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Business, News

Briefly: The Surrey-Langley SkyTrain’s price tag jumped from $4 billion to $6 billion and one of its station builders is in a legal fight with Metro Vancouver over the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant. 
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said the delay to 2029 is “over the top.” The project should have been finished by 2025. 
Langley Township Mayor Eric Woodward says Premier David Eby applies a double-standard to megaprojects. READ MORE BELOW.

Bob Mackin 

Spanish headquartered Acciona, fired from the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant in 2022, is part of a consortium hired to build eight stations on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension.

Spain’s Acciona dominates B.C. megaprojects

The B.C. NDP government also announced Aug. 15 that the SkyTrain project’s cost ballooned by 50% to $6 billion and would be finished a year later, in 2029. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Rob Fleming blamed materials and labour cost inflation and supply chain pressures for the increase, but his ministry has not released the details under freedom of information. The first, King George to Fleetwood phase of the project was originally planned for late 2025 completion with a $1.63 billion budget. 

“We don’t like the fact that it’s significantly higher and the costs are higher, but, my goodness, this delay is just way over the top,” said Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke. “The city did everything it had to do, the city has spent over $12 million just widening Fraser Highway, doing all the prep work, all of our prep work is done. We’re ready, but we haven’t even seen a shovel in the ground.” 

Acciona, part of the South Fraser Station Partners with Aecon and Pomerleau, is also working on the new $1.4 billion Pattullo Bridge, which won’t be complete until 2025, and the $2.83 billion Broadway Subway, which was delayed to 2027. When the province revealed those project delays in May, it did not update the costs.

The leader of the Conservative Party of B.C. called the Surrey-Langley cost escalation “an absolute disgrace.” 

“The NDP has failed our province on every front—from affordability to accountability,” said John Rustad in a news release.

Acciona was the original builder of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, but is now embroiled in a legal battle with Metro Vancouver. In March, the regional government revealed that the North Vancouver megaproject would cost almost $4 billion for new builder PCL to complete by 2030. 

It was originally pegged at $700 million with a 2020 target. 

Eric Woodward, the Mayor of the Township of Langley and a Metro Vancouver director, said the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain procurement is proof of a double-standard in NDP Premier David Eby’s government.

“Acciona has been chosen by the province to build a significant portion of this project, while they’re demanding an independent audit of Metro Vancouver,” Woodward said in an interview. “Where’s the premier’s office’s call for an independent audit on this project? So it seems that it’s okay for his projects to go over budget by $2 billion, but projects by Metro Vancouver, using the exact same contractor, must be independently audited. I’m curious on the logic of that.”

AtkinsRealis, formerly known as SNC-Lavalin, was chosen to design and build systems snd track work for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain, somewhat of a comeback for the Montreal-based firm. Due to its history of corruption, SNC-Lavalin withdrew bids for major transportation projects in July 2019. Acciona was the main beneficiary of that decision. 

Langley township mayor Eric Woodward (right) and Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke (left). Woodward/X

Prior to becoming Attorney General in 2017, infrastructure costs and delivery were on Eby’s mind. He even slammed the previous BC Liberal government for cost overruns on megaprojects and what he called a “lax approach” to white collar crime and arranged for a key chapter in the Charbonneau Commission on Quebec construction corruption to be translated to English. 

A top recommendation from that public inquiry was to “create a provincial public procurement authority mandated to: monitor public contracts to identify malfeasance; support public contracting authorities in managing contracts; intervene with public contracting authorities when necessary.”

Woodward also questions the NDP government’s fast-tracking the removal of land from the agricultural land reserve (ALR) in order to build an operations and maintenance centre for the new SkyTrain line. 

The ALR was an NDP innovation during Premier Dave Barrett’s 1972 to 1975 administration. “Farming is encouraged and non-agricultural uses are restricted,” said the ALR web page.

A Dec. 11, 2023 NDP cabinet order, signed by Surrey-Green Timbers MLA Rachna Singh, took a nearly 37-acre parcel of land at 176th and the Fraser Highway out of the ALR on which to build the $1 billion operations and maintenance centre for TransLink. 

B.C. Assessment Authority valued the land at $5.65 million in July 2023. It was sold for $8.052 million last November. 

“I have talked to this government about allowing school playgrounds to be on ALR, just like we allow golf courses and other things to be an ALR,” Locke said. “[They say] absolutely not, and yet we’re putting heavy industrial projects on ALR. That was a surprise to me as well.”

Woodward said many private property owners would like to develop non-farmable land within the urban containment boundary, especially out in Aldergrove. 

“We find it very interesting that the province doesn’t follow their own rules,” Woodward said.

“I would love to build a new police station on ALR land, or put a maintenance yard on ALR land and save my taxpayers $50 million, but that’s not an option for me. Apparently it’s only an option for Minister [Rob] Fleming.”

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Briefly: The Surrey-Langley SkyTrain’s price tag jumped

Business, News

Briefly: Officials refused to provide details on an Instagram video that appears to show the recovery of stolen vehicles from a Port of Vancouver container dock. 
Canada Border Services Agency recovered no vehicles last year in B.C., but says it has found nearly 100 so far in 2024. Quebec and the Greater Toronto Area are the hotbed of auto thefts in Canada. 
Criminals using shipping containers to export stolen vehicles find it a lucrative means of laundering dirty money, says a crime expert. Peter German blamed the lack of a dedicated police force at major ports since 1997. READ MORE BELOW & WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW. 

Bob Mackin 

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is not disputing the authenticity of a video showing five allegedly stolen vehicles being removed from a container terminal in the Port of Vancouver.

Image of an apparent stolen vehicle recovery operation in Vancouver.
(Northly Vancouver/Instagram)

The video, from a user under the handle @vk22233 and posted in July on the Northly Vancouver Instagram account, appears to have been shot from the cab of a truck at the Centerm container terminal near downtown Vancouver. 

Melina Vissat, spokesperson for Centerm operator DP World, refused to comment. Instead, she directed inquiries to CBSA.

The video shows three tow trucks and a flatbed in a convoy that ends with a marked CBSA cruiser. 

CBSA spokesperson Rebecca Purdy confirmed a CBSA cruiser is in the video. She also said what is seen in the clip is “consistent with the way stolen vehicles recovered by the CBSA are transported from marine container terminals to the local police of jurisdiction.”

Purdy, however, said CBSA was “unable to verify the time and location based on the video alone.” 

Purdy refused to explain why CBSA could not analyze the video and compare it with recent incident reports in order to provide a reporter with basic information, such as the date and whether anyone was arrested. 

Nationwide, CBSA says 90% of the 1,612 stolen vehicles recovered so far in 2024 were intercepted in Quebec and the Greater Toronto Area. Of the total this year, 94 were in the Pacific region, which exceeds the 75 recovered for all of 2020.  

Last year, however, CBSA reported no stolen vehicle recoveries in B.C., the Prairies and Northern and Southern Ontario. 

Vancouver Police Department public information officer Const. Tanya Visintin said the VPD did not know about the incident in the video and referred a reporter to CBSA. 

The B.C. RCMP, a partner in the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team (IMPACT), refused to comment on either the date of the activity in the video or whether the incident led to arrests or charges.

“The B.C. RCMP is aware of this social media video and have nothing further say with respect to this inquiry,” said an email from the Mounties. 

IMPACT bills itself as B.C.’s auto crime police and manages the Bait Car program across the province to catch auto thieves red-handed. In June, IMPACT announced 14 charges each against Mohamed Wael Ozor, 29, and Omar Wael Ozor, 20, including theft of motor vehicle over $5,000, possession of stolen property and trafficking in stolen property. Police in Vancouver, Delta and Langley, along with CBSA, intercepted shipping containers and recovered 29 stolen vehicles in May estimated to be worth a total $2.5 million. The Ozors are scheduled to appear again in Surrey Provincial Court on Aug. 23. 

A lack of dedicated police force at B.C. ports is a a “serious gap in our law enforcement umbrella,” according to a report by the former head of the RCMP in Western Canada. 

Anti-money laundering expert Peter German.

Peter German, who chairs the Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute, analyzed vehicle theft trends in his 2019 Dirty Money 2 report for the provincial government. 

German concluded that stolen vehicles are used domestically and internationally as “conduits for the laundering of criminal proceeds.”

“The disproportionate number of luxury vehicles not recovered by police supports the belief that organized vehicle theft rings are stealing vehicles for export,” German said. “The need to address the export of stolen and fraudulently obtained vehicles from B.C. ports is a subset of the larger issue of criminal enforcement at ports.”

The federal Liberal government shut down the Ports Canada Police in 1997. Meanwhile, Port of Seattle Police Department numbers 150 staff at SeaTac Airport and Seaport. 

German’s 2023 report on the lack of port policing for City of Delta said CBSA representatives described “great challenges” to locate stolen vehicles in containers without impeding the legal shipment of goods. Three officers review more than 100,000 export files a year. 

“They note that exporters of stolen vehicles engage in a number of strategies to thwart CBSA, including hiding stolen vehicles behind other products, placing them in containers with vehicles that are not stolen, and suspending vehicles with chains, which requires that the container be transported to a specialized facility to safely unload the vehicles for examination,” German reported. 

In May, the federal government announced its National Action Plan on Combating Auto Theft, including $28 million more for CBSA.

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Briefly: Officials refused to provide details on

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Briefly: Documents obtained under freedom of information reveal the real reasons for the June-announced closure of Kitsilano Pool, a decision since reversed. 

A Vancouver Coastal Health report dated May 30 said there was not only significant leakage at the 1931-built pool, but the disinfectant and alkalinity were far below normal. 

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim reopened the pool Aug. 7 after a mining engineer offered advice to salvage the season. READ MORE BELOW.

Bob Mackin

The week before the Vancouver Park Board announced iconic Kitsilano Pool would not operate this summer — a decision since reversed — a health inspector deemed it unfit for public use. 

The May 30 Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) inspection report is the only expert report released under freedom of information, despite a reporter’s July 5 application that also sought the report that triggered the pool’s Aug. 7 reopening.

Kitsilano Pool (City of Vancouver/Facebook)

“Please note, civic facilities maintenance and operations confirm there is no expert report that led to the announcement,” said the response from Cobi Falconer, the director of access to information and privacy. 

On July 5, Mayor Ken Sim said the city relied on free advice from engineerJeff Stibbard of JDS Energy and Mining to make appropriate repairs and reopen the 1931-built pool until Sept. 22. 

When it originally announced the 2024 closure on June 5, the Vancouver Boar of Parks and Recreation’s communications department made no mention of the inspection failure. Instead, it said it would allow staff to “fully investigate the ongoing water loss and make the needed repairs to the underground piping and basin required to extend the facility’s useful life.” 

VCH inspector Garret Brouwer’s two-page report said his inspection included a meeting with aquatics supervisor Tony Syskakis, onsite pool operator Aaron La Valley, and the supervisor of maintenance technicians Robin Singh. He found four major areas of non-compliance. 

“Pool is not ready for patron use at this time and should not be opened to the public,” Brouwer concluded. “There appears to be serious issues with pool water leakage and replenishment that is adversely impacting maintaining adequate pool water parameters as per the Pool Regulation.”

Pool disinfectant and alkalinity were not properly maintained. Free available chlorine was less than 0.5 parts per million (ppm) at 30 Celsius or below and the 74 ppm alkalinity was too low to maintain chemically balanced pool water. The 12 ppm cyanuric acid stabilizer reading was below the recommended range of 30-50 ppm. 

The skimmer did not adequately draw surface water from the pool, the equipment was not regularly tested for safety or maintained in accordance with the manufacturers’ specifications. 

But Brouwer’s biggest concern was that the Park Board did not maintain the pool in good repair. 

“The water leakage from the pool appears to have significantly increased from last year,” said the inspection report. “The amount of make-up water (mostly potable water) is significantly greater than last year and is affecting consistent water chemistry parameters (e.g. chlorine, stabilizer).

“Concurrently, there have been problems noted by staff regarding some lifting of patch work done to pool basin which is causing sharp edges that may present cutting hazards.”

The pool was renovated in 1978 and 2018, but last year estimated to be losing 30,000-litres per hour. 

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Briefly: Documents obtained under freedom of information

Business, News

  • Briefly: Disbarred real estate and immigration lawyer Hong Guo’s former Richmond office is for sale at $6.5 million. That is a 35% discount from the original asking price, but a million dollars more than the assessed value. 

  • In 2023, the Law Society of B.C. deemed Guo “ungovernable” and cancelled her licence due to professional misconduct. 

  • In May, a judge issued an arrest warrant for Guo, who returned to China last year. She has not co-operated with demands to provide financial records to real estate investors suing her for misrepresentation and breach of contract. READ MORE BELOW

Bob Mackin

The asking price for disbarred real estate and immigration lawyer Hong Guo’s former Richmond office has fallen by almost 35% since going on the market early this year.

For sale signs at disbarred lawyer Hong Guo’s former office in Richmond (Mackin)

“Crazy price reduction” are the first three words in the listing by agent Ritchie Yuan of Pacific Evergreen Realty Ltd. for the vacated headquarters of Guo Law Corp. at Three West Centre on No. 3 Road south of  Westminster Highway. The original asking price of $9.988 million was cut to $7.799 million. It is now $6.5 million, just over $1 million more than the B.C. Assessment Authority valuation. 

Yuan calls the 10,000 square-foot office “the crown jewel of commercial properties.” It includes a storefront entrance with two private elevators and a wide two-way staircase. 

The lobby is empty, except for potted flowers in the middle of the double staircase, a rack for the pro-China Rise Weekly newspaper and a Rise Weekly vertical sign. A sign for the Canadian Atheists is in the window, beside Yuan’s real estate solicitation. 

Printed signs in English and Chinese addressed to “clients, couriers and interested parties,” explain that Guo’s law practice is closed and that the B.C. Supreme Court appointed the Law Society of B.C. (LSBC) as custodian of the firm “to address outstanding matters.” 

Guo originally came to Canada from China in 1993 and studied law at the University of Windsor. She returned to China, worked in the State Council in China’s Communist Party government and was called to the B.C. bar in 2009.

In 2018, Guo finished fourth in the Richmond mayoral election. Prior to election day, she denied in an interview with this reporter that China had committed human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims and journalists, among others.

Richmond 2018 Mayoral candidate Hong Guo

LSBC decided last November that Guo was “ungovernable” and could no longer practice law because of a “lengthy, serious and highly aggravating” record of professional misconduct, including breach of trust accounting rules, conflict of interest, misrepresentations, misappropriation and mishandling of trust funds and breach of LSBC orders.”

Guo alleged in a B.C. Supreme Court-filed lawsuit that, between February and April 2016, her employees Jeff Zixin Li and Danica Qian Pan “conspired to misappropriate” more than $6.6 million from Guo’s trust account at CIBC and opened accounts at the Gateway Casino. 

Guo filed the lawsuit in July 2016 and claimed to have worked with Chinese authorities to investigate and prosecute Li and Pan. Early this year, she released court documents from China that said Li and Pan were sentenced by a court in Zhuhai, China to 13 and 15 years in prison, respectively.

In a June 27 decision against Guo, Justice Neena Sharma noted that the LSBC found that Guo improperly left at least 125 pre-signed, blank cheques drawn on her firm’s trust account with Li in mid-March 2016. That led, in part, to the Law Society’s finding that Guo failed to properly supervise her staff. Li and Pan filled out the pre-signed cheques by adding payee names and accounts.

In May, another B.C. Supreme Court judge issued a warrant for Guo’s arrest. Guo missed a court hearing after she failed to provide financial records to two real estate investors who sued her for breach of contract and misrepresentation. Justice Gordon Weatherill heard that Guo had returned to China last year and was suffering poor mental health. 

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Briefly: Disbarred real estate and immigration

Business, News, Opinion, Sports

For the week of  Aug. 11, 2024:

For the first time in history, two men ran the mile in less than four minutes in the same race. It happened in East Vancouver on the final day of the British Empire Games in 1954, an event that introduced British Columbia to the world early in the television era. 

England’s Roger Bannister defeated Australia’s John Landy in what is known as the “Miracle Mile” at Empire Stadium on Aug. 7, 1954. 

The stadium is gone, but Empire Fields remain a buzzing hive of amateur sport. On the 70th anniversary, host Bob Mackin and Jason Beck from the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum took a walk in the footsteps of Bannister and Landy. 

Jason Beck is also the author of “The Miracle Mile: Stories of the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.” 

Plus, this week’s Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. 

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

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

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For the week of  Aug. 11, 2024:

Business, News

  • Briefly: Thomas Herdman of Vancouver has spent the last 38 months in a jail near Paris without trial. 

  • Herdman distributed Sky Global’s modified smartphones, which worked on an encrypted network called Sky ECC. Police from Belgium, France and Netherlands cracked the company’s French server. Authorities in the U.S. charged Herdman and Sky Global CEO Jean-Francois Eap with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in March 2021. 

  • Next: Herdman denies wrongdoing. His lawyer, Paul Sin-Chan, is appealing a judge’s denial of bail for Herdman. He had proposed house arrest, electronic monitoring and a 250,000-euro bail. READ MORE BELOW.

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  • Briefly: Thomas Herdman of Vancouver has spent the last 38 months in a jail near Paris without trial. 

  • Herdman distributed Sky Global’s modified smartphones, which worked on an encrypted network called Sky ECC. Police from Belgium, France and Netherlands cracked the company’s French server. Authorities in the U.S. charged Herdman and Sky Global CEO Jean-Francois Eap with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in March 2021. 

  • Next: Herdman denies wrongdoing. His lawyer, Paul Sin-Chan, is appealing a judge’s denial of bail for Herdman. He had proposed house arrest, electronic monitoring and a 250,000-euro bail. READ MORE BELOW.

Business, News, Opinion, Sports

For the week of  Aug. 4, 2024:

Happy British Columbia Day! 

To celebrate Canada’s 153-year-old Pacific province, a special edition of thePodcast, featuring: 

  • Research Co’s Mario Canseco on his latest pre-election poll. Could John Rustad’s Conservatives knock-off David Eby’s NDP government in the Oct. 19 election? Could BC United go from official opposition to fourth-place party? [begins at 01:08]
  • Alan Mullen, who was chief of staff to former B.C. Speaker Darryl Plecas. Will Mullen run in the fall or not? [begins at 14:43]
  • Boating B.C.’s Bruce Hayne on boating safety. More people than ever before are on B.C. water, from stand-up paddle boards to super yachts, competing for space with container ships, oil tankers, ferries and sea planes. [begins at 31:41]

Plus, this week’s Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. 

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

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

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

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For the week of  Aug. 4, 2024:

Business, News

  • Briefly: Vancouver city hall’s integrity commissioner released two reports Aug. 2, ahead of a meeting where Mayor Ken Sim’s party could freeze her investigations. 

  • Lisa Southern dismissed a complaint from Sim’s top two aides against two park board commissioners no longer with Sim’s ABC party. One of the park board officials complained that Sim used those aides to meddle in the park board.

  • Next: ABC decided to call a third-party review into Southern’s office and may go one step further at a special Aug. 6 meeting. READ MORE BELOW

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  • Briefly: Vancouver city hall’s integrity commissioner released two reports Aug. 2, ahead of a meeting where Mayor Ken Sim’s party could freeze her investigations. 

  • Lisa Southern dismissed a complaint from Sim’s top two aides against two park board commissioners no longer with Sim’s ABC party. One of the park board officials complained that Sim used those aides to meddle in the park board.

  • Next: ABC decided to call a third-party review into Southern’s office and may go one step further at a special Aug. 6 meeting. READ MORE BELOW

Business, News

Bob Mackin 

The lawyer for three members of the Lake Babine First Nation wants a new, Indigenous-led investigation of a former day school teacher who allegedly abused them and $40,000 compensation for each Indigenous person who experienced discrimination by the RCMP.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal heard evidence over 44 days beginning in May 2023 about the Prince George RCMP’s investigation of physical and sexual abuse allegations dating back to 1969. A final hearing was scheduled for July 30, but the parties and tribunal determined it was not necessary. The tribunal has reserved its decision. 

Lake Babine First Nation members Cathy Woodgate, Richard Perry, Dorothy Williams, Ann Tom, Maurice Joseph and Emma Williams complained in 2016 that the RCMP violated the Canadian Human Rights Act. Woodgate, Tom and Emma Williams have since died. 

“The evidence showed that the RCMP’s traditional investigative methods failed to meet the needs of Indigenous victims of abuse and were executed with biased attitudes during their investigation that commenced with a complaint from [Beverly] Abraham on July 11, 2012 and concluded on May 14, 2014,” said the closing arguments from their lawyer, Karen Bellehumeur. “The complainants assert that the discrimination revealed in this case is systemic in the RCMP.”

Abraham had alleged she was the victim of abuse by a former teacher at Immaculata, a Catholic day school in Burns Lake, in 1969 and 1970. The identity of that former teacher, who was not criminally charged, is banned from publication. 

Richmond RCMP (Mackin)

“A complete and thorough investigation would have involved interviewing all of the survivors and witnesses to the abuse in a culturally safe and trauma-informed manner,” said Bellehumeur’s April 5 submission. “It would have involved production orders for class lists, teacher employment records and affidavits regarding abuse allegations. It would have ensured that support was offered to all victims reporting abuse and that information they provided was followed up on. It would have ensured that every complainant who reported abuse was provided the outcome of the investigation, along with an explanation. It would ensure the complainants were treated with respect.”

Instead, according to Bellehumeur, the RCMP made false assumptions about Laura Robinson, a journalist investigating their allegations of abuse, and that the RCMP accepted information from a prominent person and his team without verification. 

An investigation without discrimination or bias, Bellehumeur said, “would have involved a careful assessment of the applicable law and policies to ensure allegations of abuse were not dismissed as corporal punishment, a conclusion that can only be based on the false presumption that abuse against Indigenous children was permissible at the time.”

In its final, June 28 submissions, the RCMP said it followed proper procedures and denied that its core functions — investigation and charge recommendation — are a service that is subject to review under the Canadian Human Rights Act. 

“The RCMP thoroughly investigated a criminal complaint over 18 months,” said the submissions by Attorney General of Canada lawyer Whitney Dunn. “The interactions they had with the five complainants they spoke with were respectful. While the complainants may be dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation, that does not mean there was discrimination on a prohibited ground.”

The RCMP filing admitted the Mounties’ historical actions have eroded the trust of Canada’s Indigenous peoples and caused generational harm, but the force is working to rebuild trust and establish respectful relationships. It has enhanced its recruitment, staffing and retention policies, forged partnerships with Indigenous groups with the goal of reconciliation, and added cultural awareness and trauma-informed methods.  

In September 2022, tribunal member Colleen Harrington ordered that only the initials “A.B.” be used in reference to the former teacher, “in all documents and pleadings filed with the tribunal, and in all tribunal rulings and decisions, until further order of the tribunal.”

The publication ban extends to information that would tend to identify A.B. (or family members), including A.B.’s birthdate and country of birth, province of residence, relatives, honours and past or present occupations. 

“The need to prevent disclosure of A.B.’s name to alleviate the risk of undue hardship outweighs the societal interest in full court openness in the circumstances of this case,” Harrington concluded. 

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Bob Mackin  The lawyer for three members of

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Bob Mackin

The Crown corporation in charge of driver licensing in B.C. is blaming a software problem for a backlog.

ICBC’s North Vancouver headquarters (LinkedIn)

Drivers who have renewed their license this summer have told theBreaker.news that they were advised of a delay of up to three months. One said that he was told by an ICBC driver licensing centre employee on Vancouver’s Westside that there had been an influx of driving tests in May and June. 

ICBC spokesperson Greg Harper said a recent software upgrade created a processing and printing backlog and frontline employees have advised drivers applying for cards about the potential delay. 

“We are working through the backlog and aim to have it cleared before the end of the summer,” Harper said. “Until we clear the backlog, drivers could experience a delay in receiving their license, however they are able to use their interim driver’s licenses, which are valid for 90 days.”

B.C. identification (ICBC)

Those interim licences, he said, are stamped with red ink to highlight the possibility of delay. 

The ICBC website includes a card status tracking page, to find out if a card is on its way or still being processed. 

In 2023, ICBC conducted 383,191 road tests and 382,757 knowledge tests, up from 254,912 and 267,092, respectively, in 2019. In 2019, 132,564 graduated licence program learners. In 2023, it was 154,494. 

Also last year, ICBC reported more than 3.9 million active driver licenses, including 2.92 million in class 5. The Lower Mainland is home to 1.75 million class 5 holders. 

In 2019, the number of active licenses across the province was almost 3.6 million, of which 2.7 million were class 5. 

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Bob Mackin The Crown corporation in charge of

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