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Bob Mackin

The People’s Republic of China, which is “intently focused on ensuring the survival of the Chinese Communist Party,” is Canada’s biggest counter-intelligence threat, according to a June 18-published report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

Vladimir Putin (left) and Xi Jinping during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics (PRC)

It says China has targeted all levels of government, Canadian citizens and Chinese communities, via the United Front Work Department, its primary foreign interference arm. CSIS said China is involved in recruiting people to spy on Canadians, while employing “deceptive and clandestine means” to influence policy-making, non-governmental organizations, media and academia. Its goal is to further China’s interests, hide the CCP’s intentions and weaken Canada’s democracy and institutions.

“The PRC largely targets those it sees as posing a threat to CCP rule, such as human rights activists, political dissidents, journalists, and members of religious and ethnic minority groups,” said the report. “These malign activities compromise the safety, security and rights of Canadians.”

Despite the national security threat, B.C. NDP Premier David Eby said he will not reverse BC Ferries’ June 10-announced decision to build four vessels at a Chinese state-owned shipyard. Four days later, on June 14, interim federal NDP leader Don Davies was the guest of honour at a Vancouver Chinese consulate celebration of 55 years of diplomatic ties with Canada.

Russia, Iran, India also pose threats

In the report, CSIS also named China, Russia and Iran as major cyber threats, via espionage and hacking.

On Iran, Canada declared its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist entity last June. It has sanctioned 250 entities and 205 individuals for “systematic and gross violations of human rights.”

CSIS also mentioned the U.S. Department of Justice prosecution in 2024 of Canadians Damion Ryan and Adam Pearson for a murder-for-hire plot allegedly directed by Iranian drug lord Naji Sharifi Zindashti to target dissidents in Maryland.

“Iranian threat-related activities directed at Canada and its allies are likely to continue in 2025, and may increase depending on developments in the Middle East and the Iranian regime’s own threat perceptions,” the report said.

Also in 2024, Canada listed Vancouver-based anti-Israel group Samidoun as a terrorist entity. Samidoun is associated with a 2003-designated terrorist entity, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

On India, CSIS said “real and perceived Khalistani [Punjabi separatist] extremism emerging from Canada continues to drive Indian foreign interference activities in Canada.”

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Bob Mackin The People’s Republic of China, which

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Bob Mackin

It’s official. Not only is the NDP government replacing the 1937-built, four-lane Pattullo Bridge with a new four-lane bridge, but it is also replacing the name.

Minister of Transportation and Transit Mike Farnworth said in a June 16 memo obtained by theBreaker.news that the new bridge is slated to open later this year “and the new bridge will receive a new name” in the down river Halkomelem dialect of the Musqueam Indian Band and Kwantlen First Nation.

Old, 1937-built Pattullo Bridge (left) and new to-be-named bridge. (TI Corp/YouTube)

The memo said the site overlaps former Musqueam reserve #1 and Kwantlen reserve #8, “once located in the village of qiqeyt [kee-KATE].” Both bands will bestow a name for the new bridge, “as a gift to the people of British Columbia,” Farnworth said.

Farnworth said the announcement is anticipated this summer.

The current bridge was named for Thomas “Duff” Pattullo, the 22nd premier of B.C. from 1933 to 1941. Liberal Pattullo represented the Prince Rupert riding from 1916 to 1945.

The new bridge was budgeted at $1.4 billion for a 2023 opening, but was delayed to 2025 with a higher $1.637 billion price tag. Builders are Aecon and Acciona, the Spanish company Metro Vancouver fired from the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant project.

Farnworth’s memo said there is also a First Nations art program that began on the Old Yale Road overpass in Surrey and will expand to the lower piers, upper tower and crossbeam of the new bridge. The NDP government is planning an “exclusive feature” with the CBC about bridge construction, bridge naming and the art program, Farnworth’s memo said.

Farnworth’s memo comes the day before Vancouver city council is expected to rubber-stamp renaming Trutch Street to šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm Street, which translates in English to “Musqueam View.”

The new street signs are already in production and an unveiling is scheduled for June 20, the eve of National Indigenous Peoples Day, at St. James Community Square.

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Bob Mackin It’s official. Not only is the

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For the week of June 15, 2025:

Welcome to the 400th edition of theBreaker.news Podcast.

Instead of looking back, this edition is looking ahead.

Looking ahead to the FIFA World Cup 26, coming to Vancouver and 15 other North American cities.

Will it be worth the nearly $600 million bill for B.C. taxpayers?

On this edition, hear from: FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani, Vancouver host city secretariat leader Jessie Adcock, Destination Vancouver CEO Royce Chwin, Mayor Ken Sim, NDP Minister responsible Spencer Chandra Herbert, B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition campaign manager Chantelle Spicer and sports economist Victor Matheson. 

As usual, Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and the Virtual Nanaimo Bar.

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For the week of June 15, 2025:

Business, Miscellany, News, Sports

Bob Mackin

Vancouver marked the one-year countdown to FIFA World Cup 26 on June 11 by unveiling a countdown clock in front of a few hundred invitees at a fenced-off Terry Fox Plaza.

Children played soccer on a makeshift artificial turf pitch outside B.C. Place Stadium where a natural grass/synthetic hybrid pitch will be installed for seven matches between June 13 and July 7, 2026.

Spencer Chandra Herbert, the NDP minister responsible for FIFA 26, said a budget update is expected by the end of June. Last year, predecessor Lana Popham said it could cost as much as $581 million.

Chandra Herbert spent less than five minutes in a scrum with reporters. He left without answering questions from theBreaker.news about how Metro Vancouver’s stressed hospitals will cope with an influx of World Cup visitors and B.C. government support for FIFA sponsors Saudi Aramco oil and Qatar Airways, whose state owners ban same-sex relationships.

Earlier, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim vowed the city would “make the necessary investments” for safety and security, but he did not say how much that would cost. He also denied that homeless people in the Downtown Eastside would be displaced.

“The challenges that we have with our unhoused population, this is an ongoing thing with, you know, cities throughout the region, and so, you know, at the end of the day, this is something that we address, today, yesterday and tomorrow, and that will be ongoing,” Sim said.

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Chantelle Spicer, an advocate for the city’s poor, is not convinced.

“This does not give us confidence that people’s rights will be respected during such a large sporting event where the city hopes to draw in investment and tourism,” said Spicer, campaign manager with the B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition (BCPRC).

Spicer told theBreaker.news that the coalition is especially concerned about displacement of homeless, the impact of increased surveillance and policing on people in public spaces and impacts on people depending on public transit and social services.

To that end, Spicer said BCPRC has made numerous unsuccessful attempts to connect with the local FIFA 26 organizing committee to learn if and how it intends to uphold human rights and mitigate any harms from the mega event.

“We have been met with silence, brush-offs, or meetings we persistently try to organize over months only to not get any real answers,” Spicer said. “There is an utter lack of accountability or opportunity for real stakeholder engagement with frontline service providers in the DTES or people who will be impacted by the games.”

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Bob Mackin Vancouver marked the one-year countdown to

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Bob Mackin

On the eve of the one-year countdown, officials behind FIFA World Cup 26 tamped down the Vancouver corporate community’s expectations.

In front of Greater Vancouver Board of Trade members on June 10, FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani, who lives in West Vancouver, suggested local businesses think beyond profit.

“Legacy is not what you receive. It’s what you’re going to give, okay?” Montagliani said at the Fairmont Waterfront. “And this is where I think the business community needs to look at it from that perspective. It’s not what you’re going to get out of this — tickets or whatever — it’s what you are going to give to attach your brand to the biggest sporting event in the history of the world. You’ll never be able to say that again.”

The 48-nation, 16-city tournament kicks off June 11, 2026. B.C. Place is hosting seven matches from June 13-July 7, 2026. The PNE will stage a Fan Festival watch party through the July 19, 2026 final. The NDP government said more than a year ago that hosting could cost taxpayers $581 million. The federal government has not revealed the security budget.

The unofficial beginning of the World Cup festival is also in Vancouver, when FIFA holds its 76th Congress at the Vancouver Convention Centre on April 30. Heads of all 211 members will attend. Montagliani said that is a bigger roster than the United Nations and, in many cases, national soccer leaders are more powerful than their respective heads of government.

Premium tickets on sale

On each table, a card advertising FIFA’s new regional sponsorship program.

Starting at $195,000, packages include “exclusive access to intellectual property rights, tickets, hospitality, FIFA Fan Festival activation merchandise, access to FIFA legends.”

Jessie Adcock, the executive lead of the civic organizing committee, also curbed enthusiasm about tickets. She pointed to the VIP packages for sale and the add-ons to FIFA Club World Cup tickets in the U.S. this month and next. The rest of the tickets will be on sale this fall under a lottery system.

“Oftentimes, I think we compare the Olympics in 2010 to the situation here, and it is not going to be like that,” Adcock cautioned. “I think a lot of folks had access to a lot of tickets that were available, there was a lot of inventory that was able to be shared across partners. In this case, it is going to be quite limited, but that is why we are focusing on the Fan Festival.”

Canada is scheduled to play June 18 and 24, 2026 at B.C. Place. The rest of the teams will become known in December’s tournament draw.

Airbnb comeback?

Vancouver is one of 16 host cities, despite a hotel room shortage. Destination Vancouver CEO Royce Chwin said Metro Vancouver’s inventory of 20,000 rooms could be augmented by a temporary easing of short-term rental restrictions.

Chwin said the NDP B.C. government is being lobbied for a limited exemption “pre, during and slightly post the FIFA games.”

“That’s a live conversation right now, to see what it would look like,” Chwin said.

The NDP minister responsible for FIFA 26, tourism, arts, culture and sport minister Spencer Chandra Herbert did not attend, but sent a video greeting.

Unanswered questions

Board of Trade members were encouraged to pose questions to the featured speakers via the Slido app.

However, CEO Bridgitte Anderson, a former CTV reporter and anchor, did not touch the edgier questions.

Those included:

  • How is the City of Vancouver planning to secure venues and fan events in light of recent events?

  • How are you ensuring that you having (sic) the workforce in place to execute this series of events?

  • How is the City or [Business Improvement Association] going to help ensure the FIFA benefits small and diverse downtown businesses, while minimizing risks like access issues or disruptions?

  • Will we see the marketing and promotions increase now that we are under a year? The build up has been underwhelming all things considered.

  • How’s the city planning to manage traffic issues?

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Bob Mackin On the eve of the one-year

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Bob Mackin

Could British Columbia taxpayers unwittingly subsidize Chinese naval threats to Taiwan while sinking the Canadian shipbuilding industry?

BC Ferries announced June 10 that a Chinese shipyard will build four new vessels. It chose China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards (CMI Weihai), but did not disclose the value of the contract for the new diesel-battery hybrid ships, to be delivered between 2029 and 2031.

Parent CMI is headquartered in Hong Kong and has seven shipbuilding and repair bases, specializing in ferries, cruise ships and chemical tankers. Its website called CMI “one of the three major state-owned marine equipment manufacturing groups in China.”

Artist’s rendering of one of the four new BC Ferries to be built in China. (BC Ferries)

Last August, the Canadian Marine Industries and Shipbuilding Association (CMSA) said the Canadian government should slap a 100% tariff on Chinese-built ships and prohibit any government entity or Crown corporation from acquiring a Chinese-built vessel. CMSA cited national security, human rights and economic concerns.

“As China’s navy continues to grow, it increasingly uses its fleet to challenge Canadian interests and those of our allies in regions extending even to our own Arctic waters,” said the CMSA statement.

National security risk

A report in March by the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. branded China’s “huge and growing” commercial shipbuilding industry as a national security risk.

China has integrated commercial and military production at many shipyards, “giving its People’s Liberation Army Navy access to infrastructure, investment, and intellectual property acquired from commercial contracts,” said the Center’s report, which said foreign orders have helped China spend less to modernize its naval fleet.

Foreign countries, including U.S. allies, buy three-quarters of ships from China’s dual-use shipyards, thus “funnelling billions of dollars in revenue and transferring key technologies into the PRC’s naval industrial base.”

A U.S. Trade Representative investigation said the Chinese shipbuilding supply chain benefits from a “lack of effective labour rights and the use of forced or compulsory labour. Likewise, China’s non-market excess capacity in inputs, such as steel, advantage downstream Chinese enterprises.”

The April executive summary said China controls a fifth of the world’s commercial shipping fleet and its goal is to displace foreign competitors and diminish choice.

“China has demonstrated in the past its willingness to weaponize dependencies for purposes of economic coercion. China’s targeting of these sectors for dominance is therefore unreasonable also due to the creation of dependencies and resulting vulnerabilities and risks.

NDP used to champion made-in-B.C. ships

While in opposition, the NDP slammed the BC Liberal government and BC Ferries for spending $165 million on three ships from Remontowa Shipbuilding SA in Gdansk, Poland. Then-transportation critic Claire Trevena proposed a provincial shipbuilding bill in 2014, aimed at ensuring vessels built with public money are built in Canada.

The announcement came while Premier David Eby is on a trade mission in South Korea. Transportation minister Mike Farnworth said he was disappointed BC Ferries opted to do business with “any country that is actively harming Canada’s economy.”

But he called BC Ferries an independent company, which is misleading. While technically private, the only shareholder is the B.C. government.

Additionally, the NDP government appoints board members, such as chair and former finance minister Joy MacPhail and former NDP government bureaucrats Eric Denhoff and Lecia Stewart.

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Bob Mackin Could British Columbia taxpayers unwittingly subsidize

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Bob Mackin

The political strategist who was instrumental in putting Ken Sim in the Vancouver mayor’s chair is thinking about unseating him.

Kareem Allam managed the campaign for Sim’s ABC Vancouver party when it swept to power on city council, park board and school board in the 2022 election. Allam was also Sim’s first chief of staff, until early 2023.

Kareem Allam (Twitter)

He told theBreaker.news on June 9 that he was approached by a committee exploring alternatives to Sim. Allam said he was registering with Elections BC and opening a bank account to begin fundraising.

“I do want the job and I’m ready for it,” Allam said. “I’ve spent a large part of my career in public service, whether as a bureaucrat, whether as a political staffer.”

“I hope to bring a lens of affordability to every decision that gets made. [If] it doesn’t help seniors, doesn’t help students, doesn’t help working people and their families, I won’t do it.”

Allam said the result of the April 5 by-election sparked the exploration committee, which includes Margareta Dovgal, managing director of Resource Works. ABC’s candidates were the lowest-ranked of any party on the ballot. Two seats were filled by members of the left-wing COPE (Sean Orr) and OneCity (Lucy Maloney). Allam said Sim has nobody to blame but himself, breaking promises to make city hall more fiscally responsible, transparent and accountable.

“We’ve seen runaway tax increases without a notable increase in services, he tried to get rid of the Integrity Commissioner — while under investigation from the Integrity Commissioner — he tried to get rid of our democratically elected Park Board, which is something I’ve been vocal against,” Allam said.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim (Mackin)

Allam said the two biggest issues are the state of the economy and democratic institutions.

If a former B.C. finance minister with name recognition were to run, Allam said he would step aside. Same goes if Green Coun. Pete Fry steps forward.

“I think Pete’s got the integrity and leadership skills to do it, but — and I want to kick up a shit storm in the media — but, yeah, I’ve had that conversation with Pete and that if he does do it, I think he’s got the electability,” he said.

Allam also managed Kevin Falcon’s political comeback as BC Liberal leader in 2022. Falcon rebranded the party as BC United, but withdrew from the 2024 election in favour of the John Rustad-led Conservatives. Allam, however, joined the NDP during the election.

In May, Allam was a target of a Sim-filed defamation lawsuit, when Sim claimed Allam and developer Alex G. Tsakumis falsely accused him of drinking and driving.

Allam denied Sim’s allegations and called it “nothing more than a page out of Donald Trump’s book.”

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Bob Mackin The political strategist who was instrumental

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For the week of June 8, 2025:

The G-7 Summit is coming to Kananaskis, Alta., June 15-17. Canada is co-hosting the FIFA World Cup 26 in Vancouver and Toronto in almost a year.

But the world is a ball of conflict and confusion. Hot wars. Cold wars. Trade wars.

Prof. Christian Leuprecht of Royal Military College of Canada (Mackin)

Is World War III underway and the West just doesn’t know it?

That is one of Bob Mackin’s questions for this week’s guest, Prof. Christian Leuprecht of the department of political science and economics at the Royal Military College of Canada and a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

Leuprecht is also author of books on border security, transnational money laundering and the geopolitics of the north and south poles.

As usual, Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and the Virtual Nanaimo Bar.

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For the week of June 8, 2025:

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Bob Mackin

A mutual fund dealer accused of pilfering more than $350,000 from two retired clients faces a July 29 hearing in Vancouver.

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) issued a statement of allegations on May 14, accusing 2018-registered Marc-Antoine Ladeiro of Scotia Securities Inc. of misappropriating funds and creating false records.

CIRO’s Vancouver office is in Royal Centre. (Royal Centre)

The statement says that, between July 2020 and February 2022, Ladeiro obtained $354,700 from two retired clients aged between 88 and 90. At the end of December 2021, one of the clients died.

CIRO said he did so by transferring proceeds from matured guaranteed investment certificates and redeemed mutual funds into the clients’ bank accounts and then moving $354,700 to fictitious accounts that he controlled. He then allegedly transferred $264,609 to his personal bank account, $19,100 to an online payment service and $66,100 to other bank accounts.

“The transfers of monies from the clients’ bank accounts to the fictitious accounts described above were done by the respondent without the clients’ knowledge or authorization,” said the CIRO statement.

Ladeiro, it said, has failed to repay or account for the monies taken from the clients. When the dealer member discovered and investigated, it compensated the clients for their losses.

In April, a CIRO hearing panel accepted a settlement with a former investment dealer who embezzled almost $6 million from clients, some of whom were elderly and in poor health.

Michael Rowland Tomkins of Nanaimo “committed serious transgressions, involving large sums of money. He engaged in an ongoing pattern of intentional deception. This was far from an isolated lapse in judgment,” said the decision by the CIRO panel, chaired by lawyer Lynn Smith.

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Bob Mackin A mutual fund dealer accused of

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Bob Mackin

British Columbia’s insurance industry regulator cancelled a Toronto-area socialite’s licence after she falsely claimed to have a Master of Business Administration degree from a Canadian university.

Respon Wealth Management’s Hong Wei (Winnie) Liao, who frequently attends events with Canadian politicians and Chinese diplomats, testified at a November 2023 hearing that she had the diploma and transcript from York University.

But an Insurance Council of B.C. (IC) investigation determined the documents were fake and found Liao attempted to mislead the committee. So it cancelled Liao’s life and accident and sickness insurance licence in May 2024 for a three-year period. In a March 2025 order, the penalty was extended to five years, through May 28, 2029.

York University’s main campus (York U.)

Due to the code of conduct violation, Liao is barred from being a controlling shareholder, partner, officer or director of any licensed insurance agency in B.C. The ruling said she did not oppose the council’s $25,000 fine and $54,864.28 in costs, payable by June 2, nor did she oppose the condition that IC will not consider Liao’s licence application until the fine and costs are paid in-full.

Liao’s representatives, including lawyer William Smart, did not respond to questions from theBreaker.news. IC spokesperson Melinda Lau would neither confirm nor deny Liao had paid by the June 2 deadline.

Liao testified during a five-day, July 2024 IC hearing that she grew up in Hunan Province, obtained a bachelor’s degree in management engineering from Central South University and undertook part-time studies for a master’s degree at Southwest Jiatong University the year before immigrating to Canada in 2000. Liao eventually received a master’s degree in transportation management in 2004.

Paid for documents 

Liao also testified that she met a man, identified as Mr. M in the ruling, at Canada Hunan Fellow Association “Blue Sky Club” business networking meetings in 2002. Mr. M purported to be an agent for multiple universities and president of an association that helped foreign students apply to schools and convert their certificates. Liao said he convinced her that he could match her Chinese degree with a Canadian equivalent, but she does not remember how much she paid to receive the documents in 2005.

Hong Wei (Winnie) Liao with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Respon)

“She testified that she did not believe that she had an MBA from York University, and acknowledged that this would have been impossible as she did not attend or study at York,” said the ruling. “She specified that, at the time she received the York documents, she did not even know what the MBA program was.”

Liao has frequently sponsored Metro Vancouver events with cultural and business associations affiliated with the People’s Republic of China consulate. The Respon corporate video shown at banquets features clips of Liao and various politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Elections Canada database shows North York, Ont.-resident Liao has donated more than $28,000 to the Liberal Party, including $1,000 to Trudeau’s Papineau riding association in 2014.

One of Liao’s other entities, Botrich Famliy Wealth Heritage Development Center, announced in April via PR Newswire that she received the King Charles III Coronation Medal from Liberal MP Shaun Chen (Scarborough North).

Separately, in May, Ontario Superior Court forced Liao to forfeit a $1 million surety after daughter Lucy Li was found to have broken bail conditions in 2023. Li and husband Oliver Karafa were convicted last year of the 2021 Hamilton first degree murder of Vancouver drug dealer Tyler Pratt, who invested in Karafa’s personal protective equipment enterprise.

 

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Bob Mackin British Columbia’s insurance industry regulator cancelled

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theBreaker.news and theBreaker.news Podcast: your source for news, opinion and analysis about British Columbia issues, institutions and influencers.

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