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Bob Mackin 

It started at 10:25 a.m. on June 15, when Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke’s executive assistant emailed her counterpart in NDP Deputy Premier Mike Farnworth’s office.

Mike Farnworth announces $2,000 fines on April 19 (BC Gov)

Harpreet Dhillon had just spoken with Farnworth’s chief of staff Michael Snoddon by phone. A majority of Surrey city councillors would vote later that day behind closed doors, based on a secret report, to keep the RCMP instead of replacing it with the fledgling Surrey Police Service (SPS). 

“Mayor Locke would like a phone call with Minister Farnsworth (sic) and is available anytime before 1 p.m.” wrote Dhillon, who consistently misspelled the solicitor general’s surname in their communication, which was released under freedom of information. “I have held 11:30-11:45 a.m. and will wait for your confirmation.

Farnworth’s staff countered with an 11:45 a.m. to noon slot. Messages went back and forth about who else would be involved. Snoddon and Deputy Minister Doug Scott would join Farnworth. Chief administrative officer Vince Lalonde with Locke. 

At 5:07 p.m., after the in camera meeting, Dhillon asked to set-up another call between the mayor and the solicitor general. But Snoddon did not respond until 7:44 a.m. the next morning. 

“Minister Farnworth has been informed that the city has offered the corporate report under non-disclosure agreement (NDA) via discussions between ministry officials and [Lalonde],” Snoddon wrote. “The minister has asked that I convey that he is able to speak to the mayor once she makes a public announcement and the Ministry has had a chance to review the corporate report.”

Michael Snoddon (LinkedIn)

Snoddon corrected himself in an 8:05 a.m. message. “My apologies. I misunderstood the minister’s request of me. The minister is able to speak with the mayor after the ministry has reviewed the corporate report and he has asked to to find out when the mayor will be making a public announcement. Terribly sorry after any confusion I may have caused.”

Dhillon replied at 8:39 a.m., that Locke wanted to let the minister know the outcome of the special council meeting. But Snoddon remained firm: Farnworth would only talk after receiving the report. Dhillon confirmed Locke would make a public statement at 11 a.m. and agreed to convey Farnworth’s stance to her. 

Snoddon’s next message, at 9:47 p.m., was the one that Locke deemed “aggressive” during her impassioned appearance before reporters on June 19.

“Minister Farnworth would like to meet with Mayor Locke per her request,” Snoddon wrote. “The Minister is looking to receive the corporate report as agreed to in order to schedule a meeting. My understanding from staff is that the city has not transferred the report to the province at this time of my email. As you know, this is a very urgent matter. Can you please let me know when I can expect to receive the report?”

On the Saturday morning, at 9:06 a.m. Carole Richardson, Locke’s administrative coordinator, said Locke advised that city staff were working with ministry staff about the transfer of the report. Locke would make herself available to speak with Farnworth “whenever he is available.”

Harpreet Dhillon (LinkedIn)

Two hours later, Snoddon said that city staff indicated they would begin to transfer the report “well into next week.”

“That is not acceptable,” Snoddon declared. He then claimed city staff said the report would be given to the province “at noon yesterday” and asked whether Locke would expedite the process in order for the meeting to happen. 

At 1:37 p.m., Locke sent a text message to Snoddon: “Mayor Locke here. I tried to call you and would appreciate a call back.”

She did not receive a reply, according to the documents disclosed. 

At 9:32 a.m. on June 19, Farnworth set a 1 p.m. deadline to receive the report or else he would make his own determination with the facts at his disposal. 

Locke blasted Eby and Farnworth at her midday news conference on June 19, criticizing Farnworth for favouring the SPS and speaking through the media instead of directly with her.  Locke even accused him of misogyny. 

Coun. Brenda Locke (Surrey Connect)

“He still has not called me. I asked to speak to both him and the premier after the vote. He chose not to talk to me. I haven’t talked to him since,” Locke said. “I got a rather aggressive email from one of his political staff at 10 o’clock on Friday night, I responded to it, but that staffer did not call me back.”

Locke also told reporters that provincial officials signed the NDAs at 11:27 a.m., just like the provincial officials earlier required Locke and company to sign in order to read the province’s late April report that recommended adopting the SPS. 

Just over an hour later, Locke’s four-and-a-half page open letter went to Eby and Farnworth’s email boxes. It said Surrey had made its “second and final” choice that the RCMP was the best policing option for the city. 

“I will close by confirming the Surrey council’s opinion that we have exercised our legal authority to select the RCMP to serve as our police force,” said Locke’s letter. “As per the terms of your ministry report, the province, city and police agencies will work together to implement the decision effectively.”

The stalemate continues, as the second anniversary of the July 16, 2021 swearing-in of the SPS’s first 46 officers approaches. 

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Bob Mackin  It started at 10:25 a.m. on

Bob Mackin

A B.C. Court of Appeal judge has agreed to allow seven current and former NPA members liable for ex-Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s legal costs to appeal a B.C. Supreme Court judge’s ruling.

Law Courts Vancouver (Joe Mabel)

First, they must pay Stewart $25,000.

Last summer, Stewart successfully used the Protection of Public Participation Act to quash their defamation lawsuit stemming from his early 2021 news release that claimed the NPA board included right-wing extremists. 

Justice Wendy Baker threw out the defamation lawsuit when she ruled Stewart acted in the public interest and without malice. In her March 20 ruling on costs, Baker wrote that the defamation claim had substantial merit, but the plaintiffs did not prove they were harmed. Stewart alleged their action was brought in bad faith or for an improper purpose.

In October’s civic election, Stewart lost the mayoralty in a landslide to 2018 runner-up Ken Sim of ABC Vancouver. None of Stewart’s Forward Together candidates won a seat on city council. Similarly, all NPA candidates under Beijing-based leader Fred Harding were shut-out at the ballot box. 

Baker ruled the plaintiffs must pay Stewart’s legal costs, in excess of $126,000, but declined to award him damages. Costs are now approximately $155,000, according to Court of Appeal Justice David Frankel’s July 5 ruling. 

“The points the applicants intend to advance warrant the time and attention of this Court,” Frankel stated. “A decision on these points will provide further guidance with respect to the exercise of a judge’s discretion under [the PPPA]. As the respondent will be entitled to some of his costs regardless of the outcome of the appeal, a stay is granted on the condition the applicants pay $25,000 in partial payment of those costs.” 

He gave the applicants until July 31 to pay the sum to Stewart, then file and serve their appeal by Aug. 4 and submit a statement of facts by Sept. 5. The stay will remain until the end of the year. 

Frankel said the applicants contended Baker erred in several respects.

“They take issue with a number of her findings, including that their actions in regard to Mr. Stewart’s counsel were strategic and inappropriate,” said Frankel. “They also contend she conflated what they did in that regard with their purpose in bringing the action.”

Frankel did not agree with the argument that they would suffer irreparable harm, on the basis that one of them, Wes Mussio, is a practising lawyer who would have to pay the judgment within seven says or face potential discipline from the Law Society of B.C.

“I consider this argument speculative. It assumes that in the event Mr. Mussio does not immediately pay the assessed costs he would be unable to provide the executive director with an adequate proposal. It also assumes that the executive director would attach no weight to the fact that leave to appeal the costs order had been granted.” 

The seven are represented by Karol Suprynowicz, a lawyer at Mussio’s Vancouver firm. 

Mussio, on his own behalf, said he was pleased with Frankel’s decision. 

“Acting in good faith to clear one’s name should not automatically result in punitive legal cost implications is the person is unsuccessful. Otherwise, access to justice will be severely compromised,” Mussio said by email. “After all, if one automatically gets a large legal cost judgement against him for not being successful, then who will ever take the risk of going forward with a lawsuit to clear their name?”

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Court of Appeal judge

Bob Mackin

The B.C. NDP government charged a reporter $40 to find out that it budgeted $193,000 to send Premier David Eby, three cabinet ministers and nine bureaucrats on a trade mission to Asia.

Jagrup Brar (left), David Eby, Brenda Bailey and Josie Osborne at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo (Eby/Twitter)

That confirms the prediction a watchdog made in November 2021, when the NDP imposed the $10 fee freedom of information request fee. Jason Woywada, executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, said the government would turn it into a paywall for political purposes. 

“The government is using this as the excuse to try and say, well, we’ve had this explosion in FOI requests, when really they’re just forcing more and more people to apply for FOI, rather than releasing the information proactively,” Woywada said. “If this is information that could be made available to the public, it should be made available to the public by default.”

Before the May 26-June 7 junket, George Smith, Eby’s director of communications, refused to provide the budget estimate. He said actual costs would be contained in the public accounts sometime later in the summer. 

The answer was the same last fall from the Ministry of Environment, and the fall before, when Minister George Heyman flew on exhaust-spewing airplanes to attend the annual United Nations climate change conference.

Trade missions and conference visits are planned months in advance. Travel budgets for cabinet members and their staff are supposed to be approved and in government files well before they depart. The government’s core policy and procedures manual requires everyone complete a pre-trip budget approval form for all out-of-country travel. 

Since the government refused to provide the budget before the trip, four separate freedom of information requests were directed to four departments in order to obtain the form for each traveler.

Minister of State for Trade Jagrup Brar started the trip in Vietnam on May 25 and flew to Japan on May 27 to meet up with Eby, Energy and Mines Minister Josie Osborne and Jobs and Economic Development Minister Brenda Bailey. They continued to South Korea from May 31 to June 3. Eby finished the trip in Singapore on June 7. They met government and industry officials on each leg, to promote B.C. technology, resources and education.

The forms show that Bailey and Brar had the highest estimates for transportation, meals and lodging, at $18,811 each. 

Eby’s deputy minister Shannon Salter had the lowest estimate of all at $10,758. 

Eby ($14,698.04), chief of staff Matt Smith ($14,834.72) and senior advisor of intergovernmental relations Jessica Smith ($11,284.13) did not include the dates that their travel was authorized. Neither did Osborne and her aide Andrew Cuddy, who both estimated $15,150. 

The forms for Eby and the two unrelated Smiths included additional cost estimates, ranging from $268 for Jessica Smith to $448 for Eby. But the government censored the description of the specific good or service due to personal reasons. 

David Eby (right) in Singapore (Eby/Twitter)

Intergovernmental Relations Secretariat deputy minister Silas Brownsey and assistant deputy minister Leslie Teramoto estimated their travel would cost $16,694.70 each. Unlike the others, they included included 10% contingencies (or $1,517.70) in the totals.

Also accompanying Bailey and Brar were deputy minister Fazil Mihlar ($13,180) and the executive director of B.C.’s trade mission office, William Hoyle ($12,987).

Hoyle made an advance trip from April 11-22, which he estimated at $11,696. Similarly, Marlene Behrens, event director with Government Communications and Public Engagement, made an advance trip from April 14-26 that she budgeted at $13,172. The figure for the trade mission was $14,000. 

Marie Della Mattia, the government’s deputy minister of communications, authorized both of Behrens’ trips.

Including the advance trips, the total budget was closer to $218,000. 

The 30th anniversary of B.C.’s freedom of information law, one of the NDP achievements under Premier Mike Harcourt, is coming Oct. 4. Murray Rankin was on the legal team that helped Attorney General Colin Gabelmann draft the openness law. Rankin later became an NDP MP who told a House of Commons committee that the $5 federal application fee is a “tollgate on the citizens’ right to access.” In 2020, Rankin was elected the NDP MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head and he voted a year later to impose the FOI fee. 

In the first week of the spring session of the Legislature, Green MLA Adam Olsen (Saanich North and the Islands) tabled a private member’s bill aimed at repealing the fee. It went nowhere because Eby’s caucus did not call the bill for debate.  

In a January report, Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael McEvoy found the $10 fee resulted in an 80% year-over-year drop in requests from the media during the first six months. From Nov. 30, 2021 to May 30, 2022, it collected only $15,360 from applicants. 

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Bob Mackin The B.C. NDP government charged a

Murder investigators at the UBC golf course parking lot on Feb. 17 (Mackin)

Bob Mackin

The three men charged after a first degree murder in the University Golf Club parking lot last fall will go directly to trial. 

During a brief hearing in B.C. Supreme Court on July 11, Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes agreed to a Crown application to proceed by direct indictment against Balraj Singh Basra, Iqbal Singh Kang and Deandre Daion Sylvan Baptiste. They will not have a preliminary hearing.

Vishal Walia, 38, was gunned down at his car in the golf course parking lot before 10 a.m. on Oct. 17. He died on scene.

A getaway car was found in flames in a lane around Crown Street and West 22nd. The fire burned electrical wires and caused a local power outage. 

The three men were eventually arrested on Highway 91 in Richmond and remain in custody. 

At the time of the incident, Baptiste was 18, Kang 21 and Basra 22. 

The accused are scheduled to appear in court on July 20. 

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[caption id="attachment_13382" align="alignright" width="300"] Murder investigators at

Bob Mackin

Was it a crash or a hack? 

The BC Ferries call centre, website and app were out of service for nearly nine hours during the morning and afternoon on Victoria Day. The ferry corporation found the root cause but censored it from reports and email released due to a freedom of information request.

BC Ferries CEO Nicolas Jimenez (BC Ferries)

Interim chief information officer Steve Harris provided CEO Nicolas Jimenez a three-page briefing note on the situation more than 30 hours later on May 23. But it was withheld in its entirety. 

BC Ferries claimed it needed to censor documents for fear of harm to security of a computer or communications system and harm to public safety. Some of the documents also contained policy advice or recommendations.

The heavily censored, detailed timeline showed the problem began at 5:26 a.m. on May 22. Someone left a voice mail for Jimenez at 7:53 a.m. to inform him of the tech trouble. Unix operating system technicians were called at 8:30 a.m. for support. At 10:55 a.m., data was flowing to highway signs and media message systems were coming back online by 11:02 a.m. “Few hrs away from restored service” said the entry. 

At 11:44 a.m., technicians estimated service would resume in three hours. 

Throughout the morning, BC Ferries relied on Twitter to publish schedule updates. Public affairs executive director Deborah Marshall chimed-in at 9:44 a.m., mentioning how she told reporters the issue was identified and technicians “rebooted the system.”

Just over an hour later, Marshall asked colleagues for an update. “Media getting rather aggressive.” She told a producer at Global BC at 11:13 a.m. that the ferries website was “slowly coming back online now.”

The timeline said the website was changed to “current conditions lite,” to display basic information. But, at 1 p.m., an unrelated issue. Departure Bay said it was ticketing for the 9:05 p.m. sailing. Just two minutes later, new bookings and redemptions were flowing. 

BC Ferries Salish Orca

At 1:45 p.m., a “current conditions is unavailable” message showed on the web and ops application. Almost an hour later, at 2:44 p.m., the mobile app and current conditions page were reported working and emails were being received. 

The website opened to the public at 2:52 p.m. Within minutes, 1,100 users were on the website and more than 600 on the app. 

Below the timeline, the list of 12 observations was completely censored.

Marshall told executives at 3:43 p.m. that reporters were asking what caused the outage. “Do we have an answer yet?”

Angela Soucie, the director of consumer marketing and digital experience, replied. “Maybe we keep it generic. It was nothing to do with the website, but a backend system failure that brought down several systems.”

The next morning, 24 hours after it began, the executive director of BC Ferries internal audit office asked Harris for a copy of whatever email he had prepared for executives about the root cause. 

“Typically I am cc’d and/or included on any correspondence related to significant incidents. I received the service desk notices but they don’t describe the root cause, only that the root cause was identified,” wrote Christy Hermans, 

Brian Anderson, the vice-president of strategy and community engagement, sent a script at noon May 23 to Marshall and Jimenez, titled “Key Messages – May Long Weekend.” Such a document is standard for answering media questions. 

In it, the computer system problem was called “unanticipated.”

“The minute we experienced the problem, we began to address it. All available internal resources were made available. But it was complicated and despite many resources working on the issue, it took us nine hours to resolve.”

The script said the company was “undertaking a deep dive to determine if the problem could have been avoided or dealt with earlier” and “undertaking broader work to revisit our technical environment to make sure it’s resilient for our business needs. That’s not a short term fix.”

The same briefing note said BC Ferries carried 400,000 passengers over the long weekend and it was “deeply sorry” to those it inconvenienced. Notably, passengers were stranded on Bowen Island due to crew shortages and offered water taxi to Horseshoe Bay. The script called the labour crunch the number one issue for BC Ferries, which had hired 800 people, but needed 100 more. 

Staffing continued to wreak havoc throughout the Canada Day long weekend. There were more sailing waits than normal after the Coastal Celebration was taken out of Tsawwassen-to-Swartz Bay service for an “unplanned, extended refit” at Vancouver Drydock in North Vancouver. 

The website also continued to struggle. There was heavy traffic from the public seeking schedules and online booking. 

According to the most-recent annual report, for 2021-2022, BC Ferries spent $7.4 million on upgrading computer and communications equipment. 

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Bob Mackin Was it a crash or a

Bob Mackin

The longer Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delays calling a public inquiry into foreign interference, the more suspicious Canadians will become.

That from Member of Parliament Jenny Kwan (NDP-Vancouver East), who went public in late May after Canada’s spy agency revealed privately that she had become a target of China’s Communist government.

Jenny Kwan in the House of Commons (ParlVu)

“The more you send the message that the government is not taking this in the way it needs to, that doesn’t do Canada any good,” said Kwan, who has represented the federal riding since 2015. “The whole thing about foreign interference, of course, is that they want to undermine our democratic process, and to create chaos in our system. If we allow for this to continue, then they win.”

Talks continue between the Liberal minority government and opposition leaders about terms of reference and who might preside over a public inquiry after “special rapporteur” David Johnston quit June 9. The former governor general was dogged by accusations of conflict of interest, calls from opposition parties to resign and criticism for his report that recommended against a public inquiry. 

On June 13, new RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme testified to a House of Commons committee that there are more than 100 foreign interference investigations ongoing, including one about the targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong by Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei, who was expelled May 8. Kwan and former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole both went public about their meetings with Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents who outlined the threats against them. The Commissioner of Canada Elections is investigating their cases and Duheme pledged support from the Mounties.

Kwan said she was unable to discuss details of the CSIS briefing, except that she had drawn Beijing’s attention for her stance on human rights issues, such as the 2020 imposition of a national security law in Hong Kong and her vote in 2021 to condemn China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims as a genocide.

“The briefings that I received from CSIS were such that I actually had to go into a room that they designated, for me to receive the information. So it’s not like they sent me an email to tell me this is what’s going on, because they need the level of security to be in place.”

Jenny Kwan (centre) at a 2019 Lunar New Year banquet, with Chinese diplomat Tong Xiaoling, second from left in front. (CACA)

Kwan did mention one incident. During the 2021 federal election, Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) president Fred Kwok paid for a free banquet in Chinatown, promoted on WeChat, in favour of Liberal newcomer, lawyer and Paralympian Josh Vander Vies. The CBA had bought newspaper ads in favour of the Hong Kong national security law and in opposition to the House of Commons motion on the Uyghur genocide. 

Kwan still won re-election, but questions linger that she hopes investigators will answer. “Did anybody else finance this luncheon, and was there engagement by other parties involved in that, including, for example, the Chinese government?”

Hong Kong-born Kwan came to Canada at age 9 with her family. As a 26-year-old with COPE in 1993, she became the youngest city councillor elected in Vancouver history. Three years later, in 1996, the NDP’s Kwan in Mount Pleasant and BC Liberal Ida Chong in Oak Bay-Gordon Head became the first Chinese-Canadians elected to the B.C. Legislature. Another B.C. first came in 1998, when Kwan became Municipal Affairs Minister. She switched to federal politics and won Vancouver East in 2015. 

Ivy Li of the Canadian Friends of Hong Kong said Kwan should be a “study case for all Canadians.” 

“In the past, she was obviously not criticizing the CCP very strongly, and she was doing things that they were very supportive about. Then now she has changed, then she has strongly criticized them,” Li said. 

Li called it a pretty drastic awakening and hopes Kwan will sustain her criticism of the CCP, which is known for charming politicians while carefully manipulating them until they’re of no use anymore. 

“If you’re in the way or you become not under their control, not doing the way that they want you to go, then they will punish you,” Li said. “They will use the stick until you either behave, tone down your criticism, or even turn around and say that I was wrong, I’m sorry and my criticism was not true.”

Jenny Kwan at the Chinese Canadian Museum opening ceremony (BC Gov/Flickr)

Li pointed to Kwan’s speeches in the House of Commons from 2017 to 2019 for a national day to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre of 1937, a campaign that was heavily promoted by the Chinese embassy, consulates and pro-China media across Canada. Also, Kwan was a skeptic in 2010 when CSIS director Richard Fadden warned publicly that the Chinese government was actively influencing provincial and municipal politicians. 

She said Fadden’s comments were very general and did not come with names of victims or perpetrators of foreign interference. 

“If you compare to the situation today, and what’s happening, the information that was leaked out was very specific,” Kwan said. 

Kwan has also attended events where consular officials and their allies were present and received received political donations from prominent pro-Beijing figures.  

On the Chinese language website for the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations (CACA), Kwan is in the centre of a group photo at River Rock Show Theatre during a 2019 Lunar New Year banquet. She stood beside Consul General Tong Xiaoling, who left Vancouver last summer but was mentioned in CSIS leaks to the Globe and Mail, boasting about her role to influence the outcome of the 2021 federal election in Richmond and 2022 civic election in Vancouver. 

The CACA website boasts that it “actively participates in the activities of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office,” which is synonymous with the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front global propaganda and intelligence program. Former CACA chairman Wang Dianqi donated almost $4,000 to Kwan’s riding association. She also received donations from one of his successors, Wei Renmin.

“Maybe in the past, that there might have been situations where people were trying to influence me, I don’t know,” Kwan said. 

“If people were trying to influence me, predating this period, obviously, it didn’t work.” 

Thekla Lit and Victor Ho of the Chinese Canadian Concern Group on the Chinese Communist Party’s Human Rights Violations say Kwan got the “cold shoulder at a museum in the very riding she was elected to represent,” despite being a trailblazer for Chinese-Canadians over 30 years at three levels of politics. 

At the Chinese Canadian Museum’s June 30 opening ceremony, Kwan was seated near the side of the stage and neither invited to the stage nor acknowledged by the masters of ceremonies. By contrast, Wilson Miao, a Liberal elected in Richmond Centre in 2021, was seated in the middle, front row section and participated in a federal plaque unveiling. 

Premier David Eby at the Chinese Canadian Museum opening ceremony (BC Gov/Flickr)

Lit and Ho, in a July 10 statement, wonder whether it was another instance of foreign interference against “a political figure who dares to criticize human rights issues in China through Chinese-Canadian community organizations.” 

Museum spokesperson Yvonne Chiang said the museum society has the “utmost respect and deepest admiration” for Kwan and her achievements, but had limited time in the 90-minute ceremony for speakers beyond those representing governments that helped fund the museum. Namely, International Trade Minister Mary Ng, Premier David Eby, Tourism Minister Lana Popham and Mayor Ken Sim.

The museum’s debut exhibit commemorates the centennial of the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act, which excluded nearly all categories of Chinese from immigrating to Canada until it was repealed in 1947. A week earlier, on Parliament Hill, Conservative Senator Victor Oh and Liberal-appointed Senator Yuen Pau Woo headlined centennial events. They conflated the old, racist law with their opposition to a proposed registry of foreign agents that is intended to counter foreign interference.

“That narrative very much reflects or mirrors that of what the Chinese government is trying to advance,” Kwan said. “Now, of course, we live in a democratic society, they’re allowed to have their point of view.”

Ultimately, she said, the Canadian government needs to send a clear message now that it won’t tolerate foreign interference and it will fight against it, whether the source is China, Russia, Iran or Saudi Arabia. 

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Bob Mackin The longer Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

For the week of July 9, 2023:

Like so many in B.C. and beyond, Lindsay Meredith’s life changed in early 2020. 

The professor emeritus of marketing at Simon Fraser University caught COVID-19 on a Whistler ski trip. More than three and a half years later, he continues to struggle with what is generally known as long COVID.

“This bug is a bug that keeps on giving,” Meredith told host Bob Mackin. “It almost hits every part of the human body, I’m talking heart, liver, lungs, brain. Not much escapes this beast. I would get rounds where I was a little bit better, but never, ever back to being in shape.” 

On this edition of thePodcast, a reminder that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over and the illness still has a grip on people like Meredith. 

Plus Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim headlines.

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

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For the week of July 9, 2023: Like

Bob Mackin

One of the men charged in the early 2021 death of a senior citizen pleaded guilty to manslaughter on July 4 in B.C. Supreme Court.

Sandy Jack Parisian, 49, had been scheduled to go on trial for nearly four weeks for the death of 78-year-old Usha Singh. Instead, he made the plea before Justice Kathleen Ker.

Singh, who lived alone, was found badly beaten in her house on Jan. 31, 2021. Vancouver Police said two men gained entry to Singh’s Little Mountain home around 6 a.m. on the Sunday morning by posing as police officers. 

Singh succumbed to her injuries in hospital two days later. Parisian and Pascal Jean Claude Bouthillete, 43, were arrested Feb. 3, 2021 and remain in custody. 

Bouthilette is scheduled to go on trial for first degree murder on May 27, 2024. 

Parisian was living in the Strathcona Park homeless camp — six kilometres north of the crime scene — when he was arrested. Bouthillette was arrested near Main Street and Terminal Avenue, living in a trailer.

Parisian described himself in 2019 as the “mayor” of the Oppenheimer Park homeless camp. When he was arrested, Bouthillette was early in a 12-month probation for a June 2020 break and enter in the Queen Elizabeth Park area.

The tent cities cost city taxpayers more than $6 million in police, fire, parks and sanitation services. 

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Bob Mackin One of the men charged in

Bob Mackin 

The tentative new contract between B.C. Rapid Transit Company and SkyTrain workers calls for a 6.75% pay raise effective Sept. 1. 

On June 29, CUPE 7000, which represents workers on the Expo and Millennium lines, reached the agreement with the division of TransLink after 10 days of talks. Details were not announced.

SkyTrain near Pattullo Bridge (TransLink)

According to a leaked copy of the memorandum of agreement, pay will rise by at least 16.25% over the life of the five-year deal. The union recommends members accept the contract and is holding information meetings via Zoom on July 17, before a vote later in the month.

This follows the April-negotiated contract between Unifor locals 111 and 2200 and Coast Mountain Bus Company that would see pay rise between 11.25% and 12.5% through March 31, 2026 at TransLink’s bus division. 

The CUPE 7000 deal contains a no contracting out clause to protect jobs of existing SkyTrain workers and the formation of a joint committee of three company representatives and three union representatives to discuss “contracting in” work that is currently contracted out.

Pay will also increase on Sept. 1, 2024 by 2% or 3%, based on the 12-month rate of inflation beginning Sept. 21, 2023. Further increases are scheduled at 2.5% annually in 2025 through 2027. The the final two years could be higher in order to match whatever general wage increase Unifor members achieve in their next contract from CMBC. 

Non-skilled trades workers get a .24% adjustment plus 25 cents per hour in 2025.

According to an appendix in the Aug. 31-expiring contract, SkyTrain pay ranges from $29 an hour for a parts driver to $58.41 an hour for an elevator/escalator technician. For administrative workers, $28.08 is the hourly rate for receptionists and administrative support clerks and, on the other end of the scale, $57.18 per hour for a control centre instructor.

Workers on duty Sundays will be paid time-and-a-quarter for all work hours beginning Sept. 1. That increases to time-and-a-half in 2026. Workers on afternoon shifts will see their $1.80-an-hour shift differential bumped to $2 an hour on Sept. 1. The nighttime differential increases by $1 to $4 an hour on Sept. 1. By 2027, it will reach $6 an hour. 

The company will pay union president Tony Rebelo’s wages for one day a month to a maximum of 120 hours per year and also pay $20,000 to the union for the purposes of bargaining.

The new deal also gives workers eight, full-paid individual sick days beginning Jan. 1, 2024. A maximum of five sick days may be used consecutively. There are various increases to benefits and allowances, such as $2,500 more to see a psychologist or registered clinical counsellor, to a maximum $4,000 a year, and a $500 increase to annual physiotherapy payments, now capped at $1,500. 

(TransLink)

The maximum $5,000, interest-free loan for entering a residential substance abuse treatment program is tripled to $15,000. Upon successful completion of a monitoring agreement, the company will forgive the loan. The company can recover the debt in the event of failure or forgive 100% of the loan one time during the worker’s employment with the company.

Maternity leave is increased by six weeks to 18 weeks and the contract language is amended to replace references to mother with “birthing parent.”

Similarly, male and female pronouns are out and “they,” “them” and “their” are in. The wording of the fair practice anti-discrimination clause changes sexual “preference” to sexual “orientation” and adds protection for gender expression. 

A letter of understanding upholds the provincially adopted United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and contains measures aimed at increasing recruitment, retention and advancement of Indigenous employees. It contemplates an employment equity committee and training for anti-racism and cultural competency.

The Sept. 30 National Truth and Reconciliation Day is added to the list of statutory, paid holidays. Indigenous workers will receive an unpaid day off to observe National Indigenous Peoples Day every June 21. By request, an employee may have an elder or support person of their choice present when dealing with issues affecting Indigenous employees. 

A side letter from BCRTC labour relations director Kevin Payne to Rebelo on June 29 says that the union will be given an opportunity to discuss its concerns should the company rescind its November 2021-implemented work-from-home policy. 

Another June 29 letter clarifies how the company deals with special leave requests for employees who attend incidents after a person is struck or run over by a SkyTrain. 

Affected employees may request time off for special leave through their manager/supervisor to the labour relations department. 

“Special leave will only be approved for the remainder of the shift; and if necessary, the shift immediately following the date of incident. Should an employee require additional time off as a result of their attendance at the incident site, they will be required to file a claim with WorkSafeBC,” the letter said. 

So-called “dirty work employees” called to don personal protective equipment and clean up after a track level incident involving human contact shall receive a premium of two hours equal to 200% of their normal straight time pay rate. 

A new clause about accident/incident investigations says supervisors involved in a safety investigation will only participate as a witness and any statements by an employee will not be used beyond the investigation.

TransLink is studying the feasibility of erecting platform barriers to prevent people from jumping or falling into the track area as it approaches the 40th anniversary of service in two years. A 2001 B.C. Coroners Service (BCCS) report cited a 1994 SkyTrain safety review that estimated it could cost as much as $2.2 million to retrofit each station with platform screen doors. 

BCCS statistics show that, between 2008 and 2018, 32 people died of suicide on the SkyTrain system.  

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Bob Mackin  The tentative new contract between B.C.

Bob Mackin

A rival party’s campaign manager, who complained to New Westminster Police about Gurveen Dhaliwal scrutineering while running for re-election to the school board, said her integrity remains questionable.

The B.C. Prosecution Service published lawyer John Gordon’s recommendation on July 6, finding Dhaliwal likely contravened the Local Government Act, but it was not in the public interest to charge her.

Community First New West’s Gurveen Dhaliwal (Twitter)

“Students and parents should really consider whether someone who has been explicitly trained and informed to not attend a voting place, other than for voting, but yet claim a mistake to have done so, should be qualified to make decisions for students and parents in the community of New Westminster,” Jason Chan of the New West Progressives said in an interview.

Chan was scrutineering at the Queensborough Community Centre polling station last Oct. 5 when he recognized Dhaliwal. He confirmed with election staff on-site that the 2018-elected Community First New West candidate had been acting as a scrutineer. Election officials referred Chan to the police and he formally complained Oct. 9. They investigated and forwarded a report to Crown counsel earlier this year. 

In a May 1 cabinet order, Dhaliwal was named a ministerial assistant to Health Minister Adrian Dix. Assistant Deputy Attorney General Peter Juk secretly appointed Gordon on May 4, the same day that a reporter unsuccessfully sought comment from Dhaliwal, Juk, Dix and Premier David Eby.

Dhaliwal was shuffled from Dix’s office without explanation to the office of Labour Minister Harry Bains on May 15. Eleven days later, on May 26, the B.C. Prosecution Service announced Juk had appointed Gordon. Gordon submitted his recommendation to Juk on June 29. 

Chan said he was “flabbergasted” that both Dhaliwal and Community First New West city council candidate Ruby Campbell (on whose behalf Dhaliwal attended the voting station) failed to heed the detailed warnings from candidate manuals and in-person from New Westminster’s chief election officer Jacque Killawee.

Chan said he attended candidate meetings where Killawee was clear, repetitive and emphatic about the rules and regulations, including the one that he saw Dhaliwal disobey.

“(She) painstakingly went through what are the ‘can do’s’ and ‘must not do’s,’ including candidates cannot attend the place of voting, other than voting themselves,” Chan said. 

By keeping her seat in the Oct. 15 election, Chan also noted that Dhaliwal was subject to the School Act’s oath of office, which states: “I have not, by myself or any other person, knowingly contravened the School Act respecting vote buying, intimidation or other election offences in relation to my election as a trustee.”

Dhaliwal, a member of the NDP-aligned party, stepped aside as school board chair a month ago due to the investigation. 

After the incident last October, Cheryl Greenhalgh, the chair of Community First New West — but not Dhaliwal herself — admitted in a statement that Dhaliwal regretted her mistake and she had intended to observe the process and provide information to other volunteer scrutineers.

Dhaliwal did not respond for comment on Thursday, but her lawyer, Joven Narwal, told the New Westminster Record that Dhaliwal was “vindicated by this decision.”  

Gordon listed several public interest factors against charging Dhaliwal, including the offence was committed due to genuine mistake or misunderstanding of fact, the loss or harm as a result of a single incident was minor in nature, and Dhaliwal has no prior criminal record. 

Gurveen Dhaliwal (Twitter)

“Her background of community involvement speaks well of her,” said the BCPS statement. “Her re-election to a second term shows she is well regarded in New Westminster.”

If Dhaliwal had been charged and convicted, she could have faced a maximum $5,000 fine and year in jail. 

Gordon’s investigation found Dhaliwal spent 20 minutes as a scrutineer after she voted. While she did not identify herself as a candidate, the presiding election official did not ask if she was a candidate and mistakenly neglected to check her name against the list of candidates. 

Gordon speculated that Dhaliwal could have successfully argued in court that she was “induced by the election official’s error” and therefore permitted by the official.

Gordon also noted that when Killawee became aware of the incident, she took steps to notify all parties and there was no known recurrence. 

“The incident was isolated. Ms. Dhaliwal has not demonstrated a wilful or repeated non-compliance with the Act and the ‘integrity of regulatory scheme,’ specifically the electoral process, was not, in the particular circumstances of this case, adversely affected,” said the BCPS statement.

Prior to the May cabinet order, Dhaliwal had been appointed in February 2021 to be an aide to Minister of State for Infrastructure Bowinn Ma. She previously worked for Richmond-Queensborough MLA Aman Singh’s campaign and in the constituency office of Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Katrina Chen. 

On May 27, the day after the special prosecutor was announced, Eby told reporters that Dhaliwal had been placed on administrative leave. His staff did not respond to questions about whether she continued to receive pay and benefits. 

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Bob Mackin A rival party’s campaign manager, who