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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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Eight people have died at a temporary North Vancouver supportive housing facility since March 2022, according to the BC Housing contractor. 

That is four times the number that the Ministry of Housing originally told a reporter.

Travelodge Lions Gate (Travelodge)

During the Oct. 16 Question Period, BC United housing critic Karin Kirkpatrick (West Vancouver-Capilano) challenged Premier David Eby to investigate living conditions at the former Travelodge Lions Gate motel on Marine Drive.  

“Neighbours have reached a breaking point,” Kirkpatrick said in the Legislature. “They report to me that people are dying and being removed from the Travelodge in body bags. Now, we owe vulnerable British Columbians better than that.”

Instead of Eby, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon delivered the government response, but he did not acknowledge or dispute the claim of deaths. 

Kirkpatrick did not mention any numbers, so a reporter asked the Ministry of Health. 

A statement from the Ministry on Oct. 17, via communications manager Tasha Schollen, said two people had died since March 2022 and cited contractor Lu’ma Native Housing Society as the source. The Ministry said BC Housing reviews incidents, especially involving a death, to avoid similar circumstances, and that the government is “deeply saddened by any loss of life.” 

But B.C. Coroners Service spokesperson Ryan Panton said there had been six deaths investigated in the period. He declined to provide dates or causes of each death, due to privacy protocols. 

“It should be noted that not all deaths meet the reporting criteria outlined in Part 2 of the Coroners Act, so it is possible that additional deaths may have occurred at this location that were not reported to our agency,” Panton said. 

The law requires a person to report to a coroner or peace officer when a death occurs that involves violence, accident, neglect, self-inflicted illness or injury, pregnancy or when a person who is not treated by a medical practitioner dies suddenly and unexpectedly or by disease or sickness. 

Lu’ma CEO Marcel Lawson Swain, director of housing operations Barbara Lawson Swain and executive director Mary Uljevic did not respond to interview requests. 

(Lu’ma Native Housing Society)

In an Oct. 18 interview, Mike Walker, the lawyer for Lu’ma, originally said there had been five deaths since March 2022, one of which occurred prior to Lu’ma assuming full responsibility for the site. Walker revised the amount to eight in a Thursday interview: five from natural causes, two from overdoses and one from a collision with a charter bus.

He said he did not know the dates. One incident, however, received substantial publicity. A man in his 50s, who Walker said was a member of the Squamish Nation, died of his injuries after being run over by a charter bus on Aug. 23. The man had been on the sidewalk next to the bus lane, just outside the Travelodge.

In early 2020, the province leased a third of the Travelodge rooms in order to ease overcrowding at homeless shelters due to the pandemic and hired Lookout Housing and Health Society as the operator. By March 2022, BC Housing leased all suites and switched operators from Lookout to Lu’ma. The transition was complete by the end of June 2022. 

Walker said that there are generally five people working the dayshift, including two support workers, a program manager, maintenance worker and homemaker. Overnight, at least two people are on-site. Policy dictates staff check-off a list of the residents they see. If any are not seen after three consecutive eight-hour shifts, a wellness check protocol begins with phone calls to suites and escalates to door knocking and entering, if necessary.  

“We would never want to be cavalier about a human life. But, nonetheless, balancing respect for privacy, with people’s safety, with people’s health, with well-being of the neighbourhood,” Walker said. 

Schollen said Oct. 20 that Kahlon was not available for an interview. She sent a statement five hours later, attributed to Kahlon. 

“Any death that occurs is tragic. The province, through BC Housing, offers supportive housing and complex care housing for our most vulnerable citizens with a wide range of supports for people living with a variety of challenges,” read the statement. “We will continue to work with our services providers to help individuals to access safe and stable housing.”

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For the week of Oct. 22, 2023:

North Vancouver defender Ciara McCormack sparked calls for a public inquiry into abuse in Canadian sports after her 2019 blog revealed a disgraced Whitecaps and national team coach had returned to coaching teenage girls. Bob Birarda was jailed in 2022 for sexually assaulting four players over 20 years.

McCormack had a 17-year playing career in North America and Europe and even played for Ireland’s national team. She made a comeback as a 43-year-old early in 2023 with Treaty United FC. With the backing of Vancouver investors, she has become CEO of the club in Limerick, Ireland. 

Listen to host Bob Mackin’s interview with McCormack, about her unique journey and plans to build pro soccer in Ireland’s midwest. 

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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For the week of Oct. 22, 2023:

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A B.C. Court of Appeal tribunal reserved judgment on Oct. 19 about whether John Horgan broke the law when the NDP leader called a snap election in September 2020 during the pandemic state of emergency. 

Lawyers for Democracy Watch and Integrity BC founder Wayne Crookes asked Justices Peter Willcock, Barbara Fisher and Ronald Skolrood to overturn B.C. Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Gomery’s June 2022 ruling. Gomery found the B.C. Constitution Act was “unambiguous” because it gives the lieutenant-governor the power, whenever he or she sees fit, to act on a premier’s advice to dissolve the legislature. The appellants argued that a confidence vote in the legislature is necessary to call an early election in B.C. since the law was amended in 2001 to hold provincial elections on a fixed date.

John Horgan on 2020 election night (BC NDP/Flickr)

“Democracy Watch’s position here is quite straightforward. The statute that purported to fix election dates did, in fact, do so. It asks that the government be required to comply with that statute and that the courts exercise its supervisory role to require that,” said Emily MacKinnon, lawyer for the appellants.

MacKinnon noted the government’s position that the statute is not binding, but is instead “aspirational” or that it “merely sets a horizon.” The government also argued that courts are incapable of considering the legal boundaries of elections.

“We think none of those arguments hold water and that the statute does what the government of the day said it would do: it fixes election dates,” MacKinnon said. “It strikes at the power concentrated in the premier’s office, and, as the electorate of B.C. expected, that it would impose a mandatory cycle of fixed elections.”

Emily Lapper of the government’s Legal Services Branch said that there is no statement in the legislation that says the general voting day cannot occur at an earlier date. Lapper asked for dismissal of the appeal on the grounds that Horgan and Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin were “exercising prerogative powers and those prerogative powers are fundamentally non justiciable” — or not within the court’s jurisdiction.

“The court could dismiss the appeal on the basis that even if the lieutenant-governor or the premier were exercising statutory powers, that those statutory powers pertain to a subject matter that remains non-justiciable,” Lapper told the tribunal.

The BC Liberal government under Gordon Campbell amended the Constitution Act when the party came to power in 2001. The province held four consecutive scheduled elections every four years in May, beginning in 2005.

After the Green-supported NDP minority government came to power in 2017, the law was amended to move the next election to October 2021. However, Horgan took advantage of a lull between waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and polling favourable to the NDP government to break the NDP’s 2017 confidence and supply agreement with the Green Party on Sept. 21, 2020 in order to seek a majority mandate. 

It worked, because the NDP won 57 seats in the Oct. 24, 2020 election.

Gomery’s ruling came the same week last year that Horgan announced his retirement from politics. Coincidentally, Thursday’s Court of Appeal hearing was exactly one year before the next scheduled election day. 

Premier David Eby, who succeeded Horgan last November, has repeatedly denied plans to call an early election.

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Vancouver city manager Paul Mochrie has added a third deputy. 

In a memo to staff on Oct. 19, Mochrie announced that Sandra Singh has been promoted immediately from general manager of arts, culture and community services. She joins Armin Amrolia and Karen Levitt in the deputy city manager suites at 12th and Cambie. The city will hire a replacement for Singh’s previous role.

Paul Mochrie (Vancouver Economic Commission)

“In this new capacity, Sandra will also provide overall coordination for our cross-departmental response to homelessness, encampments and similar complex social challenges,” Mochrie wrote. 

Singh’s portfolio includes the Intergovernmental Relations team and the Office of the Chief Safety Officer. 

Amrolia’s portfolio has been expanded to include non-market housing delivery and oversight of the Vancouver Affordable Housing Endowment Fund. Levitt will oversee the establishment of the city’s Business and Economy Office, including the consolidation of functions from the recently announced shut down of the Vancouver Economic Commission.   

“We are making these adjustments in response to key opportunities and pressures facing the city at this point in time and to ensure our organization is best positioned to fulfill the direction set out by council for the coming years,” Mochrie said.

Since the real estate and facilities management position remains vacant, the shuffle will not mean an increase in executive positions. Mochrie’s memo hinted to other changes to come. 

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Harsh words for the Canadian government from the Michigan judge that sentenced a former USA Gymnastics team doctor to life in prison in 2018 and the most-decorated women’s tennis champion of all-time.

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina on Oct. 19, 2023 (University of New Haven)

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who presided over Larry Nassar’s sexual assault trial, spoke Oct. 19 during the University of New Haven’s 2023 Noble Purpose for Sports Integrity Award online ceremony. The Liberal government was chosen for the Ignoble Purpose award for demonstrating the worst principles in the sports world over the last year, because it has refused to call a public inquiry into abuse and corruption in Canadian sport. Runners-up were match-fixers in Balkan countries and the PGA Tour, for merging with the Saudi-backed LIV circuit despite the pleas of 9/11 victims’ families. 

Aquilina recounted how she testified to a House of Commons committee last June and was disappointed that Canada had won an award in the same category as 2022 FIFA World Cup host Qatar.

“My plea for help, for action, for safety of all athletes fell on deaf ears,” Aquilina said. “I don’t think we’ve seen as many athletes coming forward in any country united and calling for help, calling for an inquiry to uncover the reasons why abuse is so rampant in Canada. Yes, Canada, a country known internationally for being a safe place. But clearly, Canada is not a safe place for athletes. It is not a safe place for children competing in sport.”

She said that the Canadian government’s inaction means it “continues to act as co-conspirators in the abuse suffered by all athletes of all ages.”

“Safety is a human right. Safety is not a question mark. Safety is not to be ignored. And yet, Canada takes no action,” Aquilina said. 

Declan Hill, the professor who heads the Connecticut university’s Sports Integrity Centre, called it very difficult to listen to Aquilina’s speech because he is Canadian, but “it’s even more difficult to realize that every syllable of what you speak is true.”

In late July, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled Pascale St-Onge out of the sport ministry and into Canadian Heritage, where she spearheads the government’s politically fraught Online News Act. During her tenure as sport minister, St-Onge temporarily froze funding for high-profile organizations facing abuse allegations, such as Hockey Canada, and introduced reforms, including the new Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner. But she stopped short of calling a public inquiry. 

Delta MP Carla Qualtrough returned as sport minister in late July. The lawyer and former Paralympic swimmer had the role during the first half of Trudeau’s first term in office.

In a September interview with the Canadian Press, Qualtrough was noncommittal about an inquiry but conceded that “trust in sport leaders, trust in sports organizations has eroded and there is a lack of confidence in the system.”

Meanwhile, Czech-born tennis legend Martina Navratilova slammed the Canadian government in her Noble Purpose Award acceptance speech. Even while battling cancer earlier this year, Navratilova remained an active campaigner for equal pay, protection from abuse, inclusivity for gay and lesbian athletes, and to keep male-born athletes out of women and girls’ sports competitions.

“You know, it’s funny that Canada got this award, for the ignoble award, for denying victims of sexual abuse to speak out in athletics, and at the same time, putting trans-women rights ahead of women athletes,” Navratilova said. 

In her acceptance speech, Navratilova emphatically said that “we are not anti-trans, we are pro-women, pro-sports, pro-fairness, pro-equality. And we must find a way where everybody is welcome, but not at the cost of fairness to women and girls.”

Runners-up were Kenyan activist Malcom Bidali, who exposed labour abuses in Qatar before the World Cup, and Vinicius Junior, the Brazilian-born Real Madrid player and anti-racism advocate. 

A year ago, the inaugural winner was a Canadian — University of Western Ontario sports law professor Richard McLaren, who investigated Russia’s state-sponsored sports doping.

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One of the escalators replaced three years ago at Granville SkyTrain Station malfunctioned in late September, leaving three people with unspecified injuries. 

A person not authorized to speak to the media said that one of the escalators stopped and suddenly accelerated at least twice with people aboard, causing passengers to fall onto each other.

Granville SkyTrain Station escalators (TransLink/Buzzer)

“TransLink is aware of an incident involving an escalator accelerating at Granville Station on Sept. 29, resulting in three reported injuries,” said senior media relations manager Shruti Prakash Joshi. “Technical Safety BC was informed immediately and the escalator was taken out of service. The cause of the incident is being investigated.”

Joshi said the escalator is maintained and managed by the manufacturer and TransLink hopes it will be back operating by the end of the week.

TransLink’s account on X, originally known as Twitter, said that the Seymour Street entrance to Granville Station was temporarily closed Oct. 5 for escalator inspection. 

In July 2020, TransLink finished a $14.52 million project to replace the Granville Station escalators. The “big three” escalators, the longest in Metro Vancouver, are 35 metres long each, with 500 steps. 

Granville Station was the start of a 13-station program to replace 37 Expo Line and West Coast Express escalators that are more than 30 years old. A year ago, TransLink began to replace five escalators at Burrard Station in a project that is scheduled to be completed in spring 2024.

In its 2022 statement of financial information, TransLink reported paying escalator and elevator company Kone Inc. $6.65 million. The B.C. Rapid Transit Co. (BCRTC) rail division paid $1.3 million.

According to the TransLink website, the new escalators are supposed to provide smoother operation and braking for passenger safety, a variable speed option to save energy, LED step lighting and improved accessibility for maintenance so as to reduce downtime. 

TransLink’s safety report does not separate onboard and off-board injuries. The customer injury rate on the Expo and Millennium lines have fluctuated above and below the rate of one customer injury claim per million boardings since 2018. 

Granville Station had 4.8 million boardings in 2022 and was the fifth busiest station of the year. TransLink reported 83 million riders in 2022 on the two lines. In 2019, before the pandemic, it was 115 million. 

BCRTC president Sany Zein’s report to the Sept. 27 TransLink board meeting said that during the second quarter of 2023, there were 27 incidents reported by customers. Over half were slips, trips and falls on “elevating devices.” 

Vancouver public transit watchdog Nathan Davidowicz, who publishes the weekly Alternative Buzzer newsletter, said there are too many injuries to passengers and staff. He said projects like the escalator replacement take too long and rely on consultants, rather than staff. TransLink would be better off in the long-run, he said, if it were absorbed by government. 

“It’s the same model as BC Ferries and now the government is realizing that model is bad,” he said. “They carry 10 times more passengers than BC Ferries.”

Last year, TransLink reported 194 million journeys, while BC Ferries carried 21.6 million passengers. 

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Almost five months before they told the public that the budget to build the new PNE Amphitheatre had ballooned by 53 per cent, officials behind the project faced a dilemma. 

Vancouver city council unanimously approved hiking the 10,000-seat concert venue from $64.8 million to $103.7 million on July 12. A staff report cited additional features, market conditions, soil remediation, an archaeological assessment and relocation of an underground pipe.

The siting of Playland’s new rollercoaster complicated plans for the new PNE Amphitheatre, according to documents released by Vancouver city hall under freedom of information. The $10.5 million rollercoaster is scheduled to open next summer, the $103.7 million amphitheatre in 2026. (Mackin photos)

A February project update for a meeting about the Hastings Park-PNE Master Plan, obtained under freedom of information, said Playland’s new $9 million launch rollercoaster conflicted with the amphitheatre’s footprint. 

“New coaster has impacts to Festival Plaza, daylighting creek and amphitheatre design vision, thus impacting original approved business case outcomes,” said the presentation. 

It said the $3.5 million allocated for utility infrastructure improvements “may not fully cover design and construction costs for amphitheatre [utility] infrastructure.”

Italy’s Zamperla is building the new launch rollercoaster, expected to be complete by next summer, on the site of the decommissioned Corkscrew Coaster. 

“Land use conflicts exist between amphitheatre and launch coaster designs,” said the presentation. “Options analysis underway. Recommendation to be assessed by steering committee before being presented to PNE board for decision.”

There were three options proposed: rotate the coaster 180 degrees, reduce amphitheatre seating or shift the amphitheatre west.

A March 1 email from strategic business advisory manager Harry Khella to city manager Paul Mochrie and other top officials said the “significant” space conflicts between the amphitheatre and roller coaster had only recently been identified. A section of the email was censored due to exceptions to the FOI law for advice and recommendations and fear of harming a public body’s finances. Khella’s list of emerging challenges included “funding availabilities.” 

PNE Amphitheatre (PNE/CoV)

Khella’s March 22 email to PNE management and city hall directors said officials were “reviewing if scope and design changes to the amphitheatre impact business case revenue projections and loan payback.”

Khella wrote that the PNE proposed moving the launch coaster northeastward, but space conflicts with the amphitheatre remained. 

A spokesperson for the PNE said Oct. 17 that the rollercoaster shift was not as severe as originally thought. However, the rollercoaster’s price tag increased to $10.5 million.

“As part of our final siting of the launch coaster prior to assembly, the decision was made to move it approximately 10 metres northeast to accommodate the footprint of the new amphitheatre,” said Laura Ballance. “As a result we needed some additional site servicing and piling work for the final location that was selected, which cost $1.5 million.”

Labour Day’s PNE Fair-closing Blue Rodeo concert was the last for the existing, 59-year-old amphitheatre. Construction on the new one has yet to begin, but completion is targeted for spring 2026 so that it can be the centrepiece of the city’s FIFA Fan Zone for the 2026 World Cup. 

City hall withheld the business case from the FOI release, but a June 2021 report to council’s Standing Committee on Policy and Strategic Priorities said the original concept was developed in 2019. It supported filling the gap in the local live event market by building a venue that could hold between 2,000 and 10,000 spectators with shelter from the rain year-round. It would increase the amount of events outside the annual summer fair period from five to 49 a year with revenue increasing from $1.4 million to $9.7 million annually. 

The financial forecast “showed a strong economic return with a 12-year payback, $49 million 40-year net present value and 9 per cent internal rate of return.” 

In April, the PNE announced it would sell naming rights for the amphitheatre. More than 25 prospective candidates showed interest. Meetings and site inspections were scheduled for bidders from July to September. Nov. 16 is the deadline for bids.

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BC Hydro has conducted more than 4,500 alcohol and drug tests since the start of 2018, according to a human resources briefing note to senior executives. 

The Crown corporation, however, censored data about testing trends, citing privacy and fear of harm to the public body’s finances. 

The June 27 briefing note, obtained under freedom of information, called the marijuana testing policy too broad and the post-incident testing policy too narrow.

BC Hydro headquarters (BC Hydro)

The federal Liberal government legalized marijuana five years ago this week. While recreational use has become more prevalent and accepted since 2018, “BC Hydro has seen more alcohol and drug tests, particularly pre-employment, come back positive for cannabis.” 

The employee relations department recommended updating the pre-employment testing procedures, to ensure that the Crown corporation is “not unnecessarily precluding recreational users of cannabis from working with us in safety sensitive roles.” It also recommended updating the definitions of serious incident and safety sensitive work. 

The Alcohol and Drug Policy Review presentation said BC Hydro implemented its current policy in 2015 to support the Workers’ Compensation Act and emphasize there is to be no work allowed while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Candidates seeking a safety sensitive position must pass a drug and alcohol test within five days of being notified that a test is required. They have two days to schedule the test and three days to complete the test. The test does not measure impairment, but is intended to detect the presence of alcohol, cannabinoids, amphetamines, cocaine, opiates and phencyclidine, aka PCP or “angel dust.” 

In May 2018, arbitrator John Hall upheld BC Hydro’s policy after a grievance from IBEW, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Hall called testing a legitimate, proportional response. 

Job candidates who use pot recreationally and receive a positive result do not get a “do over.” Their only option is to withdraw from the job competition or pay out of pocket to see a substance abuse professional.

(B.C. Cannabis Stores)

“We may be unnecessarily weeding out qualified candidates who do not pose a safety risk,” said the briefing note. “Furthermore, candidates who opt to withdraw from the competition because they know the positive test is a result of recreational use of cannabis will be precluded from applying for safety sensitive work for one year.”

For post-incident testing, the briefing note said the threshold appears too high. The policy defines a serious incident as “an incident that resulted or had reasonable potential to have resulted, in a fatality or permanently disabling injury.”

The briefing note conceded that “our policy wording is narrow and doesn’t currently contemplate post-incident testing in cases of significant property damage or a near miss.”

Testing, it said, is also appropriate in circumstances where there is significant environmental damage or legal liability. 

The recommendations in the briefing note were censored, but it did include next steps, such as revising the policy and manual and updating manager training in the second quarter of 2023 in consultation with legal services, safety and recovery services. 

It also contemplated promoting the revised policy and manual with workers represented by IBEW and MoveUp in the third quarter. 

But Daniel Fung, the communications officer with MoveUp, said the union has received no information from BC Hydro. 

“Any policy changes and/or updates would be communicated to MoveUP for our review prior to implementation,” Fung said. “Our responsibility, with any employer policy, is to ensure that it is fair and reasonable, appropriate for the situation, and does not infringe on our members’ rights under the labour code and/or the collective agreement.”

The existing policy prohibits alcohol and drug use at BC Hydro events or when representing BC Hydro during working hours. But an executive team member may allow employees to consume alcohol on company time and seek reimbursement for both the beverages and transportation home. 

An appendix offered examples of BC Hydro events covered by the policy, such as the Safety Rodeo, Century Club Breakfast and a department holiday party. The BC Hydro hockey tournament does not count, even though it is partially funded by the Crown corporation.

Alcohol and drugs are prohibited at all times in BC Hydro vehicles, but workers can store cannabis or sealed containers of alcohol in personal vehicles while on BC Hydro worksites, but only if locked in their vehicle or otherwise secured. 

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When Los Angeles previously hosted the Summer Olympics in 1984, rhythmic gymnastics debuted and a Vancouverite, Lori Fung, won the first gold medal in the all-around category. 

Could lightning strike twice, or more, for Canada when the five-ring circus returns to the City of Angels in 2028?

Los Angeles 2028 Olympics (LA 28/IOC)

On Oct. 16 in Mumbai, at its annual meeting, the International Olympic Committee voted to add flag football and squash and welcome back baseball and softball, lacrosse and cricket to an already crowded program. More opportunities for elite B.C. athletes, coaches and officials, not to mention sport organizations seeking more registrants, sponsors and media attention. 

“The original number was 10,500 athletes, I’m not sure what the equation is to get all of those sports into the Olympic calendar at LA28,” said Bowen Island-based, Football Canada president Jim Mullin. “I’m just happy that we’re there as a sport, the dividend that it will pay back to not just football in Canada, but global football.”

Mullin said the hotbed for flag football in Canada is Ontario, where, in the space of two years, registration has soared from 3,800 to 21,000 players. It’s affordable and accessible, skewing younger. Without contact, parents worry less about safety. Their children still learn about football basics, should they decide to play the tackle version later. 

“There’s an opportunity to really jumpstart flag development here in B.C.,” Mullin said. “We’ve been a little bit behind the curve, in comparison to central Canada, and Saskatchewan.”

The NFL sponsored the flag football tournament at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Ala. and transformed its annual Pro Bowl all-star game into a flag football tournament earlier this year. Locally, BC Lions owner Amar Doman has sponsored the North Vancouver Flag Football League.  

At the World Games, an audition for the Olympics, eight nations played five-on-five flag football on a 50-yard field in men’s and men’s divisions, though Canada was not entered. At July’s International Federation of American Football Americas Championship, U.S. won both golds over Mexico. Canada finished third in the women’s tournament, but lost the men’s bronze to Panama.

“We have to be on our game, we have to be internationally competitive,” Mullin said. “If there’s a limited number of teams, both on the men’s and women’s side, qualification will be a challenge through the Americas.”

B.C. Lacrosse Association president Gerry Van Beek said executives from both sides of the border who lobbied the IOC to bring back lacrosse after a 120-year absence were inspired by the success of other sports that successfully adapted to fit into the Olympics. Such as rugby sevens, three-on-three basketball and two-on-two beach volleyball. 

Football Canada president and Krown Gridiron Nation host on TSN Jim Mullin

“The sixes format was really developed with the Olympics in mind, because it can be played in non-traditional areas like Kenya, Argentina, they can play this version without huge expense or facilities,” Van Beek said. “In order for lacrosse to grow, it has to become more international.”

The ball was already in motion in 2016, the year before LA was awarded 2028 hosting rights. That is when the Federation of International Lacrosse brought its Under-19 Men’s Field Lacrosse World Championship to Coquitlam. U.S. beat Canada for the gold. Iroquois Nationals won bronze. Organizers were already promoting the spread of the field game, pointing to the 10 other nations, that included China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Ireland and Israel. 

Van Beek said B.C. has 20,000 participants in organized box and field leagues, some of whom play both disciplines. The 2028 Olympics will showcase athletes born this millennium with high hopes for B.C. athletes to play a major role in the national team, which will have a roster of about a dozen. 

“It’s pretty selective and we could probably field five competitive teams, but it’s only going to be one and I’m quite excited about it,” Van Beek said. 

Under pressure to reduce the size and cost of the Summer Games, the IOC went the other way. Before Rio 2016, it voted to add new sports for Tokyo 2020, including skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing, in an effort to lure a younger viewing demographic. 

For LA28, the IOC thinks it can draw more professional stars to give a boost to sponsors and broadcasters. President Thomas Bach specifically mentioned the long alliance with the NBA as  a model, as the IOC imagines “an even closer cooperation, given the ever-growing importance of these professional leagues.”

Thirty-seven years ago this week, at its 91st general assembly, IOC members voted to open the Games to professional athletes. 

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Bob Mackin When Los Angeles previously hosted the

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