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Bob Mackin

The Conservative who lost the Steveston-Richmond East seat in the 2021 election to a Liberal after a Chinese social media disinformation campaign said the May 23 report against a foreign interference public inquiry sends the wrong message.

“Any foreign power interested in meddling with our affairs, they see transparently how high the bar is,” Kenny Chiu said in an interview. “As long as you adhere to the customs of Canadians, and not get caught, and the receipt that you used to buy-off certain people to act on your behalf, if it’s not found, then it’s okay.”

Justin Trudeau and David Johnston (right) on Sept. 28, 2017 (PMO/YouTube)

In “special rapporteur” David Johnston’s 59-page interim report, ordered just over two months ago by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the former governor general concluded foreign interference by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a reality. However, evidence that it skewed the 2019 and 2021 federal elections was insufficient, so he recommended against a public inquiry.

Johnston, who is paid at least $1,400 a day through Dec. 12, said he had access to top secret information and interviewed top officials, but could not disclose much of what he learned due to national security concerns. He said he would instead hold public hearings before his final report in October, about improving Canada’s ability to spot and stop foreign interference in elections.

Chiu said Johnston may have been a great governor general between 2010 and 2017, but he was the wrong person for the job because of his family’s long friendship with the Trudeaus and that the Liberals were the beneficiary of China’s meddling in 2019 and 2021. 

“What he should have done is to propose an inquiry that looks deeper, that collects more information, find out more and empower the national security apparatus to do more,” Chiu said. “Instead, he is nailing the national security and intelligence community on the cross, basically accusing them for the leaks.”

Johnston discounted media coverage, including the Feb. 17 Globe and Mail report on a leak from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service about Chiu’s loss. He found that Chinese-Canadian MPs, including Chiu “were and remain of particular interest to the PRC,” but the Chinese government’s intention in 2021 was to assist pro-China candidates regardless of party. Notably, he referred to a “misinformation” campaign against Chiu, rather than disinformation, and said it could not be traced to a state source. 

“It is clear that PRC diplomats did not like Mr. Chiu, who is of Hong Kong descent and not from Mainland China, and who sponsored a private members bill for a foreign agent registry,” Johnston wrote. “It is much less clear that they did anything in particular about it, although there was discussion that certain political figures who were perceived as anti-PRC would not be invited to PRC-sponsored events.”

The report did mention a WeChat article from Canada’s Hill Times and China’s Global Times that questioned then-Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’s get tough on China platform, but “the re-circulation could not be attributed to any state actor.”

Kenny Chiu on March 31 at a House of Commons committee hearing on foreign interference (ParlVu)

“I’ve been saying you’d be hard pressed to find the smoking gun with their fingerprints on it,” Chiu said. “So you need to look elsewhere, you need to look thoroughly in other areas, but it looks like that’s not what David Johnston is trying to look into.”

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s senior fellow Charles Burton, a former Canadian diplomat in Beijing, said the Chinese embassy in Ottawa is “probably cracking open the moutai (Chinese liquor) as I speak.” 

“All that happened was that one of their Ministry of State Security agents was repatriated back to China,” Burton said, in reference Zhao Wei, expelled after a leak about the diplomat’s intimidation of Conservative MP Michael Chong. “They must know that CSIS would have quite a long list of people who are working under diplomatic cover on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department and the Ministry of State Security who —our government is sending out a very clear signal — will not be returned to China. Because Mr. Johnston’s report essentially says that, move along, nothing to see here.”

Johnston blamed factual “misapprehensions” by the media, but he could not say what the facts were, due to national security concerns. He suggested those that leaked information be held accountable and that they may have been motivated by malice. 

“I recognize that absent the leaks, I would not have been appointed to undertake my work. However, that does not justify the leaks, which risk great harm to the Canadian interest,” Johnston said.

Burton said dismissing both whistleblowers and journalists is a strategy bound to backfire.

“It will encourage more people to bring out more information to really leverage a public inquiry as more revelations of documents, that the government may not have acted on, come to the fore,” Burton said. “Mr. Johnston says the documents we haven’t seen refute the ones that we have. I will believe that when I see it.”

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Bob Mackin The Conservative who lost the Steveston-Richmond

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For the week of May 21, 2023:

Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West has had a busy spring, locally, nationally and internationally. He joins host Bob Mackin for an update.

West met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Cities Summit of the Americas in Denver and led a delegation of Metro Vancouver mayors seeking federal transit funding in Ottawa. He also squeezed-in a vacation to Taiwan, where he learned more about the thriving, self-governing island and its people who live under threat of invasion from China. 

Listen to the full interview. Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. 

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn or Apple Podcasts.

Now on Google Podcasts!

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

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Bob Mackin

Lawyers for the Gitxaala Nation rebutted the provincial government’s case May 20 as the judicial review of the mining claims system drew to a close. 

The First Nation, 60 kilometres south of Prince Rupert in Kitkatla, wants the B.C. Supreme Court to overturn mineral claims the province granted between 2018 and 2020 on Banks Island because it says there was no consultation. Gitxaala says that was a breach of the Crown’s constitutional duty to First Nations and contrary to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which B.C. adopted in 2019.

(gitxaalanation.com)

A decision in favour of the Gitxaala could change the mineral claims system that originated during the Gold Rush. Anyone as young as age 18 who is allowed to work in Canada can pay $25 for a “free miner certificate” and then file a mineral claim online for as little as $1.75 per hectare. Crown lawyer Leah Greathead earlier said that exercising and developing a claim is more complex and expensive, including requirements under provincial regulation through multiple instruments, beyond the Mining Tenure Act (MTA) and the Mining Act. Greathead suggested the two sides be ordered to negotiate a new claims system, if the court rules in favour of the First Nation.

Lisa Fong, lead lawyer for the Gitxaala, said the 2015 release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s summary report, with the call to repudiate concepts that were used to justify European sovereignty, led to Ottawa rescinding its objection to UNDRIP in 2016 and adopting UNDRIP five years later.

“Current legal and social changes all support a corresponding evolution of the common law to reflect and incorporate the rights of Indigenous peoples, as reflected in the UNDRIP, including a duty to states to consult with Indigenous peoples, before extracting resources from their traditional territory,” Fong said before Justice Alan . 

Fong said B.C.’s Gold Commissioner has not identified any impediments to the use of discretionary powers under the MTA that would ensure consultation.

“He’s got the power to change the various systems he says constrains him,” Fong said. “If the commissioner has inflexibly adopted a Crown policy to ignore consultation when granting mineral claims, then he’s improperly fettered his discretion. In other words, he’s failed to address the merits of each application.”

Lawyer Lisa Fong (NgAriss.com)

She also said the Superintendent of Professional Governance has an explicit statutory role to promote awareness among regulatory bodies to support reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and implementation of UNDRIP. She pointed to such provisions across government, including the late 2022-enacted Health Professions and Occupations Act.

“They’ve established guiding principles for every person who acts under that statute, and those guiding principles include supporting and promoting awareness of reconciliation, the United Nations Declaration, and the need to address racism and anti-racism that are specific to Indigenous people,” she said. “And then, of course, for our profession, lawyers. All members of the Law Society are required to take an Indigenous intercultural course to learn about the history of the aboriginal-Crown relationship.”

Ross said he would reserve decision on the case. 

“I have a gargantuan task in front of me,” Ross told the lawyers and gallery. “But I can confidently say that there will be no issue and no fact that won’t be before me, assuming I can find it in the stack. I will be able to, I hope, write cogent and correct reasons as soon as humanly possible.”

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Bob Mackin Lawyers for the Gitxaala Nation rebutted

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TransLink Mayor’ Council members in Ottawa (TransLink/Twitter)

Bob Mackin

The 11 mayors and one city councillor who flew to Ottawa to lobby for billions more in federal transit funds finished their three-day mission on May 17. 

But the executive director of TransLink’s Mayors’ Council said the public will have to wait for a report to the June 1 meeting to learn the costs. 

Asked for the approved budget, Mike Buda said “I don’t have that number at my fingertips.” 

“We won’t be providing an estimate, this report will provide the actual cost of 12 flights times whatever the flights cost, economy class and then same thing with the hotel,” Buda said.

Buda did reveal that the delegation stayed at the Lord Elgin Hotel, which advertises a government business discount rate as low as $255, plus taxes, per night on its website.

Buda said the council contracted the Vancouver office of Earnscliffe Strategies, through TransLink’s tendering process, for government relations and public consultation support. Earnscliffe launched the Access for Everyone campaign website on May 11. He said the program is comparable to the Cure Congestion campaign before the 2017 provincial election. 

“We know that people in Ottawa really don’t pay attention to what’s happening out west, in general, and Vancouver in specific,” Buda said. “So, because other transit systems are really in a much different situation than we are, they’re still basically in survival mode, which actually we are too, but they’re just focused on survival.”

The delegation went to Parliament Hill with a long wish list for help in funding TransLink’s $21 billion plan. That includes doubling bus service, building a bus rapid transit system, expanding SkyTrain to the University of B.C. and planning for Metrotown to North Shore rapid transit, building a gondola up Burnaby Mountain, matching SeaBus with SkyTrain service hours, and improving regional roads and bike lanes. 

Port Coquitlam Mayor and Mayors’ Council chair Brad West led the delegation, with mayors of Anmore, Burnaby, Langley Township, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver City, North Vancouver District, Pitt Meadows, Port Moody and Richmond. Delta was represented by Coun. Dylan Kruger, instead of Mayor George Harvie. 

Kruger also works as a senior associate with the Kirk and Co. communications and government relations firm, whose website lists TransLink among its clients. Kruger has not responded for comment.

Buda said the council members met 25 to 30 MPs, many from the Liberal Pacific caucus, as well as Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. While they did not get an audience with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, they did meet Infrastructure Minister Dominic LeBlanc.  

“There’ll be a federal election, sometime in the next year, so make sure that all parties headed to the election fully understand what Metro Vancouver leaders would expect from the next government,” he said.

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[caption id="attachment_13249" align="alignright" width="713"] TransLink Mayor' Council

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Bob Mackin

The former Conservative MP for Steveston-Richmond East, who was defeated in 2021 after proposing a foreign agents’ registry, said he is pleasantly surprised by one of the main recommendations of the House of Commons committee on Canada-China relations.

Justin Trudeau, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and Xi Jinping (PMO)

On May 17, the committee tabled its report, “A Threat to Canadian Sovereignty: National Security Dimensions of the Canada-People’s Republic of China Relationship.” It contains 34 comprehensive, but non-binding, recommendations to the Liberal minority government.

One of them is for the introduction of a foreign agents’ registry that “would require any individual or entity, including former public office holders, to publicly declare any contracts or remuneration with a hostile state, as determined by the Government of Canada, or any entity affiliated with that hostile state.”

“That’s going way farther than what I was proposing initially,” Chiu said. 

Chiu wonders whether Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino will expedite his public consultations on the issue and if the government will adopt the committee’s wording. 

A series of leaks from Canada’s spy agency, published by the Globe and Mail, have revealed strategies by Chinese government officials to influence elections in Canada. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) found evidence that China’s top Vancouver diplomat in 2021, Tong Xiaoling, had worked to replace Chiu with a Liberal candidate.

The committee emphasized the need for collaboration across all levels of government, and across a wide range of departments and agencies, to combat the threat from China. 

“Moreover, solutions must also involve educating and engaging individuals, diaspora communities, researchers, and the private sector,” the report said. “While effectively broaching all national security threats is not a small endeavour, this report outlines a range of recommendations that can help Canada better identify, anticipate, and mitigate these threats.”

Chiu remarked that the report was a “long time coming,” shaped by expert testimony from two sessions of Parliament, before and after the September 2021 election. He participated in the committee during his 2019 to 2021 term. 

The current iteration is chaired by Ken Hardie (Liberal, Fleetwood-Port Kells). One of the vice-chairs, Michael Chong (Conservative, Wellington-Halton Hills), was the target of a Chinese diplomat’s intimidation campaign according to CSIS. Zhao Wei was expelled from Canada on May 9. China responded by sending Canadian envoy Jennifer Lynn Lalonde home from the Shanghai consulate. 

Kenny Chiu on March 31 at a House of Commons committee hearing on foreign interference (ParlVu)

The report’s first recommendation said the government should convey to China’s ambassador that it will not tolerate interference in the rights and freedoms of Canadians. The committee wants the federal government to work with provinces and territories to support individuals or groups targeted by state-backed harassment and intimidation and to do more to guard elections from foreign interference. 

It also suggested the Minister of Canadian Heritage look for ways to identify and counter China-influenced or China-owned media in Canadian diaspora communities, counter state-backed misinformation, disinformation and censorship on WeChat and TikTok, and direct the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission to ban authoritarian state-controlled broadcasters from Canadian cable TV services.

The final recommendation is to undertake a thorough national security review and publish that policy. 

“It will be foolhardy for the government not to take seriously implementing many of them, if not all of these [recommendations],” Chiu said. 

The report mentions the dashed hope of better relations after Huawei executive Meng Wenzhou was freed from house arrest in Vancouver in September 2021 and China released hostages Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Instead, matters took a turn for the worse.

Two Richmond witnesses were cited. 

Victor Ho, the former editor-in-chief of Sing Tao Daily’s B.C. edition, who was threatened with arrest by the Hong Kong government for his activism in Canada against the Beijing-imposed national security law. 

Peter German, the former senior RCMP officer who authored two reports for the B.C. government about money laundering in real estate, casinos and luxury cars. 

“Mr. German noted that while the PRC is known to take severe measures against domestic drug trafficking, Chinese organized crime groups operate around the world outside of the PRC and use family connections and networks to distribute drugs manufactured in Guangdong Province and elsewhere,” the report said. 

Hardie’s tabling of the report came less than a week before the anticipated interim report by former Governor General David Johnston, hired in March by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a “special rapporteur” to look into foreign interference. 

Trudeau is in Japan where fellow G-7 summit leaders are expected to discuss China, including its alliance with Russia and threat to invade self-governing Taiwan. 

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Bob Mackin The former Conservative MP for Steveston-Richmond

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Bob Mackin

FIFA’s 2026 World Cup logo (FIFA)

The branding for the next men’s World Cup in North America shows FIFA is taking aim at the dominant sports business on the continent, says a marketing expert.  

Soccer’s governing body unveiled the logo for the 2026 World Cup on May 17 in Los Angeles, a blocky, white 2 stacked on top of a white 6, behind the tournament’s iconic golden trophy. On Thursday morning, it released versions tailored to each of the 16 host cities, including Vancouver, which features a scheme with hues of blue, green and gold.

“Look at the overall layout. These guys clearly have aspirations,” said Lindsay Meredith, professor emeritus of marketing with Simon Fraser University. “Frankly, they’re in a good position to pull it off, which is basically to supplant Super Bowl as the superpower sporting event.”

By comparison, the logo for the National Football League’s marquee annual event features the silver Vince Lombardi Trophy and Roman numerals denoting the championship number. 

Meredith said FIFA also had a shrewd strategy with the plain white numerals, rather than using the flag colours associated with co-hosts U.S., Mexico and Canada. 

Super Bowl LVII (NFL)

“It’s a good trick for one reason, because what it means is no, I’m not affiliated with the colours of any particular one country because everybody can kind of claim white as being a kind of a neutral statement,” Meredith said. 

“It’s something kind of everybody can live with. It won’t look like anybody else is getting favouritism there.”

The 104-match tournament with 48 nations over 39 days in June and July 2026 will primarily take place in the U.S., which boasts the biggest, most-modern stadiums. Under the originally planned 80-match format, the 11 U.S. cities, including Seattle, were allotted 60 matches, Vancouver and Toronto were to split 10 matches and Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara the other 10. 

The 26 logo has also drawn comparisons to the 2020-revealed emblem for LA 28, the Los Angeles Summer Olympics five years from now. That logo was unveiled with 26 different versions of the letter A. Meredith said FIFA is also trying to steal thunder from the International Olympic Committee in the competitive world of sports sponsorship and broadcasting rights sales.

Los Angeles 2028 Olympics (LA 28/IOC)

“Unlike the Olympics, this one still seems to have a lot of cachet, value. I think what happened in the Olympics is Olympics got way too expensive, got way too political, got way too capital heavy. FIFA seem to be doing a hell of a fine job of creating a brand that’s going to do it. You know, they’ve had their their rough goes from time to time.”

City of Vancouver held a watch party at the Brewhall for the branding ceremony and invited handpicked media outlets, a departure from the promotional events open to all media outlets in the years leading to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. 

Meredith said what won’t be different is the boosters inflating economic benefit forecasts and downplaying the costs of the mega-event. 

After Toronto city hall estimated it would cost $290 million for matches there, the B.C. government announced in June 2022 that B.C. taxpayers could expect a bill of $240 million to $260 million to subsidize FIFA. But, in January, the province said the city is now responsible for $230 million. The province has not elaborated on cost estimates for B.C. Place, such as installation of a temporary natural grass pitch and interior renovations to transform part of the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame into additional luxury suites.

City of Vancouver has refused to release both its contract with FIFA and the business plan for how it will spend $230 million. To help raise money for the tournament, the provincial government gave it special power to levy a 2.5% accommodation tax through 2030. 

Vancouver was not included in the winning three-country bid in 2018 after Premier John Horgan balked at giving FIFA a blank cheque and bidders refused to negotiate more favourable terms to B.C. Horgan changed his mind in 2021 when Montreal withdrew due to its concern over high costs. 

FIFA reported record gross revenue of US$7.6 billion for the 2019 to 2022 cycle and forecast US$11 billion for the 2023 to 2026 period. It relies on local markets to pay the costs for the World Cup. 

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Bob Mackin [caption id="attachment_13241" align="alignright" width="277"] FIFA's 2026

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Bob Mackin 

An official with the University of the Fraser Valley’s Faculty and Staff Association (FSA) sounded the alarm in a memo about the May 17 appearance by a polarizing psychology professor at the arena on campus.

Jordan Peterson (Facebook)

A May 10 bulletin sent by interim president Greg Mather said the FSA “condemns” Jordan Peterson’s lecture at the Abbotsford Centre, part of his “Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life Tour.” 

Peterson originally sparked controversy when he opposed the Liberal government’s 2017 addition of gender identity and expression to the Canadian Human Rights Code. He has since gained an international following, especially among male conservatives, for his self-help books, interviews and lectures that challenge perceived political correctness.

“While this is by no means a UFV sanctioned event, we are deeply concerned for the holistic safety of our UFV community members to have this speaker so close to our campus doors,” said Mather’s memo. “We understand that the hate that he speaks and promotes causes real harm to people and we want anyone who might be on campus that day to be aware of this event and its impact.”

The bulletin said the FSA met with the university, which is responsible for UFV community safety. It urged members to make students aware of Peterson’s speech and to contact campus security to arrange safety plans.  

Peterson is represented by Hollywood’s powerful Creative Artists Agency and concert promoter/ticket seller Live Nation. As of Wednesday, the few tickets that remained were advertised at $162 and up on the Ticketmaster website.

Mather did not respond for comment about whether the association has ever issued a similar bulletin about other events at the 2009-opened venue, which holds 8,500 for concerts. 

The Abbotsford Centre has hosted several acts that have, during their careers, courted controversy, such as Slayer (2016), Joe Rogan (2018), Cheech and Chong (2019) and Megadeth (April).

However, the chief of staff for the university president’s office said “UFV has not experienced any incidents of note related to events at the Abbotsford Centre.”

“UFV has communicated with students, faculty, and staff, making them aware of the event – which is not affiliated with the university – and the anticipated increase in traffic and crowds near our Abbotsford campus,” said Christina Forcier. “As always, members of the university community can contact safety and security in advance of the event for Safewalk services or support from UFV safety and security.”

Greg Mather (UFV)

Abbotsford Police Department public information officer Scott McClure said the force would deploy officers in the same manner as any other event at the home of the Abbotsford Canucks.

“I am not aware of any specific incidents regarding the University of the Fraser Valley and the Abbotsford Centre, however their close proximity to one another might be part of the reason they may take their own precautions,” McClure said.

Peterson appeared at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver on Feb. 21. Two months before the event, city council received a memo from Sandra Singh, general manager of the department that oversees civic theatres, that said Live Nation would be reminded of its contractual obligation to comply with the Criminal Code and B.C. Human Rights Code. 

In a Wednesday statement from the Vancouver city hall communications department, neither Peterson nor the promoter infringed the Queen Elizabeth Theatre licence agreement “to the best of our knowledge.”

“The event was conducted in accordance with our policies and expectations, and in compliance with both the Criminal Code and the Human Rights Code,” according to Vancouver city hall. 

Future bookings by any performer, including Peterson, will be evaluated to ensure compliance with civic guidelines and legal requirements, it said.

The biggest controversy to emerge from the event was Peterson’s commentary about a City of Vancouver’s Greenest City 2020 decal on a paper towel dispenser in the theatre that said: “Remember you don’t need an arm’s length of paper towel to dry your hands.”

“Up yours, woke moralists,” Peterson Tweeted. “Tyranny is always petty — and petty tyranny will not save the planet. Why does this bother me? Because (1) it’s celebrated (2) it’s everywhere and (3) people are wilfully blind to it.”

Peterson is scheduled to appear May 19 at the sold out Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria.

After tickets went on sale in February, local drag performer Eddi “Licious” Wilson launched an online petition to convince the venue and/or city council to cancel the event, calling Peterson an “angry, divisive, hateful person.”

As of May 17, the petition had attracted 2,669 supporters toward its goal of 5,000. The arena holds 9,000 in its concert configuration.

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Bob Mackin  An official with the University of

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Bob Mackin

Before members of TransLink’s Mayors’ Council travelled to Ottawa to lobby for billions more federal dollars, the division that runs the SkyTrain and West Coast Express systems told staff that it was expanding to an office tower in Metrotown. 

A May 9 B.C. Rapid Transit Co. (BCRTC) internal memo disclosed the move to an 18-storey building on Kingsway to accommodate the next decade’s growth.

Central Park Place in Burnaby (Avison Young/Bosa Commercial)

“We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve secured four floors at Central Park Place in Burnaby, which will significantly increase our available office space,” the memo said. “This new space is located at 4555 Kingsway, and it’s just five kilometres from OMC1 [Operations and Maintenance Centre 1] and a quick seven-minute walk from the Metrotown SkyTrain station.”

The memo said BCRTC, which is based in Edmonds at OMC1, anticipates the first departments will move to Central Park Place beginning in the latter part of the third quarter. 

“The relocation of departments will occur in phases. A larger renovation will then be done on the remaining two floors. Relocation onto these floors will not happen until completion of the capital project (timing is TBD),” the memo said. 

TransLink spokesperson Dan Mountain said the Kingsway space was leased in 2019 and will be used at no additional leasing costs. He said employees will move onto the ninth and 11th to 13th floors. 

“BCRTC will need additional space to accommodate staff that are necessary for SkyTrain expansions such as the Broadway Subway and the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain lines,” Mountain said.

Mountain was unable to say how much space TransLink actually used after the pandemic began in 2020.

The building’s registered owner is Central Park Developments Inc, whose directors are Robert and Colin Bosa. Entries in the TransLink statements of financial information from 2019 to 2021 (the most-recent year available) show a company called Central Park Partnership LP was paid $34,154 in 2019, $1,529,547 in 2020 and $2,024,762 in 2021.

TransLink’s statutory annual report for 2019 mentioned the business technology support (BTS) department’s $1.8 million move to Metrotown in a list of capital program changes. 

“In order to meet capacity and project coordination challenges at Sapperton office and 307 Columbia locations, this project was to secure additional lease space at a Metrotown office building to house BTS project team members,” the March 20 report said.

Central Park Place in Burnaby (Avison Young/Bosa Commercial)

Seven floors in the same building, each more than 11,000 square feet, are currently listed for lease by commercial real estate agency Avison Young with estimated operating costs and taxes of $18.35 per square foot. The lease cost is not included, but a real estate industry source familiar with the building said the rate is around $32 per square foot, with a market tenant improvement allowance. 

A decade ago, TransLink, Transit Police and Coast Mountain Bus Co. moved from a tower in Metrotown to new headquarters at the Brewery District in New Westminster’s Sapperton community. At the time, the lease was worth $1.7 million a year and TransLink said the arrangement saved $2.6 million a year. For 2021, the most-recent year available, TransLink paid $10.3 million to The Brewery District Developments LP, a company related to developer Wesgroup.

TransLink expects to spend more than $2.18 billion to run the region’s transit system in 2023, including $137 million for corporate operations. Of that, it earmarked $15.7 million for rentals, leases and property tax. 

Representatives of a dozen municipalities, led by Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, were on Parliament Hill May 15 to promote their “Access to Everyone” plan for major expansion of rapid transit, bus, SeaBus and road infrastructure and service. 

“Access for Everyone requires a total investment of $21 billion over the next decade, and the region can’t afford to do it alone,” said the Mayors’ Council website. 

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Bob Mackin Before members of TransLink’s Mayors’ Council

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Bob Mackin

The amount paid to the law firm that successfully defended ex-Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum in his public mischief trial remains a secret.

Doug McCallum in the Surrey courthouse parkade (Mackin)

But it won’t last forever.

A Provincial Court judge ruled McCallum not guilty on Nov. 21 of the charge that he made a false report to police about a Keep the RCMP in Surrey protester driving over his left foot on Labour Day weekend in 2021.

McCallum lost the mayoralty to Brenda Locke in the Oct. 15 election, after she promised to pursue repayment. 

Under solicitor-client privilege, a public body can decide how much or how little it wants to to tell the public about the legal costs it pays. However, in 2015, an adjudicator with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner ruled against the Private Career Training Institutions Agency and upheld the public’s right to know the total amount paid to a specific law firm for an entire year.

Despite that, City of Surrey chose to temporarily withhold the total dollar figure paid to Peck and Company for 2022 in response to a March 28 freedom of information application. 

When city hall responded May 11, after the law’s 30-workday deadline, it cited a clause that allows a public body to refuse disclosure of information that must be published under another law. In this case, the Financial Information Act, which requires Surrey city hall to release the list of payments to suppliers and staff in the annual statement of financial information by June 30. 

Richard Peck (Peck and Co.)

Locke did not respond to requests for comment. 

City of Surrey’s indemnity bylaw still contains a clause that states it will shield municipal officials against payment of costs to defend a prosecution in connection with “the performance or intended performance of the person’s duties.” 

Keep the RCMP in Surrey members were outside the Southpoint Save-on-Foods on Sept. 4, 2021, collecting signatures for a petition they hoped would trigger a referendum on McCallum’s program to replace the RCMP with the Surrey Police Service. One of the petitioners, who was driving a Mustang convertible, yelled at McCallum to resign the mayoralty and unleashed a barrage of profanity at him. In court, Debi Johnstone denied McCallum’s hit and run allegation. McCallum told reporters after the incident that he was there on a grocery shopping trip.

During the five-day trial, McCallum was represented by three lawyers and an assistant, including Richard Peck and Eric Gottardi from the team that defended Huawei executive Meng Wenzhou against extradition to the U.S. McCallum did not testify. 

In a campaign video published last September on Surrey Connect’s Facebook page, Locke warned McCallum. 

“So Doug, you better be very careful with every minute you spend with your lawyer because we are coming after you for every dime you spend,” Locke said on the video, which remains visible. 

In an interview after her victory speech, Locke reiterated her stance. “We’ll be asking our city legal [department] to figure out a way to get that money back and to make Mr. McCallum pay for his legal bills.”

McCallum did not respond to email and phone requests for comment. 

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Bob Mackin The amount paid to the law

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David Eby (left) and Guo Ding at the 2018 Wenzhou Friendship Society banquet (John Yap/Twitter)

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The next scheduled provincial election in B.C. is more than a year away, but Premier David Eby’s friend and advisor Guo Ding (aka David Ding) is already trying to influence provincial politics on the Chinese social media platform, WeChat.

On March 17, Eby said he believed Canadian Security Intelligence Service documents revealed by the Globe and Mail are “very troubling” and he is willing to learn “about any issues that they’ve identified in British Columbia, so that British Columbia can act to close any gaps that we may have.” 

On the other hand, Ding published an article on Rise Weekly’s channel on WeChat on March 21 in which he claimed that Eby is challenging CSIS’s documents and demanding CSIS to provide the investigation report to “prove” that the result of the 2022 Vancouver municipal election was “meddled” by the Chinese Communist Party. Obviously, Ding’s claims are very different from what Eby said on mainstream media like the Globe and Mail.

Excerpt from Ding’s commentary from March 21 (WeChat)

Ding believes the Chinese community should really appreciate Eby as he challenged CSIS’s leaked documents reported by investigative journalists, while other politicians wouldn’t do the same. We don’t know if Eby told a different story to Ding or Ding was acting on his own. Either way, Eby’s words spread on WeChat in a very different way from what he told the Globe and Mail.

Since Global News broke a story regarding alleged foreign interference networks involving MP Han Dong and Ontario MPP Vincent Ke, Ding has been attacking Canadian journalists and independent media by labeling them as “racist,” “unethical,” and/or “biased.”

On Feb 28, Ding claimed media shouldn’t “become a tool of racism and anti-Chinese hate” and that “biased journalists with special agendas shouldn’t report on documents leaked from CSIS to mislead readers.” 

On March 7,  Ding claimed that “CSIS with leaked documents colluded with journalists with ulterior motives, attacked Chinese Canadian elected officials.”

Excerpt from Ding’s commentary published March 7.

On March 14, Ding said “the most fundamental issue is that the right of Chinese-Canadians to participate in and discuss politics can’t be ‘smeared red’ or ‘smeared black.’ The unfounded charges to smear Chinese elected officials and Chinese voters has created a situation that everyone fears. Excuse me, is this not racism? Isn’t this McCarthyism?”

On March 28, Ding said “MP Han Dong’s lawsuit against Global News put this traditional media to the test: is it a qualified Canadian media or is it a ‘fake news’ media that imposes a political ‘witch hunt’?” Ironically, Ding failed to mention that MP Han Dong’s statement actually referred to the Tiananmen Square “incident” and “culture” revolution, because of CCP censorship on WeChat. Ding also mentioned the history book he co-authored last year. 

In November 2022, Ding’s organization, Canada Committee 100 Society, hosted an event to launch the book, “History of Overseas Chinese Immigration in Canada: 1858—2001.” Eby and NDP MLAs Katrina Chen and George Chow showed up to support. However, Ding’s book was published by Huaxia Publishing House in Beijing. Ding’s book failed to mention the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the pro-democracy movement that it sparked in the Chinese community in Canada. The 1989 protests are routinely censored by the CCP.

Ding has a history of making comments that are aligned with Beijing’s interest in Canada, echoing the CCP. Do Eby and his caucus members actually support this? 

Excerpt from Ding’s commentary published March 28.

Ding wrote about the Chinese consulate’s November 2021 condemnation of Vancouver city hall’s exploration of a special relationship with the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. It was another case of Beijing seeking to diplomatically isolate and intimidate the self-governing island nation. 

On Nov. 15, 2021, Ding wrote a commentary titled “This Canadian mayor is playing political fire? Friendship Cities with Kaohsiung, will it tear the community apart?”

Ding blamed Stewart for refusing to meet with the Ambassador of China and Consul General of China while pushing for a friendship city relationship with Kaohsiung. Ding also claimed that the friendship-city relationship with Kaohsiung would hurt Vancouver’s interest, and eventually hurt Kaohsiung’s interest as well. 

It’s very concerning that Eby has someone with the CCP’s best interest in mind as his advisor. 

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[caption id="attachment_13230" align="alignright" width="522"] David Eby (left)

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