TransLink says it will cut $90 million in spending annually as it edges closer to a $600 million funding shortfall.
But CEO Kevin Quinn’s salary increased $48,000 over the last year to almost $507,636.
TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn (TransLink)
Quinn, who was imported in July 2021 from the Maryland Transit Administration, was paid $459,733 in base salary during 2022, his first full year in the job. He replaced Kevin Desmond, who ran the company for five years, beginning in 2016 at $365,000-a-year.
Quinn’s total remuneration, including accrued time payouts, taxable benefits and pension payments, was $561,082, according to the statement of financial information sunshine list. The regional transit company released its salary and expenses list two weeks after Metro Vancouver, which revealed Commissioner Jerry Dobrovolny was paid $711,000 last year.
In 2015, before TransLink lost a plebiscite seeking a municipal tax hike to pay for expansion, CEO Ian Jarvis’s $422,000-a-year salary sparked controversy. Jarvis was replaced temporarily by Doug Allen, whose contract called for $35,000-a-month.
General managers of TransLink’s biggest operating subsidiaries, Michael McDaniel of Coast Mountain Bus Co. (CMBC), and Sany Zein of B.C. Rapid Transit Co. (BCRTC), were paid $413,066 and $398,066, respectively last year.
Christine Dacre, the chief financial officer since 2019, was fourth at $387,649. She was replaced last month by Patrice Impey, the City of Vancouver’s chief financial officer who earned more than $321,000 last year at city hall.
Other top earners in the TransLink pay parade for 2023:
Vice-president of communications Steve Vanagas: $292,304
General counsel Jennifer Breeze: $277,507
Vice-president of real estate Wendy Comeau: $277,252
BCRTC vice-president of operations Mike Richard: $256,001
CMBC vice-president of operations Donald Palmer: $248,254
CMBC vice-present of maintenance Randy Helmer: $242,196
Vice-president of planning and policy Sarah Ross: $235,056
Direct of IT/cybersecurity Tobin Kunju: $234,346
Vice-president of financial services Olga Kuznyetsova: $232,175
Executive director of the Mayors’ Council Mike Buda: $223,685
TransLink’s cost-cutting follows the April federal budget which contained no new spending on public transit in Vancouver, after 2023 lobbying road trips by Lower Mainland mayors arranged by contractor Earnscliffe.
The $90 million cost-cutting plan contemplates eliminating 35 unfilled corporate jobs, reducing leadership training courses and reducing the use of third-party contractors.
On July 1, TransLink hiked fares 2.3%. Adults must pay $3.20 to $6.35 depending on the zone distance. Monthly passes now cost $107.30 to $193.80.
The beleaguered Vancouver green building products company that purported to be worth $1 billion in 2021 was sold for $500,000 plus more than $22 million in assumed liabilities.
On June 28, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Michael Stephens approved the sale of Nexii Building Solutions Inc. (NBSI) to B.C.-incorporated Nexiican Holdings Inc. and Delaware-incorporated Nexii Inc. Nexiican director Blake Beckham and Nexii president Russ Lambert are both Dallas lawyers.
Nexii Building Products’ Squamish plant (Nexii/X)
“Notwithstanding that the financial advisor spent close to six months marketing the assets of the vendors, the Nexii transaction was the only bid submitted in the [solicitation and sale process] for the business and assets of the vendors and represents the only transaction available in respect of the vendors at this time,” said the report from court-appointed monitor KSV Advisory.
The assumed liabilities include $2 million owing interim lenders in secured debt obligations and $20 million in secured convertible debt obligations.
Stephens appointed KSV as monitor under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act on Jan. 11 for NBSI, which owed creditors more than $112 million. NBSI’s Jan. 10 petition to the court said it owes the three senior secured lenders — Powerscourt Investments XXV LP, Trinity Capital Inc. and Horizon Technology Finance Corporation — USD$79 million and another $6 million to equipment lessors, trade creditors and landlords. Assets include equipment, accounts receivable, contracts and intellectual property worth a total book value of $69 million.
On April 26, Stephens approved the $3 million sale of NBSI’s five Omicron subsidiaries to six numbered companies owned by a group that includes William Tucker, the CEO of both NBSI and Omicron, and senior-vice president George Sawatzky.
NBSI marketed the proprietary Nexiite panelling system, a low-carbon concrete alternative produced at its factory in Squamish for customers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Starbucks Coffee Company and AECOM.
As of Dec. 20, NBSI employed 142 people and its Omicron subsidiaries 160. Its executives included former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson.
The court filing included a list of Omicron’s 87 design contracts and purchase orders, including clients ranging from Telus, Home Depot Canada Inc., Coca-Cola Bottling Ltd. and Lululemon Athletica to Port of Vancouver, ICBC, City of Vancouver and Liquor Distribution Branch.
Tucker’s affidavit from January said that NBSI historically had funded growth through equity and some debt financing.
“Currently, NBSI is not able to raise additional capital through equity and the senior secured lenders are not prepared to advance additional funds without a clear path to the sale of NBSI’s business,” Tucker swore in an affidavit.
NBSI acquired Omicron in 2021 and owed Omicron $4 million. NBSI, according to Tucker, raised $125 million since 2019 and expected $14 million total revenue for 2023. It had four projects nearing completion and expected to bring $8.3 million revenue. Omicron, meanwhile, had 67 contracts in progress worth $150 million before costs and another $110 million worth of contracts.
In August 2023, according to Tucker, Investcorp Green Limited invested $5 million in NBSI and, by November, the company had an $18-million term sheet for an investment from unnamed “strategic investors in the Middle East.”
“Unfortunately, shortly before closing, one of the investors terminated its involvement and the investment did not proceed,” said Tucker’s filing. “Losing access to these funds significantly limited the petitioners’ options.”
Nobody noticed that servers crashed at the E-Comm 9-1-1 call centre for more than two hours because of a missed email.
The server room at the East Vancouver facility, which also houses City of Vancouver’s primary data centre, suffered a chiller failure at 2:07 a.m. on March 16 due to a faulty temperature sensor, according to the incident report obtained by theBreaker.news under the freedom of information law.
E-Comm technician at headquarters (E-Comm 9-1-1).
The backup system failed to activate, exacerbating the situation, said E-Comm’s facilities manager in an email to senior executives.
“We received a critical alarm email for ‘Ecomm, Chiller1’ at 2:07 a.m.” wrote Verin Jekkal. “Unfortunately it was missed due to its classification as a single-chime email.”
The result was lost response time to both the chiller failure and the 4 a.m. systems outage.
Not until 6:15 a.m. did anyone notice.
That is when a technical specialist from the city checked his e-mail and saw the alert notifications. He immediately called his manager, Francis Tan, and key colleagues.
“At about 6:30 a.m. Francis contacted [Jekkal] which was when E-Comm was first advised of the issue,” wrote Kyle Foster, the city’s director of infrastructure and operations, in the city’s incident report.
“None of these alerts were configured to be sent via text or phone call, nor are they monitored by a 24×7 service; they went unnoticed.”
City and E-Comm staff arrived on-site to begin recovery at 7 a.m. They opened the data centre doors and set-up large fans outside the rooms to disperse the heat, which reached a sweltering 57 degrees Celsius.
Technicians from ventilation and air conditioning contractor Trane arrived at 8 a.m. and both primary and backup chillers were operational by 8:40 a.m. It was cool enough to power equipment back-up by 9:30 a.m.
E-Comm 9-1-1 headquarters (E-Comm 9-1-1).
While 9-1-1 continued to function, emergency call-takers and dispatchers used paper instead of computer-aided dispatch systems and white boards instead of screens. Except for an early slowdown, their ability to take calls was not impacted. They could not, however, access the B.C. and federal police reporting databases.
The outage affected anyone trying to use the city website or Van311 app between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. and the city’s 3-1-1 non-emergency hotline between 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. It also impacted the 400 staff, mainly firefighters and community centre workers, on shift that morning.
Technicians rebooted the server at 12:30 p.m. on March 17 and rebooted and restarted multiple servers and monitored all applications for recovery throughout March 18.
Foster’s report called it a high severity incident that would only have been worse had the outage occurred on a weekday. He found deficiencies in dashboard monitoring, internal staff and external partner contact details, incident reporting, response and communication procedures.
On the positive side of the ledger, e-mail, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint Online remained accessible due to those being cloud-based programs. City workers also had the benefit of a recent three-day business continuity plan exercise.
Internal E-Comm communication suggested an initial concern that the data centre could have been hacked. But a spokesperson for the company said that scenario was ruled out.
“The cooling system failure was triggered by a technical problem, a fault in an electrical component of the main cooling system, and not malicious interference,” said E-Comm communications manager Carly Paice. “Next steps include the completion of a full post-incident assessment of the outage that is still underway, and incorporating lessons learned into ongoing work to strengthen technology resiliency.”
YouTube’s parent company says it is taking action to stop deepfake ads that portray Canadian finance minister Chrystia Freeland flogging a get rich quick scheme.
Liberal Finance Minister in deepfake videos seen on YouTube (YouTube)
theBreaker.news reported June 11 about the ads, found inadvertently May 31 on YouTube. The clips show Freeland, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister to Justin Trudeau, in ads that are packaged as reports on TV news channels. But they were generated by artificial intelligence (AI). A spokesperson for Freeland called the videos, and associated websites, fake and rife with false and misleading information. (SEE THE DEEPFAKE CLIPS BELOW.)
A Google spokesperson, citing company policy, provided comment on condition of anonymity.
“Protecting our users is our top priority and we have strict policies that govern the ads and content on our platform,” said the Google statement. “These scams are prohibited and we are terminating the ads accounts and channels behind them. We are investing heavily in our detection and enforcement against scam ads that impersonate public figures and the bad actors behind them.”
The source video for one of the Freeland clips was an April 7 Toronto news conference where she ironically announced $2.4 billion taxpayer funding to boost Canada’s AI sector. Last November, Google agreed to pay $100 million a year, plus inflation, to Canadian media outlets in order to be exempt from the Liberal government’s Online News Act. The controversial law is also known as a tax on web links.
Google says it has long-prohibited the use of deepfakes and other forms of doctored content that aim to deceive, defraud or mislead users about political issues. It requires user verification and employs human reviewers and machine learning to monitor and enforce polices. Of the 5.5 billion ads it removed last year, 206.5 million contravened the company’s misrepresentation policy. It also suspended more than 12.7 million advertiser accounts.
Mac Boucher, an AI content generation expert and partner in L.A.-based KNGMKR, spoke June 12 at the Trace Foundation and Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute’s Journalism Under Siege conference in Vancouver.
Boucher showed a reel of deepfake videos made with the images and audio clips of celebrities such as Christopher Walken and Morgan Freeman. He cited the popular PlayHT program as an example.
“You feed it a video file or an audio file that I just rip off the internet. It takes a second to process and sometimes it messes up,” Boucher said. “But, then essentially, you have a TTS model, which is text-to-speech, where you can type anything you want, you can add sentiment to it, happy, sad, fearful, surprised, etc. It will start to be able to generate, oftentimes pretty bad generations, but it takes a little bit of tuning and tweaking and editing to make it come out a lot more naturally.”
Boucher, the brother of musician Grimes, said AI is cheap to produce. Disinformation is the drawback, but that is most effective when “people no longer believe in a system that is not really working in their best interests, or at the appearance that is in their best interests.”
“The internet is probably just going to look a lot like Times Square as of right now, which is not really a place that people spend a lot of time. It just attracts tons of tourists and people just passing through,” Boucher said.”Then there’s going to be small neighbourhoods that have standards of excellence for whatever the data.”
Mac Boucher (LinkedIn)
Some governments are slowly pondering regulation of the fast-evolving technology. California state senator Bill Dodd tabled the AI Accountability Act to regulate AI use by state agencies, including transparency of its use and push for state-funded AI education.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) warned in a March bulletin that deepfakes use“machine-learning algorithms to create realistic-looking fake videos or audio recordings. This is most commonly seen in investment and merchandise frauds where fake celebrity endorsements and fake news are used to promote the fraudulent offers.”
In May, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission proposed a $6 million fine for political consultant Steve Kramer who was behind robocalls two days prior to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary in New Hampshire. Those robocalls featured deepfake audio using President Joe Biden’s voice to encourage citizens to abstain from the primary and save their vote for the November presidential election.
Kramer was also arrested in New Hampshire on bribery, intimidation and voter suppression charges.
Toronto-based Marcus Kolga of DisinfoWatch.org is concerned that the technology is advancing so rapidly that deepfake videos could become undetectable and ultimately be used by bad actors to cause financial manipulation and geopolitical disruption on a mass-scale.
“This technology is only improving and it’s improving not yearly, it’s improving every month,” Kolga said.
More than two years after FIFA named Vancouver’s B.C. Place Stadium one of 16 North American sites of the 2026 World Cup, B.C. Pavilion Corporation (PavCo) has finally revealed the contract that has triggered nearly $600 million in costs for taxpayers.
PavCo, the Crown corporation that operates B.C. Place , had previously released 120, almost totally greyed-out pages after this reporter’s April 2022 freedom of information request.
FIFA’s 2026 World Cup logo (FIFA)
On June 21, in response to this reporter’s appeal to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, PavCo released a partially censored version of the 96-page stadium agreement and appendices.
The contract was agreed with FIFA’s domestic subsidiary, the Canadian Soccer Association, in advance of 2022’s host city awards. While it contains a confidentiality clause, there is a requirement for both sides to adhere to “relevant laws or court orders.” That would include B.C.’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Judges and adjudicators have consistently ruled in favour of disclosure of negotiated contracts between public bodies and private entities.
The PavCo version appears substantially the same as FIFA’s stadium agreements previously released by other cities, such as Seattle, Toronto and Santa Clara, Calif. But PavCo is still withholding several key clauses, a letter from PavCo CEO Ken Cretney and a questionnaire.
PavCo, the subsidiary of NDPer Lana Popham’s Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, claims certain information is protected from disclosure because it constitutes recommendations and advice, and/or potential harm to intergovernmental relations, public body finances and third-party business operations.
Meanwhile, City of Vancouver continues to withhold the host city contract, which is under appeal this summer.
What it says
Vancouver was allotted seven matches between June 13 and July 7, 2026. Two of them will feature the Canadian national team. The stadium agreement gives FIFA full control of what goes on inside and outside B.C. Place from 30 days before the first match to seven days after the last — a two-month period. But infrastructure for food, beverage, hospitality, media, ticketing and technology may show up well before and remain well after that period.
“The stadium authority shall make available, at no costs… all relevant areas and/or facilities at the stadium for any such set-up, installation and preparation work to be done at the stadium as of three months prior to the day of the opening match until two months after the day of completion of the last match staged at the stadium,” the agreement states.
Operational costs and expenses incurred by PavCo “shall be entirely compensated by the payment of the stadium rental fee.” FIFA will not bear the cost of electricity or water, nor will it pay for permanent or temporary equipment, facilities, infrastructure and further engineering systems, such as power supply, elevators, safety systems or access to utilities.
PavCo faces a June 30, 2025 deadline to complete all renovation or construction work. Popham said on April 30 that stadium renovations and tournament operations would cost taxpayers $149 million to $196 million. Works include the installation of a natural grass pitch, upgrades to team dressing rooms and public washrooms, new, larger elevators, a new in-house broadcast facility, improved wifi and a new central video scoreboard.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim (left), NDP B.C. sport minister Lana Popham and Liberal sport minister Carla Qualtrough (BC Gov)
The grass playing field must be no less than 125 metres by 85 metres, but FIFA will decide which species of grass will be installed.
There must be two independent sources of power supply and an emergency power system so that “power failure shall not lead to the cancellation or postponement of a match.”
PavCo was required to buy, at its own expense, insurance coverage no later than two years prior to the opening match. FIFA has the power to postpone, relocate, abandon or cancel any World Cup match or the whole tournament. Should any of that happen, BC Place is not entitled to receive any compensation.
B.C. Place must also stage, in conjunction with the CSA, at least three soccer matches in full-stadium format as test events prior to 2026. FIFA has the “non-exclusive right to have free and unrestricted access to visit and inspect the stadium” at no cost, at any time.
Rent stays secret
Detailed seating plans for the seven matches were due by May 31, 2024 “for the entire seating inventory in the stadium, including any permanent and temporary seating, the installation of the VIP tribune, the media tribune or other installations which may affect the seat data.”
PavCo is entitled to “purchase a certain number of tickets for the matches in the stadium (in an amount to be determined by FIFA at a later stage) prior to making such tickets available for sale to the general public.” It cannot use such tickets for commercial purposes, including contest giveaways, without FIFA’s prior written consent.
The agreement contains a clause for the stadium rental fee, but PavCo has withheld the rate sheet it provided to FIFA.
Seattle’s stadium agreement said the basic cost, per match day, at Lumen Field is only US$20,313. But a slew of additional costs for facility management, security, safety, cleaning and waste labour pushed the total over US$1.27 million.
FIFA has the right, under the agreement, to assume and/or appoint a third party to take over PavCo’s obligations, should PavCo “not be fully or partially complying.”
When Vancouver was chosen to be one of the 16 host cities in June 2022, the provincial government estimated taxpayers would be on the hook for $240 million to $260 million.
The cost of hosting 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.
The new, $104 million PNE Amphitheatre, to open in 2026, will be the centrepiece of the FIFA Fan Festival at Hastings Park. It will not be allowed to use the Freedom Mobile name during the World Cup, however, due to FIFA sponsorship rules. Training sites at Killarney, Strathcona, Empire and Jericho parks are to be confirmed.
READ the stadium agreement (obtained by theBreaker.news via FOI) below.
April Hutchinson is a Canadian champion powerlifter and advocate for keeping women’s sport for women.
Hutchinson was at the B.C. Legislature in Victoria in April when Conservative leader John Rustad tabled the Fairness in Women’s and Girls’ Sports bill. But Premier David Eby’s NDP majority blocked the private member’s bill before it could be debated.
It is an issue of health, safety and fairness, Hutchinson says. She is not alone. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova and Alberta track and field coach Linda Blade (who was a guest on this podcast) have also campaigned for rules against biological male athletes competing in women’s sport.
Listen to host Bob Mackin’s interview with April Hutchinson.
Plus, this week’s Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.
That is perfectly legal, according to B.C.’s election laws. A third-party advertiser is not required to register and report who they are until July 23. The provincial election is Oct. 19.
According to its Societies Act registration dated March 12, three people are directors of the Project for a Strong B.C. Association: David John Andrew Porteus (sic) of West Kelowna, Samuel Aaron Schechter of New Westminster and Elaine Adele Willis, Duncan.
The society’s registered office is the Richmond law firm of Kahn Zack Ehrlich Lithwick.
The constitution is all of a vague two lines: “The purposes of the Society are: publicly advocate for a stronger British Columbia for everyone and undertake campaigns in support of this advocacy.”
David Porteous is a former NDP-appointee to the Okanagan College board of governors. Willis has a background as a schoolteacher and B.C. Teachers Federation activist.
Schechter is a former North Vancouver city councillor, a protege of former NDP president and North Vancouver city councillor Craig Keating, and a communications instructor at Douglas College in New Westminster.
He did not respond to interview requests. Instead, an Alberta-based representative of an Ottawa-headquartered public relations firm did. Megana Ramaswami, senior strategist with Emdash Agency, did not answer any questions about the amount of funding or source of funding for the ad, which is a movie trailer-themed recap of Conservative leader John Rustad and BC United leader Kevin Falcon’s past as cabinet ministers in the BC Liberal government of Christy Clark.
A 30-second radio ad attacks Eby for not doing enough to combat the rise of post-Oct. 7 antisemitism. It includes a clip of Jewish MLA Selina Robinson, who resigned from the NDP caucus, and finishes with a male voice-over: “Is it going to take a tragedy for Eby and his radical NDP to wake up?”
Brad Zubyk, a political strategist and lobbyist who formerly worked with the NDP and BC Liberals, said he is behind it.
“I threw in the initial money and friends have chipped in but it’s not a big money effort. Four of us are producing content,” Zubyk said.
Zubyk said he contributed the first $15,000 and hopes to raise as much as $50,000.
“It’s not corporate, just my friend group that want to make a difference,” Zubyk said. “I’m not going to disclose the volunteers but I have reached out to friends with some online skills but it is my idea.”
Eby unofficially launches his re-election campaign on June 20 during the noon hour at the Scottish Cultural Centre in Marpole, showcasing four candidates: Sunita Dhir (Vancouver-Langara), Baltej Dhillon (Surrey-Serpentine River), Randene Neil (Powell River-Sunshine Coast) and Michael Moses (Cariboo-Chilcotin).
One of the highest-paid public officials in the Lower Mainland last year, costing taxpayers almost $350,000, was the former mayor of New Westminster.
Ex-New Westminster Mayor Jonathan X. Cote (X/Cote)
Metro Vancouver paid Jonathan Cote $237,303 in salary, expenses and taxable benefits in 2023 as the regional district’s deputy general manager of regional planning and housing development.
New Westminster’s statement of financial information for 2023 shows the Royal City’s mayor from 2014 to 2022 also received $106,443 under the civic “transitional allowance” scheme.
Under a 2010 policy, politicians in New Westminster are entitled to 10% of their annual pay for each year of service from 2008 onwards, up to 12 years. Cote, paid $116,860 in his final year as mayor, spent nine years as a city councillor from 2009 to 2014 before winning the top job. He retired in 2022 instead of running for a third term.
By comparison, Premier David Eby’s annual pay is $227,111.
Last October, a majority of city councillors defeated a motion by New West Progressives’ Coun. Daniel Fontaine to end double-dipping. Fontaine wanted the entitlement cancelled if a former council member got a new job within a year of leaving office. Coun. Paul Minhas, the other New West Progressive, said he will make a second attempt to change the policy.
“In New Westminster, our taxpayers had a hike of 14% in two years,” Minhas said. “We need to prioritize the allocation of resources towards pressing needs, such as infrastructure, education and healthcare. To me, this is just a golden parachute, as the man knew he was headed to Metro Vancouver for a high-paying job.”
Metro Vancouver’s finances are coming under greater scrutiny after the unelected regional government revealed in March that the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant had gone $3 billion over budget and wouldn’t be completed until 2030. The project was supposed to cost around $700 million and be open in 2020.
Commissioner Jerry Dobrovolny made the bombshell announcement on a Friday afternoon in the middle of March break.
Ex-New Westminster Mayor Jonathan X. Cote and his successor, Patrick Johnstone. (X/Cote)
No surprise, Dobrovolny is the highest-paid bureaucrat at Metro Vancouver’s Metrotown headquarters. Metro Vancouver reported Dobrovolny’s total $711,668 pay package for 2023, including $451,949 base pay, $222,578 under other and taxable benefits and $37,141 in expenses.
Dobrovolny and two other bureaucrats accompanied Mayors Mike Hurley (Burnaby), Brad West (Port Coquitlam), Malcolm Brodie (Richmond) and John McEwan (Anmore) to a drainage convention in Holland earlier this month. Metro Vancouver has not released the approved budget for the entourage’s travel and accommodation.
Eby said June 17 that Metro Vancouver ought to appoint an independent auditor to examine the troubled North Vancouver project. Outgoing chair George Harvie, who is also the Delta mayor, called for a review on June 18, but he offered no details about the reviewer, terms of reference or the deadline. According to Jillian Glover, a spokesperson for Metro Vancouver, “at this time, the scope and details of the review remain to be determined.”
Seven councillors from five municipalities want B.C. Auditor General Michael Pickup to audit the project, which received almost $200 million from Victoria. Four of those councillors, Surrey’s Linda Annis, New Westminster’s Daniel Fontaine, Richmond’s Kash Heed and Maple Ridge’s Ahmed Yousef, want a governance review and, ultimately, direct elections for Metro Vancouver directors.
How many Canadian lawmakers are colluding with foreign adversaries, like Xi Jinping’s China?
Who are they? Will they ever be held accountable?
Those questions remain unanswered after the heavily censored special report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP).
On this edition of thePodcast, host Bob Mackin welcomes Sam Cooper, the investigative reporter behind TheBureau.news, to analyze the latest twist in Canada’s foreign interference scandal.
Cooper authored “Wilful Blindness: How a network of narcos, tycoons and CCP agents infiltrated the West” and his reporting for Global News in late 2022 and early 2023 helped pave the way for the Hogue Commission public inquiry into China’s meddling in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
“For people like you and me, I don’t think there’s much shock value in what NSICOP confirmed,” Cooper said. “They did go further than Justice Hogue, in saying that some Canadian parliamentarians wittingly or through wilful blindness —which I liked that they used that word from my book title — knowingly accepted transfers, concealed or layered, to disguise their origin.”
Plus, this week’s Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.
