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Bob Mackin

The Crown corporation in charge of driver licensing in B.C. is blaming a software problem for a backlog.

ICBC’s North Vancouver headquarters (LinkedIn)

Drivers who have renewed their license this summer have told theBreaker.news that they were advised of a delay of up to three months. One said that he was told by an ICBC driver licensing centre employee on Vancouver’s Westside that there had been an influx of driving tests in May and June. 

ICBC spokesperson Greg Harper said a recent software upgrade created a processing and printing backlog and frontline employees have advised drivers applying for cards about the potential delay. 

“We are working through the backlog and aim to have it cleared before the end of the summer,” Harper said. “Until we clear the backlog, drivers could experience a delay in receiving their license, however they are able to use their interim driver’s licenses, which are valid for 90 days.”

B.C. identification (ICBC)

Those interim licences, he said, are stamped with red ink to highlight the possibility of delay. 

The ICBC website includes a card status tracking page, to find out if a card is on its way or still being processed. 

In 2023, ICBC conducted 383,191 road tests and 382,757 knowledge tests, up from 254,912 and 267,092, respectively, in 2019. In 2019, 132,564 graduated licence program learners. In 2023, it was 154,494. 

Also last year, ICBC reported more than 3.9 million active driver licenses, including 2.92 million in class 5. The Lower Mainland is home to 1.75 million class 5 holders. 

In 2019, the number of active licenses across the province was almost 3.6 million, of which 2.7 million were class 5. 

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Bob Mackin The Crown corporation in charge of

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Bob Mackin (Updated Aug. 1, 2024)

Conservative Party of B.C. leader John Rustad told theBreaker.news that he met with personnel from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) about foreign interference in early July.

Conservative Party of B.C. leader John Rustad (Facebook)

Rustad said CSIS contacted him for the briefing. 

“I spent about an hour or so talking to them about issues. But I won’t talk any further about what we discussed,” Rustad said. 

“They provided me with the information that they were able to provide me with.”

Eric Balsam, spokesperson for CSIS, told theBreaker.news that the agency does not “confirm or discuss specific engagements for reasons of privacy.”

He said CSIS provides briefings to elected officials at all levels of government and across party lines to help them identify foreign interference and take measures to protect personal safety.  CSIS is also a member of the B.C. Elections Integrity Working Group with the offices of the Chief Information Officer, Deputy Minister to the Premier, Registrar of Lobbyists and Information and Privacy Commissioner, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and RCMP. 

Rustad was responding to a reporter’s questions about Richmond-North Centre MLA Teresa Wat leaving BC United on July 30 to run as the Conservative candidate in the new Richmond-Bridgeport riding in the Oct. 19 election. The announcement came the same day that a Research Co. poll pegged the Kevin Falcon-led BC United as the fourth-place party among decided voters, with only 9% support. 

“I’m quite concerned about foreign influence in elections, in particular in British Columbia, and not just from China,” said Rustad, a former aboriginal relations and forestry minister. “There’s foreign influence from numerous jurisdictions, including United States.”

Rustad said his party “did not do any extensive vetting” on Wat, a fellow cabinet minister from 2013 to 2017 under then-BC Liberal premier Christy Clark. He also said he cannot comment on Wat’s frequent attendance at events hosted by or in the honour of the People’s Republic of China. 

Wat has yet to respond for comment. She is the fifth MLA elected as a BC Liberal to defect to the Conservatives.

Rustad called Wat “a very passionate person, very passionate about democracy, very passionate about her riding and about this province. And that’s all I can ask anybody to be.”

Wat and Clark with donors, including realtor Layla Yang and online banker Shenglin Xian (Yang)

Wat, a former Chinese-language media manager, was the Minister of International Trade and Minister Responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy and Multiculturalism under Clark. She travelled to China, acted as liaison with Chinese government officials and was a driving force in B.C. government efforts to woo investment from state-owned conglomerate China Poly Group, Union Mobile Pay (China) and Huawei.

In May 2016, Wat and Clark hosted Hu Chunhua, the top the top Chinese Communist Party official in Guangdong province and a member of the Central Committee’s Politburo.

As an opposition MLA, Wat was the critic for trade, tourism, arts and culture and anti-racism initiatives. In January and February 2023, Wat attended Lunar New Year banquets where she was recorded singing the Chinese national anthem, “March of the Volunteers.” 

At a Feb. 5, 2023 gala at the River Rock Casino Resort’s show theatre, Wat sat at the VIP table with Consul General Yang Shu and was surrounded by supporters of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations. The Richmond-based business and cultural coalition is aligned with the consulate’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, which promotes the CCP’s United Front propaganda campaign. 

Asked if there was any concern about Wat’s relationship with the Chinese government and its allies, Rustad said “he has not heard any.”

“I’ve asked her in discussions in the past, and I wasn’t aware, and I’m not aware of any concerns there,” Rustad said. 

CSIS has yet to respond for comment. 

In June, NDP Premier David Eby appealed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau so that provincial officials could receive the same detailed CSIS briefings given to federal officials.

David Eby (left) and Guo Ding in 2018 (John Yap/Twitter)

“We’ve had a state-level actor attack our computer systems in the heart of government operations,” said Eby at a June 18 news conference in North Vancouver. “We’ve had ex-pat populations from Iran, from Ukraine, from China say that they are being harassed and are facing issues of interference from foreign governments here in B.C.”

Balsam said Bill C-70 amendments to the CSIS Act enable disclosure of information to individuals and organizations outside the federal government.

The Foreign Interference Commission, under Quebec judge Marie-Josee Hogue, confirmed that China meddled in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians reported that members of parliament have colluded with foreign countries, including China. The names of elected officials with divided loyalties were not released. 

Meanwhile, a former NDP by-election candidate married to ex-Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart has exited the Vancouver-Yaletown nomination contest. Jeanette Ashe alleged in an email to supporters that the “nomination process has been compromised and the playing field is not level.” 

Vancouver Police Insp. Terry Yung, husband of Vancouver city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung, is being courted by the NDP to run in the new riding. Yung announced his retirement from the force in a July 31 message on X, formerly Twitter. 

Yung has a history of socializing with Chinese diplomats in Vancouver, is past chair of Vancouver’s SUCCESS charity (with offices in Beijing and Guangzhou) and trained police officers from Mainland China through the Justice Institute of B.C.

The Globe and Mail reported last year that, in early 2022, China’s then-Consul General, Tong Xiaoling, allegedly discussed a strategy to replace pro-Taiwan Stewart with a Chinese-Canadian candidate. Ken Sim of the ABC Vancouver party eventually defeated Stewart in a landslide. 

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Bob Mackin (Updated Aug. 1, 2024) Conservative Party

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Bob Mackin 

A former city councillor is slamming Vancouver city hall for hiding the names and titles of the bureaucrats who run the $2 billion-a-year government. 

On June 24, city hall quietly removed the staff directory from the website.

Vancouver city hall (Mackin)

A heavily censored, two-page document, obtained under freedom of information, blamed “increased harassment and threats to individual staff (within parking enforcement, park rangers and planning) and elected officials” for recommending the end of what was known as the “QuickFind” list and search engine. 

There is no evidence visible in the document about any harassment or threat. 

“These people are public servants, their salaries are paid by the public, they need to be public,” said Colleen Hardwick, who spent four years on city council before finishing third in the 2022 mayoral election with TEAM for a Livable Vancouver. “I question whether this is a political decision or a staff decision. Yes, ABC are the political brand du jour, but I rather suspect this is a staff move.”

Colleen Hardwick (Mackin)

The document showed that staff compared the websites of only two other area governments, Metro Vancouver — which “only provides info centre contact” — and City of Surrey — which “lists general dept/team emails; may not have a centralized contact centre similar to 3-1-1.”

theBreaker.news found Toronto and Edmonton both include staff directories on their websites. 

Toronto’s is listed under the heading “Staff Directory, Divisions and Customer Service,” with downloadable staff lists, links to customer service standards for each department and complaints and compliments forms. 

The B.C., Alberta and federal governments also maintain dedicated online staff directories. 

Hardwick said Vancouver should follow Toronto and Edmonton’s disclosure of public employees, because “they’re working for a public institution, not a private company.”

City of Vancouver did as recommended by the document, removing the staff directory and replacing it with a nameless organization structure and referral to the 3-1-1 hotline. Unlike the website, it is open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.  

The document even suggested “reactive key messages,” such as promoting 3-1-1’s translation services in more than 170 languages. “Agents route questions, feedback, or issues to various City departments to respond as appropriate.”

Under the heading of “if pushed,” the communications department recommended emphasizing that the city is “committed to providing a safe and respectful work environment, and abusive conduct or comments toward staff are not acceptable.” It called harassment and threats “an additional reason for the removal of the staff directory.”

The removal of the staff directory was supposed to happen by June 21, but Kira Hutchinson of the communications department suggested it be delayed until after the weekend, in case a reporter noticed it missing. “We don’t want our after hours media person getting queries about it if we can help it.”

Randy Helten of CityHallWatch.ca (Helten)

Without a staff directory, the only opportunity for citizens to know who is working for them is the statement of financial information sunshine list published every April. But that document shows last names, first initials, annual salaries and expenses, but not first names or job titles.

A reporter asked city hall for a copy of the current organization chart for the civic engagement and communications department. On July 25, FOI case manager Kevin Tuerlings demanded a $60 payment, because he claimed it would take five hours for staff to search, compile and create a record. (The FOI law says governments cannot charge for the first three hours of service.)

A local government watchdog called the removal of the staff directory “lamentable” and part of a pattern under the ABC party, elected with a supermajority in 2022. 

Randy Helten of CityHallWatch pointed to last December’s move to abolish park board elections and this month’s indefinite moratorium on integrity commissioner investigations and reports. 

“Another erosion of the openness of our municipal government,” Helten said. “CityHallWatch would use the staff directory often, and we know that many of our readers would do so too. Ken Sim and ABC’s election platform included a section on transparency, accountability, and good government, but with this change, the city is going further into hiding. People should call on Mayor Ken Sim to bring back the online staff directory.”

Helten said he was skeptical about the reason for removing the directory and accused city hall of “cherry picking examples,” rather than looking at the best practices of governance and transparency. 

“There’s a trade-off between hiding behind the shield of the city website versus being transparent and accountable to maintain the public trust in the municipal government,” Helten said.

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Bob Mackin  A former city councillor is slamming

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Bob Mackin

B.C. Lottery Corporation is giving away a suite at B.C. Place Stadium during Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour weekend in December.

BCLC logo

Does this mean the B.C. NDP government is breaking Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) advertising standards? 

A 250,000-run of $25 scratch and win tickets goes on sale Aug. 7 for what is described as “The Concert of a Lifetime Giveaway.” The draw takes place Oct. 30 for the grand prize, a suite for 14 people at B.C. Place. Travel and accommodation not included. 

The BCLC website does not specifically name Swift, who is scheduled to play sold out B.C. Place shows on Dec. 6-8. But it does drop a big hint: “Apart from being one of the world’s biggest multi-platinum artists, they also have a reputation of being an amazing performer.”

GPEB’s Advertising and Marketing Standards for Gambling in B.C. include a section on protecting those under the legal purchase age of 19. 

It expressly states that advertising and marketing materials “must not contain role models, and/or celebrity/entertainer endorsers whose primary appeal is to minors.” 

Taylor Swift B.C. Place concert ad (BC Place/Swift)

The key word may be primary. Swift appeals to various demographics. A Morning Consult survey found 45% of fans are millennials and 11% are Gen Z. But Swift enjoys a fanbase of teenage girls and children who rely on their parents to buy tickets and merchandise. Some of them scored tickets last November, many others did not. 

Premier David Eby, himself, acknowledged Swifties in his own household when he issued a social media plea last September for Swift to bring the tour to B.C. Place.

“Ms. Swift. It’s David Eby, premier of British Columbia,” he said. “I’m not accustomed to begging, but for my own constituency of my loving and beautiful wife and my son, Ezra, please come to Vancouver, British Columbia.”

It isn’t the first time BCLC raised eyebrows for connecting with a celebrity who enjoys fans not old enough to legally gamble. BCLC paid then-Canucks’ goalie Roberto Luongo $160,000 to appear in ads for PlayNow online poker in 2011.

Research by McGill University youth gambling expert Dr. Jeffrey Derevensky found 9% of high school students have gambled for money on the Internet. A 1996 study from Laval University found adolescents who gamble excessively are at increased risk for delinquency and crime, the disruption of relationships and impaired academic performance and work activities. 

In the same year, a University of Calgary study said pathological gamblers reported that they started gambling seriously at 9 or 10 years of age.

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Bob Mackin B.C. Lottery Corporation is giving away

Business, News, Opinion, Sports

For the week of July 28, 2024:

The XXXIII Summer Olympics are underway in Paris, now a third-time host of the five-ring circus. 

We will find out if the French learned anything about the good, the bad and the ugly of the Games that came before, such as the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. 

This week, an encore presentation of host Bob Mackin’s February interview with Irwin Oostindie of Vancouver’s Voor Urban Labs. 

Oostindie was in the French capital in February to meet with academics and critics of Paris 2024, to share his knowledge about Vancouver 2010 and its socio-economic goals. 

Plus, the Canadian women’s Olympic soccer team is embroiled in scandal after a staff member was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand’s training session. It became the biggest Olympic story before the Paris 2024 opening ceremony.

Could the precedent set by a Mexican scandal in 1988 affect Canada’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 2026? Hear from former Mexican radio reporter Mario Canseco. 

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

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For the week of July 28, 2024:

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Bob Mackin (Updated July 31, 2024)

Could the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) drone spying scandal at Paris 2024 result in disqualification of the Canadian men’s team from the FIFA World Cup in 2026?

Joey Lombardi (left), Bev Priestman and Jasmine Mander (CSA)

Women’s Olympic team head coach Bev Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi were sent home, after French police caught Lombardi flying a drone around New Zealand’s closed training session in Saint-Etienne. FIFA banned each of them for a year.

TSN reported that Canadian men’s and women’s programs had been spying on opponents for years, something the CSA admitted to FIFA in a legal document presented to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. 

The incident involving the defending gold medal champions dominated international media attention before the July 26 Olympic opening ceremony. FIFA handed Canada a six-point tournament penalty, but there could be more consequences to come.

If it goes deeper, FIFA could revoke Canada’s Tokyo gold medal, issue additional individual suspensions or even penalize the CSA, co-host of the FIFA World Cup 26 with U.S. and Mexico. It is the biggest Canadian Olympic scandal since 1988 when sprinter Ben Johnson lost his gold medal and world record after failing a doping test in Seoul.

A former radio reporter from Mexico, who now runs a Vancouver market research company, said FIFA set a precedent after a 1988 scandal involving Mexico’s junior men’s national team. 

Mexican reporter Antonio Moreno noticed some of the ages of players in a publication by the Mexican federation conflicted with those on a roster sheet for the 1988 CONCACAF under-20 tournament in Guatemala.

(FIFA/CSA)

Mexico dominated the tournament and qualified for the Saudi Arabia 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship with at least four over-age players. Officials from the U.S. and Guatemala complained to CONCACAF, FIFA’s North and Central American and Caribbean zone. The scandal became known as “Cachirules,” named for an entertainer who often portrayed younger male roles.

“The way in which people felt about it is, Mexico has always been a friend of FIFA. It had just organized the 1986 World Cup after Colombia pulled out,” said Mario Canseco of Research Co. “At the time, the CONCACAF president [Joaquín Soria Terrazas] was also from Mexico, so the thought was, we’ll just get by with a slap in the wrist, nothing is going to be taken too seriously. But FIFA really did take it seriously.”

FIFA agreed with CONCACAF’s findings and banned all Mexican national teams from international competition for two years. That included the Seoul 1988 Olympics and qualifying for the Italy 1990 World Cup.

“It’s a different situation [in 2024], but if we had the same type of punishment — because if it’s a two-year situation that affects all of the teams — then Canada could conceivably not host the World Cup,” Canseco said. 

Canada qualified automatically for the 2026 men’s championship with the U.S. and Mexico. It is scheduled to play once in Toronto and twice in Vancouver during the opening round of the 48-nation tournament. Vancouver could spend up to $581 million on hosting while Toronto is expecting to spend $380 million. The federal security budget has not been announced. CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani of West Vancouver is also a vice-president of FIFA.

Remaining teams in CONCACAF are vying for three berths. Another two teams could still enter as wildcards via an inter-confederation playoff. 

Canada qualified for its second World Cup, in Qatar 2022, as CONCACAF’s top team with an 8-4-2 record under coach John Herdman. Mexico and U.S. finished second and third, while Costa Rica won a wildcard berth. Panama, one of the teams Canada defeated, finished fifth.

Canada’s men’s national team in 2022 (CSA)

Herdman quit last year to coach Toronto FC of Major League Soccer. He previously coached the Canadian women’s team to two Olympic bronze medals between 2011 and 2018. Herdman told reporters in Toronto on July 26 that he was “highly confident” that drones were not used during his coaching career with the CSA.

FIFA rules for Paris 2024 specifically banned drones “over any tournament training sites and stadiums.” The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the six-point penalty before Canada qualified for the quarter-finals on July 31, but IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said any further discipline would be up to FIFA. 

The FIFA Appeal Committee’s July 28 “Notification of the grounds of the Decision” included evidence from the CSA that use of a drone to scout opposition dated back to Herdman’s tenure.

“It was not facilitated by the federation,” said the CSA submission. “New Canada Soccer administration is supporting a full independent investigation of this issue and has already taken steps to ensure that this scouting tactic does not happen again.”

The document also quoted from a March 2024 email Priestman sent to a CSA employee in which she called spying the difference between winning and losing. A performance analyst had cited moral grounds to refuse Priestman’s order to spy on opposition. 

The CSA has launched an independent review of the drone spying scandal by external lawyer Sonia Regenbogen, a workplace investigations specialist. 

“I am deeply concerned and feel frankly very disappointed and frustrated about the distraction that it has created,” Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue told reporters July 26. “But I have not considered withdrawal of the [women’s Olympic] team, primarily because we feel like we have addressed the situation swiftly and significantly. It would be to the detriment of our players who have worked so hard and sacrificed quite a bit to be Olympians and themselves have not engaged in unethical behaviour.”

A spokesperson for Canada’s Own the Podium high performance program said it does not fund national sports organizations directly, but collaborates “on how funds are spent to support their high-performance program.” 

“OTP definitely did not provide funding support for drones,” Chris Dornan said.  

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Bob Mackin (Updated July 31, 2024) Could the

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For the week of July 21, 2024:

In less than two years, Vancouver and 15 other cities in Canada, U.S. and Mexico will host the FIFA World Cup 26. 

After hordes of ticketless fans invaded Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium before the July 14 Copa America final, should Vancouverites worry that hooligans will crash the nearly $600 million party at B.C. Place Stadium? 

A Burnaby sports writer who has attended seven World Cups says no. 

Alfie Lau joins host Bob Mackin to talk about his experience at the world’s biggest single-sport tournament. 

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.

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

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For the week of July 21, 2024:

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Bob Mackin 

A delay in sentencing two environmental protesters for their campaign of blockades on Vancouver Island.

Howard Breen (Save Old Growth/Instagram)

Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island co-founder Howard Breen, 70, and Melanie Murray, 48, both failed in their bid to convince a judge that their criminal mischief was “morally involuntary.”

Provincial Court Judge Ronald Lamperson was scheduled to hear a joint submission from the prosecutor and Breen and Murray’s defence lawyer on July 19 in Nanaimo. 

The sentencing hearing was postponed because Crown lawyer Neal Bennet had a medical appointment impacted by the Crowdstrike/Microsoft internet outage. A new hearing date is to be determined. 

Bennet and defence lawyer Joey Doyle revealed in court that negotiations for a joint sentencing proposal fell through. Bennet indicated he would be asking the judge to sentence Breen to jail time of under two years less a day.

On May 3, Lamperson dismissed Breen and Murray’s application under the defence of necessity. They unsuccessfully argued that their crimes were excusable under Canadian criminal law because climate change “presents an imminent peril to all humanity.” 

“They do not take any issue with the facts underlying the charges, and acknowledge and admit that they intended to commit the acts giving rise to each charge,” said Lamperson’s verdict. 

Lamperson ruled against their application, because the defendants made choices to commit mischief. 

“They decided on which days and at which times they would engage in civil disobedience. They also decided what form their protest activity would take on particular days. All of their protests involved advance planning,” Lamperson decided. 

Breen chose to cause more interference on some days than others, such as gluing his hand to the roadway one day and using a bike lock to fasten his legs to another protester on another. One day, he simply sat on a roadway holding a banner. 

“Ms. Murray also freely made choices with respect to her protest activity, including whether she would put herself in an ‘arrestable position.’ The evidence demonstrates that on some days she did and on other days did not,” Lamperson wrote. 

Murray was charged with four offences, two for mischief by interfering with a public roadway and two for causing a disturbance.

Breen was charged with 11 Criminal Code offences and another another contrary to the Aeronautics Act. He also describes himself as a member of the Just Stop Oil and Last Generation protest groups. 

Lamperson’s May 3 judgment said Breen worked in the 1970s for the Liberal Party, but switched later that decade to the NDP and remained until 2015. He has also worked with environmental organizations Smart Change CA, Friends of the Earth, Wilderness Committee and Greenpeace.

In early 2020, Breen was part of an anti-pipeline protest outside then-NDP premier John Horgan’s house in Langford. Breen and two others saw their mischief charges stayed when they agreed to avoid Horgan’s neighbourhood for two years. 

In 2019, Breen was arrested for attempting a citizens’ arrest on federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna during the Liberal’s photo op in Oak Bay.

The July 19 hearing came, coincidentally, the day after Extinction Rebellion’s global co-founder Roger Hallam was jailed in the U.K. for five years for conspiring to organize 2022 protests that blocked the M25 freeway. Four others were sentenced to four years each.

Extinction Rebellion and its affiliates benefit from grants made by the California-based Climate Emergency Fund (CEF), which reported it disbursed $3.74 million to 34 organizations last year. 

In January 2022, Pakistani foreign student Muhammad Zain Ul-Haq and four others incorporated Eco-Mobilization Canada, a federal not-for-profit behind the B.C. Extinction Rebellion splinter group Save Old Growth. 

Ul-Haq boasted in August 2022 in a New York Times story that Save Old Growth received US$170,000 in grants from CEF. In July 2023, a judge sentenced him to jail for seven days for multiple criminal mischief counts and ordered 30 days of house arrest and 31 days of curfew. 

Ul-Haq’s criminal record meant he faced deportation for violating the terms and conditions of his visa to study at Simon Fraser University. That was put on hold in April after intervention from Liberal MP Joyce Murray. Last year, he was appointed to CEF’s advisory board.

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Bob Mackin  A delay in sentencing two environmental

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A Toronto socialite, who hosted political fundraisers for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is accused of misleading an insurance industry regulator about her academic credentials.

Hong Wei (Winnie) Liao with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Respon)

Insurance Council of British Columbia executive director Janet Sinclair ordered cancellation of Hong Wei (Winnie) Liao’s life and accident and sickness insurance licence on May 29 after an investigation into a breach of the council’s rules and code of conduct. Sinclair’s order said Liao must wait three years before reapplying for a licence. 

Liao, president of Respon Wealth Management Corp. in Toronto and Richmond, requested a hearing to dispute the cancellation.  

The notice of the July 22-26 hearing says that, during the council’s November 2023 hearing, Liao “testified that she had a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Canada and in support of this testimony, she tendered a diploma and transcript purportedly from York University.”

The council alleges Liao breached the council’s code of conduct because she never attended York University, which never gave her a diploma or transcript. 

“The licensee received the York documents from an individual to whom the licensee paid money in exchange for them,” the order alleges. “The licensee never completed the courses listed in the York University transcript.”

The council will decide whether to confirm, revoke or vary the May 29 order. If the order is upheld, the council will decide whether to reprimand Liao, suspend or cancel her licence, fine her up to $25,000 or impose conditions on her licence. 

A 2018 advertorial in the Scarborough Mirror said Liao “has been devoted to the financial industry for almost 30 years” and that she gained master degrees in both China and Canada.

Liao has not responded for comment. Her lawyer, William Smart, did.

“The issue at the hearing will be whether she knew it was forged at the time she presented it or was herself a victim of someone else’s dishonesty,” Smart said by email.

Liao is a frequent speaker and/or sponsor at Metro Vancouver events for cultural and business associations that are aligned with the People’s Republic of China consulate. 

In October 2021, Liao attended a Vancouver promotion for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics during a series of local celebrations of 72 years of Communist Party rule in China. She was photographed in a group that included Chinese government diplomats, leaders of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations, Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, Vancouver mayoral candidate Ken Sim and municipal councillors Alexa Loo (Richmond) and James Wang (Burnaby). 

In June 2024, Respon sponsored the Vancouver Chinese Amateur Golf Charity Invitational to benefit Unicef. In February, Respon hosted a Year of the Dragon Chinese Spring Festival Gala at the River Rock Casino’s show theatre in Richmond. Attendees included Liberal MP Shaun Chen (Scarborough North), B.C. NDP MLA Henry Yao (Richmond-South Centre), BC United MLA Teresa Wat (Richmond-North Centre) and Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie. 

Respon’s corporate video, shown at the River Rock and elsewhere, features clips of Liao, her family, staff and various politicians, including Trudeau, who appears with Liao inside and outside a private residence. 

Elections Canada’s contributions database lists more than $28,000 in political donations from North York Ont.-resident Liao. Except for the $2,072 to two Conservative Party riding associations in 2014, the rest were made to the Liberal Party, including $1,000 to Trudeau’s Papineau riding association. 

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Bob Mackin  A Toronto socialite, who hosted political

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The arm of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure overseeing the Broadway Subway Project is refusing to say exactly how much it spent through January and it claimed to be within the original budget in May.

South Granville Station, from January 2024 report (TIC/FOI)

In February, this reporter asked the Transportation Investment Corporation (TIC) for the most-recent project status report including, among other things, the financial report and schedule status. The NDP government finally disclosed the freedom of information records on July 16, but they were heavily censored  to conceal key details about the megaproject that ends on the border of Premier David Eby’s Point Grey riding. The government relied on an exception to disclosure in order to withhold information that it believes could harm a public body’s financial or economic interests.

A summary of the cost and contingency report shows nearly $1.372 billion project-to-date, but the sum is incomplete because the costs for Indigenous relations and legal were censored. Other columns, which compare the budget with the true amount spent, were also censored. Despite that, the spreadsheet garnered a green rating, meaning insignificant or no concern. 

Another spreadsheet, a multiyear forecast, shows $1.08 billion in costs through 2022-2023. Likewise, line items for Indigenous relations and legal costs were censored. TIC also hid the gross and net project expenditure totals and forecasts through 2026-2027. 

On May 24, however, NDP transportation minister Rob Fleming announced the Broadway Subway would not open until fall 2027. Fleming’s communications staff maintained that the total budget remained unchanged at $2.83 billion. Fleming, who represents Victoria-Swan Lake, is not running in the Oct. 19 provincial election. 

The 5.7 kilometre Millennium Line subway from VCC-Clark to Arbutus had previously been delayed from late 2025 to early 2026. Fleming blamed delays in tunnel boring, station excavation and relocating major utilities, along with the five-week concrete strike in 2022. 

Elsewhere in the January report, there are indications of a poor safety record that is only getting worse. 

The health and safety section was assigned a yellow dot for moderate concern. It showed a total 900 incidents during the life of the project, including 24 in December and 27 in January. Of the total, 552 were for first aid incidents, 110 near misses and 97 equipment/vehicle and property damage incidents. 

WorkSafeBC has made 59 inspections through January, but none to end 2023 or start 2024. 

The rolling 12-month lost time injury frequency per 100 workers was 2.92, but the 12-month rolling total of recordable injuries was 9.15 per 100 workers. 

Mount Pleasant Station, from January 2024 report (TIC/FOI)

A chart showed days lost to injury jumped from just seven in 2022 to 122 in 2023 — a whopping increase of more than 1,600%. The trend continued in January with 18 days lost to injury.

“[Broadway Subway Project Corp.] has reported a large increase in lost time injuries in 2023. BSPC has shared their documented action plan to improve their injury reporting and claims management processes,” the report said. 

There have been 26 alcohol and drug tests performed on workers, with failures by five workers attached to the main contractor and five with subcontractors. There have been 15 incidents of fire, 16 of violence, 34 incidents classified under public safety and 54 of property damage. 

The report also pointed to a large number of nonconformities, or items that deviate from specifications or fail to meet quality control standards. 

By the end of January, there was a total 370 nonconformities, of which 25 were still active. 

“The average number of days that it took a nonconformity to be resolved and closed was 48 days,” the report said. 

A heavily censored list of supervening events (or unscheduled interruptions) mentioned a “COVID-19-related health event” on Dec. 3, 2021, discovery of undisclosed utilities on July 5, 2021, acts and omissions by City of Vancouver on Nov. 19, 2021 and a “blockade or embargo falling short, protest action/force majeure event” on July 25, 2022.

BSPC is the design/build joint venture between Acciona of Spain and Ghella of Italy. Acciona is also working on the Site C dam and Pattullo Bridge projects. Metro Vancouver fired it from the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant in 2022, sparking an ongoing legal battle. The North Vancouver project is costing $3 billion more than originally budgeted and scheduled for 2030 completion — a decade late. 

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