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Bob Mackin

A B.C. Securities Commission tribunal found prominent BC Liberal donor Paul Se Hui Oei committed securities fraud. 

In a 45-page ruling dated Dec. 12, but released Dec. 13, Nigel Cave, Audrey Ho and Suzanne Wiltshire agreed with the executive director’s case that Oei perpetuated a fraudulent scheme on investors between July 2009 and August 2013. 

The tribunal heard investors gave $13.3 million to Oei-controlled companies that he said were planning to build a plant to recycle organic waste into topsoil and fertilizer. Oei spent millions of dollars elsewhere, such as for his Bentley luxury car, legal fees, donations to the BC Liberal Party, advertising and funding beauty pageants.

Paul Oei (left) with Premier Christy Clark and John Yap at a September 15, 2015 Liberal fundraiser in Richmond. (Twitter)

The tribunal found, on a balance of probabilities, that “the prohibited act of deceit or other fraudulent conduct was carried out with respect to 63 investments in Cascade. Investors were told one thing about the use of funds and the respondents did something very different with $5,003,088 of those funds. The respondents misappropriated these funds and used them for their own purposes and not as the investors were told they would be used.”

The ruling also said “the evidence is clear” that Oei and another of his companies, Canadian Manu, were involved in prohibited conduct with respect to all 63 investments.  

“Oei met with all of the investors and made representations (orally or in writing) to those investors with respect to the intended use of their invested funds,” said the ruling. “Oei was also the person who controlled all of the flow of the investors’ funds.” 

Before the tribunal on April 10, BCSC lawyer Mila Pivnenko described Oei as a socialite in Vancouver’s Chinese community who impressed by driving expensive cars, rubbing elbows with politicians (like Christy Clark and Justin Trudeau) and donating to charities.

Pivnenko said Oei kept his investors, many of them from China, in the dark and exploited their lack of understanding of English and the Canadian investment process.  

The tribunal heard that Oei tailored his persuasive sales pitches to each investor, claiming Cascade was approved by the B.C. government and that the investments would allow them to immigrate to Canada. 

Elections BC’s database shows that Oei donated $55,787.85 between 2011-2015 to the BC Liberals, plus $680 through his Canadian Manu Immigration and Financial Services Inc. His wife, Loretta Lai, gave the party $13,565 between 2012 and 2016.

Oei boasted in interviews with Chinese media outlets that he wanted to build 100 composting plants.

Oei (right) and Clark at a Richmond Hospital fundraiser (RHF)

The ruling did not mention the names of the nine investors who testified, but instead referred to them by one of the first nine letters of the alphabet. Investor D, as one was known, and her mother invested in CROF. The mother died before the hearings.

“Oei told Investor D’s mother about [Cascade Renewable Organic Fertilizer Corp.]. Oei told Investor D’s mother that if they invested $500,000 in CROF, Investor D would be able to use the investment in Cascade as the basis for her to qualify to immigrate to Canada. Oei did not tell Investor D that any fees related to this immigration process would come from the $500,000 that they invested. 

“Oei did not tell Investor D’s mother that he would keep any of the money invested for himself, or that any of the money was going to be paid as a commission to anyone. Investor D testified that her mother did not receive any interest payments on her investment in CROF nor was their investment repaid.”

During the first week of the case, Jiang Yicheng testified that he was part of a group that invested $4 million in Cascade. The losses, however, led his wife to attempt suicide. “At times I wanted to kill myself,” Jiang told the tribunal. 

‘[Oei and Lai] told us that Cascade was an environment and immigration project strongly supported by the B.C. government, and there will be no problem absolutely in getting our immigration status,” Jiang testified.

Oei claimed his companies did not receive $13.3 million from investors, but instead $12.2 million, and denied misappropriating any investor funds. 

“The respondents submitted that they were reselling their own Cascade securities to the investors and were entitled to keep the difference between what they paid to Cascade and what investors paid the respondents for those securities.”

Oei did not testify in his defence during the 12-day hearing. 

The 12-day hearing ran between April 10 and July 6. The ruling was expected Oct. 13. No reason was given for the delay.

The executive director has until Jan. 19 to file submissions about penalties against Oei. Oei has until Feb. 2 to respond.

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Securities fraudster Oei’s 2015 video interview with ChinaLive America, talking about his investments and philanthropy.

 

Bob Mackin A B.C. Securities Commission tribunal

Bob Mackin

Another case of a public figure using a personal email account and deleting his email at Vancouver city hall.

This time, Mayor Gregor Robertson is the centre of attention.

theBreaker discovered that Robertson’s chief of staff, Kevin Quinlan, sent the Vision Vancouver leader an email in June 2016, to both his personal address and his city hall address. The email included a copy of what Quinlan had earlier sent to an aide for federal families, children and social development minister Jean-Yves Duclos.

Mike Magee (left) and Mayor Gregor Robertson. Birds of a feather, hide email together. (Twitter)

theBreaker filed a freedom of information request for all correspondence, from 2014 to 2017, between Robertson’s Gmail account and nine party insiders and developers. 

In a Dec. 12 letter, city access to information and privacy director Barbara Van Fraassen wrote: “The Mayor confirms that no city business is conducted on his personal email account. City business-related emails received on this account are forwarded to the appropriate City of Vancouver department or the Mayor’s City of Vancouver account and then deleted.” 

Van Fraassen provided no proof. Robertson did not respond for comment.

A separate request, for all email between Robertson’s Gmail account and any City of Vancouver account, was delayed by Van Fraassen’s office from Dec. 4 to Jan. 18. The delay letter said meeting the time limit would interfere with city hall operations because a large number of records were requested or must be searched.

Vince Gogolek, the executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, said there is an obvious contradiction.

“They’re saying no city business is conducted on the email account, but the other thing you sent me shows that city business was at least copied to his Gmail account,” Gogolek told theBreaker. “So it seems like there’s a bit of an inconsistency there. Of course the question is what happens to the information that does go there, assuming this is not just a one-off.”

Gogolek said former B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham was very clear when she issued a directive to elected and appointed officials across the province: any work-related email sent to or received from a personal email account is still subject to the search and disclosure provisions of the FOI law. The letter to theBreaker from city hall about Robertson’s Gmail account does not indicate whether a comprehensive search took place. 

Wrote Denham in her 2015 directive: “The use of personal email accounts for work purposes can give the perception that public body employees are seeking to evade the freedom of information process.”

Government email sent to Vancouver Mayor’s Gmail account (CoV)

When he was sworn-in as mayor nine years ago, Robertson promised: “I will not let you down on making city hall more open and accountable.”

In June 2016, however, Denham issued a scathing report that found city hall under Robertson routinely broke the FOI law. Denham’s staff began the investigation in November 2015, after The Province revealed that Robertson’s then-chief of staff, Mike Magee, mass-deleted his email. 

Magee also used a private email account to receive messages about public business. In July 2012, Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes sent email to Magee’s Convergence Communications consulting company, while the social media advertising and analytics company negotiated to lease a city building that had been removed from public tender.

The B.C. NDP ran on a platform that included a promise for a duty to document law. It did not introduce any FOI reform during the fall session of the Legislature. Ex-Vision Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs is now Premier John Horgan’s chief of staff.

Elsewhere, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall was caught earlier this year using his Saskatchewan Party email account for public business. He vowed he would stop, but the Regina Leader-Post reported Oct. 1 that Wall continued to his private email for public business. 

Coincidentally, Hillary Clinton is in Vancouver Dec. 13 to promote her “What Happened” book about the 2016 presidential election defeat to Donald Trump. 

Clinton was investigated for using a private email server while she was Secretary of State. FBI director James Comey concluded she was “extremely careless,” but did not press charges. Critics, however, believe her husband, Bill Clinton, tampered with the investigation when he held a private meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on a private jet in June 2016 at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. 

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2017-403 – res by BobMackin on Scribd

Bob Mackin Another case of a public figure

Did you know? Corruption costs the world an estimated $2.6 trillion a year. Canada is no angel, says James Cohen of Transparency International Canada, who is interviewed on this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast.

His organization wants a registry of beneficial ownership of companies and real estate; it is harder to get a library card. 

Also on this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast: a scan of headlines around the Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest and a commentary on the lack of law and order in British Columbia. 

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Did you know? Corruption costs the world

Bob Mackin

The British Columbia pharmacist in Al Jazeera’s 2015 hidden camera documentary on doping in sports was suspended for six months and fined $10,000, theBreaker has learned. 

Pharmacist Chad Robertson (right) and Liam Collins outside Fortius Centre in Burnaby in 2015 (Al Jazeera)

Chadwick Aaron Robertson’s Nov. 22-dated disciplinary notice was quietly published on the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia website.

“The College considers, and the Registrant [Robertson] concedes, that this conduct reflected negatively on the Registrant and the profession of pharmacy in British Columbia,” reads the notice. “It constitutes professional misconduct, a serious matter pursuant to section 26 of the Health Professions Act.”

In “The Dark Side: The Secret World of Sports Doping,” Robertson and naturopathic doctor Brandon Spletzer were shown counselling undercover reporter Liam Collins, a British ex-hurdler who claimed to be mounting a comeback for the Rio 2016 Olympics. Collins came to Vancouver in May and October 2015 and the documentary aired in December 2015.

The disciplinary notice said Robertson provided Collins a training protocol that was never put into operation, but he made comments on a series of occasions in 2015 “about the use of banned drugs and their suitability for the purpose.” 

Robertson was a partner with Spletzer in a company called Pro Med. Robertson boasted to Collins that he had “doped people and no one’s got caught, because the system’s so easy to beat. And it still is, that’s the sad fact.

“I can take a guy with average genetics and make him world champion,” Robertson told Collins.  

Robertson and the Inquiry Committee reached a six-point consent agreement. His registration as a full pharmacist was suspended for six months beginning Nov. 22 and he has until Nov. 22, 2018 to pay the fine. A letter of reprimand is permanently on-file and Robertson was ordered to appear before an Inquiry Committee panel for a verbal reprimand. 

Robertson was also ordered to successfully complete a program on professional and problem-based ethics for healthcare professionals no later than Nov. 22, 2018. He must “thoroughly review” relevant legislation, complete the college’s Code of Ethics Educational Tutorial and sign declarations of understanding and compliance with legislative and ethical requirements.

Robertson’s discipline is more severe than the 10-day ban that Spletzer agreed to in March 2016 from the College of Naturopathic Physicians of B.C. Spletzer admitted to importing and providing drugs not approved by Health Canada. He also had to complete an ethics course, be mentored by a senior naturopathic doctor, submit to random, spot audits and refrain from treating national or international athletes until spring 2017. 

Spletzer told the Vancouver Courier in May 2016: “It’s not my intention to help people cheat, it’s my intention to help people live longer, healthier. I’d love to change people’s minds. I realize that’s not going to happen for everyone, I can only offer an apology for the optics, but what was shown wasn’t the reality of the situation. If people choose to believe that that was reality, that’s their choice, if people choose to believe it was what it was I’d thank them for that, I just look forward to getting back on track.”

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Bob Mackin The British Columbia pharmacist in

Bob Mackin

A slate of candidates running for Squamish Nation council in the Dec. 10 election is campaigning for change.

The candidates and their supporters are also changing the way campaigns are run for the North Vancouver-headquartered First Nation. 

Logo for a social media campaign endorsing a slate of candidates in the Dec. 10 Squamish Nation election.

After input from 300 members, the “A New Nine for Squamish Nation Council” Facebook campaign endorsed nine candidates vying for the 16 seats on council. Fifty-nine people, including 13 incumbents, are on the council ballot. Seven others are in the running for band manager.

Knocking on doors and phoning aren’t new. But text messaging and social media — even a website on the popular political campaign platform, NationBuilder — are being employed in an effort to promote the youthful slate’s aim to gain majority control for the next four years. 

“There has been quite a disconnect between Squamish council and membership,” said A New Nine co-ordinator Michelle Nahanee, who runs a graphic design and communications consultancy. “We’re finding ways to communicate with each other instead of waiting for the official communications loop.

“The younger voters are the majority now, so across the board, indigenous populations in Canada, we’ve got the fastest growing number.”

The nine endorsed are: DJ Orene Askew; construction worker Brandon Darbyshire-Joseph; Capilano University student Taylor George-Hollis; teacher Deanna Lewis; payroll coordinator Jacob Lewis III; graphic designer, linguistics student and teacher of Squamish language Dustin Rivers; office manager Kristen Rivers; student/culture and language worker Joyce Williams; and real estate agent Marcus Wooden.

The slate is pressing for more housing supply, pay equity for Squamish Nation employees, equality for off-reserve members, increased monthly allowance for post-secondary students, online streaming of council meetings and publication of motions and minutes, and opposition to Woodfibre LNG. 

In 2013, 1,316 of the 2,730 eligible voters cast ballots for council candidates. Nobody won a majority. The 16 successful candidates tallied between 337 and 684 votes. 

Nahanee said there is room for even more modernization in the Squamish Nation electoral process, including online voting. Some members are disenfranchised because they are not able to travel to B.C. to vote.

“We’ve got members in the U.S., we’ve got members across Canada,” she said. “Not moving to online voting is something that angers a lot of people, the members are not getting represented who can’t make it to vote.”

Candidate signs near the Squamish Nation Capilano reserve in North Vancouver (Mackin)

Chiefs and council members were paid a base $70,470 each last year. The council co-chairs were paid more than $92,000 each, including pension and benefits. 

Squamish Nation is a 1923 amalgamation of 16 area tribes. In 1981, it switched from a hereditary government to a democratically elected one. Squamish Nation is the biggest First Nation in Metro Vancouver, by number of reserves, area of reserves and population. At the end of 2016, there were 4,214 registered members, including 2,232 living on Squamish reserves. 

The Deloitte-audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2017 showed $87.38 million revenue and $68.06 million in expenses. Lease revenue, at $22.28 million, was the biggest source of income. Social programs cost $51.16 million. 

Squamish Nation is partnered with Musqueam Indian Band and Tsleil-Waututh Nation in companies that own various parcels of former Crown land, negotiated outside the treaty process. The trio is also partnered with Aquilini Investment Group in the East Vancouver Liquor Distribution Branch warehouse land. LDB is scheduled to move in spring 2018 to Tilbury in Delta.

“We’re a very forward people and business-savvy people, but nobody should be struggling within a nation that has such huge revenue,” Nahanee said. “We shouldn’t have some people making a lot and some people making a little and having a hard time.”

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Bob Mackin A slate of candidates running for

Bob Mackin

If internal polling can be believed, one former mayor has a chance to win the BC Liberal leadership race and another one doesn’t. 

Watts in happier times during campaign launch in September (DianneWatts.ca)

Dianne Watts’ pollster, Innovative Research Group, surveyed BC Liberal members on the final weekend of November, and claims 30% prefer the former Surrey Mayor on the first ballot. 

The one-page summary leaked to theBreaker contains no details about the polling methodology. Internal polls are not always the most-reliable barometer, because they are not independent and sometimes used strategically to rally volunteers and donors. 

Innovative claims Watts’ closest challenger is Mike de Jong, with 14% first ballot preference, followed by Todd Stone (11%), Andrew Wilkinson (9%), Michael Lee (5%) and ex-Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan (4%). 

But a whopping 27% are in the “don’t know/none of the above” column, which covers those who are undecided or not happy with any of the six candidates. 

The poll was performed after the Nanaimo leadership debate when, the one-page summary says, “Dianne’s performance was mixed. People in the poll did not feel she performed well. However, in spite of that debate, and subsequent negative media commentary, it had no impact on her standing as the leader in the race.” 

On Nov. 27, Watts gathered her campaign team at headquarters in Surrey and read them the riot act: “If any of you are not completely on board with saving this party and this province, then feel free to get out now.”

Watts performed substantially better in the Dec. 2 Kelowna debate, sparring with other candidates in a way she didn’t during previous debates. The other five candidates ran under Christy Clark in the 2017 election and won their seats. Lee is the only rookie MLA, but his backroom includes Clark Clique bigwigs such as Clark’s ex-husband Mark Marissen and Clark’s brother Bruce Clark. 

The summary claims Watts leads with both men and women and is ahead in each region. 

Among those who are “very interested” in the leadership race, Watts leads with 38%. Nearest is Stone at 18%. 

The summary claims Watts has double-digit leads over other candidates in the all-important category of best able to beat the NDP. 

Watts and the other five candidates have, in varying degrees, targeted the NDP and Green push for a referendum on proportional representation in fall 2018. Yet the BC Liberal leadership vote on the first weekend of February will be conducted under a weighted, preferential ballot, with each riding association allotted 100 points, rather than the pure first past the post system. 

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here. 

Bob Mackin If internal polling can be believed,

This week’s edition of theBreaker.news Podcast includes a feature interview with Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch. 

Conacher discusses Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s conflict of interest scandals and Trudeau’s controversial push to forge closer ties with China. 

Also this week, commentaries about the end of the NDP’s first session on the government side of the aisle in the B.C. Legislature since 2001 and Wally Buono’s swan song. Plus, headlines from around the Pacific Rim and the Pacific Northwest. 

Only on theBreaker.news Podcast. Give it a listen. 

Catch-up on the episodes that you’ve missed: Nov. 5, Nov. 12, Nov. 19, and Nov. 26

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here. 

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Bob Mackin

There is a new real estate king in the B.C. Legislature.

Surrey-Fleetwood NDP MLA Jagrup Brar also bought land in Alberta and Saskatchewan. (Twitter)

Surrey-Fleetwood NDP MLA Jagrup Brar has a residence in Surrey, joint ownership of land in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., quarter interest in a family farm in Deon Village, Punjab, India, and, through a holding company, land in Peace River, Alta. and North Battleford, Sask. and one-third shares of seven properties in Prince George.

That, according to the annual conflict of interest disclosure summaries obtained by theBreaker from the Legislature Clerk.

MLAs are required to file confidential conflict of interest disclosures annually with Commissioner Paul Fraser. Fraser, in turn, releases filtered statements for public consumption that do not include residential addresses or dollar values, among other details.

Brar reported more real estate holdings than ex-Finance Minister Mike de Jong, whose report says he receives rental income from six properties in Abbotsford and a family hobby farm. De Jong declared ownership in three properties and a one-third interest in three others.

Brar’s report also declared an unspecified amount of shares in Fortis, TransCanada, CP Rail and Enbridge in an RRSP.

Elsewhere, Premier John Horgan declared a residential property in Victoria and one-third interest in a Victoria investment property. He has a variety of RRSP investments, including an “Integrity Fossil Fuel Free Portfolio.”

Horgan’s wife Ellie reported income from a small business, the It’s Your Move downsizing and relocation consultancy.

Green leader Andrew Weaver listed royalties from Orca Books, consulting fees from Solterra Solutions and rental income from investment property in Victoria and recreational property in Parksville.

BC Liberal interim leader Rich Coleman reported residential property in Langley and his wife has salary from Mobil One Lube Express.

Claire Trevena, the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, declared shares in Brookfield Infrastructure.

Housing Minister Selina Robinson reported mortgages on residences in Coquitlam and Victoria.

Vancouver East NDP MLA Melanie Mark and Richmond BC Liberal Teresa Wat report no residential property in their ridings, but instead residences in Burnaby.

For Richmond-Queensborough BC Liberal rookie Jas Johal, his only residence is in Delta.

NDP’s Judy Darcy and Janet Routledge both have recreational property on Mayne Island.

Nelson-based NDP veteran Michelle Mungall has residential properties in Nelson and Victoria, and three investment properties with her spouse — two in Nelson and another in Calgary.

BC Liberal rookie Tracy Redies represents White Rock, but has residential property in Langley and investment property in Williamsburg, Va. West Vancouver BC Liberal Ralph Sultan also has a property in Vermont. Coquitlam NDP MLA Mike Farnworth also has a place in Bromborough, England.

Pemberton-based BC LIberal Jordan Sturdy continues to hold shares in a variety of tech stocks, including Alibaba, IBM, Telus, Facebook and Amaya. The latter is an grey market online gambling company that competes with B.C. Lottery Corp., the statutory Crown monopoly.

Jas Johal doesn’t live in Richmond or New Westminster, but Delta.

Ex-Kamloops Mayor and rookie BC Liberal MLA Peter Milobar shares a liquor store and pub under the Ramblin Man Ent. Ltd. banner with his wife. His Stag’s Head store was busted for selling booze to a minor and fined $7,500 in 2013.

Vancouver-Langara BC Liberal Michael Lee reported partner salary from the Lawson Lundell law firm and distributions to his Michael Lee Law Corp. His spouse has 1/17th interest in agricultural property in Langley. Lee has a variety of private business interests, including shares in Marine Learning Systems, ARC Medical Devices, Britnell Ventures, Pyfera Growth Capital, Greenspace Solutions, and G-Pak Technology

Few of the 87 MLAs reported receiving gifts.

Former environment minister Mary Polak said she received a $272.97 vase with a colour picture of a Rock Chrysanthemum from the Japanese consulate general and a $250 hummingbird print by Alano Edzersa from the Tahltan Central Governemnt Band.

Ex-aboriginal relations minister John Rustad reported two $800 ceremonial masks (Gitxsan and Kwakiutl) and two ceremonial paddles ($500). One of the masks was from 2013 and the other in 2016. The paddles were from 2014.

Ex-junior liquor minister John Yap said he had a one night stay at the Nk’Kmip Resort for $324.31 on July 12 for the B.C. Wine Institute’s 2017 conference.

Horgan reported receiving a $345 Team B.C. ceremonial apparel and backpack from the B.C. Games Society.

The Legislature does not publish the annual disclosure forms, but theBreaker does. 

Click on any of the MLA names below to read a 2017 disclsoure form. (MLAs listed in order of Legislature seating.) 

Speaker Darryl Plecas

NDP 

George Heyman

Doug Donaldson

Harry Bains

Judy Darcy

Michelle Mungall

Shane Simpson

Selina Robinson

Lisa Beare  

Lana Popham

Mike Farnworth

Katrina Chen

John Horgan

Carole James

Claire Trevena

David Eby 

Jinny Sims

Adrian Dix

George Chow

Bruce Ralston

Melanie Mark

Raj Chouhan

Anne Kang

Rob Fleming

Nicholas Simons

Katrine Conroy

Ravi Kahlon

Bob D’Eith

Scott Fraser

Garry Begg

Doug Routley

Spencer Chandra Herbert

Jagrup Brar

Bowinn Ma

Mitzi Dean

Jennifer Rice

Mable Elmore

Leonard Krog

Janet Routledge

Rachna Singh

Ronna-Rae Leonard

Rick Glumac

BC Greens

Sonia Furstenau

Dr. Andrew Weaver

Adam Olsen

BC Liberals

Mary Polak

Stephanie Cadieux

Mike Morris

John Rustad

Michelle Stilwell

Shirley Bond

Dan Ashton

Mike de Jong 

Coralee Oakes

Rich Coleman

Steve Thomson

Andrew Wilkinson 

Jordan Sturdy

Greg Kyllo

Ellis Ross

Todd Stone

Joan Isaacs

Mike Bernier

Peter Milobar

Teresa Wat

Jas Johal

Jane Thornthwaite

Linda Reid

Michael Lee

Doug Clovechok

Marvin Hunt

John Yap

Norm Letnick

Donna Barnett

Tracy Redies

Linda Larson

Jackie Tegart

Ian Paton

Eric Foster

John Martin

Simon Gibson

Laurie Throness

Ralph Sultan

Dan Davies

Tom Shypitka

Sam Sullivan

Bob Mackin There is a new real estate

Bob Mackin 

Why did an ex-BC Liberal cabinet minister’s aide, who is known for mass-deleting government email, remove a page from his company website which named a leadership candidate that claimed to not use email? 

George Gretes was the only BC Liberal charged in the “Triple Delete” scandal. He pleaded guilty in July 2016 to lying under oath to Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham during an investigation of email purging across the Christy Clark administration. Provincial Court Judge Lisa Mrozinski fined Gretes $2,500. 

Page deleted from BLRD Strategies website on Nov. 26 (BLRD/Gretes)

Gretes was fired from Transportation Minister Todd Stone’s office after Denham’s damning Access Denied report in October 2015. The former University of Toronto wide receiver originally came to B.C. in 2013 to work on the Clark Clique’s re-election campaign and was rewarded with a job as Finance Minister Mike de Jong’s special advisor. CKNW reported in March 2016 that de Jong requires his staff to print correspondence, briefing notes and reports for him. De Jong’s excuse for not using email? “I just never got into it.”

Since leaving Stone’s office, Gretes became a partner in BLRD Strategies. De Jong’s name appeared on a page of the company’s website until it was deleted on Nov. 26. 

The page showed what was labelled as a company performance graph under the heading “BCL Leadership 2017.” “De Jong” and “8/24/17” were below the graph. The page disappeared from the BLRD website shortly after IntegrityBC published a screen shot on Twitter.

Though 2011 leadership loser de Jong did not announce his entry in the 2018 race until Sept. 26, he was already making plans to run in late August. Longtime de Jong supporter Markus Delves was behind a strategic Mainstreet Research poll designed to favour de Jong. It was publicized Aug. 25 in the Vancouver Sun.

Toronto-based Gretes did not respond to email queries from theBreaker

Tamara Little, spokesowman for de Jong’s campaign, said BLRD and Gretes are not doing any work for the campaign. “We weren’t even aware of this company,” Little said. 

Stone, to whom Gretes once reportred, is also vying for the leadership and his campaign logo resembles BLRD’s. Stone campaign spokesman Stephen Smart did not respond to theBreaker’s email. 

George Gretes (Twitter)

BLRD describes itself as a “boutique firm specializing in 21st-century corporate due diligence and research” and boasts “an innovative approach to information collection, management, and disruption.” Its services include digital microsite campaigns and, ironically, freedom of information.

“We focus on the truth,” Gretes Tweeted on Nov. 26. “In a world of fake news and Twitter trolls, we help companies and associations tell their stories when pundits and critics are presenting to the public inaccurately.”

But Gretes’s name does not appear on the BLRD website. 

“It’s the clandestine style of his new company that should set-off alarm bells,” said IntegrityBC’s Dermod Travis. “Normally a company like this would first and foremost be putting its leadership team up, front and centre, because you are generallly attracted to a company because of who is involved with it. There is nothing, as of yesterday, that would include the principals behind the operation.

“[Gretes] is either working for, or has some association with a leadership campaign, or he is monitoring a leadership campaign. Given his track record and the campaign in question, whoever it may be, should be forthright about this.”

Denham investigated the BC Liberal government after former Gretes subordinate Tim Duncan went public in May 2015. 

“It is my belief that the abuse of the Freedom of Information process is widespread and most likely systemic within the Clark government,” whistleblower Duncan wrote to Denham.

Documents that should have been released to freedom of information applicants instead were triple-deleted from individual email accounts, computers and government servers.

Wrote Denham in October 2015: “The forensic evidence conclusively demonstrates that emails were deleted from Duncan’s computer on November 20, 2014. That evidence also proves that there was a triple deletion of emails on Duncan’s computer that day. I find Duncan’s evidence about the triple deletion to be credible for the reasons already described. Conversely, Gretes was not a credible witness. His denials of the allegation during the second interview – that he triple deleted emails on Duncan’s computer – were unconvincing, up to and including his statement that he didn’t know for sure if he did it. He admits to falsifying his testimony in this investigation. The justification he gave for his failure to tell the truth also proved to be false. The only reasonable explanation for his failure to tell the truth was to hide the triple deleting of emails as alleged.”    

Todd Stone’s campaign logo and the logo for his former aide’s company.

When he pleaded guilty, the court heard that Gretes repaid $8,000 in legal fees to the public treasury.

It is not an offence under B.C.’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to delete email. Denham unsucessfully lobbied the BC Liberal government for a “duty to document” amendment with penalties for deleting email. In opposition, the NDP had promised to bring in a strict duty to document law with fines, but the earliest it could happen is February 2018.

From spring 2016 to winter 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile, Gretes worked on contract for Staffy Inc., a restaurant and bar staff recruiting app created by Peter Faist. 

Faist is, coincidentally, the common law husband of former BC Liberal executive director Laura Miller. She was charged in Ontario in 2015 with breach of trust, mischief and misuse of computer systems from her time as deputy chief of staff to Ontario Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty. 

Miller’s trial heard that she “double-deleted” email about the politically motivated cancellation of two gas-fired power plans in 2011 and that she hired Faist in early 2013 to erase computer hard drives in the premier’s office before Kathleen Wynne succeeded McGuinty.

Faist reached an investigative assistance agreement with Ontario Provincial Police in 2014. He testified as a Crown witness at Miller’s trial. Judge Timothy Lipson reserved his decision until the new year on the mischief and misuse of computer systems charges, after the breach of trust charge was dropped.

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Bob Mackin  Why did an ex-BC Liberal cabinet

Bob Mackin

Bremner (lower right) celebrates nomination with Marissen (second from right, back row) from the front page of South Asian community newspaper Sach Di Awaaz.

Mark Marissen’s bid to gain control of the NPA board was thwarted. 

The party with the monogrammed grape logo held its last pre-election annual general meeting Nov. 28 at the Hellenic Community Centre. The meeting featured an election for eight seats on the board of directors. 

Seven of the eight were snagged by members of a small business slate associated with Glen Chernen, the former Cedar Party leader who lost the NPA by-election nomination to Hector Bremner.  

Marissen, the BC Liberal strategist who is ex-husband of ex-premier Christy Clark, was behind BC Liberal lobbyist Bremner’s successful, but unimpressive, campaign to become city councillor in October. He is now running rookie MLA and ex-Lawson Lundell lawyer Michael Lee’s bid for the BC Liberal leadership.

Those ousted from the board include past-president Carling Dick and directors Peter Labrie and Lianne Rood. 

Dale Steeves, husband of rookie school board trustee Lisa Dominato, also didn’t make the cut.

Elected to three-year terms were: David Mawhinney (nightclub operator); Franco Peta (salon owner); Federico Fuoco (restaurateur); Eli Konorti (management consultant); and incumbents Greg Baker (2014 city council candidate and son of longtime councillor Jonathan Baker) and Terry Yung (police officer and husband of park board commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung). 

Glen Chernen (Twitter)

Commercial appraiser Michael Lount won the two-year term seat. 

Restaurateur Marinos Anagnostopoulos was the only unsuccessful member of the slate. Results for the under-40 seat may be contested, based on the age of some voters.

A hot potato may be waiting for the new board at its first meeting. A source told theBreaker that expenses for Bremner’s by-election campaign exceeded $100,000 and some of the claims may not be approved.

Neither the NPA nor Vision Vancouver responded to repeated requests from theBreaker to voluntarily release their unaudited lists of donations before the Oct. 14 by-election. 

In 2014, all parties released their unaudited donors’ lists before the general election. The deadline for audited campaign finance reports from the Vancouver by-election to be submitted to Elections BC is Jan. 12. 

The NDP government moved this fall to ban corporate and union donations to municipal parties, and cap donations at $1,200 year.

Oct. 20, 2018 is general election day for local governments across B.C.

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Bob Mackin [caption id="attachment_5044" align="alignright" width="264"] Bremner (lower