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Bob Mackin

Police in two Surreys almost 7,600 kilometres apart combined to save a woman’s life on Christmas Day.

British news website Your Local Guardian reported on Jan. 4 that a distraught person trying to contact Surrey RCMP errantly contacted Surrey Police in England. 

Flags of Surrey, U.K. (top) and Surrey, B.C.

Contact centre operator Ellie Benson received a message via social media from a person in distress in Surrey, B.C. A Toronto Police officer originally from the U.K. was, coincidentally, visiting the department and assisted in the call from afar. 

“Once the Surrey RCMP Operational Communications Centre received the call from the Surrey (U.K.) Police Department, we were able to dispatch our Frontline officers to attend to the female’s address and locate the female,” RCMP spokesman Sgt. Chad Greig told theBreaker.news. “She was then taken to hospital.”

Surrey Police Asst. Chief Nev Kemp told Your Local Guardian that “It’s a lucky coincidence that PC Rowe was on attachment at the time and was able to provide assistance by speaking to their colleagues in Canada that we were able to reach the woman quickly,” Kemp said. “This just goes to show that where saving a life is concerned, borders and time zones don’t matter and we will do what we can to help our friends in blue around the world.”

The 1879-incorporated Surrey, B.C., across the Fraser River from New Westminster, was named for the historic U.K. county by H.J. Brewer.  

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Bob Mackin Police in two Surreys almost 7,600

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in the last year of his mandate. The countdown is on to the Oct. 21 federal election. Can Conservative Andrew Scheer find a way to beat the incumbent Liberals or will Maxime Bernier and his People’s Party of Canada split the vote? 

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart is in his first calendar year in office. Can Stewart find a solution to the city’s housing crisis?

The partnership between Premier John Horgan and Green Party leader Andrew Weaver is nearing its halfway point. But voters in the Jan. 30 Nanaimo by-election could shake it up. 

Research Co. pollster Mario Canseco (Mackin)

“It’s definitely going to be difficult for the Liberals to take a seat in Nanaimo,” said Research Co. pollster Mario Canseco in an interview with theBreaker.news Podcast host Bob Mackin. “They might be feeling a little more confident because of the defeat of the proportional representation referendum, but I wouldn’t read too much into that.” 

Even if the BC Liberals score an upset in the “Hub City,” Canseco said, it is more likely that Horgan and the NDP would seek a majority rather than give the BC Liberals the satisfaction of sparking an early provincial election. Opposition leader Andrew Wilkinson has not connected with voters, fears of the NDP ruining the economy have not come to fruition and voters may be fatigued after the fall’s municipal election and electoral reform referendum.

“I just don’t think it’s going to happen unless something really drastic takes place,” Canseco said. “Let’s say,  something related to the investigation into the Legislature or something related to money laundering. Something that helps the NDP say ‘give us a majority mandate and nothing like this is going to happen again’.”

The wildcard truly is the investigation into alleged corruption at the Legislature, after clerk Craig James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz were suspended in late November. Speaker Darryl Plecas promises to deliver details on Jan. 21 that won’t compromise the criminal investigation by the RCMP and two special prosecutors.

Listen to the full interview, as Canseco looks at the 12 months to come in politics. Plus Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim headlines and commentaries. 

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theBreaker.news Podcast: Pollster ponders the panoply of politics in 2019
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in the

Bob Mackin

Scene from a $70M dog playground in Vancouver (Mackin)

A parking lot smaller than a hockey rink that was converted into a fenced, gravel playground for dogs rose from $46.756 million to $70.032 million last July, according to the Jan. 1-released property assessment.

The canine corner is adjacent to the White Spot restaurant on West Georgia, which saw its value rise from $104.296 million to $156.408 million. The popular eatery’s new assessment is the equivalent of 19.575 million Pirate Paks.

Both parcels were sold for $245 million in 2017 to Champion Rainbow Holdings Ltd., a division of Hong Kong’s Carnival International Holdings. Assessments are based on market value (including size, location and area sales) and highest-and-best-use potential. 

The former Chevron station site on the west end of that block is now $98.251 million, up from $65.517 million. Developer Anthem paid $72 million for the land. Add the parking lot west of White Spot ($24.525 million) and the entire block is valued at just below $350 million.

Ex-Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s penthouse near Alexandra Park in the West End has almost doubled in value to $3.273 million since he bought in 2015. The unit rose from $3.125 million in 2017. 

Robertson’s successor at 12th and Cambie, Kennedy Stewart, rents in a Concord Pacific-built tower near David Lam Park. That condo unit increased from $1.832 million to $1.919 million year-over-year. 

Speaking of Concord, it owns the Molson Brewery ($164.963 million in 2017; $188.007 million in 2018) and Westin Bayshore ($227.913 million in 2017; $283.285 million in 2018). 

Oakridge Centre is owned by Quadreal, a division of B.C.’s public sector pension fund. Westbank is selling condos in a forest of towers set to be built there. The property was worth $917.751 million in 2017. Last year, it reached more than $1.062 billion. 

In 2015, the shopping centre had been reassessed at $500.54 million after the original $867.75 million had been appealed. Glen Chernen, a twice-failed city council candidate, argued unsuccessfully in 2016 to an assessment appeal panel that Oakridge should have been pegged between $750 million and $1.1 billion after the 2014 rezoning by the Vision Vancouver city council to allow for 11 new towers. 

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s husband, Liu Xiaozong, is the only person listed on the registrations for Vancouver mansions on Matthews (upper) and West 28th (lower). (Mackin)

One of Oakridge’s tenants is Lululemon. Its founder, Chip Wilson, lives in the province’s most-expensive property on West Point Grey Road. The house that yoga pants built was $73.12 million as of last July 1, down $5.717 million from the previous year’s high of $78.837 million, but more than double its 2013 assessment. Last fall, Wilson authored Little Black Stretchy Pants, a book billed as the unauthorized story of Lululemon. Even at $73.12 million, you could easily afford to buy 746,122 pairs of Lululemon’s Wunder Under Super High-Rise Tight Full-On Luon or 2.93 million copies of Wilson’s paperback. 

There is no house that comes close on Lulu Island. Richmond’s most-valuable is the Milan Ilich-built Ivy Manor, now owned by Sun Commercial Real Estate tycoon Kevin Sun and worth $9.89 million. The 18.46 acre property fell from $12.392 million the previous year. 

FIFA vice-president Vic Montagliani paid $6.925 million in 2017 for a West Vancouver mansion that is now worth $5.615 million, down more than $300,000. Crooner Michael Buble’s seven-bedroom, 15-bathroom Burnaby mansion zoomed from $11.746 million to $21.666 million in a year after its completion. It is rumoured to include a hockey rink. Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot built a hockey rink in his Whistler chalet in 2002, which rose from $16.652 million to $17.606 million. 

Properties in the name of Meng Wanzhou’s husband, Liu Xiaozong, also dropped in value. The Huawei chief financial officer, who was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on a U.S.-issued warrant Dec. 1 and freed on bail Dec. 11, lives in a Dunbar house assessed at $5.017 million, down from $5.609 million. Their under-renovation Shaughnessy mansion, on the same block as the U.S. Consul General’s residence, plummeted $3.033 million from $16.327 million to $13.29 million.

Still, the two properties are worth the equivalent of 13,921 Huawei Mate 20 Pro phones (which Telus sells for $1,315 apiece).

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Bob Mackin [caption id="attachment_7702" align="alignright" width="557"] Scene from

Another summer of wildfires across British Columbia, another province-wide state of emergency. We all became owners of the Trans Mountain pipeline project, thanks to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Will he be “one-and-done” or re-elected next October?

Unprecedented political turnover at municipal halls across the province, with new mayors in Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby. The B.C. Legislature was rocked with the sudden suspensions of the clerk and sergeant-at-arms, who are the subjects of an RCMP corruption investigation. B.C.’s third electoral reform referendum failed, to the delight of hardcore BC Liberal and NDP supporters.

Premier John Horgan and Wang Chen, a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo (Rich Lam photo)

There were barge fires and runaway barges. Even a river otter that raided the koi pond at the Sun Yat-Sen garden in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

The world of mega-events changed in 2018. The successful joint United States/Mexico/Canada bid for FIFA’s 2026 World Cup didn’t include Vancouver’s B.C. Place Stadium, after FIFA refused to negotiate with the NDP B.C. government. Premier John Horgan balked at giving the scandal-plagued soccer governing body a “blank cheque.” Meanwhile, Calgary voters rejected a bid for for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

A data scientist from Victoria, B.C. blew the whistle on Facebook’s role in murky digital political campaigns and exposed widespread, shoddy privacy protection.

Above all, China had the biggest influence on British Columbia, earning newsmaker of the year honours.

Hours before PyeongChang 2018 Olympic organizers handed over the flag to Beijing 2022, China announced that its president, Xi Jinping, would no longer be subject to term limits. It cemented his reputation as the most-powerful leader in the Middle Kingdom since Mao. Donald Trump’s rollercoaster presidency could end as late as January 2025, while there is no end in sight for Xi. The Chinese leader may be the most-powerful in the world.

China is the second-biggest economy in the world and the second-biggest trade partner with British Columbia, where more than half-a-million ethnic Chinese call home. Investment from China in luxury housing and automobiles continued to fuel Vancouver’s evolution into a resort city. Horgan led a B.C. government mission to China. China reciprocated. In May, the 9th International Congress of the Guangdong Community Federation met at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Su Bo, the vice-minister of the Communist Party’s United Front foreign influence program, was the senior official from the Chinese side. The next month, Horgan received a visit from Politburo member Wang Chen, who led a delegation of two dozen officials. It was the highest-ranking delegation to visit B.C. since the 2005 state visit of then-president Hu Jintao.

While Horgan forged closer ties with China to boost B.C.’s LNG dreams, a war of words erupted with Alberta’s NDP Premier, Rachel Notley. She is frustrated with B.C.’s role in delaying pipeline expansion and wants to export more Alberta oil to China. Notley briefly stopped B.C. wine at the Rockies before shifting gears with a heavy national ad campaign to sell pipeline expansion and prepare for her 2019 re-election bid.

The Chinese central government took over Anbang Insurance and sent its chairman, Wu Xiahui, to jail for 18 years for fraud. Anbang owns the Bentall towers complex in downtown Vancouver and the Retirement Concepts chain of seniors homes. Bentall is now for sale, but will it fetch anywhere near the record $1.06 billion that Anbang paid in 2016? Meanwhile, citing national security, Ottawa thwarted the $1.5 billion takeover of Site C generating station and spillways builder Aecon by a subsidiary of the state-owned China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. 

Meng Wanzhou in Stanley Park (B.C. Supreme Court exhibits)

The long-awaited report into dirty money at B.C. casinos was released at the end of June. Anti-money laundering expert Peter German detailed how Chinese gangs used B.C. casinos and real estate to launder drug money.

The pro-Beijing Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations tried to mobilize Chinese voters in the Oct. 20 municipal elections. Richmond immigration and real estate lawyer Hong Guo briefly gave six-term incumbent Malcolm Brodie a scare for the mayoralty. Guo was cited by the Law Society of B.C. for professional misconduct in early September. In early October, she sat down with theBreaker.news Podcast host Bob Mackin for an interview in which she denied China has any human rights problem — despite overwhelming evidence about human rights abuse in the world’s most-populous nation. Guo finished a distant fourth place in a campaign that was also rocked by allegations of vote-buying through WeChat by the Canada Wenzhou Friendship Society. RCMP didn’t find enough evidence to recommend charges before voting day.

The birth tourism phenomenon at Richmond Hospital gained national attention. Vancouver Coastal Health sued a Chinese mother for an unpaid maternity bill worth more than $1 million. Nearly 22% of Richmond Hospital births last year were to foreign mothers, almost exclusively from China. The federal Liberal government responded to activist Kerry Starchuk’s petition with a warning for those who abuse Canada’s generous immigration laws, but stopped short of a ban on birthright citizenship. New statistics show non-resident births have been underestimated and are growing in major cities. 

Ultimately, the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver International Airport on Dec. 1 and the bail hearing that followed became the biggest global news story from Vancouver of 2018. The U.S. wants her extradited to face fraud charges. The process could take years. Before Meng was freed on bail to live in her Dunbar house under curfew, Guo held a news conference with a Richmond group that claimed Guo’s human rights were infringed. Meanwhile, China retaliated by jailing Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian businessman Michael Spavor. Canada and its allies condemned China for its treatment of the two innocent men. Chinese propaganda organs threatened further action.

On this edition, hear highlights of 2018 appearances on theBreaker.news Podcast, including Attorney General David Eby, unsuccessful Richmond mayoral candidate Hong Guo, human rights activist Fenella Sung, investigative journalist Andrew Jennings, sports economist Victor Matheson, and whistleblower Christopher Wylie.

And look back at some of theBreaker’s 2018 predictions which came true. Will the 2019 crystal ball be as reliable?

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theBreaker.news Podcast: China is B.C.'s newsmaker of 2018
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Another summer of wildfires across British Columbia,

Season’s Greetings from theBreaker.news Podcast.

On this yuletide edition, cuddle up by the fire with some egg nog and enjoy  a special made-in-British Columbia version of the classic, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, plus regular commentary and headline features.

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A special Christmas thank-you to supporters Barbara May, Darryl Greer, Elvio Chies, James Plett, John Kennedy, Mondee Redman, Quan Lee, Randy Saugstad and Sprucehill Contracting. Find out how you can join them. 

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Season's Greetings from theBreaker.news Podcast. On this yuletide

Bob Mackin

Former BC Liberal international trade minister Teresa Wat disclosed in her annual conflict of interest filing that she went on a nearly $8,000 junket to a Hong Kong convention. 

According to her public disclosure statement, obtained by theBreaker, the opposition multiculturalism critic received a round-trip from Vancouver to Hong Kong and spent two nights in a hotel while attending  the Belt and Road Agrifood and Trade Summit from organizer FMC Exhibition Company Ltd. Wat was a featured speaker, along with Chinese Communist Party apparatchiks Tam Yiu-chung of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and Chan Chai of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The total disclosed on her public disclosure summary was $7,890. Wat has been an emphatic proponent of the Belt and Road initiative, Chinese president-for-life Xi Jinping’s massive highways and ports construction program in Asia, Africa and Europe. 

Finance Minister Carole James and Tourism Minister Lisa Beare both reported pairs of tickets to the Juno Awards at Rogers Arena from the event organizers at $589.26 per pair. Labour minister Harry Bains and backbencher Bowinn Ma both received $310 commemorative paddles from Seaspan. The four BC Liberal Richmond MLAs received $500 tickets to the Richmond Hospital Foundation annual gala. 

Conflict of interest commissioner Paul Fraser, sitting behind Premier John Horgan on May 30 (BC Leg)

Premier John Horgan reported owning a residence in Victoria and one-third interest in a Victoria investment property. He also disclosed the gift of two tickets to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s speech by former first lady Michelle Obama, valued at $1,538.40. 

BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson reported a $1,953 guest membership from the Union Club of B.C. and a $500 dinner ticket for the Global Reporting Centre fundraising banquet, featuring guest speaker Bill Browder, from Promerita Group.

Green leader Andrew Weaver disclosed no gifts. He has rental income from investment properties in Victoria and Parksville and holds residential properties in Victoria and Parksville. 

Three Surrey MLAs reported residential property holdings in places other than their ridings: BC Liberal Tracy Redies and NDP’s Garry Begg in Langley and NDP’s Jinny Sims in Nanaimo. Richmond MLAs Wat (Burnaby) and Jas Johal (Delta) also have residences elsewhere. 

Michelle Mungall, the NDP minister responsible for BC Hydro, has a residential property in Nelson and in Victoria and two investment properties in Nelson and two more in Castlegar.

NDP backbencher Jagrup Brar has shares in TransCanada, Loblaw, Google, and Apple, and is half-owner of a development company called Frejno Holding Ltd. He has interest in 10 properties in Western Canada: one in Peace River, Alta., two in North Battleford, Sask., one-third shares in four Prince George Properties on Highway 16 and three on Western Road in Prince George. 

By quantity, Brar has a bigger portfolio than former finance minister Mike de Jong, who reported interest in six Abbotsford properties. 

Transportation minister Trevena has an investment property on Heriot Bay Road, Quadra Island, and shares in Walt Disney Co., Brookfield Infrastructure and Gildan Activewear. The NDP’s Judy Darcy and Janet Routledge both reported holdings in recreational properties in Mayne Island.

BC Liberal MLA Peter Milobar holds shares in Hydropothecary, the marijuana company where ex-health minister Terry Lake became a vice-president after leaving politics. BC Liberal Ian Paton controls Paton Holsteins Ltd. and I. Paton & Associates, an auctioneering company. 

Meanwhile, 19 MLAs from ridings outside Victoria reported residences in the Capital Region. 

Begg, Mungall, Trevena, Shane Simpson, Rachna Singh, Selina Robinson, David Eby, Ravi Kahlon and Spencer Chandra Herbert of the NDP and Jordan Sturdy, Ralph Sultan, John Yap and Marvin Hunt of the BC Liberals have residential property holdings in the Victoria area. NDP’s Scott Fraser and Janet Routledge have half interests in Victoria property. Doug Routley has a leasehold and Shirley Bond a tenancy. 

MLAs based outside of Victoria who rent or own in the capital can claim a $19,000 allowance per year. If they stay in hotels, they can claim up to $17,000. Those who make other arrangements are eligible for a flat $1,000 monthly rate. 

The disclosure statements must be filed annually with the office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner, Paul Fraser. Fraser, however, does not allow the completed disclosure forms to be published, only the edited summaries. 

  • Read the annual disclosure summaries for every MLA, in order by riding names. Click on MLA names below to read the summaries.

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Darryl Plecas Abbotsford South
Ind.
Mike de Jong Liberal Abbotsford West
Simon Gibson Liberal Abbotsford-Mission
Linda Larson Liberal Boundary-Similkameen
Anne Kang NDP Burnaby-Deer Lake
Raj Chouhan NDP Burnaby-Edmonds
Katrina Chen NDP Burnaby-Lougheed
JanetRoutledge NDP Burnaby North
Donna Barnett Liberal Cariboo-Chilcotin
Coralee Oakes Liberal Cariboo North
John Martin Liberal Chilliwack
Laurie Throness Liberal Chilliwack-Kent
Doug Clovechok Liberal Columbia River-Revelstoke
Joan Isaacs Liberal Coquitlam-Burke Mountain
Selina Robinson NDP Coquitlam-Maillardville
Ronna-Rae Leonard NDP Courtenay-Comox
Sonia Furstenau Green Cowichan Valley
Ravi Kahlon NDP Delta North
Ian Paton Liberal Delta South
Mitzi Dean NDP Esquimalt-Metchosin
Jackie Tegart Liberal Fraser-Nicola
Peter Milobar Liberal Kamloops-North Thompson
Todd Stone Liberal Kamloops-South Thompson
Norm Letnick Liberal Kelowna-Lake Country
Steve Thomson Liberal Kelowna-Mission
Kelowna West
Ben Stewart Liberal
Tom Shypitka Liberal Kootenay East
Katrine Conroy NDP Kootenay West
John Horgan NDP Langford-Juan de Fuca
Mary Polak Liberal Langley
Rich Coleman Liberal Langley East
Bob D’Eith NDP Maple Ridge-Mission
Lisa Beare NDP Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows
Scott Fraser NDP Mid Island-Pacific Rim
Leonard Krog NDP Nanaimo
Doug Routley NDP Nanaimo-North Cowichan
John Rustad Liberal Nechako Lakes
MichelleMungall NDP Nelson-Creston
Judy Darcy NDP New Westminster
Jennifer Rice NDP North Coast
Claire Trevena NDP North Island
Bowinn Ma NDP North Vancouver-Lonsdale
Jane Thornthwaite Liberal North Vancouver-Seymour
Andrew Weaver Green Oak Bay-Gordon Head
Michelle Stilwell Liberal Parksville-Qualicum
Dan Davies Liberal Peace River North
Mike Bernier Liberal Peace River South
Dan Ashton Liberal Penticton
Mike Farnworth NDP Port Coquitlam
Rick Glumac NDP Port Moody-Coquitlam
Nicholas Simons NDP Powell River-Sunshine Coast
Mike Morris Liberal Prince George-Mackenzie
Shirley Bond Liberal Prince George-Valemount
Teresa Wat Liberal Richmond North Centre
Linda Reid Liberal Richmond South Centre
Jas Johal Liberal Richmond-Queensborough
John Yap Liberal Richmond-Steveston
Adam Olsen Green Saanich North and the Islands
Lana Popham NDP Saanich South
Greg Kyllo Liberal Shuswap
Ellis Ross Liberal Skeena
Doug Donaldson NDP Stikine
Marvin Hunt Liberal Surrey-Cloverdale
Jagrup Brar NDP Surrey-Fleetwood
Rachna Singh NDP Surrey-Green Timbers
Garry Begg NDP Surrey-Guildford
Harry Bains NDP Surrey-Newton
Jinny Sims NDP Surrey-Panorama
Stephanie Cadieux Liberal Surrey South
Bruce Ralston NDP Surrey-Whalley
Tracy Redies Liberal Surrey-White Rock
George Heyman NDP Vancouver-Fairview
Sam Sullivan Liberal Vancouver-False Creek
George Chow NDP Vancouver-Fraserview
Shane Simpson NDP Vancouver-Hastings
Mable Elmore NDP Vancouver-Kensington
Adrian Dix NDP Vancouver-Kingsway
Michael Lee Liberal Vancouver-Langara
Melanie Mark NDP Vancouver-Mount Pleasant
David Eby NDP Vancouver-Point Grey
Andrew Wilkinson Liberal Vancouver-Quilchena
Spencer Chandra Herbert NDP Vancouver-West End
Eric Foster Liberal Vernon-Monashee
Carole James NDP Victoria-Beacon Hill
Rob Fleming NDP Victoria-Swan Lake
Ralph Sultan Liberal West Vancouver-Capilano
Jordan Sturdy  Liberal West Vancouver-Sea to Sky

 

Bob Mackin Former BC Liberal international trade minister

Bob Mackin

For Gregor Robertson, his last official appointment as Mayor of Vancouver was spent in the city hall departments that benefitted most. 

Robertson’s calendar, released to theBreaker under freedom of information, shows a “Comms and Sustainability visit” at 2 p.m. on Nov. 2. 

During Vision Vancouver rule at 12th and Cambie, which began in December 2008, the communications and sustainability departments went from single digits to double digits in staff and they spent millions on crafting the thrice-elected mayor’s image as a champion of environmental causes. 

Gregor Robertson (right) and several ex-Vision politicians at the party’s Nov. 2 farewell. (Mackin)

That Nov. 2 calendar did not mention his nighttime engagement, Vision Vancouver’s invitation-only farewell gala at the Seaforth Armoury. 

Earlier that day, Robertson attended his last photo ops/news conferences: announcing an agreement for 650 non-market units to be built on Concord Pacific’s long vacant six False Creek sites and the FuturePLAY IT education partnership at the Lord Strathcona Elementary School library. The latter featured BroadBandTV CEO Shahrzad Rafati. Rafati was seen with Robertson at a voting station on Oct. 20, more than two months after Robertson proclaimed her birthday as Shahrzad Rafati day in Vancouver. 

Robertson’s last official interview was with Frances Bula of the Globe and Mail on Nov. 1, the day after a “thank-you tour” of 288 East Hastings. B.C. Housing paid $7.07 million for the land from Wall Financial in 2016 and loaned the Vision Vancouver and BC Liberal donor almost $36 million to develop 104 subsidized and 68 market rentals on the edge of Chinatown.

Robertson held a “VMO (Vancouver Mayor’s Office)” Vet Party on Oct. 30 and team photo after his last city council meeting. 

On Oct. 19, election eve, he met with cycling marketer Chris Bruntlett and hosted the “city manager’s performance review results” in the mayor’s office. 

I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that Bruntlett said “thank you for building so many bike lanes” (or words to that effect) and that Johnston passed his performance review. With flying colours.

Robertson met Telus CEO Darren Entwistle on Oct. 18 before attending a “Southeast False Creek and Olympic Village celebration,” hosted by Bob Rennie at the Tap and Barrel. Rennie, a former fundraiser for Vision and the BC Liberals, was the marketer for the Millennium Development project that went into receivership in November 2010. Two years earlier, leaked city council documents outlined the $100 million bailout for Millennium after Wall Street financier Fortress was shocked by the global credit crunch. The 2008 scandal paved the way for the  first Vision Vancouver majority. 

City hall’s real estate general manager Bill Aujla quit last summer to join the Aquilini Investment Group. Aujla’s Sept. 21 farewell party was hosted by Terra Breads in the Olympic Village, across the street from the remaining condo units scooped-up by the Aquilinis in 2014. 

Robertson also met Jim Pattison and his right-hand man, former B.C. Premier Glen Clark, on Oct. 15. The pro-Beijing mayor attended the Sept. 28 People’s Republic of China consulate’s national day reception at the Westin Bayshore. 

In with the new

After Stewart’s Nov. 5 swearing-in and inaugural council meeting, he joined council cohorts for more orientation sessions the next day and sat down for a formal meeting on Nov. 7 with Robertson-hired city manager Sadhu Johnston before dropping-in at the Chinatown Foundation’s Autumn Gala. 

Stewart flew to Victoria Nov. 8 to meet with B.C. NDP cabinet ministers Judy Darcy (mental health and addictions), Katrina Chen (childcare), Selina Robinson (municipal affairs and housing), Carole James (finance) and Claire Trevena (transportation). 

Back in Vancouver Nov. 9, an interview with RedFM, caucus meetings with NPA, Green and OneCity councillors and congratulatory calls to North Vancouver City Mayor Linda Buchanan and Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie. 

Mayor Kennedy Stewart (Mackin)

Nov. 10 included social engagements: Telus Night of a Thousand Stars Gala at Parq casino and a Floata Restaurant gala celebrating Jenny Kwan’s 25 years in politics. Nov. 11 was Remembrance Day, with observations at the Victory Square cenotaph and Chinatown monument, as well as a tour of Royal Canadian Legions. 

Stewart had a Nov. 16 phone call with Desmond Cole, the Toronto activist who alleged racism when he was stopped and asked for identification by a Vancouver Police officer while smoking near Stanley Park.

Nov. 18 was the grand reopening of the fire damaged Ross Street Sikh temple, speaking engagement at the Housing Central Conference in the Wall Centre, phone call with Johnston and the ceremonial tipoff at the Vancouver Showcase NCAA basketball tournament. 

He lunched Nov. 19 with city councillors from 1986, which included ex-mayor Mike Harcourt and Libby Davies, met with Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow and attended a meeting about the Berkeley Towers renoviction. 

Stewart spoke to Unifor on Nov. 21 and the WE Day charity concert at Rogers Arena. Two days later, on Nov. 23, he met with Barrett-era NDP cabinet minister Bob Williams, Coromandel Properties’ Jerry Zhong and Ed May and Jameson Developments’ Anthony and Tom Pappajohn. 

Another day, another congratulations for a mayor of a neighbouring municipality. Nov. 28 was for North Vancouver District’s Mike Little. Stewart also met with Vancouver Board of Trade CEO Iain Black and stakeholder relations director David van Hemmen and, surprise, former Coun. Raymond Louie. 

Sources have told theBreaker that Louie was spotted several times at city hall and is acting as a transition advisor to the new mayor. 

Nov. 28 also included an interview and photo shoot for Monocle Magazine and a meeting with Bhalwinder S. Waraich, Carol Both and Don Munton of Sunset Community Association. 

Former Simon Fraser University professor Stewart met with his former boss, SFU president Andrew Petter and Joanne Curry, before a meeting with a familiar face from his days in Parliament, Liberal Transport minister Marc Garneau.

Stewart’s chief of staff, Neil Monckton, did not respond for comment. 

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2018-581 – res by on Scribd

2018-594 – res by on Scribd

Bob Mackin For Gregor Robertson, his last official

Bob Mackin

Gary Lenz, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the British Columbia Legislature, charged taxpayers almost as much for travel expenses for six months of 2018 as he did for the entire 2017 fiscal year. 

But the interim replacement for Clerk Craig James is refusing to provide details.

Lenz and James were suspended with pay on Nov. 20 by the Legislature, pending an investigation by the RCMP and two special prosecutors. Both men deny any wrongdoing and have hired lawyers and a public relations agency to demand their jobs back. 

Lenz filed claims for $20,248 during the first six months of the 2018 fiscal year, compared to $23,606 for all of last year, when he was paid $218,167 in salary.

James was on track to meeting or beating his 2017 expense tally before Nov. 20. For the period of April 1-Sept. 30, he claimed $33,892 for domestic and international travel, accommodation, meals and per diems. In 2017, he racked-up $51,649 in expenses on top of his $347,090 salary. 

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

A lion’s share of James’s expenses for the first and second quarters of 2018 were in the category of out-of-province/out-of-country travel ($23,719). Lenz billed $14,396 for travel outside B.C.

They also claimed a combined $6,587 in per diems. The standard daily expense allowance is $61, but per diems for travel outside Canada and the continental U.S. are reimbursed based on the National Joint Council federal public sector formula, which can be double or triple the daily domestic allowance, depending on the destination. 

The Legislature is not covered by the freedom of information law, unlike government ministries and agencies. It publishes a basic summary of expenses for the top four officials. The report for the second quarter was published Dec. 14.

At the Dec. 6 Legislative Assembly Management Committee meeting, Speaker Darryl Plecas said that, shortly after his September 2017 appointment, serious concerns about the integrity of the Legislature were brought to him. He called for a forensic audit of the offices of James and Lenz.

“You will get every detail of how much I spent. You want full disclosure. The public deserves full disclosure. Boy, are they going to get it,” Plecas told the committee. “I would say this — one more point I want to make to emphasize how important this is. I am completely confident — completely confident — that those audits will show that we have a lot of work to do here. If the outcome of those audits did not outrage the public, did not outrage taxpayers, did not make them throw up, I will resign as Speaker, and [aide Alan] Mullen will resign as well.”

Dermod Travis of IntegrityBC said a forensic audit is not going to be fast. “We’re into something that’s going to be a long road.” The committee’s next meeting is Dec. 19.

Spending questions unanswered

theBreaker sent a series of questions about James and Lenz’s travel expenses to Acting Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd on Dec. 17. Several times in her reply, Ryan-Lloyd repeated the phrase “I am not in a position to provide the details that you are seeking.” She pointed theBreaker to generic expense policies on the Legislature’s website. 

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (left) and Darryl Plecas (Twitter)

Ryan-Lloyd also said she was “not able to confirm” if a spouse or child accompanied James or Lenz during their trips in 2018. She said it is not the Legislature’s policy to reimburse travel costs for any accompanying persons. 

Ryan-Lloyd also refused to answer questions about the $1,168 in Lenz’s miscellaneous expenses column for the second quarter. The miscellaneous expense category is supposed to cover conference fees, medical insurance, immunizations and business meeting expenses. 

“I can confirm that those expenses may not necessarily be for goods and services,” she wrote. 

Ryan-Lloyd, however, admitted that the Clerk’s office does not have a policy about collecting frequent flyer points. By contrast, MLAs cannot collect Air Miles or other airline bonus points on government-issued credit cards. The rule for MLAs states that when they accumulate bonus points on their personal cards from business travel, the points must not be used for any purpose other than legislative business, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association travel or as a donation to a recognized charity. 

In response to follow-up questions, including one about what policy allowed her to avoid answering questions, Ryan-Lloyd said she is committed to transparency and accountability of public spending. “Due to recent circumstances, I am in the process of seeking legal advice regarding matters related to some of your questions,” she wrote. “I will certainly have a second look at your request once I am in a position to do so.”

Travis said the scandal at the Legislature only serves as a reminder why the freedom of information law must be expanded. 

“It’s a problem that a number of legislatures have had in Canada, not to this degree, but the common lesson learned was you cannot have a legislature operation that has no accountability in it,” he said. 

“The moment you leave that idea of having accountability behind, you end up ultimately, over time, with people feeling they’re entitled to their entitlements.”

London calling, Guangdong goodwill

Calls and email to James and Lenz’s lawyers, Mark Andrews and Gavin Cameron of the Vancouver firm Fasken, were not answered.

Ryan-Lloyd refused to break-down the costs for James and Lenz’s trips, but said their costs were similar to those for independent Abbotsford South MLA Plecas and deputy speaker Raj Chouhan, the NDP MLA in Burnaby-Edmonds. Unlike Legislature executives, MLAs’ receipts are published quarterly. For the first half of 2018, Plecas claimed $26,425 in expenses and Chouhan $11,852 under the column titled speaker-authorized travel. Their travel was commonly booked from James’s office.

James, Plecas and Chouhan travelled business class June 9-18 from Vancouver to Hong Kong to visit Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan, China. The purpose of the trip was to sign a letter of intent to conduct goodwill exchanges between the B.C. Legislature and the Standing Committee of Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress. 

Guangdong government official Yan Jingping visited Plecas at the Legislature on May 29 after the 9th Conference of the World Guangdong Community Federation at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

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

Plecas also traveled with James and Lenz Aug. 1-13 to London, England for a business continuity, cybersecurity and disaster preparedness conference involving the United Kingdom’s MI5 Security Service. [A photograph of James’s wife Christine and her son from a previous relationship, shot on London’s Oxford Street, was published Aug. 12 on an Instagram account that shows James on 2015 and 2016 trips to London.]

Plecas’s other trip, Aug. 26-Sept. 2, took him to the National Legislative Services and Security Association training conference at the Virginia state capitol in Richmond, Va. Plecas was a speaker on Aug. 30, the fifth and final day of the conference, about government leadership. 

theBreaker began asking questions about spending by Legislature officers before the scandal erupted. On Nov. 19, Plecas referred questions about costs of the China trip to James, who theBreaker had already asked for comment. James did not respond. 

James was escorted out of the Legislature during the middle of the next day.

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Bob Mackin Gary Lenz, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the

Bob Mackin

What was George Chow, British Columbia’s Minister of State for Trade, doing in China while a diplomatic row erupted? 

Staff of the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Fraserview aren’t talking, but Chow posed for a photo at the Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Affairs Office on Dec. 7. It was published on the organization’s website Dec. 10, which was, coincidentally, United Nations Human Rights Day. 

One of the photographs shows Chow sitting at a table where both the People’s Republic of China and Communist Party flags are displayed. Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Affairs Office is part of the wider United Front Work Department, a controversial Chinese government program aimed at promoting Xi Jinping and his policies and influencing foreign governments. 

B.C. NDP minster of state George Chow (second from right) meeting Guangzhou Communist officials (People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality)

Chow’s meeting in Guangzhou happened after news broke Dec. 5 that Canadian police arrested Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver International Airport on request of American authorities who want to try her on fraud charges. Meng was released on bail Dec. 11 and awaits extradition proceedings in the new year.  

Chow was with former Chinatown Business Improvement Area director Ko Man Chow at the Guangzhou meeting. They met Feng Guangjun, the office’s director. A translation indicated Feng made a presentation about “studying and implementing” Xi Jinping thought and “grasping” opportunities related to Xi’s massive One Belt and One Road highways and ports construction program. Chow spoke about preparations for a Canadian Chinese Museum, which was eventually publicized in a Dec. 14 B.C. government news release. 

Brad Spencer, a spokesman for the international trade ministry, told theBreaker on Dec. 13: “The minister is on a personal trip to China and not available for an interview.” 

Spencer did not respond to a follow-up email asking for more details about the costs and outcomes of Chow’s trip, and whether Chow is still in China.  China arrested businessman Michael Spavor and diplomat Michael Kovrig in retaliation for Meng’s detention.

Chow was on Premier John Horgan’s trade mission to China earlier this year and was front and centre with Horgan at May’s Vancouver-hosted 9th Conference of the World Guangdong Community Federation. The senior Chinese government official at the latter event was Su Bo, vice-minister of United Front. In June, Chow was among cabinet members who hosted a 24-person Chinese government entourage led by Wang Chen, a member of Xi’s powerful Politburo and vice-chair of the National People’s Congress standing committee. 

Horgan and Chinese Politburo member Wang Chen inJune 2018 (Rich Lam/BC Gov)

On Dec. 9, Jobs, Trade and Technology Minister Bruce Ralston announced forests minister Doug Donaldson had cancelled the China leg of an Asia trade mission. Industry representatives carried-on without Donaldson. The news release made no mention that another member of cabinet, Chow, was in China. Chow’s itinerary has not been released, but he is scheduled to host the first of two holiday open houses in his South Vancouver riding on Dec. 18 at the River District Neighbourhood Centre. 

Chow was in his second term as a city councillor in pro-Beijing Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Vision Vancouver caucus in 2010 when Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Richard Fadden warned in a CBC interview that a foreign government was influencing unidentified municipal politicians in British Columbia and cabinet ministers in at least two provinces.

Chow was elected an MLA in 2017, knocking-off BC Liberal attorney general Suzanne Anton. 

It is not the first time that a B.C. trade minister’s China visit has sparked concern. 

BC Liberal Richmond Centre MLA Teresa Wat was hospitalized in late August 2016 with a hip injury during a visit to Zhuhai, China. She did not respond to queries from reporters seeking to learn the cause of the injury. 

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Bob Mackin What was George Chow, British Columbia’s

Bob Mackin

Woe Christmas tree, woe Christmas tree. How muddy were thy circumstances.

Almost exactly five years before he was suspended, British Columbia Legislature clerk Craig James found himself at the centre of a seasonal scandal.

Christmas tree farmer Mike Fleming in 2016, three years after an American multinational company took the rotunda space that his trees occupied for four decades (Twitter)

Proud B.C. tree farmer Mike Fleming rolled-up to the Rockpile (as the 121-year-old Parliament Buildings are nicknamed) on Nov. 29, 2013 to deliver his annual gift to the people of the province: a majestic, 27-foot Douglas fir from his Saanichton Christmas Tree Farm. 

A CBC report at the time quoted Fleming as “speechless” after he entered the building to find a tree had already been erected in the rotunda. Fleming told the Times-Colonist he was “completely taken aback.” 

 “After 40 years of putting a tree in the Legislature, donating it and a tremendous amount of work, I’m very disappointed,” Fleming said. “Nobody had informed me from the Speaker’s office.”

The company that supplied the 2013 tree was Bartlett Tree Experts, a multinational headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with 100 locations across the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Ontario and B.C. 

Fleming’s tree was eventually erected behind the Legislature library. James said it was Speaker Linda Reid’s idea to put a tree on the exterior of the complex, to supplement the one in the rotunda. James admitted that nobody thought of telling Fleming before he arrived for his annual special delivery.

“I guess there was some miscommunication or non-communication and to that effect I certainly have apologized,” James told CBC. 

The Legislature’s list of suppler payments shows $36,886 was paid to Bartlett for the year ended March 31, 2014. Bartlett billed another $33,101 the following fiscal year. The list of suppliers does not provide spending details and the Legislature is not covered by the freedom of information law. 

Fleming died of a heart attack on Oct. 27, just shy of his 66th birthday. He was busy harvesting Christmas trees in the Kootenays. He kept delivering trees every Christmas. His staff kept the tradition going. The Legislature tweeted a picture of the 2018 tree’s rotunda installation on Dec. 3.

Linda Reid (left) and Craig James (Commonwealth Parliamentary Association)

James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz were suspended indefinitely with pay on Nov. 20 by the Legislature because of an RCMP investigation with two special prosecutors. 

Sources tell theBreaker that Mounties are probing a corruption allegation. James and Lenz hired the Fasken law firm and Peak Communicators crisis communications company to deny wrongdoing and ask for reinstatement. That is unlikely to come, as NDP and Green Legislative Assembly Management Committee members vowed not to interfere with the police investigation. 

Speaker Darryl Plecas emphatically told the Dec. 6 LAMC meeting that he detected serious problems shortly after he was appointed in September 2017. He vowed to quit if the results of a forensic audit do not outrage taxpayers.

“I felt a great duty to safeguard the integrity of this institution and be very mindful about why we’re all here,” Plecas told the meeting. “That’s to make sure that public dollars are spent appropriately.”

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Bob Mackin Woe Christmas tree, woe Christmas tree.