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Bob Mackin 

The agency that keeps track of land in British Columbia quietly made it harder to access information about who owns real estate in the province. 

In a July 9 news release — ironically headlined “LTSA Releases Enhancements for myLTSA Service” — the B.C. Land Title and Survey Authority announced title search previews no longer show full names of persons or corporations for free. Instead, only the first two letters of a last name and first initial or the first two letters of a company name are visible under the “first owner name on title” column. 

“It came to my attention a few weeks ago now that that particular function wasn’t being used as much or was being increasingly used for reasons other than confirming buying the right title,” Craig Johnston, LTSA’s Director of Land Titles, said in an interview. “We want to still maintain a balance so customers don’t guess what title they’re buying.”

Craig Johnston (LTSA)

Hence, the abbreviations.

The fee per search is $9.45 plus a minimum $1.50 fee per transaction on the myLTSA website, plus sales taxes. The transaction fee is not charged for in-person searches at an LTSA office, such as Sixth and Cunningham in New Westminster. In some jurisdictions in the United States, such as Whatcom County in Washington and Maricopa County in Arizona, there is no charge to search property databases that contain the names of owners.

Since electronic access was introduced a couple of decades ago, the first name on title was visible without charge, to keep customers from guessing wrong and then asking for refunds. Johnston said the decision to hide the full names was his, under his duty to interpret the Land Title Act, without input by the board or the government. 

“The intent under the statute is if you need that part of the title, you should buy it. Otherwise there would be a provision under the act where you could get the owner name for free,” he said.

B.C. Assessment Authority doesn’t offer free access to land owner names on its website, but its database is free to search at one of its offices. That, however, requires a trip during business hours Monday to Friday to a place like 2925 Virtual Way in Vancouver. 

Mike Larsen, the president of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, criticized LTSA for “nickel and diming” and making the process “a little bit more difficult, a little bit more opaque.” The first owner name on title was available for free for so long and useful for journalists making initial inquiries for research, he said..

“I’m always frustrated when things that are previously available become closed off to access to information,” said Larsen. “There seems to be a bureaucratic capacity issue: we can do this, we have the authority, and so we’d like to.”

In 2004, Premier Gordon Campbell announced LTSA would assume the provincial land title and survey system as an “independent, not-for-profit authority.” It regulates and operates the land title and survey systems for the province, which appoints two of the 11 board members. 

It now costs to see the first owner name on title for a prominent $78.8 million Point Grey mansion. (LTSA)

LTSA reported $8.58 million net income on $43.01 million revenue for the year ended March 31, 2018. A third of its revenue was from information products and 16% from fees for electronic processing of transactions through the myLTSA electronic portal. The company is forecasting a nearly 10% drop in revenue for 2019 to $38.7 million, based on increased salaries and benefits for new technical and business development staff and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s forecast of an 8.6% decrease in unit sales.

The NDP government is working on a beneficial ownership registry. It published a white paper in June about the proposed Land Ownership Transparency Act and is seeking public feedback through Aug. 19. 

BC FIPA’s Mike Larsen.

Corporations, trustees and partners will be required to report the beneficial owners of properties. The measure is aimed at cracking down on tax evasion, fraud and money laundering via nominees and numbered companies. LTSA would be the operator of the registry, but the fees have not been determined. The government, taxing authority, police force, financial sector regulator and a prescribed person or entity would be excused from paying fees. The latter class has not been defined.

Neither finance minister Carole James nor attorney general David Eby responded to theBreaker. But Sonja Zoeller in the finance communications office sent a prepared statement. 

“The proposed registry would include public access to the name, nationality and city or country of residence of beneficial owners. This information will end hidden ownership and help tackle tax evasion in real estate. One of the purposes of the public consultation is to look at the appropriate application of fees and we’re looking forward to feedback on that question as part of the consultation process.”

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Bob Mackin  The agency that keeps track of

News, Opinion

Vancouver will have a new mayor in a dozen weeks, but the race is still wide open.

As ResearchCo pollster Mario Canseco tells Bob Mackin on this week’s edition of theBreaker.news Podcast, “We still have a lot of confusion, the number one candidate continues to be ‘I don’t know’.” 

Canseco’s latest poll does show that Kennedy Stewart, the independent NDP MP from Burnaby (25%), is neck-and-neck among decided voters with Ken Sim of the NPA (26%). This, from a poll of 400 Vancouver residents July 13-16. 

Vision Vancouver’s Ian Campbell, the North Vancouver import, has 20% support. But he does not have the Vancouver and District Labour Council endorsement, which went to Stewart. A shocking development, after VDLC backed Mayor Gregor Robertson in 2014. Meanwhile, Patrick Condon of COPE left the race for health reasons. 

Of respondents, 35% said they were undecided and a whopping 63% say they don’t have enough information on candidates and parties. Listen to the full interview for more of Canseco’s analysis. 

Also: commentaries and headlines from around the Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest.

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Vancouver will have a new mayor in

Business, News

Bob Mackin

When TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond finally released the new, inflated costs for the Broadway subway and Surrey-Newton-Guildford light rail projects at the end of April, he refused to reveal the latest estimate for the delayed Surrey-Langley line.  

Even though Desmond and his team at TransLink’s Sapperton headquarters had in their possession a July 2017 report by veteran SkyTrain cost estimator Anthony Steadman. 

“At this time we haven’t done any business case, so like with these other projects until we really have a very detailed business case, it’s a number, it’s a ballpark figure,” Desmond said on April 30 when theBreaker pressed for the numbers. “We have to do a considerable amount of additional work, so there is a number back there but it’s not what I would consider particularly accurate.”

Sany Zein (left) and Kevin Desmond on April 30, when they refused to disclose the new Surrey-Langley cost estimates. (Mackin)

TransLink changed its tune this week and released a report to theBreaker under the freedom of information law that includes separate estimates for an LRT line and SkyTrain line to connect Surrey and Langley. 

Steadman estimated the cost of an LRT project beginning work in 2022 would be $1,949,248,444 — $700 million more than the $1.22 billion figure put in front of voters before they rejected funding TransLink’s expansion in the 2015 plebiscite.

If the project goes ahead in 2022 with SkyTrain technology, it would be another billion at $2,914,798,721.

The LRT scenario contemplates 13.264 km of in-street guideway and 2.967 km of elevated guideway, using 19 articulated low floor LRT vehicles, each 40 metres long with a capacity for 250 passengers. The report identifies nine stations at King George, 140th St., .152nd St., 160th St., 166th St., 68th Ave., 64th Ave., 192nd St. (Willowbrook Exchange) and Langley Terminus. 

A long list of 15 costs are excluded from the LRT scenario, such as: financing costs beyond the construction period; re-routing of existing transit services, either temporarily or permanently; street works beyond the transit routes; physical barriers at LRT street crossings; park and ride facilities; bus loops (other than street facilities at Willowbrook Mall and the Langley Terminus); work to the existing Serpentine River Bridge; operating costs; and GST.

A SkyTrain line from King George Station to Langley Centre would have eight elevated stations and a 15.737 km guideway. The report said it would require 55 vehicles, equivalent to fourth generation SkyTrain vehicles slated for the Expo and Millennium lines. 

On April 30, Desmond and vice-president Sany Zein unveiled new cost estimates for the Broadway subway and Surrey-Newtown-Guildford LRT. They are now $2.83 billion and $1.65 billion, respectively — up from the 2015 estimates of $1.98 billion and $920 million. Desmond and Zein cited the rising costs of real estate, labour, materials and equipment for the huge increases. 

For more than two years, theBreaker had sought the cost estimate updates, yet TransLink and the provincial government consistently denied FOI requests or censored the costs from documents that were released. Likewise, none of the officials would comment, even though the TransLink Mayors’ Council had been briefed on the numbers behind closed doors.

On June 28, the Mayors’ Council and TransLink board of directors approved a plan to build the Broadway and Surrey-Newton-Guildford projects. TransLink has $2.01 billion in federal commitments and $2.55 billion from Victoria. The remaining $2.71 billion for phase two of TransLink expansion is coming from fare increases and higher taxes on property, fuel, parking and condo development.

All of this, after the NDP government stepped-in and took over the $1.3 billion Pattullo Bridge replacement project from TransLink. 

It is par for the course, according to the research of a prominent academic.

Bent Flyvberg, a business professor at Oxford University, has analyzed megaprojects around the world. “Overruns up to 50% in real terms are common, and over 50% overruns are not uncommon,” his research has found. 

In his Iron Law of Megaprojects, Flyvberg says they are “over budget, over time, under benefits, over and over again.”

Why? Because architects want visually pleasing products and engineers are excited by building the longest-fastest-tallest. Politicians have a tendency to want monuments that benefit themselves and their cause. Business people and trade unions want revenue and jobs.

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Surrey-Langley LRT FOI Release 2018-282.pdf by BobMackin on Scribd

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Bob Mackin When TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond finally

Business, News

Bob Mackin 

The British Columbia government’s Consumer Protection B.C. office accepts complaints about taxis, which are forwarded to the Passenger Transportation Branch (PTB) for investigation. The Taxi Bill of Rights states that taxi drivers are supposed to obey all laws and protect any passenger’s health or safety. 

But incident reports obtained by theBreaker show that taxi passengers who complained about dangerous driving and sexual harassment late last year and early this year got little, if any, justice. 

There were no penalties assessed by the PTB for such complaints handled during the first quarter of 2018 because the office deemed the complaints about dangerous driving and passenger safety beyond its scope and jurisdiction. The documents, released under the freedom of information law, show that the office tended to refer complaints to taxi companies for explanation or to deal in-house discipline.  

In one case, a passenger who complained about a dangerous MacLure’s driver on Dec. 17, 2017 was “educated” by PTB about a loophole in the Motor Vehicle Act Regulations. Taxi drivers traveling under 70 kilometres per hour are allowed by law to drive without wearing a seatbelt. 

Yellow Cab arriving at the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver (Mackin)

“The seat belt was latched and he was sitting on it to prevent it from beeping,” said the complaint. “The taxi driver repeatedly picked up his cell phone and scrolled through it. It was only when I demanded that he put away his cell phone that he did. Distracted driving in the rain is unacceptable. The driver repeatedly ignored the warning system installed on his vehicle to alert when he was following too closely. The taxi driver did not help me with my bags upon arrival at the airport, probably because I asked him to put his phone away.”

A contrite statement from the driver claimed he had been driving under 70 km-h and was using his phone hands free, but would be “more cautious to provide better customer service.”

The fine for not wearing a seatbelt is normally $167; it is $386 for emailing or texting while driving. ICBC calls seatbelts the “single most effective protective device in your vehicle” and its website says that at just 55 km-h, a person not wearing a seatbelt in a crash has the same experience as falling from a three-storey building. 

A passenger complained that a Vancouver Taxi driver was “like a maniac with aggressive speeding” during a Nov. 13 trip from Parq casino. The driver was allegedly crossing lines and driving in the centre of the road. “[The driver] went off on a tangent about Europeans and their treatment of immigrants to Canada.” 

The passenger demanded to be dropped-off four kilometres before the destination, but PTB determined there was no violation of its rules and regulations.  

A passenger complained about a Jan. 14 afternoon ride in a Yellow Cab on Knight Street and Clark Drive, between 10th and 20th avenues. 

“The taxi driver was driving within two metres of cars’ bumpers and erratically weaving in and out of lanes. The taxi driver was honking from time to time at different drivers. The taxi driver cut off a large cement truck, then sharply cut in front of me ,with approximately half a car length of space available. I had to slam on my brakes and swerve to avoid crashing into the taxi’s left rear door. I almost hit the median at 15th Ave. We were all traveling just over 60 km-h.” 

Another complaint about so-called driving ability from Jan. 26 was lodged by a passenger of a Yellow Cab at the intersection of Bute and Hastings. “Rather than waiting for the car ahead to turn, the taxi swerved into the oncoming traffic lane and went through the intersection,” said the complaint.

The notes say that Yellow Cab general manager Carolyn Bauer would “review with the driver,” but the allegation was determined not to violate PTB rules and regulations. 

A pedestrian crossing a street complained about a Jan. 24 incident, alleging that a pet dog was nearly run over by a Yellow Cab.

“I looked at him and said “what the hell?” He gave me the middle finger.” 

The notes say that Bauer “reminded him of road safety and the image of Yellow Cab.” 

A passenger of a Delta Sunshine Taxi on Dec. 14 complained about improper route and sexual harassment during a trip from Surrey to the Villa Grand Casino in Burnaby. 

“I was unfamiliar with his chosen route and [the taxi driver] began asking me how much I liked to have sex, and began telling me that he liked to have sex four or five times a day,” the complaint said. “I felt unsafe and vulnerable and I am honestly not sure I could take another taxi alone.” 

The complaint was substantiated, a refund given and the driver disciplined by the company. The company agreed to refund the fare and suspend the driver for seven days.

Another similar incident happened a month later, on Jan. 14, involving Black Top Cabs, at 4 a.m. 

The driver allegedly pulled over without the taxi light on to pick up a woman who had been waiting for a cab. “He started driving and said he picked me up because I was pretty,” read the complaint. “He proceeded to ask if I would like to get food (I believe he expected me to be drunk and easily persuaded) and continued making comments about my appearance. I remained polite, declined and asked to be taken [censored].” 

The driver allegedly later said “he would like to come sleep at my apartment, and I said no can I please pay. He said I did not have to pay full price, I tipped so I paid the full amount and quickly got out of the taxi.” 

The company told PTB that it had suspended the driver until he was back and available for questioning. 

Thin ice

A spectator who attended the National Figure Skating Championships complained about hundreds of spectators being stranded without taxi service at the University of B.C.’s Thunderbird Arena during the Jan. 8-14 meet. 

The complainant said taxi company dispatchers told spectators that “all of the cabs in the city were being sent to the stadium.” But, on Jan. 12, only five cabs came within a span of 90 minutes. Many of the spectators were visitors from Ontario and Quebec staying downtown. “Hundreds were left stranded in the pouring rain during this time.”  

“Public transportation is a limited option to people with mobility issues and senior citizens who do not know the city and are accustomed to reliable taxi service,” the complaint said. “Definitely a black mark on the city and worth serious consideration for any future events that attract national and international attendance.”

The PTB considered the complaint “unsubstantiated” and took no action. 

Trevena (left) and Horgan tout toll free B.C., but not free information in B.C. (BC Gov)

In one case, a passenger used the Yellow Cabs’ app on Nov. 21 to reserve a drive to Vancouver International Airport the next morning. The driver mistakenly showed up 15 minutes after the reservation was made.

“I tried to explain to him that I reserved the cab for the following morning. He yelled at me saying I’m stupid and should learn to use the technology. I said your company should learn how to create a proper app and train their staff about customer service.” 

The person deleted the Yellow Cab app, and called Black Top instead. 

“The province should not be protecting this inferior public service,” the complaint said. “It’s like protecting the coal industry. It makes no sense.” 

PTB did not investigate, but referred the complaint to Yellow Cabs, and said it may request the outcome of the investigation. 

At a July 19 news conference, Transportation Minister Claire Trevena said a bill is in the works for the fall sitting of the Legislature to include “consumer safety and enforcement.” 

B.C. is the last major jurisdiction in North America where ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft are not permitted. Those services could finally arrive in fall 2019. In the meantime, the B.C. government said the taxi cartel would be in-line for another 500 licences, 300 of which are earmarked for the Lower Mainland. 

  • Have you had a bad experience in a British Columbia taxi and your complaint isn’t being taken seriously by the government or a certain taxi company? Contact theBreaker. 

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TRA 2018 82576 PTB Complaints by BobMackin on Scribd

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Bob Mackin  The British Columbia government's Consumer Protection

Business, News

Bob Mackin

The road outside a Quadra Island house owned by the NDP minister of transportation and infrastructure is getting a fresh coat of blacktop next month.  

Claire Trevena’s ministry published an invitation to tender for 32.6 lane kilometres of asphalt resurfacing, on Heriot Bay Road between West Road and Animal Farm Road. West Road leads to the terminal for the Quadra Island to Cortes Island ferry. Deadline for bids is July 24. 

Quadra Island’s transportation minister Claire Trevena (left) with Premier John Horgan and Melanie Mark (BC Gov)

The tender document also includes pulverizing and seal coating on Cape Mudge Road, Cedar Drive, Spruce Place, Alder Place, Arbutus Road, Hope Spring Road and Thompson Road. 

Third-term North Island NDP MLA Trevena’s public disclosure statement, filed last November, indicates that her assets include Quadra Island and Victoria residential properties. It shows the address for an investment property on Heriot Bay Road. The nearly half-acre property near Drew Harbour was assessed at $296,000 in 2017 and contains a four-bedroom, one-bathroom house. 

Trevena did not respond to theBreaker’s request for an interview. 

The upgrades to the road that Trevena plies to and from the ferry dock on Quadra Island are small potatoes compared to some of B.C.’s biggest transportation projects, like the Social Credit Party’s Coquihalla Highway, NDP’s Millennium Line and Island Highway, the BC Liberals’ Port Mann Bridge and South Fraser Perimeter Road and the NDP’s decision to end tolls on the Port Mann, cancel the Massey Tunnel replacement and build a new Pattullo Bridge. Decisions about those major projects were strategically skewed to government-held ridings and swing ridings. 

But Dermod Travis of IntegrityBC said that a minister in 2018 should want to be above suspicion when it comes to what is and what is not getting paved in the province.

“I would hope the ministry of transportation has, in fact, created a list of priorities of road paving projects across the province based on need, rather than the party holding the seat or the minister’s direction. Because it is a fundamental issue that goes to public safety as the priority,” Travis said. 

Quadra Island has a year-round population of approximately 2,700 and is a 10-minute ferry ride from Campbell River. Trevena has won more than 11,000 votes in each election since 2009, but fell below 50% support in 2017.

Quadra Island’s Heriot Bay (QuadraIsland.com)

In a July 2017 Vancouver Sun interview, the former BBC and CBC journalist was asked about her position on so-called blacktop politics. 

“My view on construction and road construction is making sure that we have a safe highway system that works for everyone in the province. There are vast areas of the province that need a lot of work,” Trevena said. “I think that infrastructure should not be political. I think it is the fabric of our province, it’s what keeps our province together.”

Trevena’s representatives sent a prepared statement, saying that the project was approved in early June for safety and to extend the life of the road. 

“The project includes crack sealing and seal coating approximately 24.5 km of asphalt along Hope Springs Road, Thompson Road, Heriot Bay Road, Cape Mudge Road, Sutil Road, Cedar Drive, Alder Road, Arbutus Road and Spruce Place,” said the statement. “Crews will also overlay approximately 7.6 km of pavement along Heriot Bay Road. Ministry staff have had ongoing discussions about the project with local stakeholders and residents.”

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Bob Mackin The road outside a Quadra Island

News

Bob Mackin

A memo from city manager Sadhu Johnston announces that the general manager of Vancouver’s real estate and facilities department is moving to one of the city’s most powerful development companies. 

Bill Aujla is quitting at the end of August to become vice-president of real estate at Aquilini Investment Group, which owns Rogers Arena and is a partner with the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh first nations in several projects to redevelop public land. Aujla will finish work in time for his Aug. 13 vacation, according to the memo. 

Bill Aujla (City of Vancouver)

Recruitment begins immediately, but director of strategic operations planning Lisa Prescott will be Aujla’s interim replacement. Prescott was formerly the manager of recreation at the Park Board. Gil Kelley, the general manager of planning, will take over community amenity negotiations. 

“Bill leaves his department in a very strong position for the future and we sincerely thank him for his contribution and leadership during his tenure as GM,” Johnston’s memo said. “We’ll all really miss Bill and we wish him a successful future as he progresses his career.”

Aujla, who was paid more than $296,000 last year, oversaw the controversial Olympic Village and led negotiations for the city to buy the Arbutus Corridor from the Canadian Pacific Railway.  

Aujla is the second top official from City of Vancouver to join the family-owned company that runs the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena. In 2015, Vancouver Police Department chief Jim Chu retired and joined Aquilini as the vice-president of special projects and partnerships. Chu was appointed to the TransLink board of directors. 

Dermod Travis of IntegrityBC said Aujla’s departure is yet another reason why there should be a mandatory two-year cooling-off period for bureaucrats leaving a government job, to discourage moving so easily from the regulator to the regulated.

“It certainly adds to public cynicism prior to the election about the close relationship between city hall and property developers,” Travis said. “It’s why cooling-off periods were created for senior employees. We shouldn’t have a revolving door.”

Aquilini was a major donor to Vision Vancouver and, in 2014, bought the 67 unsold condos in the two waterfront towers at the Olympic Village for $91 million. 

Last year, Vision Vancouver operations director Duncan Wlodarczak left city hall’s ruling party to become chief of staff for developer Onni. The party’s former executive director, Stepan Vdovine, is the director of business development for Amacon. Former deputy city manager Brent MacGregor retired and became a consultant for B.C. Pavilion Corporation, to help develop what became the Parq Casino, which opened last year.

More to come…

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Bob Mackin A memo from city manager Sadhu

News

Bob Mackin

Rich Coleman’s bid for the mayoralty of Surrey has finished before it really began. 

A source told theBreaker that the ex-Deputy Premier’s campaign team disbanded July 16. Coleman had been chomping at the bit to throw his hat in the ring for the Oct. 20 vote, but the clouds of negative headlines from the casino money laundering scandal weren’t going away.

The longtime Langley MLA became the most-powerful man in the BC Liberals when Christy Clark succeeded Gordon Campbell in 2011. Opposition life was not as glamorous, so he was looking for new challenges since the NDP was sworn-in on July 18, 2017. 

Coleman (Mackin)

A source described the latest round of polling as “dismal.” Senior BC Liberals told Coleman he had too much baggage and ought not make it worse for himself and the party by running for the the top job in B.C.’s second-biggest city. 

Coleman has been the target of widespread criticism since the June 27 release of Peter German’s report on money laundering in B.C. casinos. It only intensified with last week’s sensational interview that retired RCMP officer Fred Pinnock gave to Global TV. 

Jordan Bateman, who was acting as an advisor to Coleman, denied that polling was a factor and said that feedback remained positive.

“It was still his race to lose,” Bateman said. “The Peter German stuff had not diminished his lead. He was weighing out whether he had the energy to go through another messy race in Surrey.”

Bateman said 63-year-old Coleman is remaining an MLA, but pondering his future as a politician. “He’s kinda coming to the point of view that he might be finishing up his career in politics, we’ll wait and see. His family wanted him around more, and decided to take a pass on Surrey.” (Bateman, a former Langley Township councillor, also denied he is pondering a run for office.)

Pinnock, who is romantically linked to the 2017-defeated North Vancouver BC Liberal Naomi Yamamoto, had spoken at length with Sean Holman after Coleman disbanded the Integrated Illegal Gaming Enforcement Team in 2009. 

The squad that Pinnock commanded warned that organized crime had infiltrated B.C. casinos. Coleman, the solicitor general and minister in charge of gambling promotion and regulation, pulled the plug anyway. 

Pinnock told reporter John Hua “fault lies at the feet of the BC Liberals while they were in government and senior management of the RCMP in this province.” 

Coleman’s team included his longtime associate, lobbyist Patrick Kinsella. Kinsella was the mastermind behind Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark campaigns who, more recently, became a key advisor to outgoing Surrey First Mayor Linda Hepner. A source told theBreaker that Kinsella has also been involved in Surrey First Coun. Tom Gill’s mayoral campaign. 

That wouldn’t be the first time that Kinsella worked both sides of the street. Evidence emerged from the B.C. Supreme Court trial of ex-BC Liberal aides Dave Basi and Bob Virk that Kinsella had been working for both BC Rail and its eventual buyer, CN Rail. 

Meanwhile, more drama in Surrey.

Coun. Barb Steele became the second incumbent to quit Surrey First. She will run for an eighth term alongside Coun. Bruce Hayne. Hayne quit the ruling party in June, citing integrity issues. 

“I joined Surrey First because I believed in the work, the values and the vision of my friend and colleague Dianne Watts,” Steele said in a prepared statement. “This is no longer the party that represents the ideals we began with, and in good conscience I can’t be part of it.”

And, if that is not enough, Doug McCallum wants to make a comeback as mayor.

McCallum was mayor from 1996 to 2005. He lost in 2014 by 20,000 votes to Watts’s succcessor, Hepner. 

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Bob Mackin Rich Coleman’s bid for the mayoralty

Miscellany, News, Opinion

The Khatsahlano Street Party, Vancouver’s largest annual free music festival, took over 10 blocks on West 4th Avenue for 10 hours on July 7. 

Music and food of all sorts. Shopkeepers selling their wares. One of them, Grant McDonagh, is proprietor of the legendary Zulu Records and the curator of the live music program at the promotion for the Kitsilano West 4th Avenue Business Association.

Zulu is billed as a “record store and community centre, since 1981.” While the big chains have come and gone, fiercely independent Zulu has remained. In a feature interview, McDonagh tells host Bob Mackin about adapting to the changing city and its changing business environment. What never changes, however, is the love of good music and the creative, entrepreneurial spirit on West 4th. 

Listen to highlights of the Khatsahlano Street Party, featuring Malcolm Jack, Jasper Sloan Yip and Slow, which played its biggest local show since its epic Expo 86 implosion. 

Also: commentaries and headlines from around the Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest.

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The Khatsahlano Street Party, Vancouver's largest annual

Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin

The head of an Aquilini-backed company that wants to build a pipeline across Northern British Columbia was shocked when theBreaker delivered the news to him, that he had lost almost a million Twitter followers. 

Calvin Helin, the Tsimshian first nation lawyer and author who chairs Eagle Spirit Energy, boasted 1.7 million followers last November. That made him one of the most-followed people in Canada who is not a federal politician, athlete or entertainer. 

On July 11, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced on his feed that: “This week we’ll be removing locked Twitter accounts (locked when we detect suspicious changes in behavior) from follower counts across profiles globally. The number of followers displayed on many profiles may go down.”

Approximately 70 million fake accounts have been purged so far.

In January, the New York Times exposed how so-called social media influencers were buying followers in bulk. The proliferation of fake accounts is severely hampering Twitter’s attempts to sell advertising to major clients.

A Financial Post story last November described Helin as an “indigenous thought leader with 1.7 million Twitter followers.” On Friday, theBreaker noticed that Helin had lost more than half of his followers, to 797,673. Helin initially disputed the number, saying that he had 1.64 million when he checked earlier in the day. 

By comparison, Donald Trump lost 340,000 followers in the purge. Others affected include Justin Bieber (2.7 million), Oprah Winfrey (1.4 million) and Twitter (7.7 million).

“I’ve had this for a long time (since April 2010), I have a verified account,” Helin said in a phone interview. “I’ve been writing books for a long, long time and involved in social media for a long time and I follow lots of people and I just assumed lots of people were following me, I get lots of followers all the time.”

Asked if he had ever bought followers, to reach the 1.7 million level last year, Helin said no. 

“I don’t know if my account could be hacked or why that would happen,” he said. “Don’t know anything about it.” 

theBreaker also asked whether Helin had anyone manage his account for him. “I can’t remember, I just use it as a tool. I don’t pay any attention to it otherwise.” 

Eagle Spirit Energy is working on an application to build a $16 billion medium crude oil pipeline from Bruderheim, Alta. to Grassy Point in Northern B.C. or Hyder, Alaska for export. 

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Bob Mackin The head of an Aquilini-backed company

News

Bob Mackin

The revolving door swings again at beleaguered BC Liberal Party headquarters. 

The opposition party has its fourth executive director in less than 13 months after Katy Merrifield’s departure. 

A stunning move. Merrifield was on the job only five months after managing the victorious leadership campaign of Andrew Wilkinson over presumed frontrunner Dianne Watts. Merrifield did not respond for comment on July 10. Neither did party spokeswoman Meghan Pritchard. Wilkinson confirmed the departure on July 11, calling it a resignation.

Sources tell theBreaker that was not so. The party’s sluggish fundraising in the post-big money era was a major issue and Wilkinson was not a happy camper.

Clockwise, from upper left: Miller, Scheffel, Chalmers and Merrifield (Twitter/Facebook)

Fundraising efforts have been focused around the anti-David Eby campaign on Vancouver’s Westside and West Vancouver, along with the anti-proportional representation campaign across the province.

The party website lists four events this summer, ranging from $25 Wilkinson appearances in Quesnel and Coquitlam to a $160 John Yap dinner at a Richmond Chinese restaurant. It won’t get any easier, because candidates for the Oct. 20 municipal elections are out with cap-in-hand. One of them could be Rich Coleman, who may run for mayor of Surrey.

The party is still without a membership chair after the sudden resignation of former Burns Lake Mayor Luke Strimbold, who was charged in March with sexual assault. 

Merrifield, who spent 18 months as Christy Clark’s communications director in 2016-2017, took over when Emile Scheffel ended his eight-month run as the replacement for Laura Miller. Scheffel joined Kinder Morgan pipeline contractor Kiewit as its communications manager for Western Canada. 

Miller ran the party’s heavily criticized, unsuccessful 2017 election campaign while she was facing breach of trust charges in Ontario. She was eventually acquitted in a case that saw her former boss in the Ontario Liberal government, David Livingston, jailed four months over the gas plants email purge and hard drive-deletion case. 

The party has no full-time replacement yet for Merrifield. Wilkinson’s deputy chief of staff, Jen Chalmers, will act as the interim executive director. 

Merrifield’s departure comes in a week when the party remains under fire for the casino money laundering scandal and a new report by the Auditor General on government surplus land sales, which focused on the bulk discount given party donor Wesbild for parcels on Burke Mountain in Coquitlam in 2014.

Under Wilkinson, the Liberals scored points late in the spring session of the Legislature when they revealed NDP ministers and mandarins were mass-deleting their email or using GMail. Heat from the opposition led to the NDP making amendments to its recreational property tax and payroll tax to replace MSP premiums. 

The BC Liberals lost power after 16 years when the NDP and Greens forced a post-election no confidence vote in June 2017. They reported $12.75 million in donations, but a whopping deficit of $7.36 million, to Elections BC for 2017.

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