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For the week of Dec. 24, 2023:

Merry Christmas from theBreaker.news and thePodcast!

Yule enjoy the special Christmas edition featuring 2023 in review with the MMA panel: Host Bob Mackin and guests Mario Canseco of ResearchCo and Andy Yan of the Simon Fraser University City Program. 

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. 24, 2023: Merry

Business, News

Bob Mackin

Some British Columbians better be home for Christmas. 

Specifically, those under a judge’s house arrest, curfew or probation order.

Smart Tag anklet (Buddi)

To enforce those orders, B.C. Corrections runs an electronic monitoring program, but it is not foolproof. Devices were removed without authorization 201 times between April 1, 2021 and Nov. 8, 2023, according to figures released by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General under the freedom of information law. 

From January to October of this year, a daily average 339 B.C. Corrections clients were on court-ordered electronic supervision, up from 305 in 2022 and almost 36 percent greater than 2021’s 250. 

B.C. was the first province to begin such a program in 1987 as a low-cost alternative to jailing low-risk offenders.

In October, based on the average daily count by community office, an average 288.8 clients were monitored, including 245.9 on bail orders, 37.9 on conditional sentence orders and five on probation. B.C. Corrections’ Fraser Metro region, which includes Delta, Surrey, Langley, Maple Ridge and the Tri-Cities, accounted for more than a third of all clients monitored. Only eight percent of clients monitored were in the Vancouver region, stretching from New Westminster to Squamish and Sechelt.

One client in the province, connected to the Surrey North community corrections office, was monitored due to high risk offender designation.

The ministry said that the B.C. Corrections Central Monitoring Unit (CMU) operates around the clock and staff are alerted when an individual violates a condition, the battery is at risk of running out or if the electronic supervision anklet is tampered with or removed.

“Upon receiving an alert, CMU staff investigate to substantiate whether a breach has occurred and notify probation and police as appropriate,” the ministry said in the FOI response. “A breach of court-ordered conditions can result in charges and possibly time in custody, at the discretion of the courts.” 

The statistics do not include Randall Hopley, who went missing from a Downtown Eastside halfway house for 10 days in November after Vancouver Police found his cut-off anklet in a Mount Pleasant alley. Hopley served six years in federal prison for abducting a boy in Sparwood in 2011 and was already accused last January of violating his 10-year federal supervision order. Hopley is in custody and scheduled to make another court appearance Friday. 

In 2022, B.C. Corrections contracted an electronic monitoring company from Hertfordshire, England. Public Accounts show $1.2 million spent last year with Buddi Ltd. in the first year of a three-year subscription agreement, which includes a three-year option to renew. 

The contract said Buddi was hired to provide a “scalable electronic supervision solution, capable of enabling the province through users to electronically supervise all clients under different time and geographic area restrictions at the time located anywhere in B.C. where cellular or landline telecommunications service coverage is available.”

Buddi markets the one-piece Smart Tag, described in its promotional material as “the smallest, lightest available tag, with the longest battery life in the market, is charged wirelessly and is fully waterproof.”

The contract said the Smart Tag requires a strap, on-body charger, charging dock for the on-body charger and two single-use, disposable locking plates. Buddi is responsible for the cost of repair and replacement due to any normal wear and tear or defects or faults in its equipment, whether new or refurbished. Buddi agreed to provide the devices, compatible radio frequency units for each device, battery chargers, cables, tools, batteries and spares, including straps.

The maximum amount of Buddi’s contract in the second and third years is $750,000 each. B.C. is charged a daily $8.20 fee for each activated device, but if any are lost or damaged, replacement costs run from $220 to $1,400 each, depending on the component. 

Standard strap sizes range from 19 to 40.5 centimetres, but 25 percent of clients require a 23 cm strap and 20 percent need 24 cm. 

The contract includes ongoing training, customer support, maintenance and system support and updated or revised geospatial data configuring and loading. Amazon Web Services is the hosting subcontractor, with data centres in Toronto and Montreal.

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Bob Mackin Some British Columbians better be home

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Bob Mackin

The Richmond RCMP public service video that sparked an online debate among road users, and drew Premier David Eby’s criticism, was produced by a high school filmmaker with an ICBC grant and co-stars an officer.

Richmond RCMP’s road safety video (Richmond RCMP/YouTube)

The dramatic 42-second video without dialogue, posted Oct. 13 to X, formerly known as Twitter, was intended to help reduce the number of collisions involving pedestrians in Richmond. Last year, there were 65, including 43 in winter.

The proposal to ICBC’s community grant program in December 2022, obtained under the federal access to information law, sought $500 to “provide token financial compensation” to an aspiring Grade 11 filmmaker at a Richmond high school. 

“Capitalizing on this student’s passion, creativity and skills, we hope to provide a wider platform for his craft, while being able to develop a high quality and extremely effective video that is beyond the modest amount it will cost to develop,” wrote Randall Walrond, City of Richmond’s community police station coordinator, in the proposal. 

The video got bang for the buck, registering 7.4 million impressions and 1.4 million views, according to public information officer Cpl. Adriana O’Malley.  

Walrond’s proposal cited the 2016 to 2020 B.C. annual average of 2,400 injuries and 52 deaths of pedestrians and said the goal was: “Increased community awareness around the roles and responsibilities that drivers and pedestrians collectively have in keeping our roads safe for pedestrians.”

The proposal said the video could be adapted for multiple languages and distributed through immigrant assistance charities, posted on YouTube and promoted through social medial channels.

“With Richmond being a dynamic, growing and multi-ethnic community, boasting the highest percentage of immigrants in Canada, there is a high number of pedestrian injuries and fatalities in our community,” said the proposal. “Some of these incidents may be a result of newcomers being unfamiliar with the driving and pedestrian rules of Canada so an awareness campaign targeting this demographic would be beneficial.”

Richmond RCMP’s road safety video (Richmond RCMP/YouTube)

ICBC road safety and community coordinator Harvey Kooner was delighted with the script, including how it emphasized “we all have a choice with wardrobe selection,” the close-up of the pedestrian’s shoes, the distractions for both driver and pedestrian and the shared responsibility tagline. 

“I like that,” Kooner wrote Jan. 30. 

A week earlier, Walrond wanted the script to focus on visibility and expressed concern that “the messaging ends up being one-sided (drivers can’t make a pedestrian more visible).” 

He suggested that the video contain separate slides with point-form advice for drivers and pedestrians. 

For drivers: to focus on the road, be ready to yield to pedestrians, especially at intersections and near transit stops, and expect the unexpected, even mid-block. 

Similarly, after a shot of the frightened pedestrian, pointers for pedestrians: always use a crosswalk and follow signs and signals, remove headphones when crossing, wear reflective clothing to be seen in wet weather, at dusk and night, and make eye contact with drivers, because “it’s hard to be seen when visibility is poor.”

But, in the end, it did not make the cut. Only the title, “Pedestrian Safety is a Two-Way Street,” appeared before logos for the RCMP and federal government. The advice did, however, appear in the Richmond RCMP news release. 

Email shows Const. Frank Bryson volunteered in February to portray the distracted driver and to use his own car, but nobody on camera received payment. 

O’Malley, citing privacy laws, declined to identify either the pedestrian in the video or the student producer. 

During an October news conference, Eby agreed with advocates for pedestrians and cyclists that the “video probably misses the mark.” But he did not give an overall thumbs down. 

“The pedestrian is crossing at a crosswalk and following the law and the driver is looking at his cellphone, and there’s sort of an equivalency there in the video,” Eby said. “The message though, overall, about this being a time of year to be alert as a driver and as a pedestrian, is important.”

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Bob Mackin The Richmond RCMP public service video

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Bob Mackin

If you feel the Earth move under your feet next month, don’t bother looking to the Earthquakes Canada @CanadaQuakes account on X to find out where it measured on the Richter scale.

“As of Jan. 13, 2024, this account will no longer be updated,” said a notice posted Dec. 13 by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) on X, the Elon Musk-owned site formerly known as Twitter.

(NRCan/X)

Jane Furlong, the department’s communications officer, said NRCan will stop issuing earthquake information on third-party platforms and is urging citizens to use the source website, natural-resources.canada.ca or sign-up to the RSS feed. 

“The functionality of many third-party social media platforms has changed and are no longer meeting the intended objectives of accounts,” Furlong said. “For example, some platforms no longer display posts in chronological order, which can create confusion to Canadians for time-based notification systems like earthquake alerts.”

Furlong said NRCan would continue to update its website and via its RSS feed, but continuously monitor and evaluate how the department engages on social media “to maximize the reach and effectiveness of communications to Canadians.”

The B.C. government, however, is sticking to X for its emergency notifications. 

“EmergencyInfoBC on X (Twitter) and EmergencyInfoBC.ca will continue to share information about all provincial emergencies, including earthquakes,” said a statement provided by the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.

“We recommend people follow trusted sources, such as EmergencyInfoBC, DriveBC and their relevant First Nation or local authority, on multiple channels, including their website, Facebook and X (Twitter).”

The province also uses B.C. Emergency Alerts broadcast to mobile phones and on radio and TV stations when needed for urgent wildfire, flood, heat and tsunami emergency information. 

By spring 2024, it said the federal government will, in some cases, be able to issue earthquake early warnings (EEW) to mobile phones and broadcasters to provide short-notice warnings to drop, cover and hold on. 

“These EEW notifications will be published to the EmergencyInfoBC website, and amplified on the EmergencyInfoBC X (Twitter) account,” it said. 

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Bob Mackin If you feel the Earth move

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For the week of Dec. 17, 2023:

The Trudeau Liberal government finally admitted Dec. 11 that abuse and corruption are spoiling Canada’s sport system. 

But instead of green-lighting a public inquiry — with power to order sworn testimony and documents — Sport Minister Carla Qualtrough opted for “The Future of Sport in Canada Commission.” 

It is modelled after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian residential schools and will cost $10 million to $15 million over the next 18 months. 

Is it a pre-election box-ticking exercise or will it save sport and protect athletes? 

On this edition of thePodcast, hear highlights of Qualtrough’s announcement and an interview with guest Rob Koehler, director general of Global Athlete, which advocates for athlete safety and sport integrity.

Plus 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 Dec. 17, 2023: The

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Bob Mackin 

Crews at Main Street-Science World SkyTrain station rescued a female who had fallen under a train after a quarrel near the station’s west side entrance on Nov. 21.

Main Street-Science World Station (TransLink)

An incident report obtained under the freedom of information law said a platform intrusion emergency sensor activated at 8:09 p.m. on the outbound tracks when train number 26 arrived. 

The incident report by TransLink employee Sukhdeep Parihar said there were two females and one male involved, all estimated to be aged 15 to 20-years-old. Parihar wrote that “loud screaming” was heard at 8:09 p.m. When Transit Police arrived, the male “ran off northbound.” 

Trains were evacuated, the station closed and the SkyTrain system paused. Vancouver Fire and Rescue and Emergency Health Services (EHS) arrived at 8:19 p.m. The timeline said the train was rolled off the victim at 8:33 p.m. and paramedics rushed her to Vancouver General Hospital at 8:44 p.m. A biohazard technician from Trauma Clean spent nearly a half-hour on-site prior to the approval for service to resume before 11 p.m.

Metro Vancouver Transit Police public information officer Const. Travis Blair said there had been an altercation between the three people. 

“One individual involved in the altercation made her way to the platform level of the Main Street station where she was struck by a train,” Blair said. “Transit Police investigated the incident and determined that the matter was not criminal and no foul play was involved. The female’s injuries were non-life-threatening.”

EHS communications officer Jane Campbell said an ambulance, paramedic specialist and paramedic supervisor were dispatched to the scene after the 8:11 p.m. call. One patient was transported in serious condition to hospital, but Campbell would not provide any more information due to privacy laws. 

TransLink representative Dan Mountain did not comment and referred a reporter to Transit Police. Mountain said TransLink and its B.C. Rapid Transit Co. division are seeking experts to conduct a trackway intrusion engineering study, including the feasibility of installing platform barriers. But the study is not expected to be complete until sometime in 2025. 

On Nov. 13, just eight days before the Main Street-Science World station incident, a 41-year-old male died after he was struck by a SkyTrain at Surrey Central station. Transit Police determined the man accidentally fell into the guideway as a train entered the station. 

As of Nov. 23, there had been four SkyTrain and SkyTrain track-related deaths in 2023, according to the B.C. Coroners Service.

The record was nine in 1994.

Since 1987, 109 people have died on the rapid transit system, which launched 38 years ago this week. Eighty four percent by suicide and 15 percent due to accident. The remaining one percent is classified as “undetermined.” 

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  Crews at Main Street-Science World SkyTrain

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Bob Mackin

The B.C. Lions open the 2024 season at home against the Calgary Stampeders on June 15, the first of five 4 p.m. starts in the team’s 70th season anniversary season.

(CFL)

The club announced the schedule Thursday and owner Amar Doman is promising to bring another hitmaker to perform a concert at the home opener. 

The June 17 kickoff against the Edmonton Elks featured hip-hop legend LL Cool J and drew the 2023 season’s biggest crowd of 26,814, according to figures released by the B.C. Pavilion Corp. freedom of information office. The club announced 33,103 on game day, representing tickets distributed. 

The Lions played six home games in 2023 at 4 p.m., under first-year president Duane Vienneau, in an effort to attract younger fans and those from outside the Lower Mainland.

“They can come in and come to the game and then get back to the Island or go back to the interior and not have to stay the night, and also it’s a good time for families,” Vienneau said. “The four o’clock starts were a hit for us and we pushed to get as many as we possibly could for ’24.”

In 2024, the schedule includes home games on four Saturdays, three Fridays and one each on Thursday and Sunday. For the first time, the Lions will play in Victoria at Royal Athletic Park on Aug. 31 in the CFL’s Touchdown Pacific against the Ottawa Redblacks.  

Overall, the Lions averaged 18,858 attendance for their nine regular season games and the West semifinal win over Calgary, the second most-attended game at 24,571. The Lions’ smallest crowd was Sept. 16 against Ottawa (15,376).

Lions fans will be fighting inflation again in 2024, so season ticket packages start at $205 for the upper family zone and $85 for youths aged 17 and under. 

“Our owner wants to be accessible, and so wherever he wants to try to take away as many barriers as possible to experience the BC Lions,” Vienneau said.

The CFL’s former chief Grey Cup and events officer joined the Lions as chief operating officer in 2022 and became president in 2023. The club hopes to end next season on Nov. 17 at B.C. Place in the 111th Grey Cup, which features a six-day festival benefitting from a $3.5 million B.C. government subsidy. 

The stadium’s other anchor tenant, the Vancouver Whitecaps, will also celebrate a milestone anniversary in 2024: the 50th anniversary of the original Whitecaps debuting in the North American Soccer League.

The NASL folded after the 1984 season, five years after Vancouver’s Soccer Bowl ’79 triumph. The Vancouver 86ers launched in the Canadian Soccer League in 1987 and rebranded as Whitecaps before the 2001 A-League season.  

The schedule for the Whitecaps’ 13th Major League Soccer season features Inter Miami on May 25, which could be the first visit by World Cup champion Lionel Messi. First things first, the Whitecaps will make their 2024 debut Starlight Stadium in Langford on Feb. 7 against Mexico’s Tigres UANL in February CONCACAF Champions League play. The rematch of last August’s Leagues Cup shootout thriller is happening outside Victoria due to the Home and Garden Show at B.C. Place.

That was one of 23 matches overall (18 MLS, two CONCACAF, two Leagues Cup and one Canadian Championship), in a season that saw the Whitecaps average 14,095 attendance. 

The Whitecaps scored the biggest single-game crowd among the anchor tenants, with 28,493 at the Nov. 4 home playoff loss to Los Angeles FC. The 30,204 announced on game night represented the number of tickets distributed. 

Whitecaps’ star Ryan Gauld modelling the 2023 Telus-sponsored jersey (Whitecaps/MLS)

It was the first time since the team’s 2011 move to B.C. Place that it opened level four seating and the biggest MLS match turnout since Sept. 15, 2018 when 25,832 watched the Whitecaps edge the Seattle Sounders. 

The team opened the season at home before 16,368 against Real Salt Lake on Feb. 25. LAFC’s April 5 visit for a CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal match was the worst-attended of 2023, at 9,621, and one of three sub-10,000 crowds.

In a scheduling anomaly, the Whitecaps played a seven-game road trip in August and September. 

CEO Axel Schuster hired former Ticketmaster vice-president Aditi Bhatt last March as chief commercial officer. In May, Schuster told reporters that the Whitecaps want to be “the “most affordable professional sport in this town for families.”

Schuster has more than nostalgia to sell in 2024, after the club-record 78 goals in the 2023 calendar year, achieving back-to-back Canadian championships and Cascadia Cups, and entering the MLS playoffs in two of the last three seasons. “This fall we set a club MLS era record with a 95 per cent season ticket renewal, and we are well on our way to set a record for new season members,” Schuster said in a statement.

Also at B.C. Place in 2023, the HSBC Canada Sevens rugby tournament expanded with a women’s division and an extra day, drawing a total 47,572 across three days from March 3-5. 

It will return Feb. 23-25 as the rebranded HSBC SVNS Vancouver. 

The biggest sporting event of the year was Dec. 5, the international soccer swan-song for Burnaby’s Christine Sinclair. The crowd for Canada’s 1-0 women’s soccer friendly win over Australia was announced as 48,112. The official tally has not been released.

PavCo officials said Sept. 2 that Ed Sheeran’s “The Mathematics Tour” concert set the venue’s all-time attendance record at 65,061. The official tally provided by the Crown corporation was 62,964.

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Bob Mackin The B.C. Lions open the 2024

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A House of Commons committee believes Canadian public pension funds, including British Columbia’s, should stop investing in Chinese companies that abuse human rights.

“Research and reporting from non-governmental organizations, journalists and academics has revealed that some Canadian pension plans are investing in such companies through passive investments, running contrary to the values of Canadians,” said the Dec. 13 report from the Special Committee on the Canada-People’s Republic of China Relationship.

Hikvision 7-inch 4 MP 25X camera (Hikvision)

The committee’s study on the exposure of Canadian investment funds to human rights violators in China was triggered by Hong Kong Watch’s 2021 research. The non-governmental organization found Western governments, corporations and institutional investors — including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, and the B.C. Investment Management Corporation (BCI) — were investing more in China, despite the mass-incarceration of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan. 

“These included Chinese technology firms that are blacklisted by the United States due to their connections to internment camps in Xinjiang, as well as other major tech companies like Alibaba and Tencent that are complicit in oppression within the PRC,” the report said. 

While the pension funds work to maximize return for investors, the committee found there are no measures that prevent them from investing in Chinese companies that are directly or indirectly involved in human rights violations. 

Hong Kong Watch singled out BCI in 2021 for investing in surveillance camera company Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. Ltd., calling it an example of “bankrolling the oppression” in Uyghur Muslim prison camps. 

BCI executive vice-president Daniel Garant testified to the committee last May that BCI completes an environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk review prior to making investments and it was “actively engaging with index providers to improve what they put in the index.”

BCI manages $250 billion worth of investments for 2.5 million B.C. workers and 715,000 pension plan beneficiaries. 

Daniel Garant of BCI (ParlVu)

The 2023 BCI investment inventory shows a $33.26 million market value, as of March 31, for its shares in Hikvision. It also listed shares in China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. ($39.9 million), China Mobile ($252.88 million), China Construction Bank Corp. ($61.44 million) and Tencent Holdings Ltd. ($350.33 million), the parent of Chinese-language social media app WeChat, recently banned from federal government devices for national security and privacy reasons. 

At the May 8 meeting, committee member Garnett Genuis (Conservative, Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan) took issue with Garant starting his testimony with a First Nations land acknowledgement and then ducking questions about BCI investments in Hikvision and its supply of equipment to spy on Indigenous people in Xinjiang. 

Garant testified that BCI was following the lead of other pension funds who are re-evaluating exposure to China or pausing some investments. 

In its report, the committee, chaired by Surrey MP Ken Hardie (Liberal, Fleetwood-Port Kells), recommended the federal government study making an official list of companies deemed unsuitable for investment. It also wants the federal government to combine forces with provinces to list companies in China that public pensions should not invest in due to risks to national security, corruption or gross human rights violations. 

Likewise, the report suggested Canada work with the U.S. and other allies to develop a list of banned investments in human rights abusers, pass laws to eliminate forced labour from Canadian supply chains and reinforce the ban on imported products made with forced labour. 

In February 2021, by a vote of 266-0, the House of Commons declared the Chinese government was committing genocide against Uyghurs. Foreign Affairs minister Marc Garneau was the only Liberal cabinet minister who showed up for the vote, but he abstained. 

In March of 2022, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, BCI said it was actively working to sell the remaining $107 million of Russian securities under its management.

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Bob Mackin A House of Commons committee believes

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Bob Mackin 

The biggest sporting event in B.C. Place Stadium’s 40th anniversary year starred a record-setter born only one week before the venue opened. 

It was also the climax of an up-and-down year for Burnaby’s Christine Sinclair, the all-time goals leader in world soccer.

Christine Sinclair on Parliament Hill, March 9 (OurCommons/ParlVu)

“Captain Canada” was part of the one-day strike at February’s SheBelieves Cup. The women’s national team wasn’t getting anywhere with the Canadian Soccer Association in contract talks early in the World Cup year. The obviously distracted team finished last in the four-nation, U.S.-hosted tournament, which foreshadowed its performance in the most-important tournament since it won Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021. 

Sinclair’s biggest impact of 2023 may have been in the House of Commons hearing room on March 9 when she unloaded on the CSA, its former president Nick Bontis and his replacement Charmaine Crooks. 

“As a team, we do not trust Canada Soccer to be open and honest as we continue to negotiate for not only fair and equitable compensation and treatment, but for the future of our program,” Sinclair testified to the Canadian Heritage committee, which was studying governance of federally funded sport organizations. 

Sinclair added her voice to the deafening calls for reform in Canada’s sport system, finally answered nine months later when the Liberal government announced the “Future of Sport in Canada Commission.” 

Sinclair could afford to speak out. With a 190-goal career spanning 23 years, she earned endorsements from Subway, CIBC, Visa, Nike and Frito Lay, negotiated by the Envision Sports and Entertainment agency. 

The national team finally got an interim contract, but it came right in the middle of the disappointing win, loss and draw campaign at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Hopes were high for the defending Olympic champions. But Sinclair’s saved penalty kick in the scoreless opener against Nigeria set the tone for the early exit, punctuated by a 4-0 loss to host Australia, which assured players only US$30,000 each in prize money.  

“Sincy” signalled the end of her international career by hanging up her boots for an Instagram photo on Oct. 19. She confirmed the next day she would play another National Women’s Soccer League season with the Portland Thorns FC. 

The CSA arranged a friendly rematch with Australia for Dec. 5 at B.C. Place, which temporarily rebranded as Christine Sinclair Place. Sinclair didn’t net number 191 in the building where Canada disappointed in the 2015 Women’s World Cup quarterfinal. But she did set-up Quinn’s header for the only goal of the match before a crowd announced as 48,112. 

Sinclair returned the next night to headline a charity gala for her eponymous foundation, which already had $250,000 in the bank. The NDP government declared Dec. 12 Christine Sinclair Day in B.C., representing both her jersey number and the year she led Canada to bronze for the first time at the London Olympics.  

Other highlights (and lowlights) of 2023:

North Vancouver’s Connor Bedard signed with the Chicago Blackhawks and Hyundai in 2023. (Hyundai)

Richest birthday present: On his 18th birthday, July 17, North Vancouver’s Connor Bedard signed a three-year contract worth as much as US$13.35 million with the team that drafted him first overall, the Chicago Blackhawks. The most valuable player of the World Junior Championship stands to earn even more, thanks to endorsement deals negotiated by Newport Sports Management with Hyundai, Lululemon and others.

Most awkward departure: Bruce, there it is. Bruce, there he goes. The Canucks’ Jan. 22 firing of affable coach Bruce Boudreau was another low point in a franchise that has had too many to list. Replacement Rick Tocchet and general manager Patrick Allvin began a mini-rebuild a week later, by sending captain Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders. 

Biggest switch: Goodbye Bell. Hello Telus. Bell hung up on its jersey sponsorship deal after 11 seasons, so the Vancouver Whitecaps inked a new deal with fellow Robson Street dweller Telus. The club won both the Canadian Championship and Cascadia Cup and rewarded charismatic coach Vanni Sartini with a new contract on Oct. 21 before the regular season-ending draw with L.A. FC. When the defending champions returned for a Nov. 5 MLS Cup playoff match, part-owner Will Ferrell was in the entourage. But Whitecaps fans were not in a laughing mood after the controversial elimination. 

Biggest sale: Diamond Baseball Holdings, owned by Silicon Valley’s Silver Lake Technology Management, acquired the Vancouver Canadians from 15-year owners Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney for an undisclosed sum on April 4. The C’s are now part of a portfolio of 26 minor league franchises, including the Albuquerque Isotopes, Hickory Crawdads, Lansing Lugnuts and Rome Emperors. The Toronto Blue Jays’ High-A farm team won the Northwest League championship over the Seattle Mariners-affiliated Everett AquaSox at Nat Bailey Stadium on Sept. 17. 

Biggest surprise: Few ticketholders at the Canucks’ Nov. 21 meeting with the San Jose Sharks knew they were in the company of royalty until Prince Harry dropped the puck. The organizing committee for the 2025 Vancouver-Whistler Invictus Games for wounded warriors was in damage control after the departure of the top two executives. 

Best gimmick: The 17th hole, nicknamed “The Rink,” at the LPGA’s CKPC Women’s Open at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club. The raucous, hockey-inspired tee contained hockey rink boards on three sides, marshals outfitted in refereeing attire and beer-swilling fans. Fittingly, the tournament went to overtime. American Meghan Khang defeated South Korean Jin Young Ko in the Aug. 27 playoff.

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Bob Mackin  The biggest sporting event in B.C.

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Bob Mackin 

“One-hundred percent disappointment” was the initial reaction from an advocate for athlete safety and sport integrity after the federal Liberal sport minister’s Dec. 11 announcement of an 18-month commission to study abuse and recommend solutions. 

“For two years, the athlete groups that we’ve worked with, from gymnasts to figure skaters to fencers, have been very clear on asking for a judicial inquiry that has the ability and powers to compel people to provide information and evidence,” said Rob Koehler, director general of Global Athlete. “So it has fallen short.”

Rob Koehler of Global Athlete (Mackin)

Sport Minister Carla Qualtrough (Liberal, Delta) declared that “Canadians deserve a sport system that is safe, responsible and accountable” when she outlined the “Future of Sport in Canada Commission” during a news conference in Ottawa.

The commissioner will be what Qualtrough called an “independent legal expert” with two special advisors. The commission’s budget is between $10 million and $15 million. The deadline is prior to the next scheduled federal election and a year before Vancouver and Toronto co-host matches in the FIFA 26 World Cup. 

The exercise is not under the Public Inquiry Act, but will be modelled after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which ran from 2007 to 2015 to examine the history of abuse in Indian residential schools. 

“It’s trauma-informed, victim-centred, forward-looking,” Qualtrough said. “There was a lot of research done into a model that we could balance the need to not re-traumatize victims or survivors, and, at the same time, do a real deep dive into the sport system and come up with concrete actions.”

Koehler said there is a silver lining: The government has finally admitted the “Canadian sports system is broken, it’s filled with the toxic culture of abuse.” But the devil is in the details. Who will be the commissioner and the two advisors? Will they be truly independent and beyond any suggestion of conflict of interest? 

“We have been very open and very direct with the minister and her office, that if the right people aren’t selected, you we will kill this thing before it even starts,” Koehler said. 

Sport Minister Carla Qualtrough on Dec. 11, 2023 (CPAC)

Qualtrough said one of the advisors will have “lived experience or expertise in victims’ rights, child protection and trauma-informed processes.” The other will have expertise and experience in sport. 

There will be opportunities for open, public hearings, regional meetings and subject specific meetings, plus an online survey and portal for Canadians to make submissions. Qualtrough also said the commissioner will have the power to hold sessions behind closed doors in order to receive sensitive testimony.

“We are where we are today and we have to accept,” Koehler said. “But we’re not going to accept the status quo, we’re going to make sure that there’s a strong push that whatever is being developed, this is done in the best way that ensures independence, transparency, and no conflicts of interest. That’s the key.”

Qualtrough also announced the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner and the Abuse-Free Sport Program, set-up by predecessor Pascale St-Onge, will be transitioned out of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada. The previously announced Sport Canada Athlete Advisory Committee will become a ministerial advisory committee. 

She pledged more “accountability measures” and “risk-based compliance” for federally funded sports groups in order to safeguard children and prevent match manipulation. Qualtrough also said she is talking to foreign counterparts on creating an international working group on sport integrity. 

Qualtrough was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s original sport minister from 2015 to 2017 and returned to the portfolio in last July’s cabinet shuffle. The lawyer who swam for Canada in the 1988 and 1992 Paralympics expressed regret when a reporter asked why she made no headway against abuse in sport during her first tenure as sport minister.

“It’s a question I’ve asked myself a lot, and I’m sorry, I didn’t dig-in more in my first go-round in this job,” Qualtrough said. “At the time, the safe sport issue, the integrity of sport issue was concussion. What parents and coaches and athletes and medical professionals were talking about was concussion and that’s the issue we dug-in, over those two years, creating national concussion guidelines, holding a national summit, creating and developing protocols for concussion.”

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