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Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin

theBreaker played a bit part in changing political history in British Columbia. 

Plecas (centre) dragged by house leaders to the Speaker’s chair (Hansard TV)

How?

Well, BC Liberal Darryl Plecas’s surprise ascent to the Speaker’s throne in the B.C. Legislature on Sept. 8 may never have happened if not for two sources who told theBreaker what really went on behind the scenes at the pivotal BC Liberal caucus retreat in Penticton at the end of July. 

Ex-premier Christy Clark shocked the province and resigned as party leader on July 28, after pledging earlier that week that she was looking forward to being in opposition and holding the NDP’s feet to the fire. Rich Coleman became the interim leader and held a tearful news conference where he made that infamous slip of the tongue: “What she’s given to this province should never be forgiven… forgotten.” 

Clark waited until after the weekend to hold her farewell news conference in Vancouver, where she claimed nobody in caucus wanted her to leave. 

On Aug. 3, theBreaker published the story that debunked the last-known fib of Clark’s career: those two sources told theBreaker that Plecas stood up to Clark and had threatened to leave caucus if Clark’s leadership didn’t undergo a review. Not only had the Clark Clique adopted NDP and Green policies in the “clone speech,” not only had party insiders held a meeting to blame Clark for the election loss, but now there was genuine dissent. 

Evidently, they tried to make it appear that things were OK and found a role for Plecas in the fall sitting of the Legislature. When Coleman announced his shadow cabinet, Plecas was given the unenviable task of being the BC Hydro critic. 

Now, instead of defending BC Liberal mismanagement of the biggest Crown corporation, Plecas has a pay raise and a prestigious job better-suited for an academic who didn’t get into politics to play games. But that didn’t stop the Liberals from withholding applause for the new speaker. As is his character, the notorious bloviator and career politician Coleman labelled Plecas a traitor. 

After all the games and tricks played by the Liberals after the election — such as the June 22 clone speech and Clark’s failed June 29 bid to trigger a new election — the Legislature sorted itself out naturally. The 41 NDP and three Greens now outnumber the Liberals by three votes. That is likely to be reduced to two in the new year when Clark’s West Kelowna seat is reclaimed by Liberal Ben Stewart. But the feared deadlock needing tie-breaking votes from a “partisan” speaker won’t happen. 

Now, after all the dilly-dallying, the people paid good money to make laws and dole out contracts can get down to work and solve the province’s myriad problems. And there were many left by the previous BC Liberal government. 

More than 4.7 million British Columbians are waiting for you to make it better, NDP. No excuses. 

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Bob Mackin theBreaker played a bit part in

Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin

The good news is the candidate green-lit by Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Vision Vancouver party to run in the Oct. 14 by-election hasn’t had to go to court for running a red light. 

But the Sept. 6-unveiled city council hopeful Diego Andres Cardona was fined more than $1,000 for driving violations on four occasions since spring 2016. Cardona failed to appear for three traffic court hearings and faces another on Sept. 14 at Robson Square. Cardona said in an interview that he has learned from his mistakes. 

Cardona (left) and Robertson (Vision)

Cardona, who turns 22 in February, was scheduled Sept. 7 to dispute a $276 fine levied by Burnaby RCMP for not having a valid driver’s licence last Jan. 20. Neither Cardona nor the officer, who wrote the ticket for the Rumble Street and Gilley Avenue incident, were in courtroom 204 at Robson Square. The presiding judge treated Cardona’s non-attendance as if he was no longer disputing the charge, which means the fine stands and must be paid. 

On April 27, 2016, a Burnaby RCMP officer cited Cardona for driving at 1:20 a.m. — during the standard midnight-to-5 a.m. ban for new drivers — and without a qualified, licensed supervisor age 25 or older. The court file shows that Cardona also failed to appear for that Oct. 24, 2016 hearing. 

Cardona was charged July 28, 2016 with violating a restriction on a driver’s licence and failing as a new driver to display the letter L (for learner) decal on the exterior of his car. The fines are worth $109 each. According to the court file, Cardona failed to appear for the Aug. 18 hearing, after three defence-initiated adjournments. The ticket was also treated as not disputed. 

Cardona did not appear at Robson Square on Sept. 14 to fight another $109 fine for failing to display the learner L and a $253 fine for speeding past a playground sign near John Hendry Park on Sept. 17, 2016. The Vancouver Police officer who wrote the ticket alleges Cardona drove his black 2015 Chrysler 200 at a speed of 61 kilometres an hour in a 30 km-h zone. Cardona’s non-appearance was treated as not disputed.

A 2015 Chrysler 200, similar to Cardona’s (Chrysler)

Cardona was granted two adjournments on this case. His applications mention that he was to attend a professional development course paid by his employer at the University of Toronto March 15 to April 7 and that he took a leave of absence to remain in Toronto until July 17. 

Cardona told theBreaker on Sept. 7 that he has paid the fines, but was unable to recall when. theBreaker has asked Cardona to show proof of payment. So far, only one ICBC payment receipt has been shown to theBreaker: a Sept. 1 payment for the $253 speeding in a playground zone ticket. He said that none of the infractions was the “result of me putting the lives of anybody in danger.”

“I really do hope that people are not distracted by mistakes that were made, that were owned and acted on,” Cardona said in an interview. “That’s the idea and I’m not ashamed to share the fact that I did not have financial resources to address these challenges when they did come up.”

Cardona was chosen behind-closed-doors by the Vision Vancouver board, rather than via an open vote by party membership, to contest the seat vacated by Vision Coun. Geoff Meggs. Meggs quit to become Premier John Horgan’s $195,000-a-year chief of staff. 

Vancouver city councillors are paid $85,000-a-year, plus expenses. Vision holds six of the 11 council seats, with the NPA at three and Greens at one.

The deadline for nominations to run in the Oct. 14 vote is 4 p.m. Sept. 8. The next general election is Oct. 20, 2018.  

Cardona’s bio — issued by the party that has put the bicycle ahead of the car in city planning — says the Killarney-area resident is a spokesperson for the Vancouver Foundation’s Fresh Voices program and works as programs coordinator for Kiwassa Neighbourhood House. His statement of disclosure, filed with the city clerk’s office for the by-election, says that Cardona is also a contractor at both Oxygen Yoga and Fitness and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, facts omitted from the Vision Vancouver announcement of his candidacy.

The native of Colombia came to Canada as a refugee in 2005 says he cares for his sister as well as his grandmother, who is back in Colombia. 

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Bob Mackin The good news is the candidate

Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin

“Let’s all go to the lobby, to get ourselves a treat.”

The old movie theatre intermission announcement could just as easily apply to the corridors of government in British Columbia. It is no secret about how politicians and their staff have figured out how to treat themselves by parlaying their time in public office into personal profit. 

NDP Attorney General David Eby pledges that is about to change, with new laws to be introduced after the Legislature resumes on Sept. 8.

“We want this bill to be able to achieve what the public wants and what we think the majority of the legislature wants, which is restrictions around peiople using inside knowledge gained from their public employment to profit from it privately,” Eby told theBreaker.

In part one of this two-part series, theBreaker detailed some of the BC Liberals who cashed-in. Now, in part two, a look at those NDP insiders who are replacing those Liberals who were access brokers over the last decade-and-a-half. 

Who’s in
  • Brad Lavigne has seven contracts on the go through Toronto-based Counsel Public Affairs Inc. 

Lavigne

Late federal NDP opposition leader Jack Layton’s campaign manager and communications director previously worked in the B.C. NDP government from 1998 to 2001 as an aide in the office of the premier and chief of staff to the finance minister. He cut his teeth in campus politics as chair of the Canadian Federation of Students.

Lavigne’s B.C. clients, so far, are in the business of pills, piles, cash, cars, apps and pot: GlaxoSmithKline Inc., B.C. Real Estate Association, Parkbridge Lifestyle Communities, Totem Capital Corp., Toyota Canada Inc., Carrot Insights and Eden Medicinal Society. 

Carrot’s registration says it has received $2.5 million from B.C. taxpayers and it wants more for its healthy living promotion and consumer loyalty app. Lavigne is an executive advisor for Carrot, along with Rogers CEO Joe Natale. Carrot’s chair is Irfhan Rawji, a principal at one of Lavigne’s other clients, Totem. 

Parkbridge was Lavigne’s latest registration, on Sept. 1. Lavigne’s registration describes it as an owner, operator and developer of residential land lease communities, recreational resorts and marinas. But what makes it so intriguing is that the parent of the Calgary company is the B.C. Investment Management Corp., the giant $135.5 billion Crown pension fund. Lavigne is, essentially, being paid by a Crown corporation to lobby government. 

  • Michael Gardiner is a newly minted principal of Ascent Public Affairs with Kimanda Jarzebiak and Geoff Ingram, but also runs his own shop, MG Strategies. 

Gardiner

Gardiner was NDP provincial director for two years after managing Horgan’s leadership win. Back in 2000, he was advanced education minister Graeme Bowbrick’s assistant for six months. 

Gardiner is tied with Lavigne, with seven clients: Calgary-based oil and natural gas explorer Tourmaline Oil Corp., Rick Hansen Institute, LifeLabs, Genome B.C., B.C. Technology Association, mobile and Internet of things incubator Wavefront Accelerator and Uber competitor Lyft. UPDATE: On Sept. 18, Gardiner gained his eighth client registration, with Telus, the omnibus telecommunications provider to the government since 2011. 

Coming soon?
  • Former NDP and Vision Vancouver backroomer Marcella Munro made waves two summers ago when she moved to the other side of the Rockies to join the Rachel Notley NDP administration in Alberta. 

She was paid $130,000-a-year as stakeholder engagement and communications manager at Notley’s Calgary office. 

Munro was later transferred to the energy minister’s chief of staff, but is now out of the Notley crew and into KTG Public Affairs. That is the firm founded by Conservative Ken Boessenkool, NDPer Brian Topp and Liberal Don Guy. 

Guy announced Munro’s acquisition on his LinkedIn page, which also said Jamey Heath quit KTG to take a senior communications job in the Notley government and ex-federal NDP candiate Aileen Burke was joining his firm.

“Ken, Brian and I welcome Marcella Munro as senior strategist,” Guy wrote. “Marcella expands our reach with her terrific network in British Columbia and across the country, as well as our strategic communications planning and execution abilities.”

The former Earnscliffe lobbyist had 28 client registrations during her B.C. lobbying career, including Chevron, Canadian Beverage Association, McDonald’s, Spectra Energy, Glaxosmithkline, Cement Association of Canada, Alliance of Beverage Licensees of B.C. and B.C. Salmon Farmers Association.

“It was time for me to get back to the private sector,” Munro wrote to her followers. 

“I’ll be based in Calgary, but expect to be seeing a lot more of friends in B.C. and Ontario in my new role.”

Munro’s other claim to fame is her onetime, odd couple relationship with ex-NDPer Brad Zubyk, the Z in the BC Liberal-allied lobbying firm Wazuku. 

Out of the game, for now
  • In early August, Wazuku began adapting to the new reality of an NDP government in B.C. 

It hired Port Coquitlam city councillor Brad West, who was NDP MLA Mike Farnworth’s constituency assistant from 2008 to 2011 and an aide on his unsuccessful leadership campaign in 2014. 

By the end of August, however, the West recruitment announcement was gone from the Wazuku website and so was West’s photo. Wazuku’s Kim Haakstad, the company’s government affairs managing director, did not respond to theBreaker. West said by email that he is not employed by Wazuku, but continues to work as a staff representative for the United Steelworkers (the union that was the biggest financial backer of the NDP election campaign at more than $750,000.)

  • Moe Sihota, the controversial 1990s on-again, off-again NDP cabinet minister, signed-on with

    Sihota from the Canadian Strategy Group website.

    Edmonton-based Canadian Strategy Group in 2015 to help its clients navigate the Notley government. 

Sihota told theBreaker on Aug. 29 that he was no longer involved with CSG, despite being prominently featured on the CSG website. Sihota disappeared from the CSG website by the end of the day, after theBreaker contacted the firm. 

“He is correct,” said CSG co-founder Michael Lohner. “Our website is out of date. Moe worked as a counsel to the firm in Alberta as he indicated, but hasn’t been involved for many months.”

Sihota admitted his phone has been ringing since the NDP came to power on July 18 (with help of the Greens). 

“If I am going to be lobbying, I’ll register,” Sihota said. “You get all sorts of calls from all sorts of people, but I’m not doing any of that work at this point, so there is no need to register.”

Sihota owns the Four Points by Sheraton Victoria Gateway in suburban Langford. He declined to comment on the NDP-cancelled bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which would have relied heavily on Langford venues. 

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Bob Mackin “Let’s all go to the

Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin

Four days after he became the ex-minister of energy and mines, BC Liberal Bill Bennett was suddenly a director of Eagle Plains Resources, a junior mining explorer. 

Terry Lake, the veterinarian who was health minister under Christy Clark, was gone from office for 80 days before he was announced as the vice-president of “social responsibility” for Hydropothecary Corp., a Quebec medical marijuana concern. 

Should there be a cooling-off period for cabinet ministers before they go to work in industries that they once regulated or sought to regulate? 

Attorney General Eby (Mackin)

There will be, if they want to communicate to influence their successors in cabinet or the bureaucrats they once managed.

Attorney General David Eby’s mandate letter from Premier John Horgan says he is expected to “make substantive process” on introducing legislation to reform lobbying in British Columbia.

Eby told theBreaker that the NDP government will do more than that, after the Legislature resumes on Sept. 8. 

“We’ll be introducing a bill that expands the scope of the existing lobbyist regulations in British Columbia, to expand the categories of people with inside knowledge through their work and using that knowledge to profit from their public job to profit from it privately,” Eby said. “The amendments are broadly similar to the federal amendments, to their lobbyist regulations.” 

In the pre-election sitting of the Legislature, the NDP introduced a bill to restrict publicly funded organizations from lobbying, legislate a two-year cooling-off period for public office holders, staff and advisors, and to review the law every five years. 

The majority Liberals quashed the bill. Then-Attorney General Suzanne Anton boasted in Question Period on March 9 that her party established the lobbyist registry in 2002 and updated it in 2009 to give the registrar power to conduct investigations. Yet, when she was registrar, Elizabeth Denham complained she did not have enough power and the law was riddled with loopholes. For instance, lobbyists must only report which department or cabinet minister they want to target. Unlike the federal law, they are not required to report whenever they met or communicated with politicians or officials.

In the June 22 throne speech, ridiculed as the “clone speech,” the Liberals pledged finally to “work with other parties to strengthen lobbyist legislation and regulations.” But that did not last — they were defeated June 29 by the NDP and Greens on a no-confidence vote.

Eby said “we’re not passing laws for the sake of passing laws.

“We want this bill to be able to achieve what the public wants and what we think the majority of the legislature wants, which is restrictions around peiople using inside knowledge gained from their public employment to profit from it privately.”

Bennett and Lake have not registered as lobbyists yet and they may never have to if the B.C. laws mimic federal laws. 

Stephen Harper’s federal Conservative administration enacted restrictions, but that gave birth to a new cottage industry for former Prime Ministers and cabinet ministers to be hired by law firms as “strategic advisors.” Since losing the 2015 federal election, Harper became one with the Calgary office of Dentons. The firm’s website says he provides “advice to clients on market access, managing global geopolitical and economic risk, and how to maximize value in global markets.”

Numerous BC Liberals and senior staff exploited the weak B.C. laws for their own interests. 

Dimitri Pantazopoulos was recruited from Ontario to work as Clark’s principal secretary in 2012 and acted as the BC Liberals pollster in the 2013 election. 

After the surprise Liberal win, Pantazopoulos quit to open a B.C. lobbying office for Maple Leaf Strategies in the same Canada Place building where Clark’s Vancouver office was. Pantazopoulos escaped the one-year cooling off period that exists only for senior bureaucrats, but not their political masters, because he did not intend to lobby the Intergovernmental Relations division of Clark’s office where he officially worked. Pantazopoulos eventually registered for 13 clients, including a consortium of B.C. daily and weekly newspapers, Adobe Systems, Johnson and Johnson, Uber and Liquor Stores N.A.

Patrick Kinsella (Conor Kinsella/Facebook)

Gabe Garfinkel left his job in Clark’s office in October 2013 to join FleishmanHillard. Within weeks, he registered for EDF EN Canada to lobby energy minister Bill Bennett.

Press secretary Samuel Oliphant quit Clark’s office in February 2016. Before the end of March 2016, he had registered for Toronto’s Think Research to help get a proposed app in front of Health Minister Terry Lake.

Less than a year after Doug Horne quit as a BC Liberal MLA and lost a bid for a seat in Parliament as a Conservative in 2015, he registered for Hollywood film studio Skydance Media.

PartnershipsBC chair Dana Hayden registered in early 2016 for Westbank Projects to lobby her former employer, B.C. Pavilion Corporation, to put land for sale next to B.C. Place Stadium’s east end. In mid-2016, Hayden was fined $800 by the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists for not properly disclosing that she had been a deputy minister in the B.C. government. 

The king of all lobbyists in B.C. is Patrick Kinsella, himself an import from Ontario who worked as Premier Bill Bennett’s right-hand man. Kinsella, 76, had a hand in the ascent to power of both Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark, and sold his many clients access to them both. 

On March 10, Elections B.C. referred its investigation into lobbyists making indirect and illegal donations to political parties (primarily the BC Liberals) to the RCMP. David Butcher was appointed special prosecutor. The investigation is ongoing.

  • In part two, tomorrow, theBreaker looks at the NDP insiders who are remaking the lobbying landscape in B.C.
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Bob Mackin Four days after he became the

Opinion

Bob Mackin

NPA hopeful Hector Bremner (left) was a Steelhead LNG lobbyist in 2016 when he hosted his ex-boss, LNG minister Rich Coleman (Twitter)

Instead of taking steps toward sweeping the clunky, vegetable-oiled machine that is Vision Vancouver out of office for good, the opposition NPA is paving the way for Gregor Robertson’s party to control 12th and Cambie into the fall of 2022. 

The liberal-conservative party with the monogrammed grape logo met Sept. 6 at the Italian Cultural Centre to nominate a candidate for the by-election caused when Vision Coun. Geoff Meggs skedaddled to a $195,000-a-year job as NDP Premier John Horgan’s chief of staff. 

Showing a lack of depth in its candidate-recruitment, only three people put their names on the NPA ballot: ex-School Board trustee Penny Noble, former Cedar Party leader Glen Chernen and Hector Bremner, a failed 2013 BC Liberal candidate from New Westminster. The race was Bremner’s to win, but not because of any policy magic. What was the final tally? The NPA did not announce it and nobody from the party responded to theBreaker’s query. 

Bremner assembled a team that can stack nomination votes and raise money faster and better than anyone in this race, and maybe even in the province. It is not known how much was in Bremner’s kitty, but his crew went on a membership spree in and around the Ross Street Sikh Temple. A typical strategy employed provincially and federally to much controversy.

Bremner is vice-president at veteran BC Liberal backroomer Norman Stowe’s Pace Group and has Mark Marissen and Mike Wilson in his backroom. Marissen is the ex-husband of ex-Premier Christy Clark and was on the inner-circle of the party’s disastrous 2017 campaign. Wilson is the former business partner of veteran BC Liberal and Vision message maker Don Millar at the FD Element advertising agency, which scored several no-bid contracts from Robertson’s office and set-up a pro-Vision blog called Civic Scene. 

Bremner parlayed his 2013 election loss into lucrative fart-catching gigs, first with International Trade Minister Teresa Wat until fall 2014, and then with Rich Coleman, the Deputy Premier, LNG and housing minister. Bremner signed-up in early February 2015 as a lobbyist for Steelhead LNG, the Vancouver Island natural gas play that includes Geoff Plant on its board and had startup help from a pre-BC Hydro Jessica McDonald. Oddly enough, Bremner’s LinkedIn profile shows that he continued working in Coleman’s office until December 2015. Bremner appears to have had one foot in Coleman’s office and the other in the Pace office until the end of December 2015. Yet his sole lobbying target was Finance Minister Mike de Jong. Bremner’s lobbying undertaking for Steelhead LNG ended in February of this year.

Somehow, Bremner failed to tell the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists about his jobs as executive assistant to cabinet ministers. Former public office holders, including political staffers like Bremner, are required to do so. theBreaker confirmed Aug. 29 with the ORL that deputy registrar Jay Fedorak took the first steps toward an investigation. It could end with a fine. 

The low-hanging fruit for Vision to retain the seat Meggs vacated, or for the Greens to win it, gets lower and juicier. Bremner’s wife, Virginia, was paid to answer Christy Clark’s office phone for six years. She organized a June 2016 event in New Westminster attended by Coleman. 

Anti-Clark Clique sentiment was alive on May 9 and it could play a key role on Oct. 14. 

In the 11 Vancouver ridings, the NDP outpolled the Liberals 134,241 to 87,470 in the popular vote on May 9 and knocked-off Attorney General Suzanne Anton, a former NPA city councillor, in Fraserview. The Greens had 34,357 votes. 

The NDP won eight of the 11 seats, but it could have been worse for the Liberals. Had all Green votes gone NDP in False Creek and Langara, it would have been a different story: Andrew Wilkinson in Quilchena would have been the only Liberal left in the province’s biggest city. 

The left is further fragmented entering this by-election — OneCity’s Judy Graves and the COPE-endorsed, Bernie Sanders-inspired Jean Swanson anti-poverty campaigns cancel each other out — and a by-election tends not to reward the ruling party. That may be why Vision is putting-up unknown Diego Cardona as less-than-formidable opposition to Green Pete Fry. Fry earned name recognition after finishing 19th in 2014’s council election with 46,522 votes and his party earned many votes provincially from disaffected Liberals who wanted an end to the Clark Clique.

After Bremner’s coronation, Fry can run his campaign on auto-pilot, by simply reminding voters at every turn of Bremner’s recent past and who is pulling his strings from the shadows. 

Meanwhile, former South Vancouver Conservative MP Wai Young is already planning a fundraiser Sept. 19 as she begins a quest for the NPA mayoral nomination next year. 

Vancouver has never had a female mayor, much less one born in Hong Kong. But Young, like Bremner, has baggage that may be too much to shake away in a centrist city like Vancouver. She served a term with the Stephen Harper Conservatives and was one of those turfed from office in the 2015 federal election. In her case, by Liberal Harjit Sajjan. 

An NPA loss in 2018 would mean 14 years without power at city hall. A Vision win in 2018 would mean 14 years in power at city hall.

Let that sink in for a moment.

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Bob Mackin [caption id="attachment_4898" align="alignright" width="451"] NPA hopeful

Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin

The PNE Fair is over for the 107th year and the attendance rebound continues. 

Organizers talled 722,466 through the gates at Hastings Park for the 15-day fair during the 17 days between Aug. 19 and Sept. 4 (it was closed the first two Mondays). 

That’s up from 712,637 in 2016 and 678,193 in 2015, the year of the Aug. 29 windstorm that left much of Metro Vancouver without power.

The Northern Light Sky drone show and Legends of Hockey exhibit were two of the main draws in 2017, away from the amphitheatre, where entertainment ranged from the B-52s to ZZ Top. 

There were no rainstorms this time. There was a mere trace of precipitation. Instead, record-breaking heat may have both a blessing and a curse.

The last Saturday of the 2017 fair drew 56,329 — nearly 20,000 fewer than 2016, when 75,461 came. 

Attendance fluctuated from a high of 64,439 on Aug. 29 to a low of 34,211 on Aug. 23, averaging 48,164 a day. That was slightly better than 2016’s average of 47,491. 

The fair is still a long way from its 2010 heyday, when 937,485 celebrated the centennial fair. 

Mark Aug. 18-Sept. 3 on your calendar for 2018’s fair dates.

Before that, Hastings Park will host a winter fair for the first time. Dec. 15-Jan. 21 is the inaugural Vancouver Chinese Lantern Festival. The PNE promises artisan lanterns, live performances, children’s activities and food trucks. 

 

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Bob Mackin The PNE Fair is over for

Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin

A New Era in British Columbia began June 5, 2001 when Gordon Campbell was sworn-in as the 34th premier after his BC Liberals swept the NDP out of power by winning 77 of 79 seats in the previous month’s election. 

When the pomp and circumstance ended, the 28-member executive council got down to business the next morning, witih a four-hour, closed door meeting in Victoria. 

theBreaker finally obtained minutes this week under freedom of information laws, which state that cabinet confidentiality no longer covers records that are 15 years or older. Staff in Christy Clark’s office delayed processing theBreaker’s Feb. 24 request to May 25 — beyond the election period. The documents evidently got lost in the transition to the new NDP government. The office of new premier John Horgan needed an August nudge from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. 

Five members of that 2001 cabinet won re-election on May 9: Shirley Bond, Rich Coleman, Mike de Jong, Linda Reid and Clark, who quit as BC Liberal leader and Kelowna MLA on Aug. 4. Coleman is the interim leader and de Jong is exploring another run at the job. 

During the first 100 days in office, the Campbell cabinet kiboshed photo radar, phased-in tax cuts, lifted the grizzly hunt moratorium, supported the 2010 Winter Olympics bid and went to work on new policies on climate change, log exports and labour relations with nurses and teachers. The ripple effects can still be felt more than 16 years later, after the Campbell-Clark dynasty ended July 18.

The first meeting included a briefing on conflict of interest guidelines from cabinet lawyer Sheila Gallagher. 

“Cabinet was also cautioned not to comment on matters before the courts,” the minutes state. “Cabinet was reminded that appointments to agencies, boards or commissions will be reviewed on the basis of merit.” 

All cabinet ministers were to receive media training. Communications head Andy Orr emphasized reading Today’s News (the government’s media clipping service), and to “take a deep breath and compose yourself after each meeting and before you meet the press; don’t talk and walk with press scrums; do stay locked on cameras while in scrums. 

“Ministers were encouraged to reply ‘I’ve got nothing new on that today,’ rather than creating a deadline or signalling a potential agenda item for cabinet. 

Ministers of state were advised to stay in close touch with ministers, while ministerial assistants would assist ministers to return calls from the press and ensure issues management coordination. 

At the second meeting, on June 14, minutes say the chief of staff (Martyn Brown) responded to a follow-up question about the conflict of interest commissioner. He asked to be “notified prior to any minister contacting the conflict of interest commissioner, in order to avoid adverse rulings.

“The premier reminded ministers that a campaign is still on and our job is to do what we said we were going to do. Ministers were encouraged to keep the premier informed through his office and his personal number. Ministers were asked to coordinate communications with each other — particularly with the ministers of state, the local MLAs and to ensure consistency with the New Era plan. Cabinet was encouraged to reduce the number of press releases and to consider alternative ways of communicating on web sites and in person. A monthly communications calendar will be available next week in order to facilitate the timing and coordination of announcements.”

At the June 20 meeting, cabinet was told that Government Caucus Committees were expected to be “critics, not cheerleaders” on fiscal, policy and legislative issues. (With only two members of the NDP opposition, Campbell had to create some level of internal scrutiny). A report was expected from the Public Affairs Bureau on government advertising; a subcommittee led by Campbell was examining all other non-statutory advertising. Before the election, the Liberals had vowed to end NDP advertising waste. 

On July 20, Clark and Gordon Hogg declared a conflict of interest and withdrew from participating in something on the agenda — the government used the legal advice loophole in the FOI law to withhold details.

On Aug. 8, some disappointment for politicians who got elected on a tax-cutting platform. They weren’t paying enough tax. “Members were also informed that currently the income tax being deducted from their pay was insufficient,” it said. 

B.C. and the rest of the world changed Sept. 11, after the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Cabinet met the morning after, for the last time in the first 100 days of the Campbell New Era. Its top item: “Cabinet received a briefing on the air traffic conditions, offers made to assist the U.S.A., and process in British Columbia to keep Minsters informed on public safety issues.”

Economic storm clouds were no longer on the horizon, but were hovering over B.C.

“The global slowdown, the impact of the softwood lumber tariff, the events of Sept. 11 on the U.S. economy and Crown corporation losses are all contributing to a scenario of weak economic growth. Ministers were encouraged to contact their buddy MLAs to explain and support the quarterly report and the current fiscal strategy.” 

Read the cabinet minutes from the first 100 days of BC Liberal rule below. 

Campbell Cabinet Minutes – TheBreaker FOI by BobMackin on Scribd

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Bob Mackin A New Era in British

Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin

So they say the Pacific National Exhibition’s annual fair is always the same and it always rains. 

Nothing could be further from the truth for the 107th annual edition. 

Sunscreen, not umbrellas, are required for Hastings Park visitors in 2017. When the sun goes down, the drones go up. Yes, drones, instead of fireworks and lasers, every night at 10:15 p.m.

theBreaker spoke to Zev Bertini and Sam Zhao of the producer, Toronto-based Arrowonics. The spinoff from the University of Toronto’s Institute of Aerospace Studies hopes to become a world-leader in drone shows. 

The Northern Light Sky display above Festival Park is free with admission and a West Coast first.

But it ends Labour Day when the fair closes.

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Bob Mackin So they say the Pacific National

Miscellany, News

Bob Mackin 

Who was invited to be among the “socialist horde” at Government House on July 18, where the NDP returned to power and John Horgan was sworn-in as British Columbia’s 36th Premier?  

Government House was packed July 18 for the Horgan swearing-in (BC Gov)

The list, released under freedom of information on Aug. 28 to theBreaker, says 674 invitations were sent, but 133 didn’t respond and 91 gave their regrets, for a total 607. Attendees included logical ones, such as Horgan’s proud wife Ellie and four other family members. 

Ex-NDP Premier Glen and Dale Clark were listed as “not attending,” but their daughter, Layne, did. She has a $100,000-a-year job as a Horgan aide. Two ex-NDP premiers Dan Miller and Mike Harcourt are on the list, but the last NDP premier before Horgan, Ujjal Dosanjh, has a “no response” beside his name. 

From the NDP cabinet of the 1990s: Moe Sihota, Ian Waddell, Joy MacPhail and Jenny Kwan. The latter two comprised the entire NDP caucus after the 2001 election defeat.

NDP insider Brad Lavigne, who has signed-up six clients to lobby the Horgan NDP, was there. 

Kingmaker and Green leader Andrew Weaver and his two caucus mates, Adam Olsen and Sonia Furstenau, were there.

Ex-Harper Tory James Moore was listed in his role as University of Northern B.C.’s chancellor.

Surrey Liberal powerbroker Prem Vinning (right) (BC Gov)

Richmond Liberal MP Joe Peschisolido represented the federal government, along with Trudeau-appointed Senator Yuen Pau Woo. 

The biggest BC Liberal name on the list was ex-attorney general Geoff Plant, in his role as chancellor of Emily Carr University. Surrey-based federal and B.C. Liberal power broker Prem Vinning sat in the upper balcony. Vinning attended a BC Liberal campaign post-mortem in early July and was among those furious with Clark’s inner-circle for losing the majority of Surrey seats to the NDP. Vinning was forced to quit a patronage job in 2005 under Premier Gordon Campbell after lying about his identity in a phone call to a TV talk show on which Campbell was a guest. 

Respected former child protection watchdog Mary Ellen Turpel Lafond was invited.

Former Canadian Labour Congress head Ken Georgetti was on the list as attending, but it says “no response” next to United Steelworkers’ boss Leo Gerard. USW was the biggest donor to the NDP’s 2017 election campaign at $757,614.87. Horgan and Gerard dined in Washington, D.C. during Horgan’s trade mission in late July. 

Many Chinese community organizations were represented: Yong Tao Chen, honorary chair, Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations; Baizhong Jiao and Lian Wei Liu, of Richmond Overseas Friendship Asssociation; Sunny Ho of Richmond Business Association; Xiang Pu of Canadian Community Service Association; Omni TV commentator Guo Ding; Grace Wong of SUCCESS; Frank Zhu of Bodwell Development Co.; and Charles Chang of the Taiwanese Canadian Chamber of Commerce. 

Liu Fei, the People’s Republic of China consul general, was the only notable diplomat at the event. Webcast viewers noticed that she sat beside Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, an ex-NDP MLA.

Robertson’s Vision Vancouver comrades were scattered around the room, including: his ex-chief of staff Mike Magee and his latest chief of staff Kevin Quinlan; Coun. Raymond Louie; Vision 2014 co-chair Maria Dobrinskaya; 2014 park board candidate Sammie Jo Rumbaua; Bob Penner of the Vision/NDP polling firm Stratcom; aide Brenton Walters; and development lobbyist Gary Pooni.

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Premier Horgan Swearing-In Guest List by BobMackin on Scribd

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