Fill up the egg nog mug, don your Christmas sweater and cozy up to your device. Join host Bob Mackin for a special edition of theBreaker.news Podcast for Christmas 2017.
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Fill up the egg nog mug, don
Bob Mackin
Opening night at Parq casino (Parq)
Less than an hour after its opening ceremony, Parq Vancouver casino recorded its first suspicious transaction.
An incident report to the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch from casino security shows that “(Identity censored by government) bought in $30,000 all in $100s at Salon Jade West” at 11:51 p.m. on Sept. 29.
Salon Jade West is one of two high roller gambling rooms on the third floor of the controversial $600 million gambling palace beside B.C. Place Stadium.
Three more incidents happened before the casino was even 24 hours old. An unspecified cheat at play incident was reported at 4:01 a.m. Sept. 30. At 8:33 p.m., another suspicious transaction: A gambler, whose name was censored, bought-in for $10,000 with 500 $20 bills. Less than 90 minutes later, at 10 p.m., “(Identity censored) bought in for $9,980 in $20 bills.”
The Ministry of Attorney General disclosed 17 incident reports during Parq’s first week to the theBreaker, under the freedom of information law. Eleven of the incidents involved gamblers who were denied entry or asked to leave the premises because of temporary B.C. Lottery Corporation bans. Some of the prohibitions stretch into 2021. Parq’s predecessor, Edgewater Casino at the nearby Plaza of Nations, reported 26 incidents during its final week of operations, and those reports were also released to theBreaker. Sixteen incidents involved player prohibitions.
The biggest suspicious transaction during Edgewater’s final week was Sept. 23 at 9:25 p.m., when a person, whose identity was censored, “bought in for $10,000 (20 x $100 and 400 x $20).”
On Sept. 28, at 5:39 p.m., a gambler “passed $5,000 in $100 bills” to another person.
Documents also show that a threat was made against a security guard at 2:12 p.m. on Sept. 22, a patron spat at a security guard on Sept. 24 at 1:55 p.m., and a BCLC employee suffered a theft at 3:49 a.m. on Sept. 25.
Police were not called to investigate any of those incidents.
The Ministry of Attorney General deferred comment to BCLC, which took almost three days to respond. The Crown corporation’s communications department said the person who made the threat against the security guard was banned for nine months and the person who spat at a security guard was banned for 12 months.
BCLC did not explain why police were not called. It said it is the casino’s obligation to notify WorkSafeBC if the incidents met WorkSafeBC reporting criteria.
As for the theft, BCLC said the victim was actually a BCLC contractor and the item stolen was an impact drill.
“The individual who stole the drill departed the casino and was not identified,” said the Crown corporation. “The BCLC contractor declined police involvement. The value of the stolen good was approximately $100 to $200.”
Parq spokeswoman Tamara Hicks did not address any of theBreaker’s questions. By email, she said “all incidents are reported to BCLC and GPEB as per our protocols and were in alignment with policies and procedures.”
The denomination of choice at Vancouver casinos. (Bank of Canada)
The only time during the period that police were called was Sept. 25 for an 8:15 p.m. incident at Edgewater in which a person “made comments about losing money and past suicidal tendencies.”
In April 2011, the Vision Vancouver majority city council allowed Paragon to move its 600 slot machine, 75 gambling table licence from the Plaza of Nations to the new complex. It rejected an application to expand the licence to 1,500 slots and 150 tables.
Eighteen veteran police officers with experience investigating gambling-related crime opposed the relocation and expansion proposal in 2011. Their letter to city council highlighted the risk of increased organized crime and gambling addiction that would result from the new casino.
Peter German, a law professor at the University of B.C. and former head of the RCMP in Western Canada, was hired by Attorney General David Eby in September to review money laundering at Metro Vancouver casinos. Eby adopted his first recommendations in early December: more rigorous vetting of cash and bearer bond deposits over $10,000 and round-the-clock staffing by GPEB investigators at casinos.
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Sec 86 GPEB Reports Parq by BobMackin on Scribd
Bob Mackin [caption id="attachment_5337" align="alignright" width="497"] Opening night
Bob Mackin
An undisclosed number of $5,000 poker chips went missing at River Rock Casino Resort and the Great Canadian Gaming flagship casino worried it wouldn’t have enough for Chinese new year in 2016, according to a Postmedia report.
Only at a casino, can chips be as slippery as fish. 
theBreaker obtained a copy of an incident report submitted by River Rock to the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch from Sept. 25, which said that an unnamed individual “took $585 chips that belong to other person” during the noon hour.
The staff member who filled out the form did not tick the boxes to indicate whether or not police were called or attended.
Neither B.C. Lottery Corporation nor the Ministry of the Attorney General responded by theBreaker’s deadline.
A statement about the incident sent to theBreaker from Great Canadian Gaming said “police were not called based on a request from the player who had their money recovered after our surveillance team had identified who had taken it. The player that took it was barred.”
Meanwhile, Great Canadian’s stock is up again, after Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. chose Great Canadian and Clairvest to operate Casino Brantford, and OLG Slots at the Mohawk Racetrack, Flamboro Downs and Grand River Raceway.
Great Canadian shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange closed at $34.15 on Dec. 20. They traded at $35.32 on Sept. 18, before tumbling to a fall low of $29.22 on Nov. 10 amid sensational headlines about money laundering by Chinese high rollers at River Rock.
Share prices had climbed after the August announcement that OLG chose Great Canadian and Brookfield Business Partners to operate Great Blue Heron Casino and OLG Slots at Woodbine and Ajax Downs racetracks.
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Bob Mackin An undisclosed number of $5,000
Bob Mackin
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal case against a Richmond strata council that holds Mandarin-only meetings has the green light to be heard.
In a Dec. 13 written decision, tribunal member Walter Rilkoff rejected the Wellington Court strata council’s application to dismiss the action, and said that the policy to conduct business in Mandarin effectively turned the strata council into a “closed shop.”
“Realistically [it is] not open to non‐Mandarin speakers who wish to be part of the governance of the strata,” Rilkoff wrote. “In turn that can have the longer‐term effect of closing off living in the strata to the majority of people who do not speak Mandarin.”
Rilkoff noted the threshold is low for a discrimination complaint to proceed to a hearing. The complainant need only show that the supporting evidence is not conjecture or speculation.
“This is not a decision that this complaint will succeed. Rather it is that on a preliminary basis, and on the basis of the information before me, I am unable to determine that it has no reasonable prospect of success.”
Andreas Kargut went public in late 2015 about the Wellington Court strata council shunning those who could speak only English. His complaint, on behalf of nine owners at Wellington Court, alleges that the strata council and then-president Ed Mao discriminated against the owners on the basis of their race, by holding strata meetings in Mandarin and allowing the use of proxy voters.
Karguts left Richmond, but didn’t give up the fight for equality. (Facebook)
In its submissions to the tribunal, the strata council denied the discrimination allegations. It said it was “more efficient” to do business in Mandarin, the language that all strata council members and a majority of townhouse owners could speak.
Mao resigned shortly after the complaint. Kargut and his family moved last summer to Vernon.
The decision notes the dilemma that neither the Strata Property Act nor the Bylaws specify in what language the meeting must be held or the minutes be kept. Before 2014, Wellington Court meetings were held in English only and minutes kept in English. But in successive annual general meetings, Mandarin-speaking owners were voted to council, many by proxy holders.
“A stated purpose of the [Human Rights] Code, to foster a society in British Columbia in which there are no impediments to full and free participation in the economic, social, political, and cultural life of this province, is engaged,” Rilkoff wrote.
“A situation where owners who do not speak a foreign language, but speak one of Canada’s official languages and the lingua franca of this province, are precluded from full participation in the governance of their homes, is not likely to be found to eliminate barriers, but to erect them. Where that distinction is based on what may be appear to be racial or ethnic divisions, the situation may be found to violate the Code.”
The decision said complaints are usually made by a minority or marginalized group, which may have suffered historical discrimination. Discrimination by the minority against members of the majority group, Rilkoff wrote, “is no more acceptable just because that group has obtained a majority in a particular enclave. Within the universe of the strata, the Kargut group may well be a minority.”
A majority of owners are Mandarin speakers, the decision said, but “Wellington Court is not, and cannot be, a closed community open only to people of one ethnic group. Any owner is free to sell their unit to anyone and anyone is entitled to purchase a unit. That buyer in turn is entitled to meaningfully participate in the strata’s governance.
“By the same token, a majority of the owners are Mandarin speakers, although it may be only a few who do not have a facility with English. In those circumstances, it may be unlikely that the complainant group could obtain a remedy, even if wholly successful, that provides for all strata council meetings to be conducted in English only. The Strata may be under an obligation to provide reasonable accommodation to the Mandarin speakers.”
Last summer, Kargut told theBreaker that he made the difficult decision to accept a job transfer and to move his family to Vernon because Wellington Court “was no longer a home, it was just a place where we lived.” He said there was harmony at the townhouse complex, until proxy votes were used to systematically replace English-speaking owners on strata council with those who spoke Mandarin.
In an interview after the tribunal decision, Kargut said that he “couldn’t keep up the fight, pay the costs of the fight and still live in Richmond, have a mortgage, and also have to deal with the stress of a bunch of people that put a lot of effort into showing that we were unwanted around any of them.” He said it has cost his group $45,000 in legal fees so far.
The strata council, Kargut said, “shot itself in the foot” by not resolving at the 2016 annual general meeting to translate all council meetings to English. A date for a hearing has not been set and Kargut expects it could take months to happen.
“The future of our official languages is at stake, every Canadian would have an interest at stake here.”
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Bob Mackin The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal
Bob Mackin
It was supposed to be Vancouver’s concert highlight of 2017, but it turned into one of the most-embarrassing nights in the history of the 1983-opened B.C. Place Stadium.
U2 played The Joshua Tree in-full for the first time in front of a paying audience on May 12, to launch a 30th anniversary tour marking the 1987 classic album.
The floor lineup for U2 and Mumford and Sons stretched around the Parq casino construction site (Mackin)
Like the iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour, which began two years earlier across the street at Rogers Arena, a credit card entry system was employed, to crack down on ticket-scalping and counterfeiting.
B.C. Place staff and contractors were not ready for the crush of fans. Most were stuck outside while opener Mumford and Sons played. U2 delayed its set for about 20 minutes while thousands of fans who paid to stand on the floor — not stand in a lineup outside — were hustled-inside, without having their credit cards, bags or pockets checked.
While many vented their frustration on social media, angry fans in lineups with smartphones complained directly to stadium management by email. theBreaker obtained almost 500 pages of complaints from stadium operator B.C. Pavilion Corporation under the freedom of information law. The names of the correspondents were censored by PavCo for privacy.
“This is the first time I’ve attended an event at BC Place, and I have to say I am completely disgusted by the disorganization outside,” said one complainant at 7:07 p.m. on May 12. “There are absolutely no staff members outside directing foot traffic, and the lineup to get in is a giant hodgepodge of people stuck in one spot. I’ve been standing in the same spot in line for 20-30 minutes now, the Gate H doors wide open in my sight, and people aren’t being let in — despite the fact the doors opened at 5:30, and the concert is supposed to be starting now. Everyone around me is commenting that they’ve never encountered disorganization like this. If this is what events at B.C. Place are like, I have absolutely no interest in coming back.”
Another writer at 7:23 p.m. was blunt: “Over an hour in line. Get your shit together. If I miss anything I want a refund.”
“I’m standing outside the U2 concert…wondering if I’ll ever get in,” said a 7:27 p.m. complaint. “This is the most poorly organized event I’ve ever attended.”
Another at 7:36 p.m.: “You knew you had a sold out show. You knew how many people you were expecting. Why is this not better organized?”
And on it went, with more complaints at 7:41 p.m., 7:43 p.m., 7:59 p.m., 8:01 p.m., 8:04 p.m., 8:16 p.m., 8:23 p.m.
Bono during Running To Stand Still (Mackin)
“Half a Mumford and Sons song. I’m in tears,” wrote an 8:26 p.m. complainant. “This is terrible. We travelled from [CENSORED] and have three families managing our small children for this. You’ve ruined our trip.”
“I have now been queueing for 90 minutes and missed Mumford and Sons because clearly you were not sufficiently organised or ready,” said an 8:31 p.m. complainant. “I wish to enter a formal complaint and seek a refund on my ticket.”
More at 8:35 p.m., 8:47 p.m., 9:21 p.m., 11:22 p.m.
Two nights later, U2 played in Seattle’s CenturyLink Field. Wrote another fan, at 9:37 a.m. on May 22: “Got into the stadium in less than 30 minutes. They also did credit card entry.”
At 8:59 a.m. the next day, another complainant said security gave up and stopped checking bags or people for weapons.
“What if something had happened at your venue holding 40,000 innocent concert goers? After what just happened in Manchester [outside an Ariana Grande concert], you ‘building operators’ should be ashamed of yourselves and by the grace of god thankful that nothing happened that night.”
Among the sea of complaints, a few commendations.
“I know you had a mare of an evening last night, so I just wanted to pass on our thanks as a family for ensuring a reserved ticket and the availability of the [CENSORED],” wrote one at 11:32 a.m. on May 13. “We got in easily, had a Golf Kart to the elevators and ready to see Mumford and Sons, which pleased half (!) the family.”
Another, at 11:58 a.m. “I just wanted to express appreciation to your organization and staff for last night. Regardless of the frustration, when the issue of what was occurring was realized it was quickly resolved by allowing people in and removing the restrictions that had caused the mess outside the gates. For that….thank you.”
By the start of July, BC Place offered those fans that complained $50 Ticketmaster gift cards per U2 ticket, plus free admission to a Vancouver Whitecaps or B.C. Lions game and a $20 food and beverage voucher.
A statement to theBreaker from stadium management said B.C. Place won’t use the credit card entry system again, until it and Ticketmaster are both “confident it is able to accommodate the needs of the venue and its guests.”
A technicolour Joshua Tree during In God’s Country (Mackin)
B.C. Place since hosted concerts headlined by Metallica, Guns ’n Roses and Coldplay and Canada Soccer and Rugby Canada events without similar access problems.
U2 had previously played BC Place in 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2009 and it is not known when or if the Irish band will play there again.
U2 begins the 2018 eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE arena tour on May 2 in Tulsa.
San Jose is the closest tour stop scheduled to Vancouver.
theBreaker originally requested the documents May 29. PavCo said it would respond by July 11, but invoked a delay to Aug. 23. It finally sent the documents on Dec. 1.
Jinny Sims, the NDP minister responsible for government FOI, was ordered in July by Premier John Horgan to “improve response and processing times for freedom of information requests.”
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U2 Complaints BCPC-507 Part 1 of 2 by BobMackin on Scribd
U2 Complaints BCPC-507 Part 2 of 2 by BobMackin on Scribd
Bob Mackin It was supposed to be Vancouver’s
It’s Dec. 23. Festivus is here! To get you in the mood, theBreaker presents a podcast analyzing and celebrating the Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength in British Columbia in 2017.
All the regular features plus an interview with Mario Canseco, vice-president of InsightsWest, who has the finger on the pulse of grievance-airing-British Columbians, year-round.
Miss an episode of theBreaker.news Podcast? Click here.
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It's Dec. 23. Festivus is here! To
Bob Mackin
Odd times at the Mother Corp. on the Left Coast.
Richard Zussman is now the ex-CBC reporter at the British Columbia Legislature, after being fired for co-writing a book about the sensational 2017 transition from the BC Liberals to the NDP with a reporter from a competing media company, Postmedia’s Rob Shaw. Zussman hasn’t spoken publicly and CBC has only vaguely addressed the controversy, claiming the termination was not “simply for co-authoring a book.” CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson said there were breaches of the code of conduct, conflict of interest and the collective bargaining agreement.
If not for this, Zussman would most certainly have reported from Victoria on the momentous Dec. 11 announcement that the NDP government would carry-on with the BC Liberal-started Site C dam, now estimated to cost BC Hydro ratepayers $10.7 billion.
CBC Vancouver News, Dec. 11, 2017. (CBC)
One of those happy with the decision was Bill Tieleman, the former NDP strategist, part-time media commentator and West Star Communications public relations consultant and lobbyist. CBC called upon him, along with BC Liberal pundit Alise Mills, for its B.C. Political Panel on the 6 p.m. Vancouver News with anchor Dan Burritt.
The segment began 38 minutes into the telecast. Tieleman and Mills agreed for once — that Premier John Horgan made the right decision to keep building the dam.
Burritt, however, did not mention one of the major reasons why Tieleman is pro-Site C.
Tieleman is a registered lobbyist for several labour unions that will benefit from the decision. He was involved in the public relations campaign for the pro-Site C Allied Hydro Council of B.C.
Tieleman’s registration with the Office of the Registry of Lobbyists for the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers – Local 118 described the objective to “Promote the creation and protection of private sector jobs, economic development and fair labour laws in regard to BC Hydro, Site C dam project and other infrastructure.”
The omission of the disclosure from the TV newscast was in stark contrast to the disclosure made on the earlier broadcast of CBC Radio One’s On the Coast with Stephen Quinn.
Host Quinn said this about Tieleman’s pro-Site C interests: “I will mention as well that Bill does communications work for some of the groups, including the B.C. Building Trades Council which represents construction unions, which are in favour of the Site C dam. So Bill does carry with him a particular point of view when it comes to this.”
Tieleman told theBreaker that he was not aware why there was no similar disclosure on the TV newscast or what the CBC TV policy is. “But I am, of course, willing to disclose anything they feel is pertinent to viewers,” he said.
Burritt’s Dec. 12 clarification about Tieleman’s pro-Site C work (CBC)
News director Wayne Williams told theBreaker: “We should have known that and shared the information with our audience so that they could understand that context for how Mr. Tieleman responded.”
Burritt offered a clarification on the Dec. 12 newscast: “In the interest of complete transparency, we failed to tell you at that time last night that Bill Tieleman has also done lobbying and communications work for groups including the Allied Hydro Council and some of its affiliated unions which are in favour of Site C.”
Tieleman, who was the director of communications in Premier Glen Clark’s office in 1996, has 15 active registrations with the ORL to lobby Horgan and others in the NDP government on behalf of clients in the business, labour, health and cultural sectors: locals 115 and 963 of the International Union of Operating Engineers; Construction and Specialized Workers Union local 1611; International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada; Union of Canadian Transportation Employees; locals 111, 333 and 2200 of Unifor; Ironworkers Union Shop Local 712; Canadian Football League Players’ Association; Vancouver Native Housing Society; B.C. Naturopathic Association; CRM of Canada Processing; and Landcor Data Corp.
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Bob Mackin Odd times at the Mother Corp.
Bob Mackin
Internal TransLink documents obtained by theBreaker strongly suggest the estimated costs for three Metro Vancouver transportation megaprojects have skyrocketed and the agency is grappling with how and when to break the news to the public.
Document obtained by theBreaker confirms TransLink and Metro Vancouver mayors are keeping secrets about megaproject costs.
The 2015-adjusted estimates were $2.53 billion for light rail transit in Surrey, $2.28 billion for a subway under Broadway and $1.1 billion to replace the 80-year-old Pattullo Bridge. Documents released to theBreaker on Dec. 11 under the freedom of information law confirm that the costs were further updated in 2016 and given secretly to the Mayors’ Council, “but not publicly released.” Further estimates were crafted this year.
A March 9, 2017 communications plan said the cost pressures include rising real estate prices, inflationary pressures on contractors and a Canadian dollar that is lower in value than when the estimates were made for the regional mayors’ $8.08 billion, 10-year plan in 2014.
Specifically, the Broadway project is feeling increased pressure because of geotechnical assessment. The cost of an operations and maintenance facility is adding pressure to the Surrey-Newton-Guildford phase of Surrey LRT, along with utility relocation and the rising cost of land to accommodate corridor widths.
The communications document indicated that TransLink was planning to hold media briefings to provide in-depth information about the projects, business cases and updated costs. It contemplated holding a major media event in conjunction with the B.C. and federal governments. Development was underway on project websites and social media content, it said, was shared with mayors and the province.
Project cost estimates were censored from January updates to the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund steering board. The documents did show that more than $11.6 million had been spent on the Broadway project and $15.2 million on Surrey. Other documents warn that every year of delay adds $300 million to $500 million to capital costs.
An April 2 email from Sany Zein, TransLink’s infrastructure management and engineering vice-president, to TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond did not show dollar figures, but it said “the project inflation numbers are higher than recent GDP growth and higher than general recent inflationary growth; so some level of ‘hot market’ inflation is accounted for.
“The contingency percentages have been getting lower as the design definition improves. If interest during construction and internal labour charges are excluded from the gross total, the contingency value would represent a higher percentage.”
Inflation was estimated at 3.5% per annum for construction and 2.5% for systems prior to contract award, 2.5% for construction and systems during construction and 2.5% for management and professional services.
Donald Trapp, the ParternshipsBC project director, wrote April 7 to Zein that contingency estimates for construction costs ranged from 19% for Surrey-Newton-Guildford to 25% for Pattullo. Trapp also offered some optimism.
“Cost inflation for heavy civil does not follow residential/commercial domestic market trends,” Trapp wrote. “Major projects attract contractors and consortia from around the world, and some areas (think Europe) the outlook is not secure; our projects will be very attractive.
“Cost control is achieved through proper management of the scope and schedule throughout the project from inception to substantial completion.”
TransLink’s Sany Zein
Final business cases were supposed to be completed and submitted for approval to the NDP government this fall. The documents estimated that, pending funding confirmation, construction work on all three projects could be underway by 2019. Pattullo and Surrey-Newton-Guildford could be completed in 2023 and Broadway in 2024.
An update on major capital projects is on the agenda for the Dec. 14 board of directors meeting at TransLink headquarters in Sapperton. It will be the swansong for Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner, who were replaced as the Mayors’ Council-appointed directors last week.
The region’s mayors chose Burnaby’s Derek Corrigan to replace Robertson as chair and North Vancouver District’s Richard Walton to replace Hepner as vice-chair.
Corrigan, a pragmatic, longtime NDP member, suggested that smaller municipalities are growing anxious.
“Both Gregor Robertson and Linda Hepner were very much focused on the big projects in their cities, so I think there was a feeling that maybe there would be a little more regional perspective if they got people in that were from more neutral ground,” Corrigan told the Burnaby Now.
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FOI TransLink Megaprojects TheBreaker by BobMackin on Scribd
Bob Mackin Internal TransLink documents obtained by theBreaker strongly
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
