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Bob Mackin

A judge banned a former RCMP officer, who was charged after a foreign interference investigation, from contacting a former FBI officer that he once described as a mentor. 

Bill Majcher, who worked 1985 to 2007 on undercover organized crime investigations, is accused of helping the People’s Republic of China illegally intimidate an individual. 

In February 2019, Majcher told a meeting of U.K. lawmakers that he was helping one major client, China’s government, to recover US$1.2 trillion of fraudulently acquired money.

Bill Majcher (upper left) and Ross Gaffney (bottom) with Robert David Steele (RobertDavidSteele.com)

A judge in Longueuil, Quebec granted the 60-year-old bail on July 25. Conditions of his release include having no contact with former RCMP international organized crime unit commander Kim Marsh and former FBI supervisory special agent Ross Gaffney. Majcher, who normally resides in Hong Kong, had been in custody in the Vancouver area since his arrest last week. 

Marsh is allegedly Majcher’s co-conspirator. Neither Marsh nor Gaffney have been charged. 

Gaffney is a lawyer in Pompano Beach, Fla., who spent 17 of his 27 years with the FBI overseeing financial crime and international money laundering investigations in Miami. 

Majcher and Gaffney worked together on the Operation Bermuda Short sting, which climaxed in 2002 and led to the conviction of Vancouver lawyer Martin Chambers for money laundering. They remembered their work together during a June 2020 interview with a former CIA agent who promoted their appearance on his website by claiming that “Wall Street’s financial crime and money laundering is protected by Congressional treason.”

“[Gaffney] was a mentor to me at some points, and because of that vast experience he had in creating the White Collar Crime Task Force in the Caribbean, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force with the U.K. Government,” Majcher told “Intelligence with Integrity” show host Robert David Steele.

“As Bill said, it was a target-rich environment and the numbers of individuals that we had not only predicated, but that we had strong cases against, rose to over 100,” Gaffney said. “And arbitrarily, the chief of the economic crimes unit in Miami, effectively said, no, we’re going to cut it off at 58, and just let all of those other criminals go free. They wouldn’t allow us to continue the operation and go after them.”

The tone of the interview shifted toward talk of political corruption and politicization of the FBI, with both guests noting the shift from combating financial crimes toward counterterrorism after the 9/11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. 

The interview was conducted at the same time as riots across the U.S. after George Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Majcher said the incident triggered “rightful anger towards some policemen, no question, but not the majority of them.”

“Unfortunately, what we see for the last eight days, this massive, organized conspiracy of violence that is taking place across the United States, that’s touching a number of different groups,” Majcher said. “But they all have one thing that links them all together. There’s a Marxist sort of strain of ideology, as well as, let’s everybody go after President Trump.”

Majcher suggested police officers were facing similar financial challenges as the protesters, because they were seeing their pensions and savings “raped and pillaged by the 1% of Wall Street, and the same guys with a smirk on their face going to the lobbyists in D.C.”

Host Steele, a 69-year-old pro-Trump promoter of the QAnon conspiracy, died in August 2021 after contracting COVID-19. He refused to be vaccinated and claimed the pandemic was a hoax.

In 2018, Gaffney appeared on a podcast guest-hosted by Majcher, called the “Intelligence Hour.” Majcher wondered whether FBI investigations had been politicized or compromised by “political correctness run amok.” He also speculated that the National Security Agency may have spied on Americans without a warrant or used Five Eyes intelligence alliance partners in the U.K. and Canada to illegally gather evidence on Americans. 

Majcher ended the podcast by reading a script that included a quote by former President Thomas Jefferson: “When people fear their government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people there’s liberty.”

Majcher, who is accused of crimes between 2014 and 2019, is scheduled for another court appearance on Aug. 29. His bail conditions include a $50,000 bond, $200,000 surety, surrender of his passport and weekly visits to the Burnaby RCMP. He is represented by Vancouver defence lawyer Ian Donaldson.

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Bob Mackin A judge banned a former RCMP

Bob Mackin

The executive director of the Marpole Business Association wants Vancouver city council to ensure public access to the Fraser River if it approves a staff-recommended road exchange to enable TransLink’s Marpole Transit Centre project. 

Marpole community coalition has spent two years lobbying TransLink and city hall to build a trail by the Fraser River foreshore. The 2014 Marpole Plan had envisioned a 10-acre park.

Rendering of proposed green space by the Fraser River, near TransLink’s bus barn (City of Vancouver)

In a letter to the July 25 city council meeting, Claudia Laroye said she supports a proposed amendment to the road exchange so that staff can explore a waterfront walking path. 

“We request that the city begin discussions with TransLink and the Musqueam on the 

form of the walkway as soon as possible, and determine how a higher elevation level 

path and modified and restored foreshore may contribute to the ecological health of the Fraser River ecosystem,” said Claude Laroye’s letter. 

The staff report said public access would be improved by extending Laurel Street and providing a “contiguous development site and improved access for TransLink’s proposed transit facility.”

The Marpole Transit Centre is designed for 300 battery electric and conventional buses, plus 25 agency support vehicles, on industrial land between West Kent Avenue South and the Fraser River, adjacent to the Canada Line Bridge and bisected by Heather Street. Development Permit Board approved the matter on May 1. The $300 million project is slated for 2027 completion.

TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn’s May 10 letter to the Marpole-Oakridge Community Association said TransLink is in discussions with Musqueam Indian Band and Fisheries and Oceans Canada about various environmental mitigation measures. As for the riverfront walkway, Quinn said the design includes foreshore access on the east and west sides of the site if city hall and the Musqueam agree. 

“Until a decision is reached between those parties, TransLink cannot pursue the development of a riverfront amenity, and so that element was separated from our application and will be considered once we receive direction from the city and Musqueam,” Quinn wrote. “However, in this application, we have worked closely with the City of Vancouver to incorporate enhancements into the site design that benefit the public, such as a landscaped multi-used path and green space on the east side of the site.”

Stanley Tromp, who has lived in the area for 17 years, two blocks from the proposed bus barn, said it is good news that both TransLink and city hall agree in principle on a trail at the river, but the staff amendment is “far too vague and uncommitted.” 

“The current wording is outdated,” Tromp said. “The exploration is done. Finished. The amendment should be to direct staff to get on with it.”

Tromp said he accepts the full park is no longer feasible, but a trail would be a popular destination for both locals and tourists, so close to the Marine Drive Canada Line station.

As for the environmental and fisheries impacts of the new bus depot, Tromp said TransLink has produced three reports, but refuses to release them. He wants city council to require TransLink to release the reports immediately.

“These reports are public records, produced at public expense. Why are these secret?” Tromp said. “If the environmental conclusions were positive, then why does it not release them? How could this TransLink secrecy not raise public and councillor misgivings?”

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Bob Mackin The executive director of the Marpole

Bob Mackin

Payroll for staff and contractors in Premier David Eby’s office was $768,000 in April, just $42,000 less than a year earlier when John Horgan was B.C.’s NDP premier. 

According to documents released under freedom of information, Horgan’s 100 staff cost taxpayers $810,000 in April 2022.

David Eby and John Horgan (BC Gov/Flickr)

Eby counted 97 employees, who were paid $747,963.97 during the month, plus former Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps as a housing advisor for $13,333.33 and Convergence Communications Inc., for $6,400. Convergence is co-owned by Mike Magee, who was chief of staff to ex-Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. 

The list released by the Ministry of Finance does not include $275,000-a-year Indigenous reconciliation advisor Doug White or health advisor Penny Ballem at $170,000-a-year. A fourth advisor, Thompson Rivers University law professor Craig Jones, is retained through the Legal Services Branch and Eby has refused to disclose payment terms.

Eby has five deputy and associate deputy ministers, a chief of staff and two deputy chiefs of staff. Horgan had eight deputy and associate deputy ministers, a chief of staff and two deputy chiefs of staff. 

The top paid official under Eby is deputy minister and head of the public service Shannon Salter, who grossed $19,375.750 during April’s two pay periods, followed by: deputy minister Douglas Caul ($16,305.07); chief of staff Matt Smith ($15,705.06); intergovernmental relations deputy minister Silas Brownsey ($14,237.10); and Megan Marshall, the director of strategic outreach and stakeholder relations ($12,621.10). 

In April 2022, John Allan was Horgan’s special advisor for the natural resources sector and the month’s highest-paid member of the Office of the Premier at $91,934.29. Public accounts show Allan was also paid $339,781 during the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2022. 

Next in the Horgan April 2022 pay parade were: deputy minister and head of the public service Lori Wanamaker ($25,447.98); deputy minister of policy and coordination Mark Sieben ($20,668.26); deputy minister of strategic initiatives Jill Kot ($19,318.26); and chief of staff Geoff Meggs ($16,180.90). 

When Eby took over from Horgan last November, Wanamaker got a pink slip and $591,089 golden parachute, along with Meggs ($339,784), deputy chief of staff Amber Hockin ($189,291) and executive coordinator Jarrett Hagglund ($75,366). 

The Office of the Premier includes the intergovernmental relations secretariat, cabinet operations, executive and support services and the planning and priorities secretariat. The latter was created after the 2020 snap election, tasked to work with ministries on cabinet social, economic and environmental initiatives.

In August 2020, the month before Horgan called the election, Horgan had 86 people on the payroll.

Horgan’s office got a $3.34 million-a-year budget windfall in 2021 to $14.68 million. In February’s budget, it grew to $16.045 million under Eby. The biggest line item was executive and support services ($8.495 million, up from $7.5 million). 

In April, Eby’s office included four protocol managers, three protocol assistants, a protocol and events assistant and a protocol chief, plus four people in communications, six in the correspondence department, six administrative assistants, five executive directors, three executive assistants and a senior executive assistant, and three executive coordinators.

During budget estimates debates on May 11, BC United leader Kevin Falcon said that the office’s budget has grown 78% since 2012 when he left the BC Liberal government under Premier Christy Clark.

Yet we’re getting the worst results we’ve ever seen in housing. We’re getting the worst results we’ve ever seen in crime and social disorder and chaos as a result of [Eby’s] soft-on-crime policies and his catch-and-release system,” Falcon said. “We’re getting the worst possible results we’ve ever seen in terms of mental health and addictions. And we’re getting the worst results we’ve ever seen in the health care sector. Yet the budget has gone up 78 percent.”

Eby said his budget is less than Premier Gordon Campbell’s in 2009. 

Public accounts show that Campbell budgeted $14.1 million, but spent $13.524 million that year. Eby, citing the Bank of Canada inflation calculator, said Campbell’s budget then is worth $19.4 million now.

“The Premier’s office budget also compares favourably to other major provinces. Ontario’s Premier’s office budget is $57.5 million, Quebec’s is $50.3 million, Alberta’s is $34.6 million and B.C.’s is $16.045 million,” Eby said. “We’re actually closer to Nova Scotia’s budget than Alberta’s in terms of overall cost.”

For 2016-2017, Clark’s last fiscal year in office, the Office of the Premier’s budget was $9.579 million, which would be $11.67 million after inflation. 

In February, the NDP government budgeted $80.2 billion in overall spending, $77.69 billion revenue and a $4.216 billion deficit. 

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Bob Mackin Payroll for staff and contractors in

Bob Mackin

SkyTrain workers have ratified their new agreement with B.C. Rapid Transit Co.

SkyTrain (TransLink)

According to a memo from CUPE 7000, a total 731 ballots were cast by the July 22 noon deadline and 447 members (or 61%) voted yes to the new, five-year deal.

SkyTrain workers will get at least 16.25% more over the life of the agreement, which was reached June 29. The increases begin Sept. 1 with a 6.75% raise.

This follows the April-negotiated contract between Unifor locals 111 and 2200 and Coast Mountain Bus Co. that will see pay rise between 11.25% and 12.5% through March 31, 2026 at TransLink’s bus division.

The CUPE 7000 deal contains a no contracting out clause to protect jobs of existing SkyTrain workers and the formation of a joint committee of three company representatives and three union representatives to discuss “contracting in” work that is currently contracted out.

According to an appendix in the Aug. 31-expiring contract, SkyTrain pay ranges from $29 an hour for a parts driver to $58.41 an hour for an elevator/escalator technician. For administrative workers, $28.08 is the hourly rate for receptionists and administrative support clerks and, on the other end of the scale, $57.18 per hour for a control centre instructor.

The contract also includes higher benefits, more incentives and eight, full-paid individual sick days beginning Jan. 1, 2024. 

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Bob Mackin SkyTrain workers have ratified their new

For the week of July 23, 2023:

It’s the special 300th edition of theBreaker.news Podcast. 

You’re invited to the party! 

Hear highlights from milestone editions and some of host Bob Mackin’s favourite interviews, featuring: 

Investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald; Richmond real estate and immigration lawyer Hong Guo; corruption-fighting B.C. Legislature Speaker Darryl Plecas; Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West; BC Greens leader Sonia Furstenau; supply chain expert Glenn Ross; Dr. Julian Somers of Simon Fraser University; the late Dermod Travis of IntegrityBC; investigative journalist Sean Holman; sports economist Victor Matheson; the late Andrew Jennings, the journalist who exposed corruption at the highest levels of international sports; Tiananmen Square Massacre survivor Zhou Fengshuo; SportsTalk host and B.C. Sports Hall of Famer Dan Russell; pro soccer player and whistleblower Ciara McCormack; Taipei Economic and Cultural Office director general Angel Liu; Louise O’Reilly, a Sinn Fein member of the Irish parliament; Simon Fraser University city program director Andy Yan and ResearchCo pollster Mario Canseco. 

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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Bob Mackin

Who is the former RCMP officer — who has worked for the Chinese government — that is charged with foreign interference on behalf of China? 

Bill Majcher, 60, appeared by video in a Longueuil, Quebec, courthouse on Friday, according to an announcement from the RCMP, which said he “allegedly used his knowledge and his extensive network of contacts in Canada to obtain intelligence or services to benefit the People’s Republic of China.”

Bill Majcher (IPI)

Specifically, the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) investigated Majcher under the Security of Information Act since fall 2021 and found evidence that he helped the Chinese government “identify and intimidate an individual outside the scope of Canadian law.”

Nova Scotia-born Majcher was originally schooled in commerce and his first job after university came as a 22-year-old Euro bond trader in London. In a July 2017-sworn affidavit, Hong Kong-resident Majcher said he joined the RCMP on July 19, 1985 and retired Aug. 15, 2007. He claimed the RCMP, FBI and other police forces commended him with several letters “meritorious service” after a career in which he worked undercover to infiltrate and surveil major organized crime and money laundering operations in Canada, U.S. and overseas.

That included acting as frontman for a Colombian cartel and busting Martin Chambers, a corrupt Vancouver lawyer, for money laundering in 2002. He took a promotion to head the Integrated Market Enforcement Team, but lost that job in 2005 after he launched a failed campaign to become the Conservative nominee in Richmond. 

“Since retirement I have assisted several government agencies on matters related to UN sanctions pertaining to development of nuclear weapons, the World Bank’s stolen asset recovery initiative and government kleptocracy and money laundering,” Majcher’s affidavit said. 

Majcher also went into finance and venture capital. In fact, the month after he left the Mounties,  he was the managing director (international) for Hong Kong investment bank The Baron Group and appointed director of Evolving Gold Corp., a Vancouver-based, TSX-V-listed stock. 

In 2012 filings, Evolving Gold told shareholders that Majcher was CEO of Sunwah International Asset Management, focused on natural resources and emerging markets. Also the executive chair of China Investment Fund, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and a director of an unnamed “China-focused private equity fund.”

In 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile, Majcher co-founded EMIDR Ltd. (which stands for Evaluate Monitor Investigate Deter Recover), a corporate risk advisory firm focused on asset recovery and cybersecurity. His bio said EMDIR worked closely with governments to tackle financial crime, money laundering and tax evasion. 

RCMP Comm. Michael Duheme (RCMP)

In the 2017 affidavit, he recounted working undercover at the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange for three years on a joint RCMP-FBI investigation. He claimed that he gained evidence of collusion among corrupt judges, lawyers and court registry staff in various parts of Canada, but did not name names.

“When those members of the criminal underworld want a case heard by a specific judge they are able to use one of these lawyers to facilitate a friendly judge to be assigned to their case,” said Majcher’s affidavit.

“In several instances, my co-workers and I reported our concerns about corruption in the administration of justice to senior members of the RCMP and [Department of Justice], who refused to investigate or bring charges against any of the lawyers, judges or court registry staff involved in the corruption.”

Majcher expanded on those allegations about commodity trading crimes during a May 2022 podcast from HKU FinTech, called “Regulatory Ramblings.” 

“The reality is, if they had have charged one, they’d have to charge everybody. And I did illegal acts with about 85% of the members of that exchange. So, if we had have, again, charged them all overnight, it would have ended Canada’s ability to have independent pricing mechanism for all our commodities, physical commodities,” Majcher said. 

Perhaps most-revealing, however, are the minutes from a Feb. 27, 2019 meeting in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom All-Party Parliamentary Group on cybersecurity. The topic: “How do we bridge the growing cyber trust deficit between China and the West?”

Majcher was the featured guest speaker and told the meeting, chaired by Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate, that he had become mostly focussed on money laundering matters with one major client: the Government of China.

“Bill is working on the return of US$1.2 trillion of fraudulently acquired money,” said the minutes.

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Bob Mackin Who is the former RCMP officer

Bob Mackin 

District of Sooke, rocked by years of management turmoil, could begin a new chapter July 24, when council is expected to announce a new chief administrative officer (CAO).

Sooke district hall (Sooke.ca)

Mayor Maja Tait said council is tentatively scheduled on July 24 to rise and report — or disclose the outcome of closed-door meetings — about the CAO selection process. 

“This is all I have to share with you at this time,” Tait said by email. 

A report earlier this year for the capital region’s westernmost municipality, by consultant Jonathan Huggett, took top-to-bottom stock of the history of internal upheaval. CAO Norm McInnis was diagnosed with cancer and replaced on an interim basis by Don Schaffer in May of last year on a contract that lasted until March. Huggett recommended hiring a new CAO as soon as possible. He advised that the candidate must be readily available, experienced in motivating senior staff to work cooperatively with key stakeholders and must possess extensive experience in B.C. municipal government.

The Sooke CAO posting, which expired May 25, said Sooke “aims to retain its small-town, semi-rural character while undertaking significant strategic growth.” Applicants were to contact consultant Paul Murray directly.

Jeremy Denegar (LinkedIn)

A source said that council endorsed Murray’s recommendation to hire Lillooet CAO Jeremy Denegar. Tait and Denegar did not confirm or deny. Denegar said he could not discuss the matter because the Community Charter protects information discussed by councils in closed sessions. 

“This information that you’ve heard should be considered a rumour at this point,” Denegar said. “But if you see something on Monday, please do call me back or email me back.”

Denegar was Esquimalt’s information technology manager from 2007 to 2013 and director of corporate services for Summerland from 2013 to 2019. Denegar’s Lillooet hiring was announced in November 2019 at the same time that his husband, Kevin Taylor, was named Lillooet’s director of corporate and development services. Council adopted a policy on supervising spouses that shifted certain responsibilities from the CAO to the mayor in an effort to avoid a conflict of interest. 

Denegar said Taylor reports to him for operational matters, but under the special policy, the mayor handles performance, discipline and salary matters.

Murray is the former finance chief and interim CAO at Central Saanich who spent more than 13 years at District of Saanich. He was CAO during his last two-and-a-half years at Saanich until late 2014, when he was dispatched with a $476,000 golden parachute after Richard Atwell won the mayoralty. The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner investigated a spyware system that was installed on district computers near the end of Murray’s tenure. It found that the district collected personal information of staff and citizens without their knowledge. 

Sooke is also in the middle of hiring for a general support clerk, chief building official, lead engineering technologist and emergency program manager.

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Bob Mackin  District of Sooke, rocked by years

Bob Mackin

The B.C. Ministry of Health waited three days to notify the public about B.C.’s first monkeypox case last year. 

Email released under freedom of information, after more than a year-long delay, included a message at 5:23 p.m. on June 3, 2022 from deputy provincial health officer Dr. Reka Gustafson to provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Vancouver Coastal Health chief medical officer Dr. Patty Daly. 

“Please find attached a draft information bulletin that we thought we would send out on Monday,” Gustafson wrote.

(NHS/BCCDC)

The headline said “first monkeypox case detected in B.C.”

The previous day, June 2, 2022, a medical microbiologist at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) forwarded an email from a doctor titled “monkeypox suspected case.” 

Dr. Victor Leung said the patient’s symptoms included fever, chills, tinnitus, dizziness, night sweats and a sore throat. The 54-year-old Vancouverite, who had visited Montreal, had been notified at 2 a.m. by one of his sexual contacts that he had tested positive. 

The email said the patient was isolating at home after Leung, two registered nurses and one phlebotomist had seen him. Leung reported that they took various nasal, oral, urine and blood samples from the man while following strict contact/droplet/airborne personal protective equipment protocol.

BCCDC epidemiologist Dr. Danuta Skowronski was concerned that the patient’s personal information may have been compromised because of email shared with the Ministry of Health. “I suggest everyone now delete the messages containing this information, unless required,” Skowronski wrote. 

“The .gov email addresses are indeed behind the firewall now so that is no longer an issue,” Henry responded. “But of course a reminder to treat confidential information carefully is always good.”

Christine Hogan, the BCCDC medical microbiologist, provided an update before 6 p.m., with a caution that BCCDC testing was “unvalidated and preliminary given have not previously had positive cases.” 

Then, just over a half-hour later, she called the initial results “compelling.” 

“Seven of the eight tested samples are positive for monkeypox. Interestingly, we also received notice that the patient has in the meantime developed vesicular lesions (or fluid-filled blisters),” Hogan wrote.

Reka Gustafson (BC Gov)

On the morning of June 3, 2022, Ministry of Health communications director Clay Suddaby asked Henry if she had been advised of the confirmed case and told her that the Provincial Health Services Authority was working on an information note. Henry confirmed she had been in touch with Minister Adrian Dix about the situation.

“Not yet officially confirmed as that requires testing at [the national microbiology laboratory],” Henry said. “But yes I know the details and am happy to talk to it if needed. I expect we won’t get confirmation until next week. I have updated the Minister as well.”

“If it’s not yet fully confirmed then I don’t think we need to make a statement or do media unless approached,” Suddaby wrote.

The approach happened June 6 at 7:14 a.m., when a CBC reporter emailed government communications asking about the first case. That unleashed a flurry of activity involving multiple officials from BCCDC, the Ministry and Government Communications and Public Engagement before they issued the news release that Gustafson had drafted three days earlier.

Confirmation was still pending from the national microbiology lab, but the key messages list said the risk to the public was very low and the disease was spread “through contact with sores and items with the virus on them. It can also spread through respiratory droplets during prolonged close contact.”

According to the BCCDC website, there have been 199 confirmed cases of monkeypox in B.C., 159 of them in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. The 2022 outbreak was declared over Jan. 9, 2023 and most cases stemmed from close, intimate contact during sex. A vaccine, called Imvamune, is available to close contacts and those at highest risk.

It is not the first time that the Ministry of Health has delayed telling the public about a spreading disease. On Christmas Day in 2021, the BCCDC lab confirmed the U.K. variant of COVID-19 had been detected in B.C., but the announcement was not made until the day after Boxing Day.  

In the 2007 final report of Ontario’s SARS Commission, Judge Archie Campbell recommended public health officials adopt the precautionary principle, to prevent potentially fatal delays.

Adrian Dix (right) and Dr. Bonnie Henry (BC Gov)

“The importance of the precautionary principle that reasonable efforts to reduce risk need not await scientific proof was demonstrated over and over during SARS,” said the report.

B.C.’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act contains a public interest override clause, that requires a public body to disclose to the public information, without delay, about the risk of significant harm to the health or safety of the public.

A reporter paid the $10 application fee on June 7, 2022, seeking documents about the spread of monkeypox to B.C. The file was finally disclosed last week, after a complaint to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. The FOI law contains no penalty for a public body that disobeys disclosure deadlines. 

In the most-recent thee-year report card on timeliness of FOI disclosures, Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael McEvoy reported in September 2020 that the Ministry of Health was one of the worst performers. Its on-time score fell from 74 to 55 since 2017 and average processing times increased from 51 business days to 65. The Ministry of Health boasts the government’s biggest budget at $28.67 billion this year. 

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Bob Mackin The B.C. Ministry of Health waited

Bob Mackin

The committee overseeing operations at B.C.’s Legislative Assembly expects to spend $300,000 to reconfigure the chamber and add desks for six new members in time for the next election.

B.C. Legislature on May 30, 2018 (Hansard)

A report to the Legislative Assembly Management Committee (LAMC) meeting on Thursday rejected bench-style seating. It said moving existing rows forward would create enough space to install new custom-made desks, worth $120,000 of the budget. 

The chamber currently has space for 87 MLAs — including the speaker — three table officers, the sergeant-at-arms, four chamber staff and perimeter seating.

In April, the electoral boundaries commission cited population trends when it recommended creation of six new electoral districts, to expand the number of lawmakers to 93. 

New ridings will be in Burnaby, Langley, Surrey, Vancouver, Okanagan and Capital Region. 

The Legislature approved the proposal, effective after the dissolution of the current parliament.

Seating reconfiguration is scheduled to begin after the spring 2024 session, in anticipation of the scheduled October 2024 provincial election.

Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd told the all-party committee that work is underway to assess the structural load capacity of the 130-year-old chamber floor. 

“This floor load assessment, which is led by the precinct services department, along with a structural engineering team, required the removal of all furniture in the chamber, scanning by the contractor and then the replacement of all desks, wiring and furniture,” Ryan-Lloyd said.

Meanwhile, MLAs are finally acting on some of the recommendations of a three-year-old report by Alan Mullen, who was chief of staff to Darryl Plecas, the speaker from 2017 to 2020.

Ryan-Lloyd said that the first group of 10 unarmed safety officers was brought in for orientation and training as part of a restructuring of safety and security. She called it a transition “to a new hybrid model of layered security.” 

Legislative Assembly Protective Services badges (Leg.BC.ca)

“These unarmed officers complement and support the armed officers, taking on a variety of important security and support roles,” Ryan-Lloyd said. 

Mullen’s report, “Review of the Sergeant-at-Arms Department and Proposals for Reform,” recommended that Legislative Assembly Protective Services become a security department with unarmed officers. 

“Legislative Assembly Protective Services officers are generally overqualified for the vast majority of the work they do,” Mullen wrote. “That department has grown according to a ‘police force’ model, which is not necessary when compared to operational requirements.” 

Mullen found that the force protecting just 5.9 hectares was costing taxpayers $5 million a year and had become more expensive than the police forces in Victoria suburbs Oak Bay and Central Saanich. 

After Mullen’s report, LAMC sought advice from Doug LePard, the former Vancouver Police deputy chief. 

Ryan-Lloyd also said Sergeant-at-Arms Ray Robitaille’s department was collaborating with the information technology department to improve security systems within the Legislative precinct and at constituency offices. She did not specify details of the modernization. 

“As a result of this collaboration, we aim to provide 20 constituency offices with security modernization supports this year,” she said.

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Bob Mackin The committee overseeing operations at B.C.’s

Bob Mackin 

The B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) should defer the application for a district energy system (DES) at the Senakw towers project until the proponent properly consults with First Nations and the general public and it files an agreement for fuel supply. 

The July 18-filed final arguments of the Residential Consumer Intervener Association (RCIA) said that Creative Energy Senakw LP (CESLP) held only one public information session about the proposed heating and cooling plant last Oct. 3.

Section of Lanier Park excavated for Senakw towers (Mackin)

“A single session may not adequately provide the necessary opportunities for affected individuals, community groups, and stakeholders to express their concerns, raise questions, and provide meaningful input,” the RCIA submission said. “Effective public consultation requires an ongoing and iterative process that allows for continuous dialogue and information exchange throughout the decision-making process.”

CESLP’s parent company was acquired a decade ago by Westbank Development, the partner with a Squamish Nation company in the building of 11 residential towers on reserve land around the Burrard Bridge. 

CESLP admitted that it did not consult with either the Tsleil-Waututh Nation or Musqueam Indian Band about the DES. RCIA submitted that a consultation requirement would not infringe upon the sovereignty of the Squamish Nation, which owns the land for the four-phase project. Squamish Nation had opposed the DES application going to public review in the first place, but chose not to contest the BCUC’s ruling. 

“The duty to consult can no more be disregarded than the contractors building the associated towers can ignore building codes, whether on First Nation lands or elsewhere,” said the intervenor’s final arguments. “In RCIA’s submission, CESLP fails to provide adequate evidence it has met its obligation to consult with all potentially impacted First Nations and individuals within those communities.”

RCIA said it not only represented all residential customers, but was a conduit for individuals and groups, such as the volunteer-run Kits Point Residents Association (KPRA), whose concerns reinforced the RCIA’s opinions. KPRA advised that its members are concerned about potential noise and smell from the DES, which would be fuelled by wastewater. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau breaks ground under the Burrard Bridge for Westbank’s development on the Squamish Nation’s Senakw reserve (pm.gc.ca)

“In RCIA’s submission, the failure to provide adequate and appropriate public consultation is prejudicial to local residents and groups as they are not able to fully understand and assess the potential for impacts, and implications of the project, on their properties and communities. Moreover, absent such consultations, the applicant and BCUC are not able to understand and address the informed concerns of directly impacted individuals and groups.” 

KPRA is waiting for a B.C. Supreme Court judge to rule on its legal challenge to city hall’s 120-year deal to service the cluster of residential towers. The residents say the agreement with the Squamish Nation is one-sided and should be quashed because it was negotiated and passed in secret. The city maintains it acted properly under both the Indian Self-government Enabling Act and the Vancouver Charter.

BCUC sent the application to public review due to the proposal to build under civic infrastructure and connect to the Metro Vancouver’s utility. But RCIA also said that the project should not be approved before governance issues are resolved, including the single customer structure. The Squamish Nation-owned Nch’kay Development Corp. is considering buying up to 50% ownership in CESLP. Acquiring more than 20% of voting shares would require BCUC approval. 

“Similarly, the current application’s underlying feasibility, viability, and environmental merits are dependant upon securing an agreement with Metro Vancouver,” RCIA’s submission stated. “Consequently, RCIA submits that its recommendation to make filing of an executed and adequate fuel supply arrangement a condition precedent to any…approval is reasonable and consistent with established precedents.” 

Last month, BCUC set Sept. 1 as the deadline for CESLP to file its sewage access agreement with Metro Vancouver or provide a status update. 

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Bob Mackin  The B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) should