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Bob Mackin

Representatives of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim began to discuss a FIFA World Cup 26 memorandum of understanding in late 2024, but have nothing to show with almost a year until the tournament kickoff.

On Dec. 12, 2024, Seattle’s international affairs director wrote to Sim’s chief of staff, Trevor Ford.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the Oval Office in 2018 with U.S. President Donald Trump. (FIFA).

“[Deputy Mayor Greg] Wong would like to talk with you about an idea for some co-ordination around World Cup — something along the lines of an MOU between Seattle and Vancouver to work together and cross-promote the games to make it a regional success cross-border,” wrote Stacey Jehlik in a message obtained by theBreaker.news under freedom of information.

“Most of this would happen between our [local organizing committees] and tourism groups, as those entities already are co-operating. But we’re thinking it might be nice to have the mayors sign something to show the public that elected leaders are promoting the connection.”

Wong and Ford spoke Dec. 19 by webconference. Jehlik followed-up Jan. 10, suggesting Seattle would share a draft by the end of the month.

“I just wanted to loop back on who we should work with on sharing a draft of the MOU we discussed. I’m hoping we can have a draft ready to share the week of Feb. 17,” Jehlik wrote on Feb. 7.

Vancouver’s Trump tariffs response

Jehlik’s email happened to be four days before Sim’s city council unanimously adopted the “Choose Canada, Tariffs and Buy Local Imperative” motion at the Feb. 11 meeting. A March 4 memo from city manager Paul Mochrie said the city has 55 active contracts with U.S. suppliers worth $16.5 million, but 63% of which is for software systems.

Mochrie estimated Canadian suppliers who rely on U.S. goods and services would pass on as much as $11 million in tariff-related cost increases annually for items such as electrical fixtures, pipes and food. The memo mentioned nothing about tariff-sparked cost hikes for FIFA 26.

Ford did not respond, but Karissa Braxton, a spokesperson for Harrell, told theBreaker.news on May 27: “The City of Seattle has been discussing options for coordination and regional cooperation with Vancouver, including expressing shared goals, however, to date no formal MOU has been entered into.”

Behind the scenes, staff at the cities’ local organizing committees are meeting monthly.

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Vancouver executive lead Jessie Adcock’s calendar says one happened March 26, the same day as a monthly call with counterparts in Toronto and the FIFA 26 Canadian office.

Vancouver’s B.C. Place Stadium hosts the first of seven matches on June 13, 2026. Seattle’s Lumen Field hosts the first of its six matches on June 15, 2026.

Seattle also hosts six matches beginning June 15, 2025 in the FIFA Club World Cup 25 test event, including UEFA Champions League winner Paris Saint Germain on June 23 against the Seattle Sounders.

Bob Mackin Representatives of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell

Bob Mackin

An adjudicator has set a July 15 deadline for City of Vancouver to disclose more information about its plans for the FIFA World Cup 26, including its contracts with FIFA.

Elizabeth Vranjkovic, of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, delivered her 73-page decision on June 2 on more than 2,400 pages that Vancouver city hall wanted censored in part or in-full. City hall feared that disclosure would harm in camera meetings, policy advice or recommendations, law enforcement, policy advice or recommendations, financial or economic interests of a public body, individual or public safety, third party business interests and personal privacy.

The decision found the city was authorized or required to withhold some information under the law, “but that much of the withheld information did not fall within the claimed exceptions. The adjudicator ordered the city to disclose that information to [theBreaker.news].”

FIFA’s 2026 World Cup logo (FIFA)

More than three years ago, theBreaker.news sought correspondence between City of Vancouver sport hosting manager Michelle Collens and FIFA about the city’s 2018 bid to host matches. Lawyers for city hall, the B.C. government, Vancouver International Airport Authority, B.C. Pavilion Corporation, Canada Soccer, FIFA and a third-party granted anonymity filed their opposition in a written inquiry during 2024.

Secret deals

Vranjkovic confirmed the existence of a participation agreement between the city and NDP government, as well as a confidential city memorandum of understanding with the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh first nations in September 2024. She rejected “vague and speculative” pleas from Peter Montopoli, the FIFA chief tournament officer for Canada, to keep various documents secret for fear of harm to FIFA business interests

“While the chief tournament officer says that competitors could use ticket information to compete with FIFA, numerous previous orders have held, and I agree, that disclosure of contractual terms that may result in the heightening of competition for future contracts is not a significant harm or a significant interference with negotiating position,” Vranjkovic wrote. “FIFA has not provided adequate evidence or explanation to support my reaching a different conclusion in this case.”

Yellow card for city hall

Vranjkovic was also highly critical of City of Vancouver for sometimes failing to provide evidence or argument to support its position to keep information secret.

“Proceeding in such a manner unnecessarily delays access to information for applicants and is an inefficient use of the OIPC’s limited resources,” she wrote.

The NDP government said more than a year ago that hosting could cost $581 million. The federal government has not revealed a security budget.

The heavily censored copies of contracts provided through the adjudication last year show that B.C. taxpayers are responsible for “all costs and expenses” incurred to fulfil obligations to FIFA and “shall indemnify and hold free and harmless” FIFA and subsidiaries from municipal taxes.

The 48-nation, 16-city tournament kicks off June 11, 2026. Vancouver is hosting seven matches from June 13-July 7, 2026 and a fan festival at the PNE through the July 19 final.

FIFA is also staging its 76th FIFA Congress under the natural grass roof at the Vancouver Convention Centre on April 30, 2026.

Bob Mackin An adjudicator has set a July

Bob Mackin

A former Conservative Party of B.C. candidate is seeking an external audit of the party’s March 1 annual general meeting.

Tim Thielmann, third-place finisher in Victoria-Beacon Hill last year, circulated a petition on June 1, asking executive members and former riding executive members to sign-on and demand president Aisha Estey respond by June 14.

“As you may have seen, the three former Conservative MLAs held a press conference on [May 28] to reveal allegations that John Rustad and his senior executive team rigged the AGM,” Thielmann wrote. “The allegations include payment of approximately $100,000 to secure votes from 100 or more members of the South Asian community for Mr. Rustad’s slate of directors and proposed constitution.”

Tim Thielmann (centre) with leader John Rustad (right) and MLA Bruce Banman (left) in happier times in 2024. (Thielmann/X)

Thielmann’s letter also claims Rustad and his team chose delegates based on political leanings or allegiance to Rustad; improperly decertified certain riding associations; and stacked delegates loyal to Rustad into ridings to which they are not resident.

“The auditor should have no prior relationship with Mr. Rustad, senior party or caucus staff or any member of the board. The terms of reference must include an examination of the enumerated allegations above,” Thielmann’s letter says. “The auditor’s report should be published prior to the party’s next AGM if possible and made available to all party members.”

Randy Roy is Rustad’s director of special projects and president of the Prince George–Mackenzie riding association. He challenged Thielmann to provide evidence of the $100,000 slush fund.

“I don’t understand why you would have withheld proof — if you had any?” Roy wrote in response to Thielmann, who was briefly Rustad’s director of research.

Roy also questioned why Thielmann would encourage a riding president to void his membership by “signing a letter written by someone who is actively looking to destroy the Conservative Party of BC?

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“I don’t support yours or anyone else’s efforts to destroy or defame our party — that’s why I’m a member, supporter and riding president,” Roy wrote.

Thielmann responded by asking Roy “whether members are free to request an audit of the AGM without fear of expulsion or other forms reprisal.”

Thielmann said a member of Rustad’s inner circle told MLA Tara Armstrong (Ind., Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream) about the slush fund

“It is a respectful request for an independent audit of the party’s AGM in light of numerous irregularities, just as John Rustad asked for an independent audit of our provincial election following irregularities,” Thielmann wrote.

Estey did not immediately respond to theBreaker.news.

NDP Premier David Eby remained in power with a narrow, 47-seat majority in the new 93-seat Legislature. Rustad’s Conservatives became opposition with 44 seats. Dissidents Armstrong, Dallas Brodie (Vancouver Quilchena) and Jordan Kealy (Peace River North) left the party earlier this year to sit as independents, leaving Rustad’s caucus at 41.

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Bob Mackin A former Conservative Party of B.C.

For the week of June 1, 2025:

A special edition — the first video edition of theBreaker.news Podcast — from one of the biggest events in British Columbia this year, Web Summit Vancouver 25 at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Topics and timelines. 

02:20: Countdown to FIFA World Cup 26

Peter Montopoli, chief tournament officer (Canada), Jurgen Mainka, chief tournament officer (Mexico), and Amy Hopfinger, chief business and strategy officer (U.S.A.).

08:53: State of the News Business in the Age of AI

Zachary Karabell, The Progress Network, Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief, San Francisco Chronicle, Kate Marino, executive editor, Axios, and Jennifer Cunningham, editor-in-chief, Newsweek.

19:29: Whistleblower Aid press conference

Libby Liu, CEO, Whistleblower Aid, and Mark Zaid, co-founder, Whistleblower Aid.

As usual, Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and the Virtual Nanaimo Bar.

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

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

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For the week of June 1, 2025:

Bob Mackin

A Chinese Communist government official’s son — who became loan shark Paul King Jin’s driver — was sentenced May 29 in Vancouver to more than seven years in jail.

Yuexi “Alex” Lei, a Chinese citizen born in 1984, pleaded guilty two years ago to being an accessory after the fact in the murder of Silver International underground banker Jian Jun Zhu on Sept. 18, 2020 at the Manzo Japanese restaurant in Richmond. Lei also pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered gun at a Richmond house and firing a gun behind a grocery store in South Vancouver.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Janet Winteringham agreed to the joint Crown/defence sentencing proposal of two years in jail for the accessory conviction and three years consecutive for each of the weapons offences — a total eight years. Winteringham gave Lei 309 days credit for time served before the sentencing.

Paul King Jin (BCLC/Cullen Commission)

Winteringham accepted Lei’s statement of remorse and said his guilty pleas were a mitigating factor that saved court time.

“His conduct had the potential to interfere with a murder investigation,” Winteringham said. Although he was not involved in the planning of the shooting of Zhu and Jin, he knew about it and was involved in what was occurring. She also said he caused danger to the public by shooting the gun in South Vancouver.

Last September, Justice Jeanne Watchuk convicted Richard Charles Reed of the first degree murder of Zhu, but acquitted him of attempting to murder Jin. Watchuk said Reed coordinated the shooting “directly and indirectly with Gordon Ma, Lei, and Jin Cai to prepare for and carry out the murder.”

Winteringham heard during April’s sentencing that Cai owed Jin and Zhu a large sum of money, but he wanted to kill them instead of paying the debt. Ma asked Lei to commit the murders, but he declined. Lei drove with Ma to Reed’s residence and saw him give Reed a firearm. After the shooting, Ma burned Reed’s clothing in the garage at Lei’s residence on Bowcock Road in Richmond.

Silver International underground banker Jian Jun Zhu.

Before coming to Vancouver, Lei had been a well-known, classically trained opera singer in China who went on to study in London, England and Houston, Texas. He became addicted to crystal meth beginning in 2018.

Lei tried to delay the May 29 hearing by a week. Through a Mandarin translator, he wanted to provide information to police “to arrest the person who actually committed the crime.”

Winteringham rejected the last-ditch application because Lei did not take any steps during the previous five weeks. He had already failed to change his guilty plea and delayed proceedings in order to obtain documents and change lawyers.

Winteringham said that Lei’s mother was a department head for Overseas Affairs in the Chinese government and his father a senior police officer in China. Lei is a permanent resident of Canada and subject to a removal order by Canada Border Services Agency pending sentencing.

At the end of the hearing, Winteringham expressed hope for Lei’s rehabilitation.

“You wanting to be a good role model for your children, that is important,” the judge said.

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Bob Mackin A Chinese Communist government official’s son

Bob Mackin

BC Hydro said it did not create any documents about a high-profile part of the NDP government’s retaliation campaign against Donald Trump’s tariffs.

On March 12, Premier David Eby’s government cancelled CleanBC and BC Hydro rebates on Tesla products, taking aim at Trump’s biggest 2024 campaign funder, Elon Musk.

Adrian Dix documented his November 2024 swearing-in as Energy Minister, with Lt. Gov. Janet Austin. (BC Gov/Flickr)

theBreaker.news asked BC Hydro, under freedom of information, for a copy of the report that was the basis for the decision and a copy of the related briefing note for the executive and board about the topic.

The Crown corporation replied April 29, to say that it searched its files and found no records.

Pressed to double-check, BC Hydro told theBreaker.news on May 28 that there are no records because the decision was not documented.

“The policy change direction was communicated verbally by the Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions, we regularly coordinate in our ongoing collaboration with the Ministry on various programs, incentives, and rebates for our customers,” said Deanna Hamber, Hydro’s freedom of information and privacy manager.

Minister Adrian Dix, who is responsible for BC Hydro, did not respond to a text message from theBreaker.news.

While in opposition, under Dix and then John Horgan, the NDP relentlessly attacked the BC Liberals for deleting documents or not even creating documents. It tabled a 2016 private member’s bill that proposed a statutory requirement to document a “decision by a government body respecting a course of action that directly affects a person or the operations of the government body.”

In 2019, the NDP introduced a watered-down version in its Information Management Act. In 2020, Horgan’s cabinet did not keep minutes at pivotal meetings early in the pandemic. Dix was the Minister of Health.

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Bob Mackin BC Hydro said it did not

Bob Mackin

The B.C. Supreme Court judge presiding over a Conservative Party of B.C. candidate’s bid to overturn the NDP win in Surrey-Guildford said May 26 that the main hearing could last two weeks.

Justice Barbara Norell reserved decision on applications by Elections BC and NDP MLA Garry Begg to seal or ban publication of personal information of certain voters. Norell said she does not want to wait much longer to hear the case.

“I am concerned, this is an election and we’ve got to get this matter heard as quickly as we can,” Norell said in court.

Premier David Eby hugging 22-vote Surrey-Guildford winner Garry Begg at the Nov. 18, 2024 swearing-in ceremony (BC Gov/Flickr)

Begg won the riding by 22 votes after a judicial recount last November, giving the NDP a 47-seat majority in the 93-seat Legislature. Premier David Eby named Begg solicitor general.

Runner-up Honveer Singh Randhawa wants the result invalidated because he alleges at least 46 invalid votes were counted, at least 23 non-residents voted and at least two people voted more than once. Elections BC has denied the allegations.

Norell asked lawyers for Elections BC, Begg and Randhawa to provide their open dates between mid-June and September after expressing frustration that the May 26 hearing took a full day of court time.

“I don’t mean in a critical way, but this was originally set for 30 minutes at nine o’clock, and I said, I don’t think so,” Norell said. “Even when we had our pretrial hearing conference, I think counsel said, ‘oh, maybe an hour and a half’, and I said, half-a-day. It’s now been a full day.”

Norell told them to think carefully if five days is enough, particularly if there will be oral testimony and how many witnesses may be called.

“Five days seems light to me,” Norell said.

Earlier, Norell issued a temporary ban on publication of the identify of individual voters mentioned in affidavits.

Randhawa’s lawyer Sunny Uppal admitted his position is “a little strange,” saying he consents to Elections BC’s bid to seal the names of voters whose votes are called into question, but not Begg’s broader application. Randhawa argued that family members who volunteer evidence need to be subject to public scrutiny.

“The truth-seeking function is going to be compromised if the deponents are allowed to swear affidavits where their names are going to be sealed,” Uppal told the court.

Election recap report

On May 27, Elections BC published the first volume of its final report on the 2024 election, which ran on a $94.33 million budget.

More than 2.1 million votes were cast before or on Oct. 19, representing 58.45% of the 3.6 million registered voters.

Torrential rains throughout election day across the province led to power outages and voting place closures. A state of emergency was declared in part of North Vancouver’s Deep Cove. A partial judicial recount was ordered for Prince George-Mackenzie due to an uncounted ballot box containing 861 advance votes.

The election was the first since amendments to the Election Act that include a maximum $50,000-per-day fine for disinformation about voting processes.

Elections BC False Allegations or Statements Transmission team reviewed 39 incident reports, of which 15 potential contraventions were escalated for review. That included five false statements about election officials or voting administration tools; four instances of false election information; two instances of misrepresentation; and four unauthorized transmissions.

More details are expected in volume two later this year.

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Bob Mackin The B.C. Supreme Court judge presiding

For the week of May 25, 2025:

The first post-election session of the British Columbia Legislature closes May 29.

Premier David Eby’s NDP took advantage of Donald Trump’s tariffs to divert attention from the record $10 billion deficit budget. The governing party then used the trade war as an excuse to table legislation aimed at expanding the cabinet’s power.

John Rustad, leader of the Conservative opposition, joins host Bob Mackin to look back and look ahead. Is Eby’s endgame to call an early election? 

As usual, Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and the Virtual Nanaimo Bar.

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.

NEW: Subscribe to theBreaker.news on Substack. Find out how: Click here.

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For the week of May 25, 2025:

Bob Mackin

The Mayor of Vancouver is suing his former chief of staff.

In a May 23-filed, B.C. Supreme Court defamation lawsuit, Ken Sim alleges Kareem Allam and real estate developer Alex G. Tsakumis falsely accused him of drinking and driving.
The lawsuit, filed by lawyer David Church, said Allam and Tsakumis made “false statements intended to injure the plaintiff as a public official, in his role as a mayor, and the plaintiff suffered damage as a result.”

It also blames them for his ABC political party’s poor showing in the April 5 by-election, when Ralph Kaisers and Jaime Stein finished last among party affiliates. Left-wing candidates Sean Orr (COPE) and Lucy Maloney (OneCity) won the two vacant seats.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim (Mackin)

“The defamatory words, or words similar to the defamatory words, were republished anonymously in by-election flyers distributed to the voting public, in or around March and April 2025,” said Sim’s lawsuit. “This included delivery of election flyers to homes in Vancouver, which flyers included the following statement: Mayor Ken Sim had a DUl suspiciously ‘cleared’ by the VPD and subsequently poured millions of dollars into their budget, which is a major conflict of interest and likely corruption.”

Sim alleges that Allam told Tsakumis in November 2023 that Sim drove while intoxicated, had been stopped by Vancouver Police officers and let go without arrest. It alleged Allam told Tsakumis with the intention that he would publish the statements.

In a Nov. 23, 2023 post on X, formerly Twitter, Tsakumis alleged that police pulled Sim over on 4th Avenue close to his Point Grey home, but did not book him. “Why? How? If true, he should resign. Immediately.”

Sim also alleges Allam told Anne Fournier, an ABC member, in June 2024 that he received a phone call from a person in the Mayor’s Office stating Sim had been pulled over by police for driving under the influence “and that the individual in the mayor’s office and a VPD officer had taken care of it.”

In February however, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) cleared Sim of the drunk driving allegations, but refused to release its report “redacted or otherwise.” OPCC said Sim was not the target of its investigation. Instead, it focused on the conduct of Vancouver Police officers.

None of the allegations has been tested in court and neither defendant has filed a formal statement of defence.

In an interview, Allam said he intends to vigorously defend himself and called Sim’s lawsuit “nothing more than a page out of Donald Trump’s book, and Vancouverites aren’t going to buy it.”

“This is nothing more than a cheap distraction by a mayor who, for the last two-and-a-half years, has failed Vancouverites at every single turn,” said Allam.

Allam managed Sim’s winning 2022 election campaign and was chief of staff until February 2023. He previously told theBreaker.news that he believes he was fired from the $150,067-a-year job for expressing concern about an alleged incident involving Sim.

Tsakumis called Sim’s lawsuit “baseless, meritless and vexatious.”

“This has nothing to do with the law, this has everything to do with Ken Sim exacting political revenge,” Tsakumis said.

“My legal team will look forward to seeing Ken Sim at trial, under oath.”

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Bob Mackin The Mayor of Vancouver is suing

Bob Mackin

FIFA is in the market for 81,707 pieces of furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) in Vancouver and Toronto at the same time businesses are bracing for Trump tariff price hikes.

In a May 1 request for information, the 2026 World Cup organization says it is looking for suppliers to provide “seating, tables, shelving, storage, appliances and other” items.

“Our goal is to reduce unnecessary purchases, maximize reuse, and work with rental suppliers experienced in large-scale projects across Canada,” the document says.

FIFA’s Vancouver and Toronto World Cup 26 logos (FIFA)

FIFA wants to understand market offerings and identify potential suppliers, gain insights into available products, evaluate potential suppliers and assess sustainability practices and dissolution options. The document contains no requirement or preference to buy Canadian.

The event logistics department’s tasks include customs and international freight forwarding, material operations and handling, distribution, warehousing, venue operations and team equipment movement operations.

FIFA is looking to rent, buy or both. Additionally, it ponders a scheme for a supplier to buy back FF&E at pre-set prices or to offer a dissolution plan. FIFA wants to avoid the problem faced by VANOC, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics organization. It spent several months after the 2010 Games flogging thousands of surplus items.

“Specifications, descriptions, quantities, and images provided in the product list are preliminary.” Deadline for companies to respond is June 15. The tournament kicks off 361 days later.

The FIFA wish list of 176 categories includes:

  • Disposable Rain Poncho“Individually packaged, clear, single-use poncho with no logos.”Quantity: 24,496
  • Plastic Folding Chair“Lightweight, durable folding chair with a flat design, stackable for easy storage and transport.”Quantity: 8,719
  • Locker Padlock“Key-controlled spare combination padlock compatible with supplied lockers and cabinets.”Quantity: 6,000
  • Ballpen“Retractable ballpen medium tip: 0.7-1.0mm. Ink colour: blue.”Quantity: 3,242
  • Barrier with Belt“Crowd control black post with a retractable belt. Black belt 2 inches wide. Belt length: up to 10 feet. Heavy base with diameter: 14 inches. Unit of measurement is pair – 2 barriers.Quantity: 2,450.

FIFA also wants to buy eight table tennis racquet and ball sets, eight mobile foldable table tennis tables and 20 football tables “designed for lounges, providing entertainment and relaxation. Includes a spare ball set for continuous play.”

Toronto taxpayers are spending $380 million on six matches between June 12 and July 2, 2026 and Vancouver up to $581 million on seven matches from June 13 to July 7, 2026. Public Safety Canada has refused to disclose its budget.

Both cities are also hosting fan festivals that run the duration of the tournament, which ends July 19, 2026 in New Jersey.

However, FIFA is bringing its 76th annual congress to Vancouver beginning April 30, 2026, meaning the earliest start to festivities of the 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico and U.S.

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Bob Mackin FIFA is in the market for