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Business, News

Briefly: Public outcry keeps Lisa Southern’s city hall watchdog office open

Bob Mackin

At a special meeting on Sept. 25, ABC Coun. Lenny Zhou tried to rescind his July 24 motion aimed at pausing Lisa Southern’s investigations, pending a review of her office. However, for procedural reasons, the best Zhou could do was ask to recess the meeting until April 9.

Vancouver integrity commissioner Lisa Southern (SBP)

“Over the past two months, I think I heard a loud and clear from the residents of Vancouver that they do not want to see this amendment move forward, and I agree with them,” said Zhou, who vowed to cooperate with Southern. .

The rest of council, including Mayor Ken Sim, unanimously agreed with Zhou.

Coun. Christine Boyle, who is running for the NDP in Vancouver-Little Mountain, and Coun. Rebecca Bligh were absent.

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“I, too, have heard from Vancouverites that the pause is not something that they want, and like everything else, we do listen to the residents of Vancouver quite a bit,” Sim said. “So to be clear, I’m unable to speak to the item and vote at this time, but I do think that councillor Zhou’s motion to recess today’s business is the correct path forward.”

The Sept. 25 meeting was adjourned from Aug. 6, when Sim blamed Green Coun. Pete Fry for filing a complaint to Southern’s office in the wake of two integrity commissioner reports issued Aug. 2.

ABC Mayor Ken Sim (YouTube)

In the first report, Southern dismissed a complaint from Sim’s top two aides against two Park Board commissioners no longer with Sim’s ABC party, Scott Jensen and Brennan Bastyovanszky. One of the park board commissioner’s complained that Sim used chief of staff Trevor Ford and senior advisor David Grewal to meddle in the selection of the Park Board chair before Sim announced that he wants provincial government permission to abolish the elected park board.

In a second decision dated Aug. 2, Southern dismissed Bastyovanszky’s December and April complaints of retaliation on a technicality.

Southern said the Code of Conduct Bylaw does not apply to Ford and Grewal, because they are politically appointed civic employees.

However, a template of the Mayor’s Office Staff contract, obtained by theBreaker.news, includes a clause that states the employee is “subject to and will comply with all policies applying to exempt employees of the City, including but not limited to the Code of Conduct.”

Neither Ford nor Grewal responded for comment.

Last February, Southern ordered Sim be reprimanded and requested to write a letter of apology to the third former ABC Park Board commissioner, Laura Christensen, for excluding her from a Dec. 5 meeting about his plan to abolish the Park Board. Sim publicly announced his plan the next day.

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Briefly: Public outcry keeps Lisa Southern's city

Business, News

Briefly: Former BC United Surrey South MLA Sturko, who is seeking the seat in Surrey-Cloverdale, alleges that Parm Kahlon’s Core Firm was not registered to represent its client Renewal Development and that her brother, Minister Ravi Kahlon, has publicly promoted the company.

Bob Mackin

Conservative candidate Elenore Sturko has complained to the Registrar of Lobbyists, alleging a company co-founded by the NDP housing minister’s sister has broken the law.

In a Sept. 25 letter, Sturko wants registrar Michael Harvey to investigate the Kahlon siblings and Glyn Lewis, the founder of Renewal.

Ravi (right) and Parm Kahlon (Twitter)

Sturko’s complaint includes a clip from an April 2 report on Global News about Renewal’s work with developer Wesgroup Properties to relocate houses in Port Moody.

“This public endorsement of a client represented by his sibling’s firm warrants scrutiny, particularly to ensure compliance with the Lobbyist Transparency Act and to maintain public trust in the impartiality of government decision-making processes,” Sturko wrote.

Sturko’s letter said Harvey should investigate whether Ravi Kahlon has met or communicated with Renewal or Core Firm about Renewal, the terms of the contract between Renewal and Core, why Ravi Kahlon endorsed the company and whether he has ever referred companies he deals with in government to Core as potential clients.

Neither Ravi Kahlon nor Lewis have responded to theBreaker.news for comment.

Parm Kahlon did not return a phone message, but Core sent an email statement that said the Renewal work “did not involve government relations or interactions with the Government of B.C. The scope of the work was related to the private sector.”

“We value our personal and professional reputations as women who act with integrity. We will protect our reputations through all legal remedies available to us.”

On X, formerly Twitter, Ravi Kahlon called Sturko’s complaint “false and desperate.”

“The housing company in question does not do work with government,” Kahlon posted.

Responded Sturko: “This isn’t a minor technicality—it’s potentially a direct conflict of interest that Kahlon is trying to sweep under the rug.”

Parm Kahlon was registered as a lobbyist in B.C. for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1518 while working as executive director from 2019 to 2023. She previously spent four years as an aide to Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley.

Parm Kahlon formed Core in May with Nikki Hill, a former NDP campaign manager and veteran Earnscliffe Strategy Group lobbyist, and Opreet Kang, an NDP patronage appointee to the Fraser Health board and elected member of the Vancity Credit Union Board.

On its website, Renewal described its business to save single family houses from demolition, by relocating and repurposing them “for communities in need.”

“We do this in partnership with Nickel Bros., one of the largest and most reputable moving companies in North America,” the website said.

One of its higher-profile jobs was the 2023 relocation of the 1912-built Henry Hudson Elementary schoolhouse from Kitsilano to a Squamish Nation reserve in North Vancouver, where it became a Squamish language learning centre.

Sturko’s allegations, on the way to the Oct. 19 election day, could shine more light on the evolution of lobbying under the NDP.

Elenore Sturko (left) with fellow Conservative candidate Tim Thielmann (X/Sturko)

After the NDP came to power in 2017, Premier John Horgan’s government banned corporate and union donations and capped individuals to giving $1,200-a-year, a rate that has risen with inflation.

Then-Attorney-General, now-Premier David Eby imposed a two-year, post-employment ban on lobbying by former senior provincial public office holders. But the law does not cover junior officials or former party officials. Nor does the B.C. government have its own code of ethics for lobbyists.

“Federally, there’s an ethics code, you can’t do anything to place the public officeholder in a real or apparent conflict of interest,” DemocracyWatch co-founder Duff Conacher said in a 2022 interview. “So it doesn’t matter how the conflict of interest is generated, just can’t do it. One of the things that generates conflict of interest is helping someone get elected.”

Early on, the NDP’s corporate fundraiser, Rob Nagai, left the party office to join Bluestone Group, the firm run by veteran BC Liberal lobbyist Mark Jiles.

Horgan speechwriter Danielle Dalzell quit to join Earnscliffe Strategy Group in April 2020, but returned to government as executive director of cabinet priorities in February 2023.

In 2022, ex-NDP president Craig Keating joined former party executive directors Michael Gardiner and Raj Sihota at Strategies 360.

Veteran lobbyist Jeffrey Ferrier was the Ministry of Health’s executive director of communications for almost a year, but joined Hill and Knowlton in 2022. He co-founded Framepoint Public Affairs in 2023 with longtime federal Liberal lobbyist Brittney Kerr.

Amanda van Baarsen, who was Minister of Health Adrian Dix’s senior aide, joined Counsel Public Affairs in 2022 as the associate vice-president for Western Canada. She was reunited with Jean-Marc Prevost, Dr. Bonnie Henry’s scriptwriter until he quit in early 2021, under Counsel partner and longtime NDP insider Brad Lavigne.

Liam Iliffe was an aide in Premier John Horgan’s office and government communications from 2017 to 2022. The husband of Horgan’s press secretary, Sheena McConnell, went to work for TC Energy, the company behind the Coastal GasLink pipeline to feed the LNG Canada plant in Kitimat.

He resigned from TC Energy in June after the Narwhal reported on a leaked video in which Iliffe outlined tactics to influence government decision-making.

Conacher said the NDP reforms did not go far enough, because there are still more loopholes than solid rules.

“They need to be turned into solid rules that prohibit people from giving an advantage and essentially selling access and information that they learned while they were supposedly serving the public,” Conacher said.

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Briefly: Former BC United Surrey South MLA

Business, News

Briefly: Cost of living, housing and healthcare were the top priorities. A majority of the 2,005 respondents to a Leger poll in late November 2023 said David Eby’s government was on the wrong track.

Bob Mackin

It is a blueprint for the B.C. NDP’s 2024 re-election campaign and you paid for it.

The Dec. 22, 2023, confidential report for cabinet, by polling agency Leger, gauged the opinions of 2,005 British Columbians (with a margin of error of error plus/minus 2.18%). The omnibus survey was released under the freedom of information law.

(Leger/GCPE)

Cost of living, housing and healthcare, in that order, were top-of-mind in the survey, which was conducted in the last week of November. Almost six-in-10 respondents felt the province was on the wrong track and 55% felt that Premier David Eby’s government was on the wrong track.

“Those more likely to feel the province is on the right track include men, Fraser Valley residents, and British Columbians with higher incomes (above $70,000),” the report said.

The poll found trust in government and public organizations to be “moderate to low.”

On healthcare, only 18% gave the government positive ratings, “while nearly half (49%) believe that it is doing a poor job.”

“Just under half (44%) say that while there are barriers to access, they can often get what they need. This suggests there is an opportunity to reduce barriers to accessing health care.”

Only 13% believed the province was doing a good job dealing with mental health and addictions.

On the NDP government’s efforts to make life more affordable, almost two-thirds (65%) gave negative ratings.

“B.C. households spend, on average, around $4,159 (mean) on major household expenses with the majority of this allocated to housing/shelter. One-third (34%) of British Columbians could not cover an unexpected $500 expense.”

How severe is the affordability crisis? It showed up in questions about sports and recreation.

“Almost one-third (29%) of British Columbians say their ability to participate in sports/sporting events in their community has been reduced due to cost-of-living pressures, while one-in-five (19%) say their ability to access these public recreation facilities and programming has been reduced.”

Almost two-thirds (63%) felt the government was doing a poor job on housing issues.

Awareness of new rules to regulate short term rentals and increase density on single family lots was moderate to high, at 74% and 70%, respectively.

But those were not the most-popular moves.

“The most supported actions for the B.C. government to take on housing include cracking down on criminal activity in the housing market (88% agree it is a good idea) and investing in new co-op and other non-market (81%).”

Where did the NDP’s performance garner applause?

Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples (36% positive), keeping kids safe (30%), and supporting new economic sectors (28%).

However, the report pointed out, reconciliation with Indigenous people was also the lowest priority of respondents.

“Improving health care and life/housing affordability continues to be what British Columbians want the B.C. government to focus on most.”

Hence, the NDP’s messaging en route to the Oct. 19 provincial election.

Carson Binda, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation, said the NDP should not be charging taxpayers for such a survey. Nor should there be a $10 charge to obtain a copy under FOI — the federal government publishes its survey reports.

(Leger/GCPE)

Under the FOI law, Binda found that the NDP government paid $453,000 for 13 market research projects by five companies between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024. Four of them by Leger, totalling $136,000.

“If the Premier is going to be doing partisan polling, that should come out of the NDP’s coffers. We shouldn’t be sticking taxpayers with the bill,” Binda said in an interview.

Binda called the Government Communications and Public Engagement department a “research wing of the provincial NDP.”

“The government shouldn’t be using taxpayer dollars to give themselves an unfair advantage in the election.”

Others contracted by GCPE during the period included: Research Co., $152,000 for three surveys (multilanguage, gig economy and Surrey survey); McAllister, $89,000 for two cost of living polls; Environics, $65,000 for three multilanguage surveys; and Strategic Communications, for an $11,000 project called “in-person consultations —engagement strategy.”

Dead heat

In a poll released before the Sept. 21 writ day, Research Co’s Mario Canseco found Eby’s NDP and the John Rustad-led Conservatives were in a statistical tie, 44% to 42%, after Kevin Falcon withdrew BC United from the election in late August.

Way back in January, it looked as if the NDP was on the road to another majority win.

“It could ultimately come down to a very close election, specifically in areas where the Conservatives can grow,” Canseco said on theBreaker.news Podcast. “Maybe they can win a couple of seats in northern and central Vancouver Island, start to run the numbers a little bit more in the Fraser Valley, where the NDP won seven of nine seats in 2020. Now a lot of those seats seem to be up for grabs.”

CLICK HERE to hear more from Mario Canseco on the Sept. 22 edition of theBreaker.news Podcast — the race to Oct. 19 is on.

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Briefly: Cost of living, housing and healthcare

Opinion

For the week of  Sept. 22, 2024:

A double dose of democracy on this week’s edition of thePodcast. 

Mario Canseco of Research Co helps host Bob Mackin set the stage for British Columbia’s 43rd provincial election. 

His latest poll says it will be a close race between David Eby’s NDP and John Rustad’s Conservatives on the way to Oct. 19. 

North Vancouver schoolteacher John O’Flynn was one of the 90 candidates who did not win last week’s federal by-election in Montreal. He explains why he did not run to win, but as a protest in favour of electoral reform. 

Plus, this week’s Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. 

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

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For the week of  Sept. 22, 2024:

Business, News

Briefly: Document about the NDP’s shelved Land Act amendments reinforces the proposed sharing of Crown land management with First Nations. 
Conservative candidate says the NDP needs to be transparent about their plans and hold a referendum.

Bob Mackin

If the NDP wins the Oct. 19 provincial election, is Premier David Eby planning to revive the shelved plan to share management of Crown lands with First Nations? 

On Sept. 19, at one of his last pre-election conferences, Eby was asked about a document that the Conservatives suggest would give First Nations the power to make Land Act decisions and for the minister responsible to supersede individual land rights. 

“No, not at all,” said Eby, who called it a conspiracy theory.

David Eby, centre, on Sept. 19 (BC Gov/Flickr)

“Bringing that approach to our relationship with Indigenous people, and the fact and the reality that Indigenous people have rights protected under the constitution of Canada, that they have repeatedly, successfully asserted in court, and that we have to work in partnership together going forward, bringing that conspiracy theory approach to say things that simply are not correct is not helpful.”

Eby, however, later conceded: “We need certainty. We need agreements. We need partnership.”

The NDP had planned to pass Land Act amendments during last spring’s sitting of the Legislature in order to share decisionmaking with Indigenous governing bodies so as to align more B.C. laws with the 2019 adoption of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

Early this year, the government slipped a summary of the proposal onto the consultation website. It did not publicize the proposal by either a news release or news conference. The BC United opposition said that is because the government wanted to ram it through the last session of the Legislature before the election with minimal debate.

Nathan Cullen, the NDP Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, downplayed the proposed changes and claimed to have discussed it with 650 people in mining, forestry, energy, ranching, tourism, hunting and fishing.

On Feb. 21, however, Cullen shelved the proposal, admitting it was contentious. 

From Proposal to enable Land Act decisions to be
made with Indigenous Governing Bodies
(Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship)

The government website includes a nine-page Feb. 14 presentation, but it differs from the 10-page, Jan. 12 version.

Scroll down to read the Jan. 12 version. 

The presentations both explain that the Land Act allows for access and use of public land for 25 separate programs from communication towers to agriculture to waterpower projects.

The February, version reiterated the legal requirement for the province to consult affected First Nations on all Land Act decisions. It also claimed that the amendments would not “lead to broad, sweeping or automatic changes.” 

“There is no impact from the proposed amendments to the public’s ability to access Crown land, to existing tenures or existing decision-making processes,” the February presentation said. 

The January version, however, contains a unique chart on a page headed Objective, which shows the stark difference between the status quo and the proposed amendments, in that “Land Act decisions could now be made by First Nation/Indigenous Governing Bodies and Minister.”

Elenore Sturko, the Conservative candidate in Surrey-Cloverdale, posted on X, formerly Twitter: “I am shocked to see Eby so blatantly lie when asked about it.” 

Sturko, originally elected in Surrey South for BC United, said the NDP proposal would see the government give land use power to First Nations governments that are not accountable to the wider electorate. 

If the NDP wants to go ahead with the amendments, Sturko said Eby should be transparent during the election and commit to holding a referendum afterward.

Eby was speaking Sept. 19 at the announcement of a $672 million public financing deal for 2,600 units of housing at the MST Development Heather Lands in Vancouver. NDP insiders Joy MacPhail and Mike Magee are both on the board of MST partner Squamish Nation’s Nch’kay Development Corp. 

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Proposal to Enable Land Act Decisions to be made with Indigenous Governing Bodies by 2010goldrush on Scribd

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Briefly: Document about the NDP’s shelved Land

News

Briefly: Renovations at BC Place Stadium for hosting the FIFA 26 World Cup include refurbishing the 2011-installed, centre-hung videoboard. The Crown corporation that runs the stadium awarded $3.4 million in contracts to two companies. 
The new videoboard will be higher definition, but not smaller. BC Lions’ punter Stefan Flintoft has struck it twice this season.

Bob Mackin 

When BC Place Stadium gets a new scoreboard, as part of renovations before the FIFA 26 World Cup, it will remain an obstacle for BC Lion Stefan Flintoft.

The centre-hung videoboard at BC Place, to be replaced in early 2025 (Mackin)

Flintoft punts have struck the centre-hung, high definition videoboard twice this season — Aug. 18 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Sept. 13 against the Toronto Argonauts — eliciting humorous reactions from Canadian Football League referee Ben Major. 

Rather than replace it with a smaller box or instal a halo-style system (like the one in Los Angeles’s SoFi Stadium), new, higher definition screens will be applied. 

“As the centre-hung videoboard is at the end of its life, PavCo is currently pursuing a display replacement, electrical adjustment, and additional input connections, while the internal infrastructure/physical support system is intended to remain the same in order to manage costs,” said Jenny McKenzie, the stadium’s senior manager of marketing and communications. 

At the end of August, B.C. Pavilion Corp. (PavCo) published a notice of direct award to ANC Sports Enterprise LLC (ASE) and Vidcom Communications. The new board will “offer improved graphics, reduced weight and lower power consumption,” said the notice of intention. 

ASE’s scope of work includes design, supply, transportation and installation of the LED board, as well as training and recycling the old equipment. Vidcom, meanwhile, will upgrade the graphic control system.

Work is expected to take five weeks before February 2025— one week for the 10-person crew to demolish the old screens and four weeks to install the four new ones. 

The total cost, before taxes, is $3.405 million.

PavCo said it chose the companies because ASE is the only authorized reseller of Lighthouse LED panels in North America and Vidcom is the authorized Canadian reseller of Chyron Hego, the hardware and software to manage video, audio and data. 

Competing suppliers had a Sept. 6 deadline to file a challenge. 

In May, PavCo chose Etro Construction of Surrey to manage the pre-World Cup renovations. When it published the request for proposals last December, PavCo wanted to begin the three-year contract as soon as February. 

PavCo also contracted RJS Construction Ltd. of Surrey on Jan. 24 for storage and office space construction on a $1.095 million contract and BLT LP on Jan. 6 for almost $630,000 to renovate the broadcast facilities. 

PavCo faces a June 30, 2025 FIFA deadline to complete all renovation or construction work. NDP tourism and sport minister Lana Popham said on April 30 that stadium renovations and tournament operations would cost taxpayers $149 million to $196 million. Works also include the installation of a natural grass pitch, upgrades to team dressing rooms and public washrooms, new, larger elevators and improved wifi. 

FIFA allotted Vancouver seven matches between June 13 and July 7, 2026. Two of them will feature the Canadian national team. Toronto and Seattle are scheduled to host six each. 

The total cost of hosting FIFA 26 has skyrocketed to between $483 million and $581 million — or $69 million to $83 million per match day. Popham blamed inflation and FIFA’s requirements, including the expansion of the 48-nation tournament in Canada, Mexico and U.S. from 80 to 104 matches.

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Briefly: Renovations at BC Place Stadium for

Business, News

Briefly: Insufficient evidence to lay charges under the Canada Elections Act, according to the Commissioner of Canada Elections after it investigated Chinese government interference in the Steveston-Richmond East 2021 campaign. 
Liberal Parm Bains benefited from groups aligned with the Chinese Communist Party to upset incumbent Conservative Kenny Chiu. 

Bob Mackin

The Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections found officials from the People’s Republic of China government gave “the impetus and direction” for the successful campaign to defeat Steveston-Richmond East Conservative MP Kenny Chiu and his party in the 2021 election. 

But investigators say they did not find enough evidence to charge anyone under the Canada Elections Act for undue foreign influence, intimidation, unregistered third party or use of foreign funds.

Parm Bains (second from right) and Chinese Canadians Goto Vote Association supporter Wu Jiaming in Steveston during the 2021 election (WeChat)

“The overall campaign was carried out and amplified via a multi-pronged and layered approach using Chinese-Canadian association individuals, Chinese-Canadian business interests as well as the pervasive social media and printed, digital and broadcast media messaging,” said the 112-page report, which was filed Sept. 17 at the Hogue Commission on foreign interference. 

The campaign was “enhanced by circumstances unique to the Chinese diaspora and the assertive nature of Chinese government interests,” it said. 

The report described a network of large Lower Mainland associations that enjoy close relations with officials of the Chinese consulate, the Consul General and United Front Work Department (UFWD), the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign intelligence and propaganda arm. The names were censored from the report, but they are understood to be the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations, Canadian Community Service Association and Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver. 

In some cases, the report said, the association leaders have participated in meetings at the presidential level in China and “are leveraged as messengers for the Consul General.”

Chinese-Canadian interview subjects told investigators of a widespread fear during 2021 that voting in a Conservative government would cause China to curtail travel to and from China and take measures against family members or business interests in China. 

“Several Chinese-Canadian interview subjects were of the view that Chinese authorities could exercise such retributive measures, and that this fear was most acute with Chinese-Canadian electors from mainland China. One said ‘everybody understands’ the need to only say nice things about China.” 

Parm Bains (foreground) and Wang Dianqi (centre) (WeChat)

The report said Chiu was targeted because he traveled to Hong Kong to observe local elections after being elected in 2019, proposed a foreign influence registry law, his party deemed China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims a genocide and his party’s 2021 election platform that promised to get tough with China. 

The Conservatives took that hawkish stance the year after the COVID-19 pandemic emerged from Wuhan. China was, at the time, holding Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor hostage while Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou lived under house arrest in her Shaughnessy mansion and fought a U.S. bid to extradite her on fraud charges. They were swapped shortly after voters returned Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party with a minority mandate.

Investigators noted two associations formed during the 2021 election period, founded by the same individuals. One intended to promote voting among Chinese-Canadians and the other intended to counter perceived Anti-Asian discrimination.

The names were not visible in the report, but are understood to be the Chinese Canadians Goto Vote Association (CCGVA) and Stop Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Advocacy Group, formed by Ivan Pak, Ally Wang and Daoping Bao. 

A heavily redacted section describes members of CCGVA holding a “small rally” before election day in Steveston’s Garry Point Park that was attended by Liberal candidate Parm Bains, who upset Chiu by 3,477 votes in the election.

Richmond Conservative Kenny Chiu says a story on WeChat is wrong (CCN Media)

One of the individuals wearing a CCGVA shirt “is reported to be a United Front activist.” Though he is not named in the body of the report, a footnote mentions Wang Dianqi by his last name as someone with influence and “ready access” to the consulate and People’s Liberation Army. It said he has met twice with China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping. 

“The presence of Bains and his signs led to the possibility that [named association] may have been acting as an unregistered third party and involved in partisan activities regulated by the Act and which would have required them to register as a third party,” the report said. 

However, investigators concluded they did not have enough evidence to charge CCGVA. 

“Our review did not identify information or evidence to suggest that an expenditure of $500 or more was incurred by either the (censored) although we believe the interaction with Parm Bains was coordinated and not coincidental,” the report said. 

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Briefly: Insufficient evidence to lay charges under

News

Briefly: Hong Xu was banned for driving for five years and fined $2,000 for driving without due care and attention in August 2022. Her SUV struck and killed two people at a wedding party in West Vancouver and injured seven others. 
The injured and relatives of the dead cannot sue, due to the NDP’s May 2021 move to no-fault auto insurance. 
Bob Mackin

The driver of the SUV that struck and killed two people and injured seven others at a West Vancouver wedding party more than two years ago was banned from driving for five years. 

In North Vancouver Provincial Court on Sept. 17, Hong Xu, 66, was also fined $2,000 for driving without due care and attention. Investigators determined she accidentally stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake, so she was charged under the Motor Vehicle Act.

North Vancouver Provincial Court (B.C. Courthouse Libraries)

Because Xu avoided being charged under the Criminal Code, victims and relatives of the deceased cannot file a civil lawsuit due to the NDP government’s move to a no-fault insurance system in May 2021.

Judge Rita Bowry agreed to the joint sentencing proposal from Crown and defence lawyers, which also includes a $300 maximum victim fine surcharge. 

Bowry cautioned that the sentence “is not, nor should it be, a reflection of the value of the lives lost or injured and nothing I say or do can truly capture the magnitude of the loss or restore families to the way they were before the tragic events of Aug. 20, 2022.”

The judge said it was in Xu’s favour that she pleaded guilty early in the proceedings and spared the victims and witnesses a “long and harrowing trial.”

“The driving ban also sends a message to the public that driving is not a right but a privilege,” Bowry said.

She said that Xu stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake near her Keith Road and Keith Place residence, sending her Range Rover SUV to collide with two stone pillars before it struck several victims at a wedding party and stopped on top of an ornamental courtyard fountain. 

Annie Kong, 67, and Lieu Nguyen, 62, died. The seven other victims ranged in age from a year-old infant to someone in their mid-70s. 

Bowry said Xu, a Canadian citizen, has no criminal record and a modest driving record, but had voluntarily stopped driving. 

A day earlier, Xu, who has dyed blonde, shoulder length hair, apologized in Mandarin, through an English translator, that she was “heartbroken for the misery” she caused.

“She will always face the stigma of the unmeasurable harm done,” Bowry said.

“She has become withdrawn and socially avoided since the accident. She accepts without hesitation whatever the court decision will be and does not ask for any accommodation.”

Bowry said that Xu had instructed her lawyer, Ian Donaldson, “to make amends with those involved,” but did not specify any dollar amount offered to the victims’ families.

Outside the court, Kong’s daughter, Joanna Moy, said Xu’s sentence was unjust. 

“She should’ve gotten at least a lifetime drivers licence ban,” May said.

At the time of the incident, Xu was involved with Westgem Communities Development Ltd., a company touting a proposal to build the 20-acre, N2W mixed use development near the Richmond Olympic Oval. 

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Briefly: Hong Xu was banned for driving

Business, News, Opinion

For the week of  Sept. 15, 2024:

On the way to B.C.’s Oct. 19 election, David Eby’s NDP government issued a secret order to the province’s forestry policing service. 

In a nutshell, it says do not investigate government wrongdoing. 

It became public because of Bryce Casavant, a former forestry investigator and conservation officer. He exposed what is officially called “General Order #5” in a story for the TheConversation.com. 

He says it compromises those who are responsible for upholding laws to protect the province’s environment and economy. 

“It’s an unlawful order,” Casavant told thePodcast host Bob Mackin. “It should be rescinded immediately.”

Bryce Casavant lectures at Royal Roads University’s School of Humanitarian Studies about legal aspects of environmental management. He is Mackin’s guest on this edition of thePodcast. 

Plus, this week’s Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. 

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

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For the week of  Sept. 15, 2024:

Business, Culture, News

Briefly: In August, the Chartered Professional Accountants of B.C. cancelled Anwar Chaudhry’s membership for misconduct, including signing false and misleading documents and associating with unlawful activity. 
The organization investigated Chaudhry after learning of an RCMP probe. The names of the companies and their principals were censored from the decision.

Bob Mackin 

The former chief financial officer of the Destination Canada Crown corporation is no longer a chartered professional accountant after the industry’s governing body found he signed false and misleading documents and associated with unlawful activity. 

The Chartered Professional Accountants of B.C. (CPABC) cancelled Anwar Chaudhry’s membership in an Aug. 7 decision. A three-member panel, headed by Rozmin Sayani, said Chaudhry did not attend a hearing nor did he contest allegations that he violated the Code of Professional Conduct.

Anwar Chaudhry

“His conduct was not only unprofessional, it was grossly reckless,” said the ruling, which was posted on the CPABC website after an inquiry from a reporter. “And his lack of recognition and responsibility for the consequences of his conduct, coupled with his lack of cooperation with the CPABC, make him unfit to be a member of the profession.”

CPABC also fined Chaudhry $25,000 for committing six violations of the Code of Conduct and ordered him to pay costs to be determined for the hearing and investigation.

CPABC said the misconduct centred around Chaudhry’s signing of financial statements and documents as CFO of companies that he was not associated with. He also knew the statements and documents would be shown to potential investors and he knew, or should have known, they were false and misleading. 

The partially censored decision said that CPABC received information from the RCMP about an investigation. In 2022, Chaudhry met with the president and CEO of a company, whose name was redacted. Although he had no previous involvement, Chaudhry signed undated, 12-month revenue forecasts for two companies with his CPA.CA designation and CFO title. 

The forecasts projected monthly revenue of $135 million and total revenue of nearly $2.3 billion. Chaudhry also signed a profit and loss statement that forecast $5.52 million total revenue. 

Yet, he had not reviewed the records and did not inquire about the backgrounds of the principals. 

Also, he “had no objective basis from verifiable financial records to support the forecasts, did not verify the calculations or the sources of the stated revenue, did not recognize those sources were controlled by the president of [redacted], and expressed no concern for the potential risk of fraud in connection with the use of the forecasts.”

The panel said Chaudhry was told the documents he signed were intended for potential investors and, if the investments materialized, he could become the company’s CFO.

“On receiving information from the RCMP about its investigation into [redacted] and its interview of the member, in which the member admitted signing the revenue forecasts as a CPA.CA and the CFO of the companies, the CPABC sent the member a detailed letter asking for his comments. The member did not respond.”

Chaudhry’s name does not appear in B.C.’s online criminal court registry. 

Chaudhry did send email to the CPABC, to say that he “trusted these individuals and these were just a few spreadsheet numbers that I signed to say they add up, as presented, and nothing more. This was not a projection or pro forma statement.”

“But any rational individual would know those were not adequate for investment purposes,” he wrote.

Chaudhry denied receiving any remuneration. The CPABC member since 1985 also called it a mistake to put his name on the statements.

Anita Ballantyne‑Berthier, spokesperson for Destination Canada, said Chauhry “ceased working” for it in August 2023. 

“Any questions regarding the decision made by CPABC should be directed to them,” Ballantyne‑Berthier said.

Chaudhry joined Destination Canada, formerly known as the Canadian Tourism Commission, in 2017. He previously spent 19 years with ICBC and eight months with BC Transit before two years with Pacific Northern Gas Ltd.

The Chaudhry decision came in the wake of Business in Vancouver feature stories in July about CPABC’s tendency to withhold names of members who are subject to discipline. 

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Briefly: In August, the Chartered Professional Accountants

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