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Business, News

Bob Mackin 

The B.C. NDP government is not identifying the state or state-sponsored actor that attacked its networks last month. 

But the minister responsible for the government’s information technology and cybersecurity departments was absent from a May 10 news conference and his staff have not revealed why. 

Mike Farnworth, the Solicitor General and Public Safety Minister, conducted a brief, 15-minute question and answer session with reporters after a briefing by Shannon Salter, the head of the B.C. public service.

NDP minister of state George Chow (WeChat)

Minister of Citizens’ Services George Chow (NDP-Vancouver Fraserview) was not present. 

Chow, however, was in the Legislature on May 9, the day after Premier David Eby’s bombshell news release that disclosed “sophisticated cybersecurity incidents” had occurred. 

Chow did not respond for comment.

The government reported the incidents to the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, RCMP, Microsoft Detection and Response Team and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Salter said that there had been three attempts, the first one detected April 10, to breach the government system. The attack prompted a government-wide memo on April 29 ordering workers to change their passwords from 10 characters to 14. 

“I’m not able to comment on what state actor or state-sponsored actor there might be,” Farnworth told reporters. “It is the world we live in. We know that data information and accessing government information systems is something that is is a reality.”

Which country could be the source? 

The 2023 Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) public report said China, Russia, Iran and India are “major perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage in Canada.” 

“Foreign states engage in a variety of hostile activities such as elicitation, cultivation, coercion, illicit financing, malicious cyber activities, and information manipulation to interfere in Canada,” the CSIS report said. 

Malicious cyber techniques include compromising electronic devices through various means including socially engineered emails, ransomware, and malware. Farnworth did not specify the attacker’s method, but denied it was ransomware.

Where is George? 

George Chow stands with Xi Jinping’s top B.C. diplomat Yang Shu in September 2023 in Richmond’s Lipont Place on a Chinese TV network report. (Phoenix TV)

None of the reporters chosen May 10 to ask Farnworth a question inquired about Chow’s whereabouts. 

This reporter asked the Ministry of Citizens’ Services press office why Chow was not with Farnworth and where he was instead. 

Communications manager Jennifer Fernandes responded with a one-sentence answer that did not address the question. 

“We are confirming Minister Farnworth gave the media briefing in his role as Deputy Premier,” Fernandes wrote.

(The government’s advisory to reporters used only Farnworth’s Solicitor General and Public Safety Minister title. It is standard procedure for all relevant ministers to be involved in a government announcement. For instance, a day earlier, the ministers of emergency management, forests and water, land, resource stewardship teamed-up for a wildfire prevention news conference. )

Fernandes and colleague Vivian Thomas were asked again to explain Chow’s no show, but neither responded. 

China-born Chow is a former president of the pro-Beijing Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver. He served two terms on the Vision Vancouver city council majority from 2005 to 2011, when the mayor was pro-Beijing environmentalist Gregor Robertson. Chow is in his second and final term as an NDP MLA. 

Chow was the Minister of State for Trade until Eby succeeded John Horgan as premier in late 2022. Eby named Jagrup Brar to replace Chow after the federal Liberal government unveiled its Indo-Pacific Strategy to reduce Canada’s reliance on trade with China. 

Early this year, Chow became the parliamentary secretary for international credentials under Post-Secondary Education minister Selina Robinson. In February, Eby bowed to pressure from anti-Israel activists and fired Robinson after she said Israel was founded on “a crappy piece of land.” Citizens’ services minister Lisa Beare took over Robinson’s portfolio on an interim basis. On Feb. 20, Eby named Chow the full-time citizens’ services minister. 

Chow is frequently found at the head table and stage of banquets for cultural and business associations aligned with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) consulate’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, better known as the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

In 2018, Chow traveled with Horgan on a trade mission to China, appeared at the Guangdong business convention in Vancouver (attended by United Front vice-minister Su Bo), welcomed Wang Chen, from Xi Jinping’s Politburo to Vancouver and met in Guangdong with CCP officials. The latter meeting took place almost a week after Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s arrest at Vancouver International Airport on a U.S. fraud warrant.  

Foreign Interference Inquiry Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue’s initial report called the UFWD “a key CCP entity engaged in foreign interference.”

“Internationally, the UFWD attempts to control and influence the Chinese diaspora, shape international opinions, and influence politicians to support PRC policies. It has a budget in the billions,” Hogue wrote. “The UFWD blurs the lines between foreign influence and foreign interference. It engages in clandestine, deceptive, and threatening activity around the world, often by leveraging influence and exerting control over some diaspora communities.”

In June 2010, CSIS director Richard Fadden sounded the alarm about China’s foreign influence tactics. He told CBC that there were “several municipal politicians in B.C. and in at least two provinces there are ministers of the Crown who we think are under at least the general influence of a foreign government.”

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Bob Mackin  The B.C. NDP government is not

Business, Miscellany, News, Opinion

For the week of May 12, 2024:

The Quebec judge heading Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission found the Chinese Communist Party did meddle in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections. On May 3, Marie-Josee Hogue called it a “stain” on Canada’s democracy, but she denied it affected the outcome of the elections. 

Three days later, the Trudeau Liberal minority government tabled a bill for a foreign agents lobbying registry, which Conservative Kenny Chiu originally proposed three years ago when he was the Steveston-Richmond East MP. That was before a pro-Beijing disinformation campaign about his private member’s bill led to his defeat. 

Kenny Chiu is Bob Mackin’s guest on this edition of thePodcast, offering his reaction to Hogue’s interim report and the Trudeau Liberal government’s about-face on foreign interference. 

Listen to the full interview on this edition.

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

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

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For the week of May 12, 2024: The

Business, News

Bob Mackin 

It was 8:04 a.m. on Jan. 21 and Metro Vancouver’s director of air quality and climate change policy sent a colleague an email under the subject “smoke smell in East Van.” 

“Any intel?” Conor Reynolds said to Ken Reid, the superintendent of environmental sampling and monitoring.

Refinery main gate (Parkland)

Reynolds went to explore and reported back to Reid and Brant Arnold‐Smith, the security and emergency management program manager, at 8:21 a.m.

“Heads up that was a bad smoke smell around McGill and Nanaimo and then crossing the Second Narrows we saw a black/grey smoke plume near the refinery. Possibly flaring? Couldn’t pinpoint it as I was driving,” Reynolds wrote. 

Documents obtained under the freedom of information law from Metro Vancouver and the Burnaby and Vancouver city halls offer a glimpse into the inconsistent response to the incident at the Parkland Fuel Corp. Refinery in Burnaby, the terminus of the recently completed, $34 billion Trans Mountain Pipeline. 

As perplexed residents across the region took to social media, and calls came in to the E-Comm 9-1-1 hotline, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services (VFRS) sent 17 fire trucks onto city streets to hunt for the source of the smell. There were so many calls, the VFRS duty chief had a hard time getting in touch with someone at E-Comm to ask that no more odour complaints be dispatched. 

Burnaby Fire Department (BFD) crews rushed to the refinery after the initial 8:11 a.m. call about flaring issues. Parkland asked for firefighters to be on standby at the perimeter. At the peak, BFD had eight trucks and 34 personnel on-scene.

“On arrival the department found significant black smoke visible, and a strong odour was present from their fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit,” Fire Chief Chris Bowcock told mayor and council in a late afternoon email. 

Two days earlier, Parkland had issued a level 1 advisory. It said there may be ”higher than usual flare and potential intermittent noise over the next several days as start up activities progress.” It had shut down operations on Jan. 12 due to the Arctic outbreak that enveloped Western Canada. The restart caused the flaring and subsequent depressurizing of the FCC unit. 

The BFD timeline said that VFRS Chief Karen Fry was in contact at 9:36 a.m., “inquiring as to smell in East Vancouver.” Almost 20 minutes later, at 9:55 a.m., Fry posted on X, formerly Twitter, that BFD was on-scene for a “hydrocarbon industrial event.” Close windows out of abundance of caution, she wrote.

Burnaby officials contacted Vancouver Emergency Management Agency at 10:17 a.m. about a public notification via the Alertable app. At 10:23 a.m., Burnaby notified fire chiefs in City of North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, New Westminster, Port Moody and Coquitlam. Almost an hour later, similar notifications to area First Nations leaders. 

Metro Vancouver’s Metrotower in Burnaby (Mackin)

City of Vancouver issued a public safety advisory via Alertable at 11:03 a.m., to advise residents to close windows, doors and air intakes if they smelled the odour. 

Environmental regulation and enforcement manager Kathy Preston told Reynolds at 11:48 a.m. that short term spikes had been observed, but the incident did not meet the criteria for a formal air quality advisory. 

“We have agreed that the approach of a media advisory, plus the JungleMail message to the board, plus a social media message via Twitter/X, is the appropriate response,” Preston said. 

Arnold Fok, Fraser Health’s regional environmental health services manager, chimed in at 12:22 p.m., after speaking to Michelle Bruce, Parkland’s incident investigator. 

“Parkland setup its incident command system, no evacuation notice had been issued, Burnaby Fire Department had been on-site since 9 a.m. and was conducting ambient air testing,” Fok wrote. “Parkland was monitoring potential effects on workers on its property. 

BFD tested the air for oxygen (O2), lower explosive limit (LEL), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and particulate matter (PM).

“The Air Quality Health Index in the region is still at low risk. This seems to be an acute event. Through Parkland’s internal air monitoring of their site, if the risk is low to their workers, then the risk to the community should also be low,” Fok wrote.

Just before 2 p.m., Environment Canada issued a special air quality statement for Metro Vancouver. At 2:40 p.m., Vancouver city hall ended its advisory. BFD cleared the second alarm incident at 2:44 p.m.

In Reid’s 8:33 p.m. email, he said most stations were not showing significant PM, sulphur dioxide (SO2) or total reduced sulphur (TRS) measurements. There were some elevated black carbon measurements at the Clark Drive station in Vancouver, he said.

“I also noticed an acrid odour near my place late on Saturday evening,” Reid wrote. “There was a high minute PM10 spike at [station] T24 North Burnaby on Sunday morning. This may have been a plume of smoke from the refinery, but difficult to know for sure. Some smallish SO2 spikes in the minute data for stations near Parkland.”

Fourteen refinery workers required first aid treatment. The company did not notify WorkSafeBC immediately, as required. 

Parkland eventually reimbursed Burnaby for $31,872.30 on Feb. 29.

The refinery resumed full operations on March 29. The company told shareholders the seven-week shutdown would result in a loss of $60 million to $65 million for the first quarter. 

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Bob Mackin  It was 8:04 a.m. on Jan.

Business, News, Sports

Bob Mackin 

The same day the Vancouver Canucks eliminated the Nashville Predators, the club’s owners moved one step closer to taking control of a delayed ski resort project near Squamish.

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

On May 3, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Walker approved receiver Ernst and Young’s application to accept the offer for Garibaldi at Squamish Inc. (GAS Inc.) from secured creditors Aquilini Development LP, Garibaldi Resort Management Co. Ltd. and 1413994 B.C. Ltd.

GAS Inc. defaulted on $65 million owing to the three Aquilini companies, prompting the September 2023 receivership petition. 

Walker deemed the sale to the only bidder appropriate, fair and commercially reasonable because EY made sufficient efforts to obtain the best price and met other requirements set by the courts. He allowed the sale by reverse vesting order (RVO) which, according to Canadian Lawyer magazine, is the purchase of shares in a debtor company, so that the “bad assets – including liabilities and creditor claims – are removed, and the good assets stay in the company.”

“EY has demonstrated an evidence-based rationale to approve the RVO. Exceptional circumstances exist to warrant approval of the RVO,” Walker wrote. “They arise from the urgency to complete the construction pre-conditions (in order to preserve value to the Garibaldi entities and their stakeholders, including the Province) coupled with the lack of any meaningful response from the Province that would allow for an expeditious [traditional asset vesting order] transaction.”

The Squamish Nation has a 10% interest in the partnership, but did not oppose the transaction. The only opponent was the Province of B.C., which questioned whether the court had jurisdiction to approve the RVO, whether it was appropriate or even necessary. 

“Although the province supports completion of the project in view of the economic benefits to the province (and others) and the fact that consultation with the Squamish Nation has already occurred, the province argues, as one of its grounds opposing the Transaction, that there is no jurisdiction under the BIA, either generally or in the context of this case, to approve a transaction incorporating an RVO.”

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

Walker said the insolvent Garibaldi entities owe more than $80 million and face deadlines to satisfy pre-construction conditions contained in the provincially issued environmental assessment certificate. Walker’s decision said the amount of the credit bid had been reduced by $20 million from the stalking horse bid offer.

“That amount, owed by the Garibaldi entities (as interest) under their security to the petitioners, will be a retained liability. Also retained will be any potential liabilities arising under the Environmental Management Act,” Walker wrote. “All other liabilities will be vested into [a newly created company].” 

The project, on Squamish Nation territory, faces 40 pre-construction conditions, eight of which are deemed urgent. Work to satisfy the conditions would cost more than $5.5 million over the next 12 months. Conditions include old-growth management, archaeology plan, Brohm River management plan and a dam for a snowmaking reservoir. 

When it was originally approved in 2016, the project was estimated to cost $3.5 billion with a 30-year, four-phase build resulting in 126 ski and snowboard runs, fed by 21 lifts and accommodation in 5,233 hotel, condo, townhouse and detached units. Garibaldi at Squamish faces a 2026 deadline to begin construction. 

Disagreements between factions connected to the Aquilini and Gaglardi families have held the project back. 

The two unsecured creditors are Northland Properties Ltd. and Garibaldi Resorts (2002) Ltd., owed $6.37 million and $13.8 million, respectively. 

Northland Properties owns Revelstoke Mountain Resort, Grouse Mountain and the Dallas Stars. Founder and chairman Bob Gaglardi is also president of Garibaldi Resorts (2002) Ltd., the company whose secretary is Aquilini Investment Group founder Luigi Aquilini.

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Bob Mackin  The same day the Vancouver Canucks

Business, News

Bob Mackin 

British Columbia’s Legislative Assembly is finally getting a whistleblower policy. 

But it won’t be called a whistleblower policy.

Parliament Buildings, VIctoria, on Aug. 13, 2020 (Mackin)

On May 7, the all-party Legislative Assembly Management Committee approved the “reporting wrongdoing” policy in principle, five years after the corruption scandal involving ex-Clerk Craig James and ex-Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz. 

The Legislative Assembly is not subject to the NDP government’s 2018-passed Public Interest Disclosure Act, but the new policy is intended to “encourage and support” current and former members and employees to report unlawful acts and acts of wrongdoing “in a manner consistent with the arm’s-length provisions of the Public Interest Disclosure Act.”

In 2019, then-Speaker Darryl Plecas recommended a whistleblower policy and LAMC committed to establish an arm’s length policy. Plecas’s final report, after the 2020 election, said he reported cases to LAMC, including one described as a “#MeToo-style allegation involving the Legislative Assembly.”

“As far as I am aware, neither the allegations, nor my memorandum, have been investigated or acted upon to date,” Plecas wrote.

The policy requires certain officeholders in the Legislature’s administration to report wrongdoing in good faith and includes protection for reporting and a prohibition on retaliation against an employee who reports known or suspected wrongdoing in good faith. 

“The policy is intentionally named ‘reporting wrongdoing’ rather than ‘whistleblowing,’ as research on best practices indicated that the words ‘whistleblowing’ and ‘whistleblower’ carry a certain connotation that may not necessarily be conducive to the best outcomes with such a policy,” said the report to LAMC.

“It is proposed that the policy be administered by an arm’s-length and independent disclosure entity to be appointed by the Legislative Assembly Management Committee.”

James and Lenz both resigned in disgrace in 2019. In July 2022, a B.C. Supreme Court judge sentenced James to a month of house arrest and two months of curfew for breach of public trust. James was ordered to repay the public treasury $1,886.72 for a custom suit and shirt. 

Also at the May 7 meeting, LAMC approved new policies on information security, IT resources for members and caucus employees, and constituency office leasing. 

The latter opens the door to the possibility of an MLA co-locating with a Member of Parliament or a local government politician. It also includes requirements to ensure health, safety, security and accessibility for those that work in and access a constituency office. Lease arrangements will shift from the MLA to the Legislature’s administration. 

Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Association of Former MLAs of B.C./John Yanyshyn)

Meanwhile, Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd told the meeting that a new website is coming in June and 21 constituency offices had new security systems installed in the last fiscal year. The chamber will be renovated in July and August, ahead of the October election, to add six new desks. The next parliament will feature 93 members. 

Not discussed at the meeting was a new policy to automatically delete Microsoft Teams chat messages after 120 days. The new policy, which applies to anyone with a leg.bc.ca account, will come into effect on Oct. 1 and it is intended for security and cost-saving. 

“We encourage all users to review their Microsoft Teams chats and archive any critical messages or attachments that need to be retained,” said IT director Brent Lee’s memo, which said deleted messages will be unretrievable.  

A copy of the memo, provided to theBreaker.news, shows that it was sent to Legislature offices just before the noon hour meeting. 

Ryan-Lloyd said the policy aligns with other public sector organizations, including the central government, which instituted a 30-day retention period for MS Teams messages in 2021. 

“The Legislative Assembly opted to proceed with a 120-day retention period at this time to help with the organizational change considerations, and may look at revising the time period in the future,” Ryan-Lloyd said.

The NDP government broke Deputy Premier Mike Farnworth’s 2019 promise to add the Legislature to the freedom of information law. In 2020, after that year’s snap election, the Legislature suffered a cyberattack. The details have never been made public. 

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Bob Mackin  British Columbia’s Legislative Assembly is finally

Business, News

Bob Mackin

Fraser Health Authority invoiced a contractor less than $13,000 for arranging the production of a CBC TV police drama at Peace Arch Hospital last December.

Hospital scene from CBC’s Allegiance (CBC)

The invoice, released under the freedom of information law, showed a $5,000 charge for one day of interior shooting and $3,000 each for exterior shooting, preparation and wrap days. A 15% fee for contractor Location Fixer ($2,100) was subtracted. With GST, the total cost was $12,495. 

“That is not a lot,” said Elenore Sturko, the South Surrey BC United MLA who shot an Instagram video critical of the NDP government outside the hospital during the three-day production last December. 

Sturko pointed to shortages of doctors and nurses, lengthy emergency department wait times at Surrey Memorial and Peace Arch hospitals and patients being treated in hallways.

Last week, Fraser Health released the contract with Scott Road Productions (S1) Inc., the company behind CBC’s Allegiance. The original FOI application was filed before Christmas, but Fraser Health delayed disclosure until May 3.

In a prepared statement,  the Ministry of Health said: “No report was commissioned to review the use of the Peace Arch Hospital for filming. That is because Fraser Health Authority’s decision to allow filming was made with careful consideration for patient care, operational needs and the overall benefit to health care services.”

Fraser Health granted Scott Road Productions “temporary licence to use and occupy one or more” locations for the filming of Allegiance. Specifically, the fifth floor, formerly the Acute Care for the Elderly Unit, the hospital exterior and parking and loading areas, for a maximum 12 hours on Dec. 14, 15 hours on Dec. 15 and 12 hours on Dec. 18. 

Fraser Health allowed the producer to photograph, record and depict any location, except not to capture, use or reproduce actual names, logos, trademarks, official marks, signs or other identifying features of the hospital or health authority. Scott Road Productions was required to avoid capturing any personal information or identifying features of anyone from the health authority, its clients and patients. Fraser Health had the right under the contract to review, upon request, a rough cut to ensure the producer was compliant with the terms and conditions. 

From left: Allegiance star Supinder Wraich, CBC president Catherine Tait and NDP minister Lana Popham (Tait/LinkedIn)

The producer agreed to keep locations safe, clean and in sanitary condition, abide by any of the health authority’s rules and restore and leave each location as it was at the time the producer first entered.

Fraser Health warned the producer that the hospital “is not seismically upgraded to current building codes and the producer covenants and agrees to accept all risks associated with seismic events in its use of the location.”

It also banned certain types of scenes from being produced on-site. 

“[The producer will] not film scenes involving sex or nudity on any health authority site or facility, nor any scenes that negatively depict mental health issues or religion,” the contract said. 

Fraser Health said in December that no beds were closed and the hospital remained open while film crews used an area earmarked for renovations. 

“I understand that some of these spaces were waiting for upgrades,” Sturko said. “But we need to ensure that those upgrades that are expedited so that we’re not waiting, and that we can be using all hospitals, spaces and facilities for their intended use, which is for healthcare.”

In December, Gibsons-based Location Fixer’s website listed Peace Arch, Chilliwack, Ridge Meadows, Delta and Vancouver General’s Heather Pavilion on its website. However, the website’s health and education location page now includes only the VGH Simulation Centre training facility available after hours and on weekends. 

It was not the first controversy involving a film production at a busy hospital.

BC United’s Elenore Sturko outside Peace Arch Hospital (Sturko/IG)

When the NDP was in opposition, it complained about the early 2017 rental of Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody for 10 days to TCF Vancouver Productions Ltd. The company was shooting “The Mountain Between Us,” starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet. 

Documents released under FOI showed that TCF incurred a $27,333.71 charge, but received an $8,488.58 discount. Shared Services B.C., an arm of the Ministry of Technology and Citizens Services, picked up the miscellaneous fees and film liaison fees.

Allegiance, created by Anar Ali, premiered Feb. 7 and stars Supinder Wraich as Sabrina Sohal, a rookie officer with the fictitious Canadian Federal Police Corps “who must grapple with the limits of the justice system as she fights to exonerate her politician father Ajeet Sohal (played by Stephen Lobo).”

“Allegiance is the story of a young woman caught between her allegiance to her flag, to her badge, and to her family,” says the CBC publicity material. 

The March 20-aired seventh episode, The Legacy, features interior hospital scenes. But the exterior shows Surrey Memorial Hospital. 

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Bob Mackin Fraser Health Authority invoiced a contractor

Business, News, Opinion, Sports

For the week of May 5, 2024:

The B.C. NDP government finally revealed that taxpayers could be paying $581 million to host seven FIFA World Cup 26 matches at B.C. Place Stadium. 

The cost has more than doubled due to inflation and FIFA’s requirements to renovate B.C. Place Stadium. 

Tourism and Sport Minister Lana Popham estimated a $1 billion tourism revenue windfall over the five years following the tournament. But one of the world’s top sports economists says that’s wishful thinking. 

Victor Matheson, a professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., is Bob Mackin’s guest on this edition of thePodcast. 

Matheson has researched World Cups, Olympics and Super Bowls and found they never live up to the hype from politicians and the boosters reliant on taxpayer subsidies. 

“The biggest single thing that a tourist is going to spend money on in Vancouver in the World Cup is World Cup tickets,” Matheson said. “Of course none of that is going to be re-spent in Vancouver, because all that money goes into the pockets of FIFA who takes it back to Switzerland and divvies it up back there.”

Listen to the full interview on this edition.

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

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

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For the week of May 5, 2024: The

Business, News

Bob Mackin 

While TransLink officials were reacting to the lack of funding in the Liberal government’s new budget, SkyTrain staff were waiting for a coroner to arrive after discovering a body on tracks. 

A timeline from April 17 by TransLink’s B.C. Rapid Transit Company rail division, obtained under the freedom of information law, said a vehicle technician noticed blood on the side of six-car train number 106 before 10 a.m. near Scott Road station in Surrey. The technician confirmed the parts that collect electricity from the power rail, known as the collector assemblies, were broken.

Metrotown Station (Fast and App)

An attendant was asked to ride a train from the front seat from New Westminster’s Columbia station to Scott Road to determine the cause of the damage. But, at 10:12 a.m., a control centre employee who reviewed surveillance camera footage reported finding evidence of human contact with a train at Metrotown Station on the outbound side, where Surrey-bound trains travel.  

An attendant was permitted to enter the track to investigate. At 10:17 a.m., field staff confirmed a body was found near a track switch, known internally as DC23, which is east of Metrotown station on the outbound side.

TransLink’s biohazard cleaning contractor was notified, staff closed Metrotown Station at 10:23 a.m. and temporarily stopped service between Patterson and Royal Oak stations. Shuttle buses were activated. 

Transit Police arrived at 10:41 a.m. Fire crews attended almost an hour later, but they stayed only six minutes. 

The coroner was on-scene at 12:10 p.m. and entered the guideway toward switch DC23 with Transit Police. They exited the guideway at 1:06 p.m. with the body. The cleaning contractor finished its work and exited the guideway by 2:12 p.m. 

Sixteen minutes later, at 2:28 p.m., Expo Line service was allowed to return to normal. 

The timeline also showed that a three-minute segment of video, recorded just before 6 a.m. on April 17, was protected for evidence. That suggests the victim was in the area almost four hours before the body was discovered. 

“Only the coroner can determine the official cause of death,” said Transit Police public information officer Const. Amanda Steed. “Our investigation is not yet concluded.”

Two days after the incident, TransLink spokesperson Tina Lovegreen said that “the position of switches and the need to isolate the area meant that closing Joyce-Collingwood to Edmonds was the shortest span that could be closed.” Lovegreen did not mention the collision or the body. 

Meanwhile, in an 11:30 a.m. news conference at Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver on April 17, NDP Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Rob Fleming and TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn announced a $300 million provincial infusion to buy more buses and add SeaBus sailings. They also reacted to being snubbed by the Trudeau Liberal government a day earlier. 

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.

On Nov. 13 last year, a 41-year-old male was fatally struck by a SkyTrain at Surrey Central station. Transit Police said it was an accident.

That was the 109th death on SkyTrain tracks, 84% of which by suicide and 15% by accident. The remaining 1% were classified as undetermined. 

Just over a week later, on Nov. 21, emergency crews at Main Street-Science World station rescued a female who had fallen under a train after a quarrel near the station’s west side entrance. 

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Bob Mackin  While TransLink officials were reacting to

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Bob Mackin

The Vancouver Park Board commissioner photographed using a messaging app during the Dec. 11 public meeting admitted privately that the messages were deleted. 

Comm. Marie-Claire Howard was communicating under the heading “Transition Team” at the first open meeting since her party’s leader, Mayor Ken Sim, announced Dec. 6 that he would ask the NDP provincial government to dissolve the elected park board.

Sarah Blyth-Gerszak’s photographs from the Dec. 11, 2023 Park Board meeting (SarahBlyth/X)

While the meeting was in progress, ex-commissioner Sarah Blyth-Gerszak posted photographs on X, formerly Twitter. One of them showed a discussion that mentioned development consultant and ABC party donor Gary Pooni. It said Pooni had heard “overwhelmingly great feedback,” but did not mention the subject of the feedback. 

City hall’s Feb. 13 response to a freedom of information request for copies of the messages said no records exist anymore and, if they did, they would not be released because they did not relate to city business. 

A subsequent request for internal communication about how the request was handled yielded email between bureaucrats and elected officials, including Howard.

“The text you believe was captured in the photograph was not related to city business. It was a private matter and not subject to access by the city or through FOI,” she wrote Jan. 30 to city manager Paul Mochrie, park board general manager Steve Jackson and FOI office manager Cobi Falconer. 

“In any event, the text was destroyed automatically based on the platform’s routine self-destruct mechanism.”

Howard, a former journalist, did not elaborate about the topic of the messages. She has not responded for comment. 

Blyth-Gerszak posted another photograph from that night on March 16. It showed the names of Comm. Angela Haer and Christy Thompson on Howard’s screen, reacting to Blyth-Gerszak’s original post. 

Marie-Claire Howard (left), Christy Thompson and Angela Haer. (Park Board/ABC)

“That’s Marie Claire Howard’s hand,” Haer wrote. 

Replied Thompson: “Oh! I thought it was mine.”

Thompson is the executive director of Howard and Haer’s party, ABC Vancouver. She also did not respond for comment.

On Feb. 7, board support and meeting assistant Jessica Kulchyski wrote Haer, to confirm “with all recipients of the message that it does not relate to business of the city and that any record of the message has not been retained.”

Haer responded the next day: “The chats don’t relate to city or park board professional business. And chats do delete immediately and nothing is retained.”

In an interview, a reporter asked Haer what the topic of the discussion was, if it was not about public business. 

“I don’t remember, it was a long time ago, but those are private phones,” said Haer, who is seeking the Conservative nomination in the federal Vancouver-Granville riding against Marie Rogers, who stepped down as chair of ABC.

In a 2013 directive, the Information and Privacy Commissioner said use of a personal account does not absolve a public official from the duty to disclose records under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. As a general rule, Elizabeth Denham wrote, any email that a public employee sends or receives as part of employment duties will be a record under the public body’s control, even if a personal account is used.

“The Supreme Court of Canada has said that where a record is not in the physical possession of a government institution, it will still be under its control if these two questions are answered in the affirmative,” Denham wrote. “Do the contents of the document relate to a departmental matter? Could the government institution reasonably expect to obtain a copy of the document upon request?”

Section 65.3 of B.C.’s FOI law also states that “a person who wilfully conceals, destroys or alters any record to avoid complying with a request for access to the record commits an offence.”

The maximum fine, upon conviction, is $50,000.

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Bob Mackin The Vancouver Park Board commissioner photographed

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