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Bob Mackin

Why did the BC Liberals attempt a speaker coup on the last day of the spring session of the B.C. Legislature?

Speaker Darryl Plecas moved to secure information in offices in the Legislature on May 29, two days before the retirements of Acting Sergeant-at-Arms Randy Ennis and Security Operations Commander Ron Huck.

Plecas is ultimately in charge of security at the Legislative Assembly and is the superior official in the precinct. It is within the right of an employer to access an employee’s computer; Plecas asked Acting Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd and Ennis for their consent to copy their hard drives.

Speaker Darryl Plecas on May 30 (Hansard)

Ennis was deputy sergeant-at-arms to Gary Lenz, when Lenz and clerk Craig James were suspended on Nov. 20.

Why is Plecas concerned about information security?

Plecas’s chief of staff Alan Mullen told theBreaker.news that there have been six separate incidents of evidence going missing from locked safes and offices. Sometimes reappearing. Sometimes not.

Why are Randy Ennis and Ron Huck retiring?

Neither responded for comment on May 30.

They were both described by Horgan in the house as “outstanding people.”

Huck, the security operations commander, was leaving after almost 13 years at the Legislature. Ennis, a former Canadian Forces officer, was at the Legislature when Horgan became an MLA in 2005.

Contrary to the BC Liberal spin, Ennis had made his intention to retire known to the Speaker’s office in early April — about a month before the McLachlin report found Lenz did not commit misconduct.

Does BC Liberal house leader Mary Polak have the confidence of fellow MLAs to remain on the Legislative Assembly Management Committee or in any committee that meets formally or informally behind closed doors?

Polak held a news conference on May 30 to discuss what was said at the May 29 closed-door meeting with Plecas, Green house leader Sonia Furstenau and NDP whip Garry Begg.

Will any MLAs from the NDP and Greens trust her to be present in another closed-door meeting? 

Polak produced copies of her handwritten notes, which have not been independently verified. BC Liberal spinners sought to emphasize comments Plecas allegedly made about retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin’s $220,000 review, but Polak’s notes mentioned 19 different charge areas, 18 whistleblowers and a potential investigation under the Police Act. 

Who was this staffer that slept overnight at the Legislature?

This was not a non-partisan staffer, but a paranoid party worker: BC Liberal chief of staff Spencer Sproule.

Randy Ennis signalling the arrival of L-G Austin (Hansard)

How serious did the NDP take the offer from the BC Liberals to put one of its MLAs forward, and reduce its voting power from 42 to 41?

A meeting was held between Wilkinson and Government House Leader Mike Farnworth, who is also the solicitor-general. The BC Liberals were hoping to entice the NDP into accepting a new, BC Liberal speaker. One less BC Liberal on the opposition benches would have reduced the NDP’s reliance on the three-member Green caucus. If they agreed, the NDP would have jeopardized the supply and confidence agreement that John Horgan signed with Andrew Weaver two years ago.

Shortly after that meeting, Horgan reaffirmed confidence in Plecas.

“We had a Liberal Speaker [Steve Thomson] when this Parliament began and he chose to resign. Then another Liberal stood up and is now the Speaker,” Horgan said in his session-ending news conference. “I think there is a challenge in this building for sure, but I think the bulk of the challenges are in the Liberal caucus. They’ve had a difficult time finding relevance after a long period of time in government, and I appreciate they have concerns about the legislative assembly, but those are better handled by LAMC.”

While the BC Liberals think the Legislature chaired by Plecas is dysfunctional, Horgan disagreed.

“We’ve passed budgets, we’ve passed legislation, we have daily [Question Period]; the Legislature has been functioning. We have the wood splitter to go down in infamy as part of BC lore, and that would not have happened had it not been for Speaker Plecas’s curiosity.”

Where were BC Liberal MLAs Stephanie Cadieux, Marvin Hunt, Linda Larson and John Martin after 5 p.m.?

Four BC Liberals were not there to read the anti-Plecas script.

Boundary-Similkameen MLA Linda Larson told theBreaker.news that she had a 4 p.m. flight and left the Legislature before the statement had been decided. She plans to print and sign a witnessed copy of the statement to show solidarity with her caucus mates. 

One-by-one, 37 of the other 38 BC Liberals in the Legislature, beginning with Mike de Jong, read the statement below to denounce Plecas. Even Assistant Deputy Speaker Joan Isaacs parroted the lines, while in her robes. Could the blatantly partisan gesture by Isaacs against Plecas have spelled the end of her tenure as the third-stringer?

I rise pursuant to a Standing Order 26.

Rookie MLA and assistant deputy speaker Joan Isaacs drew NDP jeers for defying Plecas (Hansard)

Regrettably, I have become aware of behaviour and conduct undertaken by the Speaker with respect to senior officers and employees of this Legislative Assembly that I believe to be improper and compromises the ability of those officers to independently perform their duties.

I have further become aware of activities undertaken by the Speaker, including the seizure of records, including electronic records, that I believe constitute improper conduct with respect to my rights as a member of this assembly and impede my personal freedoms as a member of this assembly.

Insofar as the Speaker serves as the presiding officer of this assembly, I wish to disassociate myself for all purposes, including any subsequent litigation from these actions, which I believe constitute a breach of the individual and collective privileges of this House and a contempt for this House.

Why did Dan Ashton flip the script?

The Penticton MLA was the only BC Liberal to deviate from the script. And the only BC Liberal to send a message to his own leader while doing so.

This is what Ashton said:

I rise on a point of privilege. I would just like to say that my Dad brought me up to ensure that the best pillow is always a clean conscience. He always told me to treat everybody else how you like to be treated. I would like to say, honourable Speaker, to yourself, to the government — including the opposition, including the Leader of the Opposition, the leader of the government and the Leader of the Third Party — that there’s a pallor hanging over this House, the House of the people. It has to be addressed. It has to be addressed now. We’re leaving this place, the House of the people. We’re leaving it until October. This will continue to haunt us. It will not only haunt us during the time that we’re away, but it is going to haunt us for our tenure. We have all been elected here. We’ve all been elected here to represent the people at home. I beg of you, honourable Speaker, to the Premier and to the members of the government, to the Leader of the Opposition and to the Leader of the Third Party, let’s put our collective heads together and resolve the issues so that we can continue to govern the way that we have been elected to do by the people that we represent.

Is a caucus revolt brewing for Andrew Wilkinson?

BC Liberals got an early start on summer, when they vacated their seats in protest before the end of the spring session (Hansard)

Four BC Liberals were absent and a fifth refused to read what was put in front of him. Wilkinson does not enjoy unanimity and the latest opinion poll, by ResearchCo, found that his approval rating and the party’s popularity continue to lag behind Horgan and the NDP two years after the Greens opted to support an NDP minority government. 

Why did the BC Liberals leave the house?

At 5:33 p.m., after Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo read the script, Plecas said the repeated comments did not comply with Legislature rules and attempted to give Finance Minister Carole James the floor. False Creek’s Sam Sullivan was next to parrot the script, however.

Plecas then recognized James, who tabled the third reading of Bill 34. That prompted the BC Liberals to noisily pack-up and go. Plecas let the remainder of the BC Liberal caucus read the script, but no vote was called.

By the time Lt. Gov. Janet Austin arrived to give Royal Assent to the remaining bills, only leader Andrew Wilkinson remained in the BC Liberal benches.

The BC Liberals’ attempted coup, which would have jeopardized ongoing investigations into corruption at the Legislature, failed. The Legislature adjourned for the summer with Plecas in the throne.

If James, Lenz or even a member of the BC Liberal Party is charged, will the BC Liberals withdraw the script and related comments when the Legislature reconvenes in October?

Wait and see.

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Bob Mackin Why did the BC Liberals attempt

Bob Mackin

The acting clerk of British Columbia’s Legislature says that no payment has been made to the law firm for the clerk who retired in disgrace and the sergeant-at-arms who remains suspended.

theBreaker.news wanted to know how much it has cost taxpayers for Vancouver-based Fasken to defend Craig James and Gary Lenz.

Craig James (left) and Gary Lenz (Commonwealth Parliamentary Association)

“I am advised that the Legislative Assembly has not paid any invoices to Fasken for the [2018-19 fiscal year], nor have any invoices been received to date this fiscal year,” said Acting Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd by email. “The last fiscal year in which Fasken received payment from the Legislative Assembly was 2007.”

When James and Lenz held a news conference in Vancouver last Nov. 26, a reporter asked them who was paying their legal bills.

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

His lawyer, Gavin Cameron, then interjected: “Just to be fair, I don’t think you should take from that that that’s where my fees are being paid from. I’ll leave it at that. But I don’t want that impression.”

Cameron has not responded for comment.

Dermod Travis of independent watchdog IntegrityBC said the Legislative Assembly Management Committee has an obligation to clarify who is paying the legal bills, “and whether or not those expenses are being covered by a third party.

“I’ve not known many lawyers who have taken on work like this without at least a retainer in place,” Travis said. “If they were working pro bono, that raises a whole new set of questions.”

James negotiated his 11th hour retirement on May 15 after Beverley McLachlin, the retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, found that he committed misconduct by paying himself a $257,988 pension and buying $2,150 worth of suits and $2,135.87 of luggage for personal use. 

McLachlin’s May 2-delivered report did not find Lenz in misconduct, so he remains on paid suspension.

Meanwhile, McLachlin confirmed to theBreaker.news that she did not put interviewees under oath.

Her terms of reference as special investigator did not explicitly mention taking testimony under oath or by affirmation. By contrast, the enabling legislation for B.C.’s Auditor General, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Conflict of Interest Commissioner and Ombudsperson includes the power to take testimony under oath. Travis said that should have been explicitly noted in McLachlin’s report with a full explanation.

“It now casts doubt on what the two individuals may have said in their defence and it could also have an impact on the RCMP investigation,” he said.

Government House Leader Mike Farnworth tabled McLachlin’s appointment as a special investigator on March 7. The Legislature granted McLachlin “powers to compel persons to meet with the special investigator and to compel documents and other evidence, except those protected by solicitor-client privilege, to be provided to the special investigator.”

Beverley McLachlin (Jean-Marc Carisse)

McLachlin stated in her report that “it is not a legal investigation,” but was confined to finding facts related to the allegations made by Speaker Darryl Plecas in his January report about waste and corruption in James and Lenz’s offices.

“It is not my task to draw legal conclusions or provide legal opinions,” she wrote. “My investigation is independent of and unrelated to any police investigation into these matters; it is limited to administrative misconduct, ie. conformity with Legislative Assembly rules, practices or policies.”

McLachlin was paid $219,479, including her $110,250 fees, $80,537 for support staff, $17,600 for transcription and $11,093 for travel. Her former Supreme Court law clerk, lawyer Neil Abraham of BLG in Ottawa, worked with her on the project.

The Legislature voted May 16 to keep the transcripts and identity of witnesses confidential and covered by parliamentary privilege, unless authorized by the Legislature or by written agreement of all recognized party House Leaders, “if required to be produced pursuant to an order from a court of competent jurisdiction.”

In a Times Colonist commentary last weekend, Dulcie McCallum, B.C.’s former Ombudsperson, wrote that government reneged on its promise to release the full report.

“Parts of the report had been redacted. Does Robert Mueller come to mind?” wrote McCallum, who is now Nova Scotia’s information and privacy commissioner, referring to the investigation of President Donald Trump.

“Government did the right thing in taking this matter seriously with the appointment of the former chief justice. But fondness for power sometimes has a funny way of calibrating justice. Government has to finish the job by doing what’s fair and just: Release the full report.”

Green house leader Sonia Furstenau (left), NDP’s Mike Farnworth and BC Liberals’ Mary Polak (Mackin)

Meanwhile, the text of the settlement with James has also not been released. All we know is that it contains a non-disparaging clause and a so-called “non-monetary” clause. James is no longer on salary since abruptly retiring and does not have to repay the treasury for his ill-gotten gains.

Neither Farnworth nor BC Liberal house leader Mary Polak responded to theBreaker.news on May 27. Green spokeswoman Stephanie Siddon refused to arrange an interview with Green house leader Sonia Furstenau.

“Is there a clause tied to possible criminal charges and culpability?” Travis wondered. “So that, yes we’re going to let you keep all of this, but if you are charged and found guilty, you’re going to lose it all. We don’t know that.”

Could the NDP-promised expansion of the freedom of information laws to cover the Legislature someday prompt the release of the documents now withheld?

“They clearly didn’t get the message from day one on this, which is the Legislature has operated behind closed doors and dark rooms and people are fed up with it,” Travis said.

The RCMP investigation of James and Lenz continues.

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Bob Mackin The acting clerk of British Columbia’s

Bob Mackin

The only two BC Liberals to suffer consequences from the tainted BC Rail privatization are appealing a massive tax bill almost seven years after they served their sentence, theBreaker.news has exclusively learned.

Under the BC Liberals, the province assumed $6.2 million in legal bills for Dave Basi and Bob Virk, but a federal ruling has classified those payments as a “taxable benefit” that should have been reported as income.

Bob Virk (left) and Dave Basi (A-Channel)

The former aides to Finance Minister Gary Collins and Transportation Minister Judith Reid, respectively, pleaded guilty to breach of trust in October 2010 after the province controversially agreed to pay for their defence lawyers. The B.C. Supreme Court trial, stemming from a 2003 investigation, ground to a halt on the eve of Collins’s testimony.

Basi and Virk’s Tax Court appeal is scheduled for June 24 at the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort, across Victoria’s Inner Harbour from the Legislature where police hauled away banker’s boxes full of evidence on Dec. 28, 2003.

The province agreed in November 2005 to pay for their defence costs in the form of a loan that, if convicted, they would repay.

Basi and Virk both signed an Oct. 14, 2010 agreement with Assistant Deputy Minister Richard Fyfe that gave them a “complete release from liability,” after Deputy Minister of Finance Graham Whitmarsh and Deputy Attorney General David Loukidelis put together the $6 million deal that triggered the plea bargain.

The sudden end of the trial meant Collins, Premier Gordon Campbell, ex-Deputy Premier Christy Clark and lobbyist Patrick Kinsella never testified under oath about what they knew and when they knew it. The sudden end of the trial also sparked calls for a public inquiry. 

Basi and Virk were sentenced to two years less a day of house arrest and probation after admitting to receiving a trip to a Denver Broncos NFL game from lobbyists for one of the bidders, OmniTrax. Basi also admitted to receiving $26,000 from OmniTrax lobbyist Erik Bornmann.

Tax Court filings called the provincial government’s payment of $3,236,933 to Virk’s lawyer Kevin McCullough and $2,945,672 for Basi’s lawyer Michael Bolton taxable benefits and unreported income.

In May 2012, the BC Liberal government issued T4A slips for Basi and Virk’s 2010 tax year to the Canada Revenue Agency.

But Basi and Virk say they did not see the T4A slips until January 2014 from CRA. CRA reassessed their 2010 returns in March 2014 and deemed the amounts on their T4A slips as unreported income.

Federal lawyers claim Basi and Virk received a benefit in the 2010 taxation year by virtue of their employment with the B.C. government. But they had been fired nearly seven years earlier.

Basi filed a notice of objection in June 2014, denying receipt of any benefit. But the CRA appeals division confirmed the reassessment in May 2015.

“There is no evidence that the province by this agreement in 2010 intended to confer a benefit nor that [Basi] intended to receive a benefit in relation to office or employment,” said Basi’s July 2016 amended notice of appeal by his lawyer, David Mulroney.

“The province was funding a very expensive trial and wanted out from under that cost, which was out of all proportion to any potential recovery and needed an acceptable outcome. Employment had long since ended and was not then relevant to the decision.”

The provincial government secured Basi and Virk’s plea bargain by releasing any amounts owing. Basi’s filing said that there was no incentive to him, because he had the possibility of being found not guilty and would face certain bankruptcy if he had to pay the money back. The Financial Administration Act says that a debt or obligation to the government of $100,000 or more can only be forgiven by cabinet order. No such order was made in 2010. That, Basi’s Tax Court filings say, also means there was no taxable benefit.

“The Crown’s primary purpose was to save money, and obtain certainty of outcome, not to confer a benefit.”

BC Rail train in 1995 (Trainspotted.com)

Between 1996 and 2011, more than 100 people were granted special indemnities by the B.C. government, amounting to more than $11 million. Of that, $6.4 million went to the Basi and Virk defence. There were six other special indemnities granted to public servants and politicians involved in the trial. An analysis by the Office of the Auditor General found the trial cost $18 million.

In 2001, the Campbell-led BC Liberals ran on a platform that promised not to sell BC Rail. Campbell changed his mind after the landslide victory over the NDP and he put the railway on the block. The sale was fraught with controversy. Bidders CP and Burlington Northern Santa Fe both dropped out, leaving OmniTrax and CN.

CN, chaired by BC Liberal bagman David McLean, eventually paid $1 billion for BC Rail in November 2003.

In its 2013 election platform, the Adrian Dix-led NDP promised to hold a public inquiry to get to the bottom of the BC Rail scandal. Premier Christy Clark, who would have been a target of such an inquiry, led the BC Liberals to a surprise election win.

The John Horgan-led NDP did not repeat the Dix promise in the party’s 2017 platform. The Green-supported NDP minority government finally green-lit a public inquiry in May, about money laundering.

Neither Basi nor Virk are commenting on the Tax Court case.

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Bob Mackin The only two BC Liberals

China dominates international news.

Whether it is the trade war with the United States, questions about Huawei Technologies’ role in China’s surveillance state or the detention of up to a million people in the Muslim-dominated Xinjiang province.

Human rights activists around the planet will pause June 4 to remember the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. The military crackdown in Beijing may have killed 10,000 people, when peaceful protests demanding democracy were snuffed out.

“It was one of the most important and significant and gallant uprisings in the cause of democracy for the past half century,” said Terry Glavin of the National Post and Maclean’s, this week’s guest on theBreaker.news Podcast.

“It was a countrywide uprising and it was suppressed in the most-gruesome and bloody way.”

Despite the atrocity, China was welcomed into the World Trade Organization in 2001 and hosted the 2008 Olympics. It will also host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Engagement was supposed to open the door to the west in such a way that China would be more likely to adopt liberal democracy someday. The opposite happened. China became more authoritarian, especially under president-for-life Xi Jinping.

“We fail to draw distinctions between the princeling caste, the red aristocracy, the billionaire parasites that run China and the ordinary Chinese people,” Glavin said. “We don’t take any refugees from China, we used to. We accept the proposition that money is good, that you can look at Vancouver real estate and see the result there.” 

Listen to more from Glavin. Plus commentaries and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

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China dominates international news. Whether it is the

Bob Mackin (Updated June 6)

Scandals swirling around the Vancouver Whitecaps, coupled with a slow start, caused thousands of fans to stay away from B.C. Place Stadium in April and May.

According to attendance figures released to theBreaker.news by B.C. Pavilion Corporation, the Western conference’s ninth place club drew only 13,273 for the April 17 win over LAFC and 13,898 for an April 27 draw with Philadelphia Union. The Whitecaps overstated attendance on their Major League Soccer scoresheets for those matches as 17,038 and 17,835, respectively.

Whitecaps vs. Philadelphia, April 27 (Mackin)

When the Whitecaps shut out the Portland Timbers on May 10, the club used the figure of 18,356 on the scoresheet. But the attendance was 14,903. It was even worse when the defending champion Atlanta United edged the Whitecaps on May 15 and only 12,204 attended. The club again overstated the attendance, by publishing 16,138 on the scoresheet.

PavCo originally disclosed on May 31 that 11,746 had attended the May 15 match, but, on June 6, the B.C. Place operator notified theBreaker.news that the correct total was 458 higher. “We are informed that this was due to a ticket scanner being offline when the initial numbers were reported,” said the correction note from PavCo records officer Rita Mogyorosi.

The crowd counts for the Portland and Atlanta visits were the worst back-to-back gates since 2012 matches against Sporting Kansas City (10,293) and FC Dallas (13,843). 

The Whitecaps averaged 18,211 last year. They kicked-off 2019 with a trio of matches against Minnesota United (21,858), Seattle Sounders (20,788) and L.A Galaxy (20,988).  Then came the four-game gate slump, as the team drew an average 13,388. 

The downturn began at the April 17 match, when the supporters groups, led by the Southsiders, left their seats in the 35th minute to protest the Whitecaps’ mishandling of allegations by players from the 2007-2008 W-League team, who complained of harassment and bullying by their coach, Bob Birarda. Supporters were also unhappy after learning that 2013-hired youth coach Brett Adams was suspended by the English F.A. for racism.

Whitecaps’ minority owner Jeff Mallett unsuccessfully pleaded with the supporters before the April 27 match to end the walkout protests. The Whitecaps had announced in October 2008 that they agreed to a mutual parting with Birarda. But a timeline that accompanied a May 1 statement, signed by two of the club’s four owners, used the word “termination.” 

Whitecaps fan protest on April 27 (Mackin)

Reporters from the Vancouver Sun/Province, News1130, Star Metro and theBreaker.news were not invited when Mallett spoke to select reporters on May 1.

theBreaker.news twice canvassed sponsors like Bell, BMO, EA Sports and Canadian Tire for their reaction to the scandals and fan protests. None replied. 

The club rescheduled the 40th anniversary match of the 1979 Soccer Bowl championship team from Aug. 31 to May 31.

The 35th minute walkouts are now over. Beginning with the May 25 match against FC Dallas, supporters activated flashlight apps on smartphones in the 35th minute.

On May 27, the club announced that Mallett and principal owner Greg Kerfoot had met the previous week with whistleblowers Ciara McCormack and Eden Hingwing. The club agreed to hire the Sport Law and Strategy Group to conduct an independent third-party review of current and past safe sport policies and procedures, and management of those policies.  

Despite the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2016 order for PavCo to release attendance figures, Whitecaps’ chief operating officer Rachel Lewis said the club would stick to its policy of releasing only the “assigned seat numbers” rather than publishing the number of people actually present at a match. 

The biggest B.C. Place crowd for the MLS club was 25,832 against the Seattle Sounders on Sept. 15, 2018. Whitecaps claimed 27,863 on the scoresheet. On Sept. 28, 2016,  only 9,028 witnessed a 4-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago’s Central FC 4-1 in a CONCACAF Champions League match. The Whitecaps announced 17,038.

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Bob Mackin (Updated June 6) Scandals swirling around

Bob Mackin

It pays to advertise and say nice things about the federal Liberal government in an election year.

Case in point: North Vancouver’s Seaspan Corp.

PM’s May 22 announcement in Vancouver (Twitter)

In March, Seaspan promoted its role in the $39 billion National Shipbuilding Strategy with radio ads on Vancouver’s CKNW and News 1130. It also launched five YouTube videos, which have fewer than 1,000 views, combined.

theBreaker.news wanted to know how much the ads were costing taxpayers and whether the federal government had approved of them.

“Public Services and Procurement Canada is aware of Seaspan advertisements but does not review or approve any of their messages,” spokesman Charles Drouin said by email. “Under contracts with Seaspan, some advertising expenditures are eligible to be included within general overhead costs negotiated with the Government of Canada.”

Drouin cited recruitment advertising in trade, technical or institutional journals as an example.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan in a Seaspan corporate video (Seaspan)

Seaspan spokesman James Mitchell said the company does not disclose information regarding budget, schedule, design or consultations of its advertising program.

“We feel the ads speak for themselves. Seaspan is paying for them,” Mitchell said. “We feel it is important that the community and our stakeholders know what we are doing and how the National Shipbuilding Strategy is helping to grow the marine sector in B.C., is creating thousands of jobs and is delivering great economic benefits to the province.”

One of the videos shows Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan shaking hands with workers in slow motion at the North Vancouver shipyard. Another video, called “More than Ships,” touts economic benefits of $850 million in contracts to more than 540 Seaspan suppliers. In the “Teamwork Builds Ships” video, Seaspan promotes its diverse workforce. An unnamed worker in an office addresses the camera: “I do not only see myself as working for Seaspan, I see myself as working with the Government of Canada and people of Canada.” All messages that can only put smiles on the faces of the ruling party, which is not assured of ruling beyond the Oct. 21 election. 

SNC-Lavalin truck in Yaletown, outside a Liberal May 22 fundraiser

Less than two months after the radio campaign aired and videos were published, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared May 22 in front of cameras in Vancouver, with a Coast Guard vessel and North Vancouver in the background. Another $15.7 billion would be spent on as many as 18 ships for the Coast Guard and Navy. All but two could be built by Seaspan. The others by Irving in Halifax. 

Seaspan already has a deal to build 17 non-combat vessels. The initial $7 billion order for three ships suffered welding flaws.

Mission accomplished for Seaspan and its pre-election ad campaign.

One of the objectives of the announcement on May 22 for the Prime Minister’s Office was to change the channel from the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Easier said than done.

Outside the Opus Hotel in Yaletown, where Trudeau lunched with $250-a-plate party donors, was an SNC-Lavalin pickup truck. Most likely in the area for maintenance at a nearby station on the SNC-Lavalin-operated Canada Line. 

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Bob Mackin It pays to advertise and

Bob Mackin

Prosecutors in Boston face a May 30 deadline to complete evidence disclosure to the U.S. college admissions scandal defendants, including David Sidoo of Vancouver.

Sidoo tops a list of 19 people named in an April 9 indictment that charged him with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

Sidoo has pleaded not guilty.

He is accused of paying more than $200,000 for Harvard-educated tennis coach Mark Riddell to write college entrance exams for sons Dylan and Jordan Sidoo, neither of whom are charged.

David Sidoo (left) and Justin Trudeau in 2016 (PMO)

If convicted, David Sidoo could face up to 20 years in prison. His next court date is June 3, but he is not required to attend.

Riddell pleaded guilty on April 12 to fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors allege he traveled from Tampa, Fla. to Vancouver and used false identification to pose as Dylan Sidoo to write an SAT [Scholastic Aptitude Test] test on Dec. 3, 2011 at a venue that has not been disclosed.

Riddell allegedly traveled to Vancouver again, to write a test on June 9, 2012 that is described in the indictment as a “Canadian high school graduation exam.”

The 2011-2012 edition of the Ministry of Education’s Handbook of Procedures for the Graduation Program, obtained via the freedom of information laws, shows that the provincial examinations in 2012 were written June 18-22 and 25-28.

So what test was written on the second Saturday of June in 2012 in the name of Dylan Sidoo? What was the venue? 

June 9, 2012 was the designated date for students to write the standardized ACT test. It is not clear why a student would need ACT scores after a successful SAT.

Dylan Sidoo was a student at St. George’s boys school at the time. In a March statement, the school said “there were no school or provincial exams written at St. George’s School by the student in question on or around the [2012] date named in the indictment.”

Mark Riddell (IMG)

Dylan Sidoo was admitted to Chapman University in California, but later transferred to the University of Southern California where he graduated from the film school.

A statement to theBreaker.news from the British Columbia Ministry of Education FOI office said that “no provincial exams are written on a weekend by anyone.”

On May 21, the Ministry said it had not been in contact with any authorities in the U.S. or Canada regarding the Sidoo case, and it has no policies pertaining to SAT and ACT tests.

“Decisions around assessments such as SATs and ACT tests are made by local school districts in cooperation with the responsible U.S. authorities,” said a prepared statement.

Are police in B.C. investigating?

Const. Matthew Rutherford of the Victoria Police Department said his force does not comment publicly “whether there is an investigation or there is no investigation,” except when it is in the public interest or charges have been laid. Sgt. Janelle Shoihet, of the RCMP’s E Division, referred questions to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston.

“I can’t confirm whether we are or not [assisting U.S. authorities],” Shoihet said.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston would only say that the investigation continues.

Jordan (left) and Dylan Sidoo (Disappears.com Inc.)

Meanwhile, one of City of Vancouver’s highest-ranking bureaucrats is a director of the Sidoo-founded 13th Man Foundation, a private supporters’ group for the University of B.C. football program.

City engineer Jerry Dobrovolny was centre when David Sidoo played defensive back on the 1982 Vanier Cup-winning UBC Thunderbirds. Dobrovolny was drafted first overall in the CFL’s 1983 draft and played five seasons with three teams. Sidoo played six seasons with two teams.

One of the 13th Man Foundation’s advisors is Jordan Sidoo, who coxed the varsity rowing team at University of California Berkeley and graduated with a history and political economy degree. Berkeley continues to investigate his admission to the university.

The foundation’s most-recent financial statement, for the year ended Nov. 30, 2017, reported $671,550 revenue and $776,169 expenses.

UBC light pillar recognizes Sidoo donations (Mackin)

UBC and Vancouver city hall are working together to lobby senior governments to fund a subway to the Point Grey campus. Dobrovolny has not returned repeated phone calls or email messages from theBreaker.news about his involvement with the foundation.

The Sidoos live in a $35.8 million Point Grey mansion. David Sidoo is involved in several Vancouver-based companies, such as East West Petroleum, Meridius Resources and Advantage Lithium. He stepped down from East West’s presidency on March 14. Dylan Sidoo quit as a director on April 3, but remains CEO of Meridius, which added former BC Liberal cabinet minister Amrik Virk to the board.

Former UBC board member David Sidoo’s donations to UBC led to the naming of the synthetic field at Thunderbird Stadium in his honour. He is named, with wife Manjy, on one of the 20 “leading lights” pillars outside the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre at the Point Grey campus, directly above the entry for “Sidoo Family Foundation – Dylan Sidoo and Jordan Sidoo.” The three-sided light pillars recognize donors of $25,000 and up to UBC.

One of the names on the same pillar is Avi Salh of Solaris Management Consultants, a Surrey-headquartered oil and gas engineering firm with offices in Calgary and Fort St. John. Despite also being a UBC donor and in the same sector, Salh said he is not familiar with Sidoo. “I’ve never done business with him, I don’t know who he is.”

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Bob Mackin Prosecutors in Boston face a

At a news conference last November, the week after he had been suspended for misconduct and escorted from the Legislature, Clerk Craig James feigned ignorance, claimed he did no wrong and demanded his job back.

“I have established processes in the Legislative Assembly that are essentially bulletproof,” James boasted to reporters, while seated near his Peak Communicators public relations advisor, Alyn Edwards, and one of his two Fasken lawyers, Gavin Cameron. Gary Lenz, the suspended sergeant-at-arms, was seated at the same table.

Fast forward to mid-May. Two weeks after the retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Beverley McLachlin, found James committed misconduct. On the eve of James’s certain firing by vote of the Legislature, the 32-year public employee negotiated his retirement. Taxpayers won’t be made whole, but justice could still be served. A police investigation into waste and corruption at the Legislature continues.

McLachlin (left) and Cullen

On this edition, hear how it went down in the Legislature on May 16 and hear the reaction of Speaker Darryl Plecas, who blew the whistle on James and Lenz. Plus host Bob Mackin’s interview with Plecas’s chief of staff, Alan Mullen.

“It has taken a tremendous amount of work and energy to reach this milestone, but we have a ways to go,” Mullen said. “We can only control what we’re doing and what we’re looking at. The police investigation, obviously we will continue to assist them in that investigation.

“We need to make sure whistleblowers are properly heard, and give them time and take them seriously. Since this McLachlin report has come out, there are more people coming out of the woodwork saying ‘oh yeah, I was waiting for this, I’ve got something to say too’.” 

The latest milestone in the scandal at the Legislature came the day after Premier John Horgan finally gave thumbs up to a public inquiry into money laundering.

The last straw was the report a week earlier by former deputy minister Maureen Maloney that estimated $7.4 billion had been laundered in B.C. in 2018, including $5 billion through real estate. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen has a two-year mandate from the Horgan cabinet, and broad powers to order testimony under oath and provision of evidence, so he can get to the bottom of who distorted B.C.’s economy and who left many British Columbians to suffer. Cullen could even call former cabinet members to the stand.

“Some individuals have refused to participate in our reviews voluntarily,” said Attorney General David Eby. “We are done with asking nicely.” 

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theBreaker.news Podcast: Judging B.C.'s Legislature scandal and money laundering plague
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At a news conference last November, the

Bob Mackin

What it was

The “Report on the Special Investigation Into Allegations Against the Clerk and the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia” was officially a confidential fact-finding process to determine whether the suspended-with-pay-since Nov. 20 Clerk of the Legislature Craig James or Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz engaged in misconduct in the course of their employment as permanent officers of the Legislative Assembly. Independent of, and unrelated to, any police investigation.

What it wasn’t

Not a legal investigation, nor was it to draw legal conclusions or to provide legal opinions.

Beverley McLachlin (Jean-Marc Carisse)

Who is Beverley McLachlin

McLachlin retired in December 2017 from the Supreme Court, where she had been chief justice since January 2000. The first woman to hold the position.

The former associate professor of law at the University of B.C. began her career as a bencher in 1981, first with the Vancouver County Court and then with the B.C. Supreme Court, where she became chief justice in September 1988. McLachlin joined the highest court in the land in April 1989.

In 2018, she became a non-permanent member of the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong. She is also a member arbitrator with the Arbitration Place, which offers arbitrators and venues in Toronto and Ottawa for arbitration, mediation and out-of-court examination.

Process

McLachlin was appointed by the Legislature on March 7, with a May 3 deadline for her report. She submitted it a day early.

After their closed-door testimony, transcripts were provided to James and Lenz so that they could challenge any statements with which they took issue. McLachlin also interviewed current and former employees and officers of the Legislative Assembly and members of the house. None were named. She also interviewed Speaker Darryl Plecas, who blew the whistle on corruption and waste in the B.C. Legislature.

The report was redacted. The Legislature voted May 16 to protect the transcripts and identity of witnesses under parliamentary privilege.

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

McLachlin compared each of the dozen questioned activities of James and Lenz, organized in five categories, with the applicable rule, practice or policy, and she considered whether it been consistently applied.

Ultimately, she sought to answer whether the questioned activity constituted a breach of the applicable rule, practice or policy — if one existed. Based on the evidence before her, she ruled that James committed misconduct in four of the five categories, while Lenz was cleared of misconduct. 

Lame committee

Before she got to the heart of the matter, McLachlin had harsh words for the Legislative Assembly, not dissimilar to Auditor General John Doyle’s conclusions in 2012.

She cited “weaknesses in the administrative structure,” where the speaker and LAMC historically allowed the clerk to bear responsibility for stewardship of Legislature finances.

“The Legislative Assembly Management Committee met infrequently during the period in question, particularly during the 180 days each year that the House was in recess. The lines of authority between the LAMC and the speaker, and between the speaker and the clerk and sergeant at arms, appear to have been unclear in many people’s minds, including their own.”

McLachlin criticized Plecas for viewing matters that concerned him “through the lens of a police investigation and criminal prosecution, rather than the lens of an administrator.”

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

In a scrum with the media, Plecas, a nationally renowned criminology professor, was unapologetic. Those that confronted James and Lenz before him failed in correcting their behaviour.

In several cases, those that questioned James and Lenz’s authority were targeted by James, Lenz or their allies. Within a year of Doyle’s scathing report, for instance, his tenure was shortened by the BC Liberal government and ultimately ended.

“The events leading up to Nov. 20, 2018 and the subsequent release of the January Report [by Plecas] reflect the weaknesses in the reporting structure of the Legislative Assembly. When there this a lack of clarity about who is in charge of what, power seeps through the cracks and vigilant oversight is compromised.”

Suits and cases

The first misconduct was relatively easy for McLachlin. She concluded that the suits and luggage James bought were for personal use and James broke rules by being reimbursed.

James spent $2,150 on suits during separate trips to tailor Ede and Ravenscroft in London. James also spent $2,135.87 on various pieces of luggage.

“Mr. James provided no explanation for why, if the suits were required for Legislative Assembly business, suitable suits could not have been purchased in Canada at a lower price.”

The suits that James bought were not identical and were basic business suits. One of the suits was navy and the other was grey or charcoal, neither would be appropriate to wear under the black gowns in the House.

Stuffing pockets

James crafted a retirement allowance program in February 2012 and essentially paid himself $257,988. McLachlin could not accept James’s explanation and called the significant personal benefit a “mystery” and “without any evidenced justification.”

“On the evidence before me, I conclude that the payment of $257,988 to Mr. James in February 2012 lacks any legal basis.”

Exclusive London tailor shop preferred by James and Lenz.

“Whether by participating in the decision to award payments to individuals, including himself, without proper justification, or by deliberately standing at arm’s length and turning a blind eye toward whether Legislative Assembly funds were managed appropriately.”

James sought to enrich himself even more, through an insurance scheme that Plecas rejected.

“Mr. James’s primary focus was not the appropriate management of Legislative Assembly resources, but his personal desire for life insurance paid for by the Assembly.”

James concocted a scheme whereby he would receive $370,315 during the 12 months after his resignation, when that time would come.

McLachlin found James attempted, with an April 9, 2018 letter, to “secure a lucrative benefit outside of proper channels and inconsistent with established practice. I conclude that this constitutes misconduct.”

James also wanted the Legislature to pay his estate three times his annual salary, in the event that he died while clerk. The life insurance scheme would have paid his family $900,000.

“Mr. James did not turn his mind to what is best for the Legislative Assembly, as he was duty bound to do. As soon as he began to draft the letter, he had an obligation to assess the validity of the plan critically with an eye to the effective management of the Legislative Assembly. Mr. James did not consult with others, and he provided to another example of efforts he took to assess the plan. Therefore, his conduct fell well short of his admitted responsibilities as clerk.”

Booze for Barisoff

The truckload of beer, wine and spirits that James delivered to ex-speaker Bill Barisoff, and collected only $370 in return, was another misconduct.

James knowingly removed a significant quantity of alcohol from the Legislative precinct, without accounting for what he took or providing verifiable payment for it.

Split decision

McLachlin didn’t find the purchase of the infamous $13,000 wood splitter and trailer combo as misconduct, but what happened after it was bought was misconduct. Or, as she put it, the improper removal and use of the asset.

“Notwithstanding email communications provided to me that confirm that Mr. James played a role in actually choosing the specific piece of equipment in question once the request was approved, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that Mr. James engineered the purchase for a personal purpose.”

“Mr. James kept the wood splitter and trailer in his custody until November 2018, almost a year after he brought them home. The critical question is: why?

The wood splitter trailer at Craig James’s house in Saanich (Speaker’s Office)

“Mr. James says he kept the wood splitter and trailer because there was no suitable place to store them on the Legislative precinct. I reject this explanation; indeed it borders on nonsensical.”

McLachlin saved her choicest words for James’s misconduct on the wood splitter. James said he used it maybe three times and a broken mirror found in the trailer was from his house, after renovations in a main floor bathroom.

“As has been sensibly observed by others, why would Mr. James have endorsed the purchase of this equipment if there was not room on the Legislative precinct to store it? Had the anticipated emergency occurred, the equipment would have been useless unless stored at the Legislative precinct.”

“It is hard to understand what was going through Mr. James’s mind. Was he generously protecting Legislative Assembly property at his own expense, or did he somehow think he was entitled to retain the equipment?” she wrote. “The first is neither cohesive nor credible enough to stand against the array of contrary evidence. The second explanation is clearly inappropriate.”

“I conclude that Mr. James retention and use of the wood splitter and trailer violated Legislative Assembly policy and constituted misconduct.”

Plot twist

An 11th hour settlement was negotiated between James’s lawyers at Fasken and labour lawyer Marcia McNeil, representing the Legislative Assembly. James suddenly retired, months after claiming he did no wrong and that he wanted his job back. “I have had enough,” according to a prepared James statement released after Government house leader Mike Farnworth tabled the report. “My family has been deeply hurt and continues to suffer humiliation.” 

theBreaker.news was first to report that the agreement contains a non-disparaging clause and a non-financial clause. James’s salary is ended, and he won’t be asked to repay the treasury for the cost of all the misconduct found by McLachlin.

Craig James’s words of May 16 were in stark contrast with those he spoke at the Nov. 26 news conference.

“The healing can only begin with my return to work… I can think of nothing that I have done that would disqualify me from carrying on with my office while this investigation is completed.”

CTV reporter St. John Alexander asked: “What do you think it could have been [that sparked the suspension]?”

“I have no idea,” James said. 

Asked Alexander: “There was no money moved that shouldn’t have been moved?”

“None at all,” James replied. “I have established processes in the Legislative Assembly that are essentially bulletproof.”

What’s next

The Auditor General continues her work and a workplace review is coming.

The RCMP investigation, which involves special prosecutors David Butcher and Brock Martland, is ongoing.

Click here to read the McLachlin report.

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Bob Mackin What it was The "Report on the

Bob Mackin

VICTORIA: The clerk of the British Columbia Legislature, who was suspended with pay and benefits and escorted off the precinct last November, quit the night before the Legislature was going to vote on his firing, theBreaker.news has exclusively learned.

In the Legislature on May 16, after Question Period, Government House leader Mike Farnworth said Beverley McLachlin, the retired Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice, found Craig James committed four types of misconduct. McLachlin ruled that Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz committed no misconduct, so the Legislature voted to continue Lenz’s suspension, with pay and benefits. 

At the 11th hour, James negotiated his retirement from the Legislative Assembly, almost two weeks after McLachlin submitted her report to the the Legislature’s three house leaders. James’s agreement includes a non-monetary settlement and a non-disparaging clause. The former is significant, because it means that the province will take no action to recover the money James misspent since the BC Liberals installed him to become clerk in 2011.

B.C. Legislature clerk Craig James from Instagram family photographs at Windsor Castle (left, 2016) and Buckingham Palace (2015)

McLachlin was hired in early March to review the suspensions of James and Lenz, as well as the investigation by Speaker Darryl Plecas that found waste and corruption. Plecas went to police a year ago. The RCMP began investigating last summer and two special prosecutors were appointed early last fall. None of that was known publicly until Nov. 20, when the Legislature voted unanimously to put James and Lenz on indefinite paid leave.

McLachlin’s 55-page “Report on the Special Investigation into Allegations Against the Clerk and Sergeant-at-Arms of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia” found four instances of James’s misconduct:

  • Expensing of two suits, three purchases of luggage and private insurance premiums to the Legislature;
  • Creation of retirement allowance in 2012 and a resignation benefit in 2018;
  • Removal of alcohol from the Legislature without accounting for it;
  • and, keeping a wood splitter and trailer purchased with Legislature funds at his house for almost a year.

Farnworth would not comment on the costs of the McLachlin report or the costs of James and Lenz’s defence lawyers and public relations firm He was also cagey about the details of the settlement. “There is a non-financial settlement in place and a long with that is a standard employment release that applies to both the legislature and Mr. James, that is what I  am able to tell you, it is a non-financial settlement.”

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

Farnworth did say that the Legislature relied on legal advice from Victoria employment lawyer Marcia McNeil and that the house leaders of the Greens, Sonia Furstenau, and BC Liberals, Mary Polak, agreed with him on McLachlin’s findings and the settlement with James.

James remained defiant in a prepared statement, that said he chose to retire because he “had enough” and that his family “has been deeply hurt and continues to suffer humiliation.”

That statement seemed to contradict what James said last Nov. 26 when he held a news conference in Vancouver with Lenz. They both said they did no wrong, wanted their jobs back and would cooperate with the investigation.

“I have established processes in the Legislative Assembly that are essentially bulletproof,” James boasted. 

Lenz, meanwhile, hosted a news conference with reporters in the backyard of his North Saanich home on May 16. “The fact that my reputation has suffered immeasurable harm is concerning. However, there continues to be an opportunity to move in a positive direction and I look forward to resuming my services to the people of B.C. at the earliest convenience.”

When, or if, that may ever happen is anyone’s guess, because Lenz is, like James, still the subject of an RCMP investigation. 

Plecas was not excused from McLachlin’s criticism. She found he took on the role of a police investigator instead of an administrator. Plecas was unapologetic, because others had failed to bring transparency and accountability to the Legislature, which operates beyond the reach of the province’s freedom of information laws.

“I’m not the first person who has raised concerns, previous auditors generals sought an administrative approach, whistleblowers sought an administrative approach, that didn’t seem to work very well,” Plecas told reporters. ” Some of the other misconduct revealed by Justice McLachlin happened before my time, all I did was bring it to light. Could I have gone another route? That’s a very complicated situation.”

Since being suspended, James collected $180,000 in paycheques, hired the law and public relations firms and held a news conference, with Lenz, to claim he did no wrong. Yet, the night before his fate was to be decided in the Legislature, he quit. Plecas had little to say about that. 

“All I can say is that it is every single employee’s right to retire, that’s a matter which we would have no control over, so it is what it is.”

Green house leader Sonia Furstenau (left), NDP’s Mike Farnworth and BC Liberals’ Mary Polak (Mackin)

In January, Plecas released a report through the Legislative Assembly Management Committee, which he chairs, that described a history of millions of dollars of flagrant spending under James and Lenz. Plecas found waste and corruption, including unnecessary overseas trips, purchases of watches and gifts, failure to report and pay duties to Canada customs, the purchase of a wood splitter kept at James’s house and the $257,000 retirement allowance James decided to give himself in 2012. 

James came to Victoria from Saskatchewan in 1987 as a committee clerk. He succeeded 50-year veteran clerk George MacMinn in a June 2011 vote by the BC Liberals, after returning to the Legislature from a temporary role as the head of Elections BC. The NDP opposed the appointment, because it was made by the governing party rather than through the LAMC.

Plecas is a criminology professor who was elected as a BC Liberal in Abbotsford South in 2013 and 2017. His threat to quit the party over Christy Clark’s leadership after the NDP came to power in July 2017 at a Penticton caucus retreat forced Clark’s departure. Later that summer, Plecas left the BC Liberals and became the speaker, the first time that an independent MLA had occupied the position in B.C.

Plecas’s move gave the Green-supported NDP minority government a two-seat edge over the BC Liberals. It also led to the end of James’s controversial tenure and his retirement-in-disgrace. 

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Bob Mackin VICTORIA: The clerk of the British