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Bob Mackin

A former clerk of the B.C. Legislature promised in 2012 to rewrite his will and donate after-tax proceeds from his $500,000 consulting contract to the Legislative Library.

Ex-B.C. Legislature clerk George MacMinn

But the Legislature received only $100,000 from the estate of the late George MacMinn, who died last August at age 92. He worked a record 54 years as a table officer and wrote the Parliamentary Practice in B.C. guidebook.

When the BC Liberal government chose Craig James to succeed MacMinn in 2011, MacMinn received a $252,560-per-year, two-year contract to act as “clerk consultant.” 

In the wake of Auditor General John Doyle’s scathing summer 2012 report on Legislature finances, then-NDP house leader John Horgan deemed MacMinn’s high-priced arrangement “unnecessary.”

“When people retire they get a gold watch and they move away,” Horgan told reporters at the time. “They don’t get a two-year contract.”

MacMinn had been the longest-serving table officer anywhere in the Commonwealth, including 18 years as clerk. He buckled to pressure and sent a letter to the all-party Legislative Assembly Management Committee in October 2012.

“I have instructed my solicitors to prepare a codicil to my will arranging for $500,000 — less income tax paid — to be paid or transferred to the Legislative Library of British Columbia under the terms and conditions contained in the said codicil, which will be signed on Sept. 1, 2013,” read MacMinn’s letter. “The net result is that all remuneration paid to the consultant will be paid to the Legislative Library.”

April 28, at the first LAMC meeting since January, Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd announced that the Legislative Assembly had received the “generous gift” from MacMinn’s estate. 

“In his will, he set aside a $100,000 gift for the benefit of the Legislative Library,” Ryan-Lloyd said. “I’m now working, at this point, with the director of the Legislative Library, Peter Gourlay, my colleague, to identify a suitable project to strengthen the library’s research collection and to also provide a public benefit.” 

Contacted for clarification about the discrepancy, Ryan-Lloyd would only say that $100,000 had been received from MacMinn’s estate. 

A copy of MacMinn’s typed Sept. 9, 2019 will was registered Feb. 24 in the Golden court registry. It said MacMinn revoked all previous wills and codicils. At the bottom of the first page, there is a hand-printed and initialled clause that states: “To pay or transfer a cash legacy of $100,000 without interest to the Legislative Library of the Legislative Buildings of Victoria, B.C. for its own use absolutely.” 

MacMinn died more than a month after successor James was sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court to a month of house arrest and two months curfew. James was convicted of fraud and breach of public trust after using taxpayers’ money to buy $1,900 worth of custom shirts and a suit for himself. 

Speaker Darryl Plecas and chief of staff Alan Mullen found evidence of corruption in the offices of James and Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz and called in the RCMP to investigate. James and Lenz, who was not charged, both resigned in disgrace in 2019, but kept their pension eligibility. 

Meanwhile, the committee also heard that the daycare centre proposed for the Parliament Buildings is estimated to cost $2 million plus $195,000 for playground equipment. Staff expect to find a not-for-profit operator and finalize construction drawings by November. 

It will take 10 to 12 months to build the space for 37 children of those that work at the seat of government.

LAMC members also approved increasing the threshold for legal assistance for lawmakers should they need to retain a civil or criminal lawyer.

They will now be eligible for $10,000 to pay their legal bills, double the previous amount. They are also entitled to a maximum $20,000, double the previous $10,000 ceiling, in case of emergency during a period in which the Legislature is dissolved. 

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Bob Mackin A former clerk of the B.C.

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Bob Mackin

Fraud is rampant across some of B.C.’s biggest public bodies, according to a report from the Office of the Auditor General. 

But so is secrecy about the rampant fraud, due to a loophole in the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

B.C. Auditor General Michael Pickup (OAG/YouTube)

In March, Auditor General Michael Pickup released the results of his summer 2022-launched poll of 23 Crown corporations, agencies, health authorities, universities and school boards. Pickup and his team found 61% of the public organizations said they were affected by fraud in the previous 12 months, including theft of physical assets (43%), misappropriation of company funds (22%) and information theft, regulatory or compliance breach, and internal financial fraud (17% each). 

“Fraud is a lot more than stealing money or cash out of the drawer,” Pickup told reporters on March 7. “There’s many facets to what constitutes fraud. So we have to think of fraud in that broader context.”

But the report called “Fraud Risk and Financial Statements: B.C. Public Sector, Part 1” did not name names. So a reporter asked each of the 23 organizations Pickup polled, from BC Housing to Vancouver Island Health Authority, to release copies of their completed questionnaires under the freedom of information law. Fifteen refused outright because they relied on the clause in section 3 that calls a record created by or for an office of the Legislature (such as the Office of the Auditor General) “out of scope.”

Two of the organizations have yet to respond, one referred the request to the Auditor General and another delayed response until June, in order to consult a third-party. University of B.C. missed the legislated deadline, blamed a “significant backlog” and suggested it might reply by end of May. 

Only three of the 23 — B.C. Pavilion Corporation, Simon Fraser University and Vancouver Coastal Health — released copies of their questionnaires. 

SFU went one step further and included topical chapters from its policy manual and the July 28, 2022 email from Pickup to the university’s president Joy Johnson.

“We plan to publish a report of the results of our fraud risk assessment, including information obtained through the questionnaire or directly from you or your designate,” said Pickup’s letter. “Our report will include a summary of results and any significant matters. This may include entity-specific information.”

In the report, Pickup did not name any specific entity. He encouraged reporters involved in the March 7 news conference to contact each of the public bodies directly for more information. 

In an interview, Assistant Auditor General Stuart Newton, who is the former Comptroller General, called the questionnaire results an unaudited “initial step” in the summary financial statements process.

Inside B.C. Place Stadium (Mackin)

“It’s a high level indicator, an aggregate of roughly where things might be at, but it is still subject to some follow up work,” Newton said. 

During the same interview, Pickup said it is not for him to tell the government what its policies should be for public reporting about fraud incidents. 

“The elected folks, how they choose to use this report and how they hold government accountable is really their mandate and not mine,” Pickup said.

The executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association said he understands why the loophole exists, due to the Auditor General’s investigative functions. But Jason Woywada said both public bodies and the Auditor General should use it sparingly when it comes to such an important issue that demands sunlight.
“One would expect that the government and the Auditor General would be transparent about the steps they’re taking to monitor, prevent and dissuade public employees from defrauding the taxpayer. And if not, then that leads to other questions,” Woywada said.

“If the public interest is paramount, this is information that should be released, and if it’s not paramount, there has to be some pretty good reasons for the Auditor General not to release that and/or for other people not to release it.”

On May 2, Pickup released the second part of his fraud risk survey, this time focusing on government ministries.

In the new report, 10 of the 22 ministries said they had been affected by a form of fraud during the previous year. 

Theft of physical assets (36%) and vendor, supplier or procurement fraud (14%) were the leading categories. None reported internal financial fraud, misappropriation of company funds, corruption and bribery or money laundering.

Six ministries (27%) believed they were “highly vulnerable” to information theft. Half the ministries reported they needed to be “very vigilant” about fraud, but three said that fraud in their ministry was “very unlikely.” 

Half the ministries said they did not have a specific fraud risk management policy, but they had other policies that referred to fraud risk management. One ministry said it had no such policy. 

The Office of the Premier was not included in the survey.

Like the first part, the second part was unaudited and Pickup did not identify which ministries are struggling or succeeding. 

What they said

B.C. Pavilion Corporation answered “no” to the question about having a formal fraud risk management policy. Instead, the Crown corporation that operates B.C. Place Stadium and the Vancouver Convention Centre claimed the “concepts of fraud detection, prevention, mitigation, investigation, education and reporting are embedded within many of our policies, procedures and governance frameworks.”

Vancouver General Hospital (VCH)

PavCo reported that it had no fraud hotline. While it had established policies and procedures when potential incidents of fraud are identified, it answered “no” to the question about “if, when and how police are to be called.” PavCo also did not release its answers to the nine types of fraud. 

Simon Fraser University answered “no” to whether it had been affected in the previous 12 months by: physical assets theft, procurement fraud, information theft, regulator or compliance breach, corruption and bribery, internal financial fraud, misappropriation of company funds, money laundering and IP theft. 

It self-described as being “low vulnerability” to most types of fraud, but “moderate vulnerability” to information theft. 

Vancouver Coastal Health answered “yes” to being affected by physical assets theft and misappropriation of company funds. It self-reported “high vulnerability” to information theft, but “low vulnerability” to most types of fraud, except for “moderate vulnerability” to IP theft. 

Honourable mention: University of Victoria refused to show its questionnaire, but provided its correspondence with the Auditor General’s office and relevant policy manual documents. 

Factbox: By the numbers 

15: Refused to disclose, claiming the FOI law does not apply to the questionnaire: BC Housing, BC Hydro, BC Lottery Corp., BCIT, BC Transit, Community Living BC, Fraser Health, ICBC, Interior Health, Liquor Distribution Branch, Northern Health, Providence Health, Provincial Health Services Authority, Surrey School District and University of Victoria;

4: Charged the $10 non-refundable FOI application fee: BC Housing, Community Living BC., Liquor Distribution Branch and BC Transportation Financing Corp.;

3: Responded with questionnaire: B.C. Pavilion Corp., Simon Fraser University and Vancouver Coastal Health;

2: No response: Columbia Power Authority and Vancouver Island Health Authority; 

1: Delayed to June 5 for third-party consultation: Burnaby School District;

1: Indefinite delay due to claimed backlog: University of B.C.; 

1: Referred to OAG: BC Transportation Financing Corp.

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Bob Mackin Fraud is rampant across some of

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Bob Mackin

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has reserved decision on whether to order Simon Fraser University to reinstate the football team and play the 2023 season.

(SFU Football)

Five players, Gideone Kremler, Kimo Hiu, Andrew Lirag, Ryan Barthelson and Dayton Ingenhaag, alleged breach of contract and their lawyer asked Justice Michael Stephens on May 1 to reverse the university’s April 4 decision to cancel the 1965-established program.

Peter Gall told Stephens that SFU is legally required to put the team back together and play one more season in the NCAA Division II’s Lone Star Conference or find another league. 

“The players agreed to come to SFU on the promise that they could play football and receive education, some of them receive financial aid,” Gall said. “In return, the players made a meaningful commitment to SFU to come to the university and play football there and that benefited SFU.”

Gall said money is not an issue for the university and neither is the number of players: 97 were committed to participate in the 2023 fall camp, slightly down from last year’s 104 and below the 100 ceiling desired by the athletic director. 

“We’re not saying that the program has to be continued forever,” Gall said. “What we’re saying in this case is that this decision was premature.”

Gall said if the university was sincere about options to continue the program and further the wellbeing of the players, then SFU should welcome external support from alumni and other supporters, financially or otherwise. 

Emily Kirkpatrick, a lawyer acting for SFU, told the court that it was “deeply unfair” that Gall suggested SFU is treating players “as disposable or with contempt for their situation.”

“That could not be further from the truth,” Kirkpatrick said.

She said the university tried to keep the team going until it decided in late March to end the program. Since then, it has taken significant steps to reduce the harm to the players.

Kirkpatrick said players signed financial aid or student athlete agreements, but SFU was not bound by any written contract to provide a football team for as long as they were students at Burnaby Mountain. 

“There’s no evidence that they had that conversation that they said, you’ll get into SFU, and we’ll never take it away from them. There’s no evidence of that conversation,” Kirkpatrick said. “What the plaintiffs affidavits do recount are conversations about an opportunity to play in the SFU program.”

She also said that SFU doesn’t have full control over the football program because it is beholden to others, such as the league. Players were free to leave at any time and coaches were free to leave on two weeks notice. 

Kirkpatrick said SFU has not filed its response to the players’ April 13 civil claim, but she did quote extensively from an affidavit sworn by athletic director Theresa Hanson. Kirkpatrick outlined the steps the university took since Jan. 25, when the Lone Star Conference informed SFU that it would not be welcome in 2024. The conference cited the cost of travel to SFU, SFU’s lack of competitiveness (an 18-103 win-loss record since joining NCAA in 2010) and that another university wanted to join. 

Law Courts Vancouver (Joe Mabel)

SFU, Central Washington and Western Oregon joined the mainly Texas conference for 2022 after the Great Northwest Athletic Conference ended football. The Red Leafs recorded just one victory last year. 

After SFU’s loss of membership was made public Feb. 1, Hanson unsuccessfully inquired in the second half of February about joining the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Neither had an opening for a new member. SFU considered playing as an independent, but Kirkpatrick said Hanson deemed it “virtually impossible,” because it would have possibly meant playing all games on the road. 

“Other schools wouldn’t want to incur the cost of traveling to SFU,” Kirkpatrick said. 

Dropping to Division III would not have been feasible at SFU, where athletes in other sports compete in Division II and because Division III does not allow scholarships. 

Kirkpatrick said Hanson also contacted the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and U Sports about a potential bylaw change or an exemption to admit the SFU team, but did not get a commitment from either. 

Finally, Hanson decided in “late March” to cancel the program. When SFU informed players on April 4, they were promised another full year of scholarship eligibility or help in transferring to another university to pursue football.

Since then, Kirkpatrick said, the scholarship offer was extended beyond next year, to the completion of degree studies. Affected students who stay at SFU will also receive priority enrolment, access to academic advisors and tutoring, access to SFU sports medicine and mental health and wellbeing resources. 

“Their rights have been run roughshod over, they’ve been ignored,” Gall said. “And yes, it’s nice that the university is providing them with mental health counselling as a result of the mental health issues they might have caused by their illegal action.”

Hanson’s affidavit said SFU budgeted for $572,649 in financial aid to football; 67 student athletes received a combined $438,250 in scholarships. After the program was canceled, coaches received severance pay for without cause termination and the total payout was nearly $90,000. 

SFU had budgeted $953,541 to run the football team in 2023, up $185,812 from last year, including $423,605 for salaries and benefits, $399,076 for travel and $125,860 for operating expenses. 

BC Lions’ owner Amar Doman has pledged financial support to revive the SFU program, the Canadian Football League’s biggest source of draft picks. Legendary Lions’ kicker Lui Passaglia is among several SFU alumni who are protesting the end of the football team by demanding to be removed from the university’s sports hall of fame.

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court judge has

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Bob Mackin

BC Hydro employees want to continue to enjoy the freedom to work from home, according to results of the utility’s so-called employee pulse check last October.

BC Hydro headquarters (BC Hydro)

“Generally, employees are appreciative of the flexible work model, citing positive impacts on wellbeing, and time and cost savings by not commuting. Employees expressed strong desire for the model to continue; some are concerned that the program is temporary and may come to an end,” said the Nov. 8 human resources briefing note for senior executives, released under the freedom of information law.

“Regardless of tenure, employees continue to look for more flexibility than what they currently have, in terms of setting their scheduled in-office days and frequency, as well as noting inconsistent practices across the company.”

The briefing note said five such “pulse check surveys” have been completed since the pandemic began three years ago. The October survey was the second focused on the flexible work model, with responses from hybrid, resident, remote and field workers and boasted a 65% response rate. More than 1,800 comments, including 365 from managers, were received. 

The results showed 74% of employees who responded were happy or ecstatic with the flexible model, 2% better than the previous pulse check. Hybrid and remote employees were most-positive, while those in field roles had the lowest sentiments. 

Employees used their in-office days to get caught up with co-workers they haven’t seen in a while (28%), scheduled in-person meetings (22% and introductions to new employees (20%). 

“Employees continue to appreciate the ability to work from home. In particular, saving time and money by not commuting, and having the ability to balance home life responsibilities were the top reasons selected,” the briefing note said. “Generally, hybrid, remote and resident employees appear to have slightly improved sentiments about the flexible work model since June, and are likely adjusted to this new way of working.”

“Dave” and the “Boparai Family” in BC Hydro’s latest series of TV ads. (BC Hydro)

Almost six in 10 respondents said in-office days are important to the Crown corporation’s “relationship-based culture.” When working in-office, 61% are doing so on the same days every week, predominantly in tandem with their team and manager, and 46% have some days mandated by their boss and some their own choice. 

“The most valuable things that employees find about in-office days are the ability to have impromptu conversations, in-person meetings and being able to meet new people in person.”

It also said managers and employees had similar feelings about limited in-office days. Managers considered a common in-office day with their team critical for a deeper connection and employees deemed it valuable. Both groups questioned the value of additional in-office days, “as they’re primarily in virtual meetings due to different in-office schedules.”

Field employees said the flexible model does not apply to them, so it is “unfair and a source of discontent.”

No immediate action was recommended, but the briefing note listed four next steps: to share results with senior leaders at a November forum; discuss with the employee communications team; consider the data for potential changes to the work model to be explored during 2023; and consider the best approach for the next pulse check, which was planned for the January through March quarter. 

Under an August 2021 agreement between BC Hydro and its union, MoveUp, employees who work at home must designate an adequate workspace and keep it safe and free from hazards. Any BC Hydro property and documents must be kept safe, secure and confidential. The agreement also allows BC Hydro to send a representative for a home workplace audit on a minimum 24 hours notice. BC Hydro will provide necessary IT hardware and software, including virtual private network access, but will not pay utilities or meal expenses. 

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Bob Mackin BC Hydro employees want to continue

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Bob Mackin

BC Hydro workers got whopping increases above inflation in their daily meal allowance rates and vehicle mileage rates at the start of the year, a move that is expected to cost the Crown corporation $2.2 million more a year. 

A November 2022 briefing note for senior executives, obtained via freedom of information, recommended upping the daily maximum for breakfast, lunch and dinner by 41%, from $51 to $72, in reaction to employee feedback that BC Hydro has not kept up with the rise in food and gas prices. A BC Hydro spokesperson said the recommendation was approved and that meal allowance increase was the first in over a decade.

BC Hydro spokesman Dave Mix camping at Tofino (BC Hydro)

BC Hydro compared its existing rates with two universities (University of B.C. and Simon Fraser University), two Crown corporations (WorkSafeBC and ICBC) and unionized workers in the public service (B.C. General Employees’ Union). The WorkSafe and ICBC rates were censored, under a clause that protects third-party business information, but showed BCGEU-represented workers are eligible for $55.12 per day, SFU $75 per day and UBC $80 per day. 

“We consider this to be a reasonable increase to address rising meal costs in recent years and the $72/day rate is similar to other meal per diem rates being provided by the B.C. public sector, which is an expectation from PSEC,” the briefing note said.

According to BC Stats, the province’s March consumer price index was 4.7% higher than a year earlier. Food (+7.8%) led the way. Energy, including gasoline, fell 5%, but transportation was 2.9% higher.

BC Hydro employees are allowed to seek reimbursement for use of their own vehicle while on company business. Mileage rates went up 11% from 55 cents per kilometre to 61 cents per kilometre for the first 5,000 driven in a year, then 55 cents/km over 5,000. 

“At the time this was the maximum increase possible before it became a taxable benefit under [Canada Revenue Agency] guidelines,” said Susie Rieder of BC Hydro. “That’s why, when the automobile allowance rates were changed for 2023, we implemented a further, smaller increase to mileage on Feb. 1 to 68 c/km for the first 5,000 km per year, and 62 c for mileage over 5,000 km per year.”

The Public Sector Employers’ Council (PSEC) confirmed BC Hydro has the power to change its rates. 

“PSEC does not approve our meal per diem and mileage rates but does expect them to be similar to other rates being provided in the B.C. public sector,” said the briefing note. 

The briefing note said there are two reimbursement rates available: one for driving regular vehicles and the other for off-road driving, in 4x4s. The latter can only be claimed under specific circumstances and is not subject to specific CRA mileage rate limits. 

The existing rates for regular vehicles were 55 c/km for the first 1,000 km per month and then 49 c/km for additional distance. The mileage rates proposed were the maximum allowed under CRA before employees are deemed to be receiving a taxable benefit. 

“They are also similar to the B.C. government rates of 57 c/km in fiscal 2023 although government appears to only have one rate regardless of how many kilometres are travelled. The B.C. government rate is forecast to increase to 61 c/km in fiscal 2024 based on the collective agreement B.C. government signed with BCGEU, but which would be above CRA stated limits (for those travelling more than 5,000 km per year).”

Specific mileage rates are part of the MoveUp collective agreement, but not in the IBEW contract. Mileage rate increases do not impact the bargaining mandate from PSEC. 

Specific mileage rates are included in the MoveUP collective agreement, but not in the IBEW collective agreement. Changes to mileage rates do not impact BC Hydro’s bargaining mandate from PSEC.

The briefing note proposed reviewing per diem meal rates every two to three years and mileage rates annually, with the intention of aligning to the CRA limit unless significantly higher than the B.C. government rate.

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Bob Mackin BC Hydro workers got whopping increases

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For the week of April 30, 2023:

High expectations and low delivery.

That sums up the long-awaited April 28 announcement by NDP Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, which did nothing to end the Surrey policing debate. Farnworth released a heavily redacted report that recommends Surrey city council continue to replace the RCMP detachment with the Surrey Police Service, a legacy of the Doug McCallum-led council.

The October-elected Mayor Brenda Locke vowed to keep the RCMP, despite the offer of provincial funds.

The MMA panel reconvenes to consider the fallout from the latest chapter in the cop swap that won’t stop. Join host Bob Mackin with ResearchCo president Mario Canseco and Andy Yan, the director of the city program at Simon Fraser University. 

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

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

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For the week of April 30, 2023:

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Bob Mackin

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered a Vancouver woman at the centre of an international payment processing scandal to answer questions at an examination for discovery.

PacNet founder Rosanne Day

In a February 2018 filing, the Director of Civil Forfeiture alleged that PacNet Services engaged in “unlawful predatory mail-fraud schemes, primarily targeting the elderly and vulnerable.” The court documents further claim that PacNet processed millions of payments worth hundreds of millions of dollars from tens of thousands of victims.

The payment processor’s founder, Rosanne Day, refused to answer questions during January and March examination for discovery sessions, prompting lawyers for the director to complain to Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick. 

Fitzpatrick’s April 3 decision, published April 27, said Day must answer a series of questions about transfers of money with her husband and her lawyer in the days after a U.S. government agency, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, designated PacNet a significant transnational criminal organization in September 2016.

The designation was lifted in October 2017, but Day and PacNet’s legal problems were only beginning. The director filed for forfeiture in February 2018. In June 2019, the District of Nevada charged Day and three others for mail and wire fraud and money laundering.

The director has seized various properties, including real estate and bank balances, totalling $20 million, Fitzpatrick’s ruling said. 

Lawyers for the director asked Day under oath on Jan. 26 of this year whether she or PacNet had used a lawyer’s trust account to move money, unrelated to payment for legal fees, between September 2016 and January 2020. But Day’s lawyer objected and she refused to answer. The examination for discovery reconvened on March 1. Again, Day objected and did not answer. 

The questions were about the almost $10.16 million received and/or disbursed through the trust account of lawyer Michael Bolton. The director’s lawyers want Day to answer questions about her access to large sums of money and certain transactions, the source of funds and whether any of the money was returned to accounts she controls. 

PacNet and Day objected on the basis of relevance and privilege. 

The judge said privilege did not apply because “there is no evidentiary basis upon which to conclude that the movement of funds in [Bolton’s] trust account relates at all to his solicitor-client relationship with PacNet or others.”

Fitzpatrick also concluded that the questions are relevant. 

“The discovery questions will allow the director to gain evidence as to the funds that were held by, or accessible to, PacNet, Ms. Day and/or [husband Gordon] Day from the time of PacNet closed its business in September 2016 and leading the commencement of this proceeding, and even beyond that date,” Fitzpatrick wrote.

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court judge has

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Bob Mackin

Add B.C. figure skaters to the long list of Canadian athletes demanding reform. 

A group called Figure Skating for Change Canada published an open letter April 27 to Minister of Sport Pascal St-Onge and President of Skate Canada Karen Butcher, claiming incidents of physical, verbal and emotional abuse by coaches at a Burnaby skating club over the last 15 years.

Burnaby Scotia Barn (Canlan)

“Figure skaters who have come forward to us in confidence have described incidences such as being locked in change rooms as punishment, being pushed and shoved around the ice, public slandering of athletes, bribery, psychological manipulation and gaslighting, unsafe training conditions, body-shaming, and stonewalling,” said the letter, which names Champs International Skating Centre of British Columbia, formerly known as the B.C. Centre of Excellence.

Champs is based at the Canlan Ice Sports Centre in Burnaby, better known as the Scotia Barn.  Club administrator Hatty Tang and coach Joanne McLeod have not immediately responded for comment. McLeod has coached skaters at three Winter Olympics. 

The letter said athletes are reluctant to report incidents for fear of retribution and they lack confidence in Skate Canada leadership because it has not adequately dealt with complaints. It also said the group lacks trust in the federal Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner to protect athletes and demands a judicial inquiry into the Canadian sport system. 

Skate Canada responded with a statement to say that it is “deeply troubled” by the allegations, but has referred the allegations to Skate-Safe, a confidential misconduct reporting system operated by IntegrityCounts. The third-party contractor may decide to involve the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner.

“We have had no previous contact with this group and have not received any complaints or any communications regarding the matters listed in the letter,” said the Skate Canada statement. 

“Skate Canada recognizes that historically we have not always had the proper policies and processes in place to address misconduct but since the launch of the National Safe Sport Program in 2019 we believe we are equipped to support our community. We know that trust must be earned, and we hope to rebuild that trust with any members who have been negatively impacted.”

For the year ended March 31, 2022, Skate Canada reported $4.53 million of its $17 million revenue came from government and other grants and $7.15 million from membership fees. By comparison, it reported $659,376 from sponsorship and $2.7 million from events. 

In 2022, athletes from Athletics Canada, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, Canadian Fencing Federation, Rugby Canada, Canadian Soccer Association, Water Polo Canada, Boxing Canada and Gymnastics Canada, went public with complaints about coaches, administration and/or boards from their national sport organizations. 

In some cases of misconduct, like Hockey Canada, St-Onge temporarily suspended federal funding. She also appointed Sarah-Eve Pelletier as the Sport Integrity Commissioner in April 2022, but has resisted the repeated calls for a federal public inquiry. 

The latest came Monday, when soccer’s Andrea Neil and Ciara McCormack appealed to the House of Commons Canadian Heritage Committee. 

“I don’t understand what’s holding back a national inquiry, how can we cheer on our athletes if we’re telling you that this is the reality of what it looks like, behind every single sport, province, gender?” said McCormack, who blew the whistle on former Whitecaps and national team coach Bob Birarda in 2019.  

“You just wonder, is she even watching, is the Minister of Sport watching, is the Prime Minister watching this? Whoever is making these decisions are they watching? Because it’s very much impacted our lives, far past our sporting careers, and it’s just disappointing and I just feel ashamed, honestly, to be Canadian, that this is the reality of what it means, and the response to, being a Canadian athlete.”

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Bob Mackin Add B.C. figure skaters to the

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Bob Mackin

The campaign manager behind Mayor Ken Sim’s October landslide victory said ABC Vancouver’s marquee promise may not make a difference in combatting crime and mental illness in the city.

Kareem Allam with Mayor Ken Sim in the background.  (Twitter)

Kareem Allam of Fairview Strategy spoke April 24 on the University of California, Berkeley’s Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research online forum, about Asian voters’ demands for change in Vancouver and San Francisco.

Allam called the issue that won ABC the election the plan to hire 100 new police officers and 100 new mental health nurses. The new city council earmarked $16 million in November to begin recruitment. 

“One hundred new police officers, we already have 1,600, so adding another 100, so what’s that, 4 or 5% new police? Is that really going to have a dramatic impact on reducing crime? Probably not,” said Allam, who was also Sim’s chief of staff until resigning in early February. “Are the 100 mental health nurses going to help get more people help? Yes, it will have a positive impact, but is it going to make measurable differences in resolving some of these public safety issues? Likely not.”

The city’s limited resources aren’t going to solve the problem, so Allam said Sim’s fortunes rely on good relations with and support from Premier David Eby and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“As time goes on, and the crime stats don’t drop, I think the sheen on the win can easily come off,” Allam said.

Allam called the promise a “policy balance” that catered to voters on opposite ends of the spectrum. 

“When you’re running a radio ad [that said] we’re gonna hire 100 new cops and 100 nurses, the right side of the coalition that we built just heard 100 cops and the left side of the coalition just heard 100 mental health nurses, so everyone could hear what they wanted to hear,” he said.

While housing affordability has supplanted the environment as the number one issue nationwide, it is a challenge too big to solve. So the ABC strategy aimed for modest improvements, such as cutting red tape and speeding up development approvals. 

“You can’t win an election on housing affordability, you can lose one if you don’t have a good plan and can’t show good progress,” he said.

Allam explained to the American audience that Vancouver is “very, very progressive” with a long history of labour and social activism, pointing to the 10 years of Vision Vancouver rule and four under Mayor Kennedy Stewart, and the success of centre/left candidates in provincial and federal ridings. At the end of the campaign, he said ABC polling found 60% of its voters were aligned with the Liberal Party, 20% Conservative and 20% NDP.

As for demographics, Allam called his approach “deliberately provocative.”

Vancouver’s first Chinese-Canadian mayor, Ken Sim (left), with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before the 2023 Lunar New Year Parade in Chinatown (@kensimcity/Twitter)

“There is no Chinese community in Vancouver, you wouldn’t go to Beijing, Shanghai or Taipei and talk about the Chinese communities there, because they’re just fundamentally Chinese cities,” he said. “And Vancouver is precisely just that: a Chinese city.”

Allam believes Statistics Canada undercounted the Asian composition of Vancouver’s population, which is officially 45%. He noted that up to a quarter of marriages in the city are mixed race, a vast majority featuring one partner who is Asian. The East Asian diversity spans descendants of 19th century Cantonese-speaking immigrants to more-recent Mandarin-speaking arrivals from Mainland China, many affected by reports of anti-Asian racism. Its influence in business and culture has also shaped the attitudes of voters with European ancestry.

“The fact that at the core of our campaign was that acknowledgement that Vancouver is a Chinese city meant that for the first time in history, there was an authentic, direct campaign aimed right at the heart of issues that mattered to Asian voters,” Allam said.

Three weeks before election day, Allam said ABC was five or six points ahead of Stewart, but a “hockey stick curve of support” developed in the final two weeks. The centre-right and centre-left vote came to ABC while Stewart’s support collapsed. 

In 2018, Sim narrowly lost to Stewart by just 957 votes. But, last Oct. 15, Sim won by a 36,000-vote margin, becoming Vancouver’s first Chinese-Canadian mayor, and ABC took supermajorities on city council and park board.

ABC also saw Filipino, Korean, South Asian and Black voters roll into the coalition, another reflection of the party’s diverse slate.

“We didn’t really fully understand it till after the election, that a lot of people were feeling that they had been shut out of the political process,” he said.

During the online forum, Allam did not mention ABC’s hefty war chest of nearly $2 million, almost double what Stewart’s Forward Together campaign spent. Nor did he mention the Globe and Mail’s coverage of leaks from Canada’s spy agency that indicated China’s consul general was working to defeat Taiwan-supporter Stewart and help get a Chinese-Canadian candidate elected. 

“If there is proof of this, I’d be as mad as hell as everyone else. But right now, there are a bunch of insinuations, and it’s actually quite hurtful,” Sim told reporters on March 16, reacting to the foreign interference allegations.

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Bob Mackin The campaign manager behind Mayor Ken

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Bob Mackin 

The BC Hydro project to phase-out equipment containing high levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) found the toxic chemical in assets that had previously been deemed PCB-free.

BC Hydro PCB storage from 1982
(BC Hydro/BC Archives)

“Several shunt capacitor manufacturer nameplates indicated they were ‘PCB Free’. However, subsequent testing during disposal found they contained PCBs greater than 50 ppm [parts per million],” said a November 2022 briefing note for senior executives, obtained via freedom of information. “Further testing of the 17 remaining original in-service capacitor banks found four banks contained PCB levels targeted for phase out. One bank remains to be tested. All capacitor banks are planned to be phased out before the internal deadline.”

Further, it said, BC Hydro has measures to check integrity of PCB inventories, including resampling and testing, field audits and evaluating random samples.

According to its submission to the B.C. Utilities Commission, the cooling and insulating chemical, banned from production in Canada since 1977, is commonly found in BC Hydro’s power transformers, oil filled reactors, distribution transformers, voltage regulators, instrument transformers, metering kits, circuit breakers, and reclosers and sectionalizers.

Most equipment containing 50 ppm or more of PCBs must be phased out by the end of December 2025 under federal regulations. The briefing note said BC Hydro is on track to meet that deadline, but it won’t meet an internal deadline set for the end of March 2024. 

Even when BC Hydro finishes the job, PCBs are expected to be around until mid-century.

“Equipment containing lower levels of PCBs will remain in service for at least the next 20 to 30 years. These will continue to require active management, to minimize releases to the environment and maintain compliance,” said the briefing note.

PCB release from equipment and waste is prohibited and punishable by individual fines up to $1 million and three years in jail for first offence or $6 million for a corporation. 

The briefing note quoted from a presentation by Roman Dusil, BC Hydro’s technical strategic principal, that said more than 370,000 assets were assessed since 2014 for PCB content. Approximately 9,000 were targeted for phase out. 

“There are four broad categories of phase out efforts that are experiencing unique challenges in meeting BC Hydro’s own internal deadline and, without mitigation measures, have the potential to miss the regulation deadline resulting in non-compliance,” the briefing note said.

Those four areas involve station decommissioning, capital project schedules, distribution equipment and supply chains, and last-minute identification of equipment targeted for phase out. Strategies to mitigate phase out delays include replacing equipment early or removing equipment from service.

At the time of the briefing note, BC Hydro believed the vast majority of equipment would meet the internal deadline, “except for a few.” But none is forecast to miss the 2025 federal deadline. BC Hydro said it requires greater diligence and reporting to avoid further delays. 

“While BC Hydro has not identified any PCB equipment phase out at risk of missing the regulation deadline, we have increased our documentation of delays and mitigation efforts for PCB equipment that miss our internal deadline.”

There are 16 projects with PCB equipment targeted for phase out, five of which are forecast to be removed after the internal deadline, but before the regulation deadline. 

Thirteen stations containing PCB equipment are slated for decommissioning, 12 of those are dependent on voltage conversion projects being completed before decommissioning. Three station decommissioning projects are at risk from delays due to permitting, customer agreements, engineering design, and labour and materials shortages.

An appendix shows the forecast PCB phase out of August 2024 at the Lougheed substation in Burnaby and October 2024 at the Glenmore substation in North Vancouver. Norgate in North Vancouver is listed with an April 2025 phase out date.

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Bob Mackin  The BC Hydro project to phase-out

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