corporation into a private company with one shareholder: the government.

“One of the things that they did was they specifically provided in the Coastal Ferries Act that the Ombudsperson Act does not apply to things done under the Coastal Ferries Act,” Chalke said in an interview. “So we don’t have jurisdiction. We do have jurisdiction over the Ferries Commissioner, but we don’t have jurisdiction over BC Ferries itself. I do think that the public have a right to seek some sort of external complaint mechanism and it’s something I’d like to see returned at some point in the future.”

The Office of the Ombudsperson isn’t facing any shortage of requests for help. There were 7,323 complaints and inquiries last year, with 1,367 files assigned to an investigator, according to the annual report.

The main reasons for complaints? Citizens disagreed with public body decisions or outcomes (1,828 files); process or procedure (1,611); or communication (978). ICBC attracted the most attention (493 files), followed by the Ministry of Children and Family Development (381) and Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction (380). Chalke said that his office has seen an increase in complaints about local governments, Crown corporations and health authorities.

The report said a third of files are closed in 30 days and 30% in up to 90 days. But 16% take up to six months and 6% need between six months and a year to resolve. Chalke said complaints that are urgent and relate to life, health of safety get immediate attention, but he acknowledged backlogs have developed because government has become bigger and citizen complaints more complex since 2020.

“We have had the non-urgent assignments down to as short as two weeks a few years ago, but the pandemic has definitely had an impact,” he said. “Instability in public services — we investigate 1,000 public bodies — but you probably can’t think of one that didn’t change its service delivery during the pandemic.”

The office was allotted $12.773 million for operations this year. On Oct. 25, Chalke tabled his funding request for next year to the Legislature’s Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. He is seeking $14.775 million for each of the next three fiscal years. That includes an additional $692,000 for inflationary wage increases, $244,000 for Indigenous services and $146,000 for outreach.

“Lots of people don’t know much about an ombudsperson’s office, it’s a weird Swedish word,”Chalke conceded.

Sweden pioneered the ombudsman concept in the early 19th century. Canada’s first was at Simon Fraser University in 1965. B.C. was the second-last Canadian government to appoint an independent ombudsperson in 1979.

BC Ferries Salish Orca

Chalke’s office also takes on complex investigations that sometimes have a lasting impact. One of the most-famous, 2017’s “Misfire,” examined the unjust firings of Ministry of Health researchers and included a key recommendation to enact whistleblower protection.

B.C. was the last province to do so and Chalke has overseen the gradual implementation of the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA). By the end of next year, when post-secondary employees are included, 300,000 public employees will be covered. The act protects workers when they disclose wrongdoing internally or to come to the Ombudsperson if they are more comfortable doing so.

“A lot of the time that I spend talking to leaders of public bodies who are about to be covered by the Act,” Chalke said. “I say, this is your opportunity to really speak up as an organizational leader, about the value of integrity and the importance of speaking up and welcoming your employees who speak up when they see something wrong.”

Chalke said PIDA does not yet cover local governments, but hopes that will be raised when a Legislature committee is struck next year to undertake the statutory, five-year review of the ombudsperson’s enabling legislation.

After July’s “Time to Right the Wrong” report, Chalke said he was encouraged that the government will finally apologize to the children of Sons of Freedom Doukhobors who survived confinement in New Denver between 1953 and 1959. He still hopes the government includes financial compensation.

Chalke found that the Ministry of Children and Family Development misled a 17-year-old in foster care about post-secondary education support eligibility and failed to advise her she had a right to legal advice. But September’s “Misinformed” report did not result in government accepting recommendations.

“That doesn’t happen very often In our world,” he said. “I will say that the only other time, and I’ve been the ombudsperson now for more than eight years, I did a report with respect to WorkSafe, and that’s the only other time that I’ve had a report where government has been as unwilling. as they were in Misinformed, to address our recommendations.”

The Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness was decidedly more receptive to Chalke’s early-October “Fairness In a Changing Climate” report on the wildfire and flood emergency support programs in 2021. That report found programs were outdated, under-resourced, inaccessible and poorly communicated. The NDP government promised to do better on multiple fronts.

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Bob Mackin Ombudsperson Jay Chalke’s office investigates complaints

Judge upholds $6 million foreign buyer tax bill

Bob Mackin

A B.C. Supreme Court judge upheld a $6 million foreign buyer tax bill to a company controlled by a developer linked to the Chinese government.

1164708 B.C. Ltd. acquired a 38-unit, four-storey apartment building at 5978 Wilson Ave. in Burnaby in August 2018 for $30 million. The numbered company paid $1.418 million in property transfer tax. In December 2020, the Ministry of Finance notified the company that it was also liable for a $6 million foreign buyer tax bill, because the registered owner was a taxable trustee and the beneficial owner a foreign corporation.

Chinese tycoon Chen Mailin

At the time of the transfer, 1164708 B.C. Ltd.’s sole shareholder and beneficial owner was 2015-incorporated Global Dingye Capital Ltd., whose sole shareholder was China-based Nanjing Dingye Investment Real Estate Group Co. Ltd.

Nanjing Dingye’s majority shareholder was Chen Mailin and minority shareholder Yong Yongjin, both permanent residents of Canada since August 2009. Chen also heads developer Chunghwa Investments (Canada) Co. Ltd., which is behind the Bridgeport Centre commercial development near the Oak Street Bridge in Richmond.

Justice Steven Wilson heard the case on Sept. 22 and rendered his decision on Oct. 24.

Lawyers for Chen argued that the companies should not be considered foreign under the Property Transfer Tax Act because they were ultimately controlled by permanent resident Chen.

However, Wilson said that the legal definition of controlled under relevant laws “would lead to the inescapable conclusion that Nanjing was a foreign corporation and that Global and the petitioner are therefore also foreign corporations. As a result, additional property transfer tax is payable as 5978 Wilson Avenue was purchased in the name of the petitioner.”

Wilson said the real estate tax law was enacted and eventually upheld by the B.C. Court of Appeal “to address the lack of affordable housing in certain areas of the province by subjecting foreign purchasers to an additional tax with a view to reducing demand.”

“However, even though I accept the petitioner’s submission that it was not the legislature’s intention to subject people such as Mr. Chen to the additional property transfer tax, it is important to recognize that it is not Mr. Chen who is liable to pay the tax in this case. Rather, the tax is payable by the petitioner,” Wilson wrote.

Wilson concluded that the tax assessment was “simply a consequence of how Mr. Chen and his companies have chosen to structure their affairs. As such, while the result here was undoubtedly avoidable from Mr. Chen’s perspective, it is not an absurd outcome.”

Chen is the former duck farmer who became a hotel and construction tycoon in China and appointee representing Nanjing in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

In late 2014, Chen acquired tech magnate Don Mattrick’s Northwest Point Grey mansion for almost $52 million.

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court judge upheld

CBSA breached Iranian citizen’s rights, judge says

Bob Mackin

A B.C. Supreme Court judge found Oct. 24 that Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers breached the consular rights of an Iranian citizen wanted by the U.S. for allegedly helping a terrorist-linked airline evade sanctions.

U.S. sanctioned Mahan Air (Mahan Air)

Seyed Abood Sari, 61, arrived Jan. 17, 2019 at Vancouver International Airport on a British Airways flight from London and told officers that he planned to celebrate his birthday with his two sons who were studying at universities in Vancouver. Sari was arrested due to an outstanding U.S. warrant for allegedly using front companies and middlemen to disguise financial transactions for Mahan Air and deceive banks in order to get around U.S. sanctions.

Sari was the general manager in Dubai for Mahan Air, which the U.S. government sanctioned in October 2011 for financially, materially and technologically supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force and Beirut-based Hezbollah.

Justice Janet Winteringham, in her verbal ruling on an abuse of process application by Sari’s lawyers, said the accused was entitled under international law to be connected to a consular official when he was detained at YVR.

“There is no dispute that he requested access to a representative from the Iranian consulate. The [border services officers] attempted to implement those rights, but they failed to do so,” Winteringham said in her decision. “I’m not satisfied that an email sent constituted compliance with the Vienna Convention. More was required, the jeopardy here was significant.”

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force

Winteringham said evidence showed that officers informed Sari of his Vienna Convention rights at 1:14 a.m. on Jan. 18, 2019 and that he requested access to a consular official. Neither Canada nor the U.S. have diplomatic relations with Iran.

Almost an hour later, an officer began calling the embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C., which handles Iranian consular services in the U.S. The call went to a voice mail system. Another officer was eventually referred to Iran’s diplomatic mission in the United Kingdom, but an agent there said it had no jurisdiction for matters in Canada. So an email address was provided for the CBSA officer to send details of Sari’s request.

“From the frontline workers to those operating in the background, someone needed to figure this out. The CBSA were advised well in advance that Mr. Sari was coming, they knew of his Iranian citizenship, no one would have been surprised if this foreign national may well invoke his rights under the Vienna Convention,” Winteringham said.

“It was not explained in the evidence how it was that there was not a protocol about how to comply with the Vienna Convention for a foreign national such as Mr. Sari coming from Iran.”

Winteringham said the abuse of process application was otherwise presented as “demonstrating a pattern” of misconduct. “I have not made findings of fact consistent with the applicant’s allegations of misconduct,” she said.

Winteringham found that CBSA had grounds to subject Sari to a secondary examination when he arrived and that his detention at YVR was lawful and justified. His lawyers did not establish improper information sharing or device password sharing between U.S. and Canadian authorities, nor did they establish that the U.S. authorities exerted improper influence over the CBSA officers.

Sari was kept in jail for six months until a judge granted bail in July 2019 under conditions that he provide a $50,000 recognizance, and live in a downtown condo with his sons under an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew with electronic monitoring.

Winteringham scheduled a case management conference for Nov. 24 so that they can make further arguments and consider remedies. She called the impact of delays in Sari’s case “immense.”

“We are coming on five years since his arrival in Canada and he has not seen his spouse of some 30 years in over three years,” the judge said. “In my view, time is of the essence and the parties should be prepared to proceed accordingly.”

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court judge found

BC United secretary forced to resign over social media post about Gaza hospital blast

Bob Mackin

A member of the BC United executive board resigned Oct. 24 over a social media post that the Conservative Party of B.C. said was sympathetic to terrorists.

Kevin Falcon

Gul Gulsen, who was the party’s secretary, reacted to the Oct. 18 explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza by reposting a link to a story by Al Jazeera English and including her thoughts on the incident.

“For those accepting claims that Hamas was behind the hospital bombing: you have sold your critical thinking skills to the genocidal cause… just what western media and governments wanted.” She included the hashtags #PalestineGenocide #Gaza #GazaHospitalAttack and #CeasefireNOW.

The Israel Defense Forces denied bombing the hospital and released evidence that pointed to an explosion caused by a rocket shot from inside Gaza. The U.S., U.K., France and eventually Canada agreed that Israel did not bomb the hospital.

On Tuesday, on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Conservatives called it “deeply disturbing and upsetting to see… Gulsen defending Hamas, peddle disinformation and call Israel a genocidal state.”

BC United leader Kevin Falcon reacted by contacting party president John Yap and directing him to call for Gulsen’s immediate resignation. Falcon said he strongly condemned the remarks and reaffirmed the party’s “unequivocal support for the Jewish community here in B.C. as well as Israel’s right to exist and defend itself.”

In her “statement of clarification and resignation,” Gulsen said she complied, but maintained that her “defence of innocent Palestinian civilians does not by any means intend anti-semitism, denial of Israel’s right to exist, or defence of Hamas’ terrorism.” She threatened legal action against those that suggest otherwise.

“The posts were not intended to offend anyone, but to bring awareness to atrocities being carried out in Palestine, which have been internationally acknowledged as war crimes,”said Gulsen’s statement.

Her statement mentioned unsourced estimates of 5,000 deaths in Gaza, which correspond with estimates collected by the United Nations. However, she did not mention the 1,300-plus Israeli civilians killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack (including at least five Canadians), nor the 200-plus Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.

The Canadian government has considered Hamas a terrorist group since 2002.

“I certainly feel that my rights to exercise freedom of speech have been infringed on in my personal life as a result of my association with the BC United Party,” said Gulsen’s statement.

Gulsen could not be reached for further comment. The director of administration at the Bennett Jones law firm, where Gulsen had been ex-Premier Christy Clark’s assistant, said she had not worked there since Sept. 27.

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October 26, 2023

Bob Mackin A member of the BC United

Tugboat captain dead after tug capsizing off Point Grey

Bob Mackin

A 61-year-old tugboat operator died after the vessel capsized off Point Grey on Oct. 23.

The man’s name was not released.

Hovercraft Siyay (Canadian Coast Guard)

In a news release on Oct. 24, the RCMP said the University detachment received a report at 2:44 p.m. that a body washed ashore at Tower Beach.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) had received a mayday distress call from a tugboat operator around 1:30 p.m.

RCMP public information officer S. Sgt. Kris Clark said the investigation continues but the man was operating the vessel alone and there were no other injuries. The cause is not known, but strong winds and turbulent waters may have contributed to the capsizing.

Canadian Coast Guard hovercraft Siyay, lifeboat Laredo Sound and a search and rescue inflatable after JRCC responded, along with a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter. The operation was called-off at 6:20 p.m.

B.C. Coroners’ Service, Transportation Safety Board of Canada and WorkSafeBC are investigating.

“Tragically, despite an excellent coordinated effort by multiple responding agencies, the lone operator could not be revived,” Clark said. “Our hearts go out to the man’s family and friends in this difficult time.”

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October 25, 2023

Bob Mackin A 61-year-old tugboat operator died after

Guangzhou’s top Communist official led sister city delegation to Vancouver city hall

Bob Mackin

The first Chinese government delegation to make an official trip to B.C. since 2018 visited Vancouver city hall on Oct. 19, but no politicians were involved in greeting the Communist Party secretary from sister city Guangzhou.

Guo Yonghang, the CCP’s top man in Guangzhou

Guo Yonghang led the 16-member entourage that met with six bureaucrats: city manager Paul Mochrie and deputy city manager Armin Amrolia and three managers and an officer from intergovernmental affairs, external relations and protocol departments.

Guo was listed on the delegation as Mayor of Guangzhou, but Chinese-language media reports indicate he resigned Oct. 9. New acting mayor Sun Zhiyang was not on the list.

“The one-hour meeting focused on introductions and information sharing around culture,” said Johann Chang of Vancouver city hall’s communications department.

“There was no readout at the end of the meeting. There was no media in attendance. The city has nothing further to discuss on this matter.”

Guo, who had been appointed mayor in 2021, was accompanied by another CCP member, Bian Liming, the secretary general of Guangzhou’s municipal committee, and Zhang Jianjun, director of hospitality for the party committee’s general office in Guangzhou. The list of attendees, provided by Chang, named five members of the Guangzhou foreign affairs office and three others from the Guangzhou municipal government.

Rather than Consul-General Yang Shu, the most-senior local Chinese diplomat to attend was Chen Qingjie. Chen is officially ranked consul, but is the director for the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, which runs activities for the CCP’s United Front propaganda and foreign influence program.

Representing the Vancouver-Guangzhou Friendship Society were president William Ma and vice-president Fred Mah.

Glynnis Chan, a director of the society, said Guo’s group was the first of its kind since 2018 when Premier John Horgan hosted a 24-person entourage led by Wang Chen from Xi Jinping’s Politburo. That was the same month as the 9th Conference of the World Guangdong Community Federation at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

The delegation arrived at Vancouver International Airport on a flight early Oct. 19 from Shenzhen. Chan believed the group would visit Victoria and possibly the U.S. before returning to Guangzhou. She said she understood that Mayor Ken Sim was busy “with another important meeting already committed.”

“We are pleased this delegation group came in today,” Chan said. “Hopefully, one day, we are back to a better relationship.”

Relations soured between Canada and China in late 2018 when the Chinese government took Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor hostage in retaliation for the RCMP arrest of Meng Wanzhou. The Huawei CFO was nabbed on behalf of U.S. authorities investigating bank fraud. A year later, the virus that would become known as COVID-19 began spreading from Wuhan, leading to the global pandemic.

“After COVID-19 and then the political situation between China and Canada, the argument between each other, the official delegation to Canada is very low-profile,” Chan said.

Guo Yonghang, the CCP’s top man in Guangzhou (WeChat)

Guangzhou, with more than 18.7 million residents, is the capital of Guangdong province, China’s manufacturing and high-tech heartland. Vancouver and Guangzhou established sister city relations in 1985. In 2015, the cities marked the 30th anniversary of twinning when Guangzhou Mayor Chen Jianhua and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson unveiled a sculpture outside 12th and Cambie and appeared at an economic and finance forum at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Guo’s visit came after the Oct. 15 anniversary of ABC Vancouver leader Sim’s landslide election as the first Vancouver mayor of Chinese descent.

In March, the Globe and Mail reported on leaks from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that indicated a Chinese diplomat in Vancouver worked to defeat Taiwan-supporter Kennedy Stewart and help get a Chinese-Canadian candidate elected. “If there is proof of this, I’d be as made as hell as everyone else,” Sim said at the time.

According to Sim’s agendas through September, he has not held a one-on-one meeting with any Chinese government official. By contrast, he met in June with Angel Liu, director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver, the de facto consulate for self-governing Taiwan.

Also last June, ABC Coun. Lenny Zhou attended the 34th anniversary memorial for victims of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Zhou, who was born in China, has spoken out in favour of human rights and democracy and attended protests critical of China, Russia and Iran.

Macdonald Laurier Institute senior fellow Charles Burton, a former diplomat at Canada’s Beijing embassy, said this is an awkward time for Guo to visit Vancouver. He wondered what the benefit would be for Canada to receive such a delegation while so many questions remain unanswered about China’s interference in Canadian affairs, including the last federal election and illegal police stations.

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October 25, 2023