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Bob Mackin

B.C. Place Stadium will undergo millions of dollars in renovations to get ready for the FIFA World Cup in 2026, beyond the instalment of a temporary grass pitch.

At least five matches are expected in the early rounds of the 48-nation tournament, co-hosted by 16 cities in Canada, U.S. and Mexico. The work will be the biggest since the 2011-completed, $514 million project that included a retractable roof.

A CSA contractor’s rendering of a 2026 World Cup live site outside B.C. Place Stadium (BaAM Productions/City of Vancouver)

B.C. Pavilion Corp. (PavCo) published a request for proposals on Dec. 5, seeking a construction manager for a three-year contract, plus a one-year option, beginning in February. Deadline for submissions is Jan. 15. 

“PavCo anticipates that the contractor will provide a scale range of expected fees as a percentage of the construction value of all projects undertaken,” said the posting. “The contractor will also provide a table of available personnel and rates for all pre-construction services and advanced construction manager requirements.” 

Stadium general manager Chris May said in a prepared statement that schedules and budgets are in flux.

“With FIFA World Cup 2026 less than three years away we recognize that construction timelines will be expedited, and it’s important that we prepare for the work so once budgets and deliverables are finalized we can hit the ground running,” May said. 

PavCo hasn’t released cost estimates, but the request for proposals offers some hints. 

Applicants must have completed assignments as a construction manager on at least one project worth $50 million or more within the last 10 years and at least three worth $10 million or more within the last 10 years. Their experience must also include work on a public, multi-use assembly or hospitality-based space. 

The request for proposals includes a list of a dozen B.C. Place projects over the next two years, including new suites on level three, hospitality space and a food court upgrade; renovations to washrooms, banquet rooms, the main press box and Edgewater Lounge; and building of a merchandise store, premium entrance and connector to the Parq hotel/casino complex. 

PavCo said the listed upgrades are either required by FIFA or necessary under the Accessible British Columbia Act, but did not specify. The $50 million minimum mentioned in the request for proposals is intended to narrow the candidate pool “and is not reflective of any projected financial figures.”  

Last February, Glacier reported that PavCo was planning to expand the 50 furnished and catered private suites on level three. It originally proposed relocating the entire B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, but narrowed its sights on the back-of-house, archival storage area. 

Inside a B.C. Place Pacific Rim suite (PavCo)

When FIFA chose Vancouver as a host city in June 2022, the provincial government said the cost to taxpayers would be $240 million to $260 million. But, last January, it revealed that Vancouver city hall was responsible for $230 million in costs and would use a new 2.5-per-cent civic accommodation tax to pay the bill by 2030. The province did not disclose how much it planned on spending.

Freedom of information officials at Vancouver city hall and the provincial government are withholding their proposal to FIFA and the contract with FIFA. An adjudicator from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner is expected to hold a written inquiry in 2024. 

In August, Seattle city council released its agreement with FIFA to use Lumen Field, which is almost 20 years younger than B.C. Place and contains more modern facilities and amenities. 

The stadium-use contract for the home of the Seahawks and Sounders is officially between the U.S. Soccer Federation and First and Goal Inc., the Washington Public Stadium Authority’s private leaseholder. It gives FIFA full control of what goes on inside and outside the building from 30 days before the first match to seven days after the last. 

The Seattle contract contains a deadline of mid-2025 for any construction and renovations, to be paid by the stadium. Lumen Field’s to-do list includes lighting and heating/ventilating/air conditioning upgrades, improvements to concession stands, removal of rows containing a total 800 seats in the corners of the lower tier to accommodate a bigger, temporary natural grass pitch over the existing artificial turf. It cannot be known as Lumen Field or any other sponsor name during the tournament period. 

B.C. was not included in the successful three-nation bid to FIFA in 2018. Then-Premier John Horgan changed his mind in 2021 when Montreal dropped out due to rising costs. 

When it announced the accommodation tax, the province said Vancouver city hall was planning to spend $73 million for security and safety, $40 million for venues, $20 million for the FIFA Fan Festival, $15 million for a host city office, administration and volunteer service, $14 million for traffic and stadium zone management, $8 million for decoration and brand protection, and $8 million for insurance. The budget includes a $52 million contingency. 

The 10,000-seat PNE Amphitheatre is expected to host the Fan Festival when it opens in 2026. In July, city council approved a budget increase from $64.8 million to $103.7 million.  

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Bob Mackin B.C. Place Stadium will undergo millions

Business, News, Opinion

For the week of Dec. 10, 2023:

Vancouver’s Park Board is getting rid of a quarter of the trees in Stanley Park. (The bureaucrats blame the looper moth infestation, but they haven’t released the report that approved the job.)

Mayor Ken Sim wants to get rid of the entire elected Park Board. For economic reasons, he says. 

The NDP government is getting rid of the Surrey RCMP and getting rid of most public hearings for municipal rezoning. 

Joining this edition of thePodcast is Bob Mackin’s guest Randy Helten, to make sense of it all. Helten is co-founder of CityHallWatch.ca and a third-place finisher for Mayor of Vancouver in 2011. 

Plus, headlines from the Pacific Rim and the Pacific Northwest.

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

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

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For the week of Dec. 10, 2023: Vancouver's

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Bob Mackin 

The B.C. NDP Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy posted photographs on X, formerly known as Twitter, showing his meetings this week with officials from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, governments of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador and California, and students from B.C.’s two biggest universities.

(George Heyman/X)

After he travelled almost 12,000 kilometres from Vancouver to Dubai. 

But George Heyman’s representatives refused to reveal the approved budget for his trip to the United Nations COP 28 climate change convention in the oil and gas-rich United Arab Emirates. 

“Minister Heyman is accompanied by chief of staff Charlie Brenchley and assistant deputy minister Jeremy Hewitt,” said David Karn, spokesperson for the ministry. “The trip is funded out of the ministry budget. Final costs will be released after all expenses are tabulated.”

Government policy requires a budget form be completed and approved before leaving B.C. 

Jason Woywada, executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, said this information should not be paywalled because of predictable demand from the public, media and opposition politicians. 

“Those requests occur on such a regular basis, the category of records that this represents should be proactively released,” Woywada said. “Because, if it isn’t being proactively released, what they’re doing is they’re creating a tax on transparency. They’re trying to collect as many $10 application fees as they can.”

Woywada said it is equally important for Heyman and staff to attend COP 28 and be transparent about spending. 

“That they be able to defend to other groups that are upset about the cost, that this was important for them to be in Dubai in order to represent the interests of British Columbians,” Woywada said. 

Last year, when Egypt hosted the conference, Heyman’s pre-trip authorization form, released after a freedom of information request, estimated his trip would cost taxpayers $15,239.71: $9,039.71 for lodging, $4,500 for transportation and $1,700 for meals. 

Aides Danielle Monroe  ($17,666.83) and Kelly Sather ($16,039.71) and Hewitt ($14,570) filed forms.

Purchasing card statements for Nov. 3, 2022 and Dec. 3, 2022 showed that Heyman, Monroe and Sather charged taxpayers a total $18,259.92 for transportation costs alone.

A 2018 report by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions estimated aviation emissions account for roughly 3.5 percent of total human-caused warming of the planet.

(George Heyman/X)

United Nations figures show that 97,372 people from 3,838 states and organizations registered to participate in Dubai for the Nov. 30-Dec. 12 convention. That is roughly the same as the population of Kamloops.

A prominent host country leader, however, expressed skepticism about visitors campaigning to replace oil and gas. U.A.E. state oil company CEO and conference president Sultan Al Jaber lashed out at critics during a pre-conference event, according to a report in the U.K.’s Guardian.   

“Please help me, show me the roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves,” Al Jaber said during his appearance at She Changes Climate.

Federally, the Government of Canada’s central list shows 187 in-person officials and guests, which is more than the U.S. (159) and less than China (219).  

Liberal environment minster Steven Guilbeault led the delegation and was accompanied by a deputy minister, assistant deputy minister, chief negotiator, policy advisor and visits coordinator, among others. 

The list shows 48 people directly affiliated with Environment and Climate Change Canada, 16 embassy and consular staff and nine from Global Affairs Canada. Other departments represented include Natural Resources Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Invest in Canada and Transport Canada (six each) and Export Development Canada, Agriculture and Agrifood, Health Canada, Indigenous Services and International Development (four each). 

The Canadian delegation included B.C. Members of Parliament Taylor Bacharach (NDP, Skeena-Bulkley Valley) and Elizabeth May (Green, Saanich-Gulf Islands). The Green Party co-leader’s husband John Kidder accompanied May, who is recovering from a June stroke. 

She said that Environment Canada is covering her economy airfare, but Kidder’s expenses are “covered through personal resources.”

Gerard Deltell, a Conservative MP from Quebec, was on the list of 3,074 virtual participants from 767 states and organizations. 

Even though he ceased being Vancouver mayor five years ago, Gregor Robertson registered to attend as the “global ambassador” for the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.

The organization’s co-chair is billionaire former New York mayor and business media tycoon Michael Bloomberg. 

At least one sitting B.C. mayor is in Dubai: City of New Westminster’s Patrick Johnstone.

The 2022-elected Johnstone from the NDP-aligned Community First New West party posted photographs from Dubai on his Instagram feed, including from an event hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the umbrella for Bloomberg’s foundation and consultancy.

New Westminster climate action manager Leya Behra is also registered. Neither Johnstone nor city manager Lisa Spitale replied. 

University of B.C. sent nine and Simon Fraser University seven people. UBC’s associate dean of forestry Guangyu Wang and research coordinator Chunyu Pan are, however, listed as affiliates of China’s Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University.

Stand.earth, the Vancouver, Bellingham and San Francisco environmental charity, registered nine personnel. International program director Tzeporah Berman’s name is found as a delegate for Vanuatu with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. 

The list of Canadians also includes a variety of executives, managers and activists representing entities across the spectrum, including AtkinsRealis (formerly known as SNC-Lavalin), Prince Rupert Port Authority, B.C. General Employees Union, Haisla Nation Council and Tk’emlups te Secwepemc. 

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Bob Mackin  The B.C. NDP Minister of Environment

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Bob Mackin

Court filings in the receivership of companies behind the delayed development of a ski and snowboard resort near Squamish include accusations of conflict of interest against two Aquilini Investment Group executives.

Artist’s conception of the delayed ski resort on Brohm Ridge near Squamish (Garibaldi at Squamish)

On Dec. 4, a B.C. Supreme Court judge appointed Ernst and Young after Garibaldi at Squamish Inc. (GAS Inc.) and Garibaldi at Squamish LP (GAS LP) defaulted on $65 million owing to Luigi Aquilini’s companies Aquilini Development LP, Garibaldi Resort Management Co. Ltd., and 1413994 B.C. Ltd.

GAS Inc. was established in 2001 to develop the Brohm Ridge resort on Squamish Nation land. The 2016 provincial environmental approval for the estimated $3.5 billion project was extended in 2021 with a January 2026 deadline to begin construction. 

The Dec. 1 reply to the receivership petition said that four GAS Inc. directors, including Northland Properties chair Bob Gaglardi, “have expressed the concern that, as employees and/or director-officers of affiliated entities within the Aquilini Group — essentially the petitioners themselves — chairman James Chu and director Bill Aujla have a conflict of interest and should recuse themselves from GAS lnc.’s decision making concerning the matters at issue in the petition.”

Chu joined Aquilini as a senior vice-president in 2017, two years after he retired from a 36-year career with the Vancouver Police. Chu was chief in 2011 when a riot broke out near Rogers Arena the night the Aquilini-owned Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins. Aujla was Vancouver city hall’s real estate general manager until he became an Aquilini vice-president in 2018. 

Minutes filed in the case show that nine of the 10 GAS Inc. board members met by teleconference on Oct. 10. Roberto Aquilini, one of Luigi’s three sons, was absent. They agreed by a 7-2 vote to form a special, seven-director committee in reaction to the Sept. 22-filed receivership petition. Chu and Aujla agreed not to participate in the special committee.

Vancouver Chief Constable Jim Chu, Minister Steven Blaney

However, certain directors, including special committee chair and Toronto condo developer Hunter Milborne, continue to be concerned that Chu and Aujla remain in conflict of interest and should refrain from voting on matters related to the special committee, said the court filing from the special committee’s lawyers at the Dentons law firm. 

Board minutes show that Chu invited lawyer Mitchell Gropper as a guest to provide opinion on the conflict of interest allegation. The minutes say that Gropper understood Chu and Aujla were directors/officers of ADLP-owned subsidiaries/entities, but they did not act as directors or officers of the parent company itself. 

Director Stephen Jackson, a lawyer with Northland Properties, said that he, along with fellow directors Robert Toor and Gaglardi, “agreed, expressed and believed that GAS should not be seeking or accepting advice from Mr. Gropper since he was not impartial,” the minutes said. 

Jackson believed that GAS should file opposition to the petition “in its entirety or to some degree,” depending on legal advice. He also “thought that the GAS management should be taking some steps to protect it from being in default.”

Chu said ADLP told him there was no funding available for external counsel.

“Director Jackson asked further on what funding GAS had available for a defence at this point and how much money the GAS had now,” the minutes said. “Chairman Chu replied that GAS had no money. When there was a bill requiring payment, it would be presented to ADLP and the transfer would be made at that time.”

Roberto (left), Luigi, Francesco and Paolo Aquilini and Michael Doyle at the November 2018 opening of Elisa Steakhouse (Elisa/Facebook)

Jackson’s original motion for a three-director special committee, involving himself, Toor and Milborne, was defeated 5-4. 

Near the end of the meeting, Chu had questions for Jackson. Particularly, why the name of Bennett Jones lawyer Jonathan McCullough had “ended up on our email chain.”

According to the minutes, Jackson said McCullough was not acting for GAS, but he was not prepared to discuss him. Chu asked a second time, if McCullough was the counsel for Jackson himself and the Northland Properties directors. 

“Director Jackson replied repeating that counsel was not counsel for GAS and director Jackson was not prepared to discuss him.”

Chu asked Toor why a board email had been copied to McCullough, “when the board did not know who he was and who he was working for.”

Toor said he copied the email to McCullough “by mistake.” While he was taking instructions from McCullough, he said the lawyer was not acting for GAS. Jackson replied with the same answer. 

“Chairman Chu said was this the ‘fifth amendment’? Director Jackson confirmed that the counsel was not acting for GAS, so he thought there was no reason to disclose who the counsel might be acting for.”

Gropper added to the conversation, but what he said was censored from the document. 

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Bob Mackin Court filings in the receivership of

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Bob Mackin 

A judge will be asked on Dec. 13 to approve Vancouver Coastal Health’s purchase of Seymour Health Centre Inc. from receivership for $12 million.

Vancouver Coastal Health

Lawyers for receiver Ernst and Young have scheduled a hearing for Dec. 13 in B.C. Supreme Court about what they say is the only viable bid for the company that operates a primary care clinic on West 7th Avenue and an integrated health services clinic on Hornby Street. 

Seymour Health already gave control of urgent and primary care centres in Downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver to VCH after a judge appointed the receiver in June.  

Seymour owed VCH at least $6.8 million when it defaulted on a loan.

In September, the court approved a sale investment and solicitation process after VCH made a stalking horse bid for around $11.5 million. That set the floor price for the assets of the company so that Ernst and Young could seek other, bigger offers and close a deal by March 1.

BDC consulted on the list of 77 potential bidders invited, 11 of which were given confidential access to the company’s books.

Ernst and Young’s Dec. 1 application to the court said three non-binding letters of intent came in, each contemplating acquisition of only the Hornby Street lab, only the Hornby primary care centre and West 7th clinic, and acquisition of all business segments, except the Burnaby sleep lab license. 

The receiver rejected all three.

“None of the bids were superior to the consideration of the stalking horse bid, and none of the bids had more favourable terms or conditions than the stalking horse bid,” the court filing said. 

Law Courts Vancouver (Joe Mabel)

The receiver declared VCH the successful bidder, subject to confirmation by the court. The sale allows “retention of virtually all of the Seymour staff at VCH’s election” and includes the Seymour clinics, diagnostic imaging and the license for the Burnaby sleep lab. 

“There is urgency to conclude a transaction as delays in closing the transaction contemplated by the sale agreement, or otherwise, will increase the cash loss associated with these proceedings and will lead to continued uncertainty of the clinics’ operations which may negatively impact patient care,” the receiver’s filing said. 

The VCH credit bid, according to Ernst and Young’s second report filed Wednesday, is worth $10.1 million. That will increase to $12.1 million by the closing date based on another $2 million of borrowing by the receiver. 

The second receiver’s report said that Seymour Health ended the Sept. 4 to Nov. 24 period with $479,042 cash on hand. It forecast cash on hand of almost $97,000 by March 31, based on $2.58 million in receipts, $5 million in disbursements and $2 million in receiver’s borrowing.

According to Ernst and Young, Seymour Health’s problems began around July 2019 due to an inability to generate positive cash flows to meet obligations. In May 2022, it closed a $10 million equity investment from BDC based on a $30 million enterprise valuation. That resulted in BDC owning one-third of shares in the parent company of Seymour Health. 

A numbered company owned equally by Sabi Bining and Sandeep Kaur Parmar holds the remaining two-thirds. 

Despite the transaction, Seymour Health continued to have difficulty paying doctors, staff and medical suppliers. In June 2022, VCH agreed to keep Seymour Health afloat to carry on its operations, but Seymour defaulted almost a year later. 

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Bob Mackin  A judge will be asked on

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Bob Mackin

In a case that spanned three years and went to B.C.’s highest court, government lawyers successfully defended Premier John Horgan’s September 2020 decision to break B.C.’s fixed election date law during the pandemic emergency.

John Horgan announces the 2020 election in a Langford cul-de-sac (CPAC)

But the NDP government is refusing to release the lump sum cost after a freedom of information request in the wake of the B.C. Court of Appeal’s Nov. 7 verdict.

Democracy Watch and Integrity BC founder Wayne Crookes filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court two days before election day. B.C. had held four consecutive May elections every four years between 2005 and 2017 under a law enacted by the 2001-elected BC Liberal government.

They said Horgan should have at least called a confidence before going to Lt. Gov. Janet Austin to dissolve the Legislature and end the NDP minority government’s agreement with the BC Green caucus. 

Horgan led his party to a B.C. NDP record 57-seat victory and majority power in the Legislature in the Oct. 24, 2020 election that cost taxpayers a record $51.6 million for Elections BC to administer. 

The appeal tribunal unanimously upheld B.C. Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Gomery’s June 2022 ruling that the lieutenant governor has the power to act on a premier’s advice to call an election, whenever he or she sees fit. 

The Ministry of Attorney General denied access to the aggregate cost of the government’s response to the two court actions on Dec. 5. It cited a section of the freedom of information law that gives the head of a public body the discretion to refuse to disclose legal advice and communications that are subject to solicitor-client privilege. 

“The solicitor client privilege loophole in freedom of information, access to information laws does not cover the cost for legal services, for any particular case that the government has,” said Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch. “So they’re just violating the law.”

Post-2020 election swearing-in of Premier John Horgan (BC Legislature)

In 2015, an adjudicator with the B.C. Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) ordered the Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA) to disclose how much it spent over the course of a year with the Lawson Lundell law firm. The adjudicator quoted an Ontario decision upheld after a judicial review. The Ontario adjudicator determined the payment total was “neutral information” that could not reveal anything about the nature of a privileged communication. 

“In summary, I find the presumption that disclosure of the withheld information is subject to solicitor client privilege has been rebutted,” wrote B.C. OIPC adjudicator Ross Alexander. “I reach this conclusion because there is no reasonable possibility that disclosure of the law firm identity information and the lump sum amounts paid by the Agency will directly or indirectly reveal any communication protected by the privilege, or that an assiduous inquirer, aware of background information, could use the information requested to deduce or otherwise acquire privileged communications.”

The B.C. government sent two lawyers to the two-day B.C. Supreme Court hearing in May 2022. A third lawyer was added for the one-day appeal hearing in October of this year.  

Three lawyers represented Democracy Watch and Crookes at the first hearing and two lawyers plus an articled law student at the appeal court. Conacher said they provided their services free, for the public good. 

Just as in the PCTIA case, it may require an OIPC adjudicator to hold an inquiry. That would mean additional costs for taxpayers. 

“As with every situation of excessive government secrecy, the government wastes the public’s money trying to keep information secret that the public has a right to know, information that should be proactively disclosed in a searchable database for easy access,” Conacher said. 

Since he succeeded Horgan in November of 2022, Premier David Eby has consistently stated that he would stick to the Oct. 19, 2024 fixed election date. Even after a Dec. 4 news conference in which he errantly said election day is in six months.

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Bob Mackin In a case that spanned three

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Bob Mackin 

The death of a 41-year-old male struck by a SkyTrain in Surrey last month was an accident, according to Metro Vancouver Transit Police. 

At 10:31 p.m. on Nov. 13, a track sensor activated as train 420 entered Surrey Central station.

Surrey Central SkyTrain station (TransLink/Buzzer)

Staff and emergency crews responded and attempted to rescue the man, but he succumbed to injuries. 

“During the course of the investigation, it was determined the death was not suspicious or intentional in nature. It appears the individual accidentally fell into the guideway as a train entered the station,” said Transit Police Const. Amanda Steed. 

B.C. Coroners Service is investigating, but spokesperson Ryan Panton refused to comment.

Part of a censored incident report, released by TransLink under the freedom of information law,  said that closure of the station began within five minutes of the incident. 

Transit Police arrived at 10:39 p.m. and passengers on train 420 were released three minutes later. A “bus bridge” was requested at 10:48 p.m. to shuttle passengers between Gateway, Surrey Central and King George stations, but it was not expected to be in service for 30 to 40 minutes. 

Staff erected a privacy screen on the platform to allow trains to run through Surrey Central at 11:43 p.m. Train 420 was moved at 12:37 a.m. and the body removed at 12:52 a.m. Transit Police and a coroner remained on-scene until 1:05 a.m. 

Statistics provided by Panton said that, as of Nov. 23, there had been four SkyTrain and SkyTrain track-related deaths in 2023.

The record was nine in 1994. There were seven each in 2020 and 2021. Fatalities fell to two in 2022. 

Since 1987, 109 people have died on the rapid transit system, 84 percent by suicide and 15 percent due to accident. The remaining 1 percent is classified as “undetermined.” 

One of the accidental deaths, in April 2003, happened when a man collapsed due to an undiagnosed heart ailment, fell off the platform and was fatally trapped under a train at Stadium-Chinatown station. 

Unlike newer systems, no SkyTrain station has a safety barrier or sliding doors between the platform and track area. 

After a 2014 consultant’s report, TransLink improved platform surveillance cameras on the Expo and Millennium lines in 2021 as part of a $79 million program. It is now studying the feasibility of adding platform safety barriers, but that report is not due until 2025. 

A coroner’s report on the 2001 death of a male at Royal Oak station quoted a 1994 study that estimated the cost of installing platform barriers at $1.7 million to $2.2 million per station, now worth $3.15 million to $4.07 million after inflation. Coroner Liana Wright suggested a low-cost solution: limiting access to platforms until trains come to a full stop.

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Bob Mackin  The death of a 41-year-old male

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Bob Mackin

For the time being, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation is refusing to release the expert report behind the operation to cut down almost a quarter of the trees in Stanley Park.

Stanley Park trees logged in October 2023 (Mackin)

At the end of November, the Park Board announced scheduled closures of the Lions Gate Bridge, Stanley Park Causeway, and other roads and trails over the next two months while it removes 160,000 trees due to pest infestation and wildfire fears. The board previously announced periodic closures on Oct. 19 for a two-week period, but did not peg the number of trees marked for removal at that time.  

“The primary focus is to prioritize the removal of trees affected by the hemlock looper moth infestation in heavily visited areas of Stanley Park, in alignment with preparations for winter storms, wildfires, and bird nesting season,” said Park Board spokesperson Eva Cook.

Cook said B.A. Blackwell is the forestry consultant working with the board, but refused to say how much the contract is worth. The website for North Vancouver-based B.C. Blackwell includes a long list of clients, such as the Canadian Forest Service, Parks Canada, B.C. Parks, Ministry of Environment, Metro Vancouver, Resort Municipality of Whistler and Union of B.C. Municipalities.

“Additional information regarding the long term management of Stanley Park, and associated financial details, will be disclosed in due course,” Cook said. 

B.C.’s freedom of information law contains a clause under the heading “public interest paramount” that requires disclosure, without delay, of any information that is about the imminent risk of significant harm to the environment or to the health or safety of the public or a group of people. 

It also requires the same disclosure without delay if it is, for any other reason, clearly in the public interest.

While the Park Board did announce basic details of the tree removal program and how it affects routes for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, it has not provided details about the science behind the program. 

On Dec. 4, it rejected a reporter’s plea to make the expert report available without delay. 

“After reviewing the subject matter and seeking advice, I have determined the requested subject matter does not require disclosure in the public interest, under section 25 of [the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act],” said Cobi Falconer, the city’s director of access to information and privacy. 

Stanley Park entrance on West Georgia (Mackin)

The executive director of a transparency watchdog organization said the Park Board is falling short of its obligations to the public. 

“It’s a trust, but verify dynamic, it is a dynamic where there is trust in transparency for public bodies, and they need to be appropriately transparent for people to trust the decision that they are making,” said Jason Woywada of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association. “Particularly when you’re dealing with a park as prominent as Stanley Park, it’s important for the public to be able to understand why 160,000 trees are being cut down in that area.”

In 2016, Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham concluded that the public interest override section of the law may not require disclosure of a record, but sometimes disclosure of a record must happen. 

In her analysis of a 2014 drinking water advisory in Spallumcheen, Denham said it was necessary to require the Ministry of Environment release a soil test data analysis report in order to “assist with public understanding of the science, and to assist with evaluation of the Ministry‘s interpretation of that information and its actions based on that interpretation.”

“This objective could not be accomplished by the disclosure of the mere summary of information contained in those records,” Denham wrote. 

Woywada said the province has provided public bodies thorough instructions on how to make decisions under Gender-Based Analysis Plus or the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. But it has not done the same when it comes to deciding when to release information in the public interest.

“That is why, I think fundamentally, we’ve got so many failings in the access to information system in Canada right now, is it’s just defaulting to secrecy and risk management,” Woywada said. 

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Bob Mackin For the time being, the Vancouver

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Bob Mackin

District of North Vancouver (DNV) sold 198 permits for fireworks displays last Halloween. 

A list obtained under the freedom of information law shows that the total declared value under all permits issued was $50,786.76. 

But that translates into less than $1,000 in permit revenue for the coffers at district hall, which held a public hearing Dec. 5 on whether to ban the sale and display of fireworks.

Halloween fireworks in North Vancouver in 2023 (Mackin)

Nearly a quarter of the total declared value was for 10 locations. One site on Handsworth Road declared that its display was worth $5,000. Five others were $1,500 each and four were $1,000. 

However, 37 of the permit holders declared the value of their displays at just $1 each. 

The average declared display value was $256.50. 

Under the DNV bylaw, anyone 19-years and older who paid $5 online for a permit was allowed to buy fireworks between Oct. 25 and 31 and to discharge them on specified private property, with permission of the landowner, between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Oct. 31. 

The DNV website includes a public database of building and trades permits that show precise addresses, but the District’s freedom of information office refused to disclose specific house numbers of fireworks discharge locations. 

B.C.’s public records law, however, contains a clause that expressly states it is not an invasion of a third party’s privacy to reveal details of a permit, not including personal information supplied in support of the application for the benefit.

Fireworks permits are not exclusive to DNV residents. The list shows permits were sold to residents of Vancouver (seven), Burnaby (five), West Vancouver (three) and Surrey (two), Coquitlam and Squamish (one each). 

The list also showed the weakness of the bylaw. One discharge location for a permit bought by a Vancouverite was omitted and another Vancouverite gave an address on West Cordova in downtown. A Surrey entry read “122 St.” and a West Vancouver permit holder said the detonation site was “Highview Place.” 

District of North Vancouver Hall (Mackin)

Kim Wasson, the FOI and records management analyst, said DNV Fire Services manages the automated permit-issuing process and the information is entered by applicants.

“If a permit applicant happens to make a typo, confuses their home address with the discharge address, or makes any other incomplete entry, that entry is not being corrected and the permit is still issued,” Wasson said.  

Coun. Jim Hanson is spearheading the proposal to ban fireworks sales and displays in DNV “due to the negative effects of fireworks on domestic and wild animals, to the environment and to people.”

A staff report cited air pollution, residential fires, risk of wildfires, and noise and injury to humans. Of 28 municipalities surveyed, DNV was among the minority of eight that still allowed consumer sales and discharge of fireworks. 

West Vancouver banned fireworks sales and displays effective Oct. 16, joining City of Vancouver which enacted a ban in 2005. The staff report said the Squamish Nation banned sales on its territory and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation was considering regulation of sale and use of fireworks on its land. 

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Bob Mackin District of North Vancouver (DNV) sold

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Bob Mackin

Vancouver’s city manager is in damage control after his memo about the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel offended some employees. 

In a Nov. 28 memo to all staff, Paul Mochrie apologized for his original Oct. 10 staff email “in response to Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel” that generated an unspecified number of complaints.

Paul Mochrie (Vancouver Economic Commission)

“I have seen how this ongoing conflict has caused deep pain and fear for many members of our staff, particularly those who are Jewish, Palestinian, Israeli, Arab, Muslim or have loved ones that are members of those communities,” Mochrie wrote.

He said that he had received direct and indirect replies to his Oct. 10 message from team members who were concerned or hurt by his message. 

“In particular that I neglected to specifically identify as Palestinians the civilians in Gaza who have been and are still suffering terribly as a result of this conflict,” Mochrie wrote. 

“In no way did I intend to overlook or downplay the impact of this conflict on the Palestinian community in Gaza or here in Vancouver. I am sorry to anyone who felt that I downplayed this or that it may have opened a door to Islamophobia in our workplace.”

Mochrie started the Nov. 28 memo by mentioning his appearance on the Oct. 26 Justice, Equity, Decolonization and Inclusion virtual staff meeting and noted the local, national and international rise in antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate incidents.

He said the city remains in close contact with the Vancouver Police Department and has no tolerance for antisemitism or Islamophobia in the workplace. He encouraged anyone seeing, hearing or experiencing discrimination or hate to report it to their manager, union representative or the city’s equity office. 

“It’s definitely not my place to be offering opinions on the conflict right now, or the history of the conflict in the Middle East Israeli-Palestinian situation,” Mochrie said on the Oct. 26 meeting, which is viewable on a staff website and on a hidden link at the city’s YouTube page.

He said city hall “supports the notion that everybody who wants to live their life and peace deserves that opportunity, that everybody deserves respect, that everybody deserves to feel safe in their home, in their community and at work.”

Former city councillor and 2022 mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick wondered if Mochrie’s original Oct. 10 memo was necessary. Rather than stick to its local responsibilities, she said city hall has often waded into geopolitics since the 1983 declaration of Vancouver as a nuclear weapons free zone. 

“That was what got the ball rolling and the city delving into things that are outside its scope,” Hardwick said. 

On Monday, Mochrie announced the hiring of a new chief equity officer, lawyer Susanna Tam. 

Tam replaces Aftab Erfan, who was paid $179,971 in 2022. Erfan left in September after three years to become executive director of the Simon Fraser University Morris Wosk Centre for Dialogue.

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Bob Mackin Vancouver’s city manager is in damage

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