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New PNE logo by Cossette (PNE.ca)

Bob Mackin

The PNE calls its new, June 22-unveiled logo an evolution of the familiar pinwheel symbol.  

The non-profit board behind the annual summer and Christmastime fairs at Hastings Park is no longer calling it the Pacific National Exhibition. They say the PNE is not national but it is more than an exhibition.  

The shape of the new red, blue, green and purple logo is more international, however, because it is already exhibited by companies on at least two other continents. 

An online search found the same design, with different colours, was used to promote last November’s Energy Cultural Festival in Irkutsk, Russia. Likewise for a digital ad agency based in Brazil, called Top Creative. 

The icon may have originated on the MacZ.com stock graphics and photos website, where it appears under the heading “coloured spin gradient element.” 

“Although we entertain over three million guests to our site annually, we focus our marketing in B.C. and Canada, and so there was never an intention to register the logo outside of Canada, so I can’t comment on similar logos from other countries,” said PNE spokesperson Laura Ballance.

She said the PNE paid national marketing and communications agency Cossette $17,500 and the organization is in the final stages of registering the new logo.

“They reviewed similar logos across Canada and in our sector specifically throughout North America, and didn’t find a conflict,” Ballance said. “To be transparent though, since this is a refresh of an iconic logo that goes back to our very inception, we likely would have proceeded even if something was close, as many in B.C. would first attribute the pinwheel to the PNE.”

Russian Energy Festival in Irkutsk (En+)

Ballance explained the PNE is promoting itself as a year-round entertainment destination where play happens every day. 

Lindsay Meredith, professor emeritus of marketing at Simon Fraser University, said the PNE doesn’t have deep pockets to invest in branding like Apple or Nike. He said second-tier companies with smaller budgets have to be careful how much they borrow and how accurately they borrow the look of another. Otherwise, they could be accused of violating trademark law.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys have got access to other forms or have simply gone on the web and pirated other other formats that look easy to copy, changed the colour and away we go,” Meredith said. 

Meredith said the new PNE logo would be just as effective on the corner of a smartphone screen as it would in giant form on the side of a building at the PNE or a billboard around the city. It conveys a fresher message about the 113-year-old organization, which boasts something to entertain every member of the family.

Brazil digital ad agency Top Creative

“They’ve got a feel for the importance of marketing and what’s going on there and how they have to go about it and, what they had to do in terms of creating brand choice under that one umbrella,” Meredith said. 

The PNE and its previous logo were both registered in December 1990 by agent Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP in Toronto. The trademarks, which expire in 2030, cover a list of categories, including souvenir items, exhibitions, fairs, sporting events, restaurants and concessions.

The 2023 PNE Fair runs Aug. 19 to Sept. 4, with events around the site year-round.

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  [caption id="attachment_13323" align="alignright" width="384"] New PNE logo

Business, News

Bob Mackin 

Canada’s spy agency issued an extraordinary warning June 20 that the Chinese government is targeting Canadians, on the same day that the Federal Court published a previously secret ruling that allows deployment of a surveillance technology without warrant. 

But the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said the two are unrelated.

In a series of Tweets, CSIS explained how China’s intelligence services are targeting Canadians inside and outside China. 

“Be careful who you connect with on LinkedIn, and all other online platforms,” said one of the Tweets. 

The thread described the scheme in four steps. First, agents for the Chinese government identify recruitment targets by using proxies or “targeters.”

“They identify people who are actively looking for jobs in strategic sectors or who have high-value credentials,” the thread said.

They approach their target by posing as a human resources recruiter or security consultant via LinkedIn and then move the communication to a secondary platform, such as WeChat, WhatsApp or email, at the earliest opportunity. The targets are asked to write reports for client consultants, in exchange for payment. They may also be invited to meetings with people they are led to believe to be clients.

“Both the consultant and the client are in fact intelligence officers,” CSIS said.

In the fourth and final step, CSIS said the new recruits start receiving payment in exchange for providing confidential, privileged information that is of interest to the Chinese government. 

In its May 4-released annual public report, CSIS said China relies on “non-traditional collectors” to help transfer knowledge and technology from Canada to China. The non-traditional collectors are individuals without formal intelligence training, but include scientists and businesspeople who have relevant subject matter expertise.

The Tweets coincided with the publication of an October 2022 ruling from Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton that allows CSIS to employ a certain type of technology inside and outside Canada without a warrant. 

The ruling had previously been marked “top secret,” but specifics about the technology and targets remain redacted for national security reasons. 

CSIS had applied in late 2021 for warrant powers to deploy a new tool against existing targets of an investigation, Crampton explained. His ruling mentions the technology was used in a 2018 pilot project without a warrant against both Canadian and non-Canadian subjects of an investigation in Canada and abroad. 

A hint about the type of technology appears to be contained in Crampton’s reference to the National Security and Intelligence Review Committee and its 2019 report to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, “Review of CSIS’s Use of [censored] – a Geolocation Data Collection Tool.”

Crampton ruled that the four CSIS-proposed uses of the technology within Canada would not require a warrant and that use of the technology outside Canada would not contravene any principle of international law and would not require a warrant. 

Information collected outside Canada, intended for use in a criminal proceeding, would be subject to admissibility tests under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Crampton wrote.

Meanwhile, a jury in a U.S. federal court on June 20, convicted three men for acting as illegal agents of the Chinese government and stalking across state lines. 

One of them, Michael McMahon, 55, is a retired New York Police Department sergeant who harassed and intimidated a man in an effort to coerce him to return to China during the “Operation Fox Hunt” anti-corruption campaign. McMahon could face up to 20 years in prison. 

Unlike Canada, the U.S. has a law requiring agents of foreign governments to register with the Department of Justice. 

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Bob Mackin  Canada’s spy agency issued an extraordinary

News, Opinion, Sports

Bob Mackin

On June 13, the Vegas Golden Knights became the 21st active franchise to win the Stanley Cup. Following are the imagined thoughts of an old Pacific Coliseum worker, about the Cup-less Vancouver Canucks.

Your mother and father asked me to put some wisdom on paper, to help you grow up and succeed. Well, apart from the obvious (question authority, obey the law, respect your elders and eat your greens), I regret one thing. Even though it’s not my fault. 

It goes back to the night the puck dropped on the third Canadian entry to the National Hockey League, live on Hockey Night in Canada, Oct. 9, 1970 at the Pacific Coliseum.

Before they hosted their first opponent, the Los Angeles Kings, they held a ceremony and the Stanley Cup was right there, on the ice, in front of the home team. 

It was my job to open and close the door at the rink on Renfrew. When it arrived I said you might want to think twice about letting the Cup in the building. Who wouldn’t want to touch that silver beauty, eh? But it didn’t belong. Coach Hal Laycoe and his Canucks hadn’t earned it. 

I say it jinxed the team.

I write this after the NHL won its biggest bet. The first major sport league to give a team to Las Vegas. The Golden Knights won it at home, in year six. Fabulous. Not so for the Canucks.

When the Canucks joined, there were 14 teams. Less than a decade later, four World Hockey Association teams entered in 1979. That included the Edmonton Oilers, who won the Stanley Cup in their fifth season and added four more.

The NHL eventually hired pro basketball’s lawyer to run the league and he sold franchises to Tampa Bay, Miami, Anaheim and Phoenix, places where Canadians go to escape winter.

The Montreal Canadiens were the last Canadian team to win it all, way back in 1993.

There were lean years for all. Two seasons, two decades apart, lost to lockouts. A pandemic ruined a couple more. Now there are 32 teams, including one in Seattle that eliminated the defending champs from Colorado in only their second season.

The Canucks moved downtown in 1995, an American took over, and then he sold to the sons of that Italian fella Aquilini, who bought and sold apartment buildings. I remember when they lived near Callister Park and rented parking spots in their driveway on game nights. Look how rich they are now. 

The team has worn so many different colours, I’ve lost track. But they did make three trips to the Stanley Cup final. There were two downtown riots. But still no Cup. 

Meanwhile, the team in Tampa Bay won three. Carolina and Anaheim have one apiece. And now Vegas. Nothing in Vancouver since the 1915 Millionaires. 

Maybe there is hope. In baseball, the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox beat their jinxes and became World Series champions again. 

Look what else happened since 1970. 

Soccer has become so popular that some Americans are even calling it by the name the rest of the world uses: football. 

The Rolling Stones keep touring and recording. The Beatles keep making more money apart than they ever did together. Another song is coming later this year, with an artificial intelligence John. Fancy that!

Department stores are endangered species, being replaced by warehouses and delivery truck drivers. The government is trying to replace gasoline cars with ones that run on batteries. Coca-Cola changed its taste. Coffee costs $3 or more. Typewriters merged with TVs. Phones are computers that fit in your pocket and hold your entire record collection. You can read a newspaper without getting your fingers dirty. 

The longest-running TV show is a cartoon about a family in Springfield. But nobody really knows which Springfield. Back in 1970, a TV star was governor of California. Ronald Reagan later became president of the U.S. of A., asked the Soviets to tear down the Berlin Wall. And, by golly, it eventually fell! 

A black man became president, but it’s too bad Martin Luther King wasn’t around to see it happen. 

Then an orange man came to live in the White House and launched a crusade to build a wall. He didn’t last more than four years and now he’s in trouble with the law. Maybe he’ll wear an orange suit and live behind a wall for a long time. 

Here in Canada, we had a Prime Minister in 1970, Pierre Trudeau, who became friendly with Chairman Mao in China. He had a son the next year and that son grew up to become Prime Minister. Some say he got the job with help from China. 

Truth is stranger than fiction. In 1970, if you predicted any of this would happen, they’d have accused you of smoking weed. 

Guess what? That Trudeau son who became PM, he legalized it! But don’t try it until you grow up.  

Which is all a long-winded way of saying that my most-important advice to you is this: If you grow up to run a new sports franchise, don’t ever let them bring the trophy into the building on opening night. 

Bob Mackin was born two months before the Canucks debuted and hopes they find a way to break the Stanley Cup jinx next year.

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Bob Mackin On June 13, the Vegas Golden

Business, News, Sports

Bob Mackin

Lordy, lordy, B.C. Place Stadium is 40! 

The dome that attracted a World’s Fair and Winter Olympics, and triggered False Creek North’s transformation from industrial to residential, opened June 19, 1983.

Inside B.C. Place Stadium (Mackin)

A look at the history of downtown Vancouver’s biggest room, through stats and facts. 

0.85: thickness in millimetres of the original teflon-coated Fibreglass roof. First inflated Nov. 14, 1982. It ripped and collapsed Jan. 5, 2007 after the air pressure was hiked, instead of the snow-melting system. 

1: B.C. Lions first shutout in B.C. Place, 22-0 over the Edmonton Elks on June 17, 2023.

2: Queen Elizabeth II visited March 10, 1983, before it opened, to invite the world to Expo 86. Pope John Paul II delighted faithful Catholics on Sept. 18, 1984.

3: Number of tenors who sang and walked off the stage early for a New Year’s Eve show that almost didn’t happen Dec. 31, 1996. After a late December snowstorm, staff with shovels and brooms scrambled to clear snow from the roof, saving both the roof and the concert by Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.

4: Number of Douglas Coupland’s Terry Fox sculptures facing Robson Street. Unveiled in 2011, two weeks before the stadium reopened, the statues replaced the original four-sided triumphal arch on Terry Fox Plaza by Franklin Allan and Ian Bateson.

5: The retired jersey numbers of Lions’ kicker Lui Passaglia and Vancouver Whitecaps’ defender Bob Lenarduzzi. They set longevity records in the Canadian Football League and North American Soccer League, respectively. 

6: B.C. Place appears in The 6th Day, a 2000 sci-fi thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

7: The third digit in Percy Williams’ 667 bib at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, where he won 100 m and 200 m gold medals. Williams is immortalized in statue outside the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame. 

8: Number of years that drivers in the 1990-launched Molson Indy Vancouver raced around B.C. Place. The route shifted eastward from 1998 to 2004. 

9: Number of Grey Cup games at B.C. Place (1983, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2005, 2011 and 2014). The Lions lost the first to Toronto, but won in 1994 and 2011. It’s returning in 2025.

10: The Russ Howard-skipped Team Canada scored five in the 10th end of the Men’s World Curling Championship on April 5, 1987, beating Germany 9-5. 

12: Number of Lions’ seasons coached by Wally Buono. 

13: Jersey number of Peter Beardsley, scorer of both Whitecaps’ goals in the 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders on June 20, 1983.

16: Carli Lloyd scored three goals in 16 minutes to lead the U.S. over Japan in FIFA’s Canada 2015 Women’s World Cup final on July 6, 2015. 

18: Number of cars daredevil motorcyclist Robbie Knievel jumped over on Jan. 24, 1987.

22: Quarterback Doug Flutie began an eight-year career in the CFL wearing Lions jersey number 22 in 1990. 

36: Number of imported-from-Thailand steel masts erected to support the new 2011 roof. Stuttgart, Germany engineering firm Schlaich Bergermann and Partner pioneered the new generation retractable roof system at a Frankfurt stadium rebuilt for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

38: Lions are in their 38th season at B.C. Place (due to renovations, all of 2010 and part of 2011 were at Empire Field and 2020 was lost to the pandemic). 

40: U2 ended their Joshua Tree Tour concert on Nov. 12, 1987 with “40,” the last track from the War album.

41: Points scored by the McMaster Marauders in the three-point, double-overtime win against the Laval Rouge et Or in the 47th Vanier Cup championship on Nov. 25, 2011.

47: Joe Biden, the 47th vice-president (now 46th president), led the U.S. delegation to the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2015 Women’s World Cup.

82: Number of national flags paraded at the Vancouver 2010 opening ceremony on Feb. 12, 2010. 

86: With their fifth round pick in the June 16, 1990 NHL Draft at B.C. Place, the Vancouver Canucks chose Gino Odjick, 86th overall.

100 m x 85 m: size of the opening in the retractable roof. 

140: Length in minutes of the first concert on the roof, the Contact Music Festival’s Feb. 6, 2021 webcast featuring DJs Vanic, Tails B2B Juelz, Nostalgix and Poni. 

200: The 2023 edition of the HSBC Canada Sevens was the 200th such tournament in men’s rugby sevens history. Argentina defeated Fiji for the trophy. 

228: The concourse location where an elderly janitorial contractor collapsed early Nov. 13, 2006, during cleanup from the Lions West final win. Pritam Kaur Sandhu died later that day in Vancouver General Hospital, the stadium’s only known workplace fatality. The law requires immediate notification to WorkSafeBC, but management did not report the incident for almost two years.

403: Number of bankers boxes of documents that were destroyed in December 2015 by contractor 1800-Shredding. Subjects of the 1983 to 2009 files included stadium events, personnel, accounting, operations and construction bids.

B.C. Place Stadium was supposed to become Telus Park, but Clark nixed the naming rights deal.

957: Number of unique names (including Pigeon Place and Rain Bowl) suggested by 7,446 entrants in a name the stadium contest. A petition signed by 15,138 supported Terry Fox Stadium, but it was originally dubbed the Stadium at B.C. Place instead. 

1999-2000: KISS’s New Year’s Eve concert made it the last band to play B.C. Place in 1999 and the first of 2000. A recording was released in a 2006 box set. 

7,924 km: distance covered by Steve Fonyo on his St. John’s to Victoria Journey for Lives cancer research fundraiser. He stopped at B.C. Place on the penultimate day, May 27, 1985.

40,075 km: distance covered by Rick Hansen’s 34-country, Man in Motion World Tour. He celebrated at B.C. Place on May 23, 1987, the day after the tour ended at Oakridge Centre. Hansen rolled into the stadium with the Olympic flame at the 2010 Games’ opening ceremony.

41,875: The attendance for Canada’s first indoor baseball game on Aug. 12, 1983. The Vancouver Canadians lost 10-9 to the Phoenix Giants before a Pacific Coast League record crowd. The night included an old-timers game that featured legends Hank Aaron and Roger Maris and a concert by Gloria Loring and Bob Hope.

60,342: Attendance for the Whitecaps’ match against Seattle on June 20, 1983. 

$200,000: How much Ken Schley and John Briulo paid to buy one of the original SS Minnows from Gilligan’s Island. Co-star Dawn Wells, aka Mary Ann, appeared with the yacht at the Vancouver International Boat Show in 2014.

$250,000: Cost to produce the 90-minute opening ceremony on June 19, 1983, shown live on BCTV. California’s Robert Jani was the producer and Don Harron the master of ceremonies. The 41,604 attendees were treated to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and figure skater Karen Magnussen. 

$11 million: The cost to taxpayers for the April 6, 2013 Times of India Film Awards.  

$15.2 million: How much Telus billed taxpayers for technology installed during the renovation, after the BC Liberal cabinet cancelled the sponsorship contract. B.C. Place almost became Telus Park. 

$126 million: original budget to build the stadium. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $343.3 million.

$514 million: The cost of the 2011-completed renovation and new roof, as reported by the provincial government in 2012. It had been budgeted at $563 million. 

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Bob Mackin Lordy, lordy, B.C. Place Stadium is

Business, News, Opinion

For the week of June 18, 2023:

The Cullen Commission public inquiry into B.C.’s money laundering scandal cost taxpayers $18.6 million over three years and the final report, released June 15, 2022, included 101 recommendations. 

Surprisingly, Commissioner Austin Cullen concluded the previous BC Liberal government wasn’t corrupt (cabinet just didn’t do its job to stop dirty money at casinos) and he downplayed the role that billions of dollars from China played in distorting the real estate market. 

Guest James Cohen of Transparency International Canada was a participant in the inquiry. On this edition of thePodcast, he offers his thoughts on the legacy, one year later. Though few recommendations have been adopted by Premier David Eby’s NDP government, Cohen tells host Bob Mackin that enacting a corporate beneficial ownership registry, regulating money services businesses and enabling unexplained wealth orders are powerful tools that will make a difference.  

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

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

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For the week of June 18, 2023: The

Business, News

Bob Mackin

A former Vancouver mayor told officials in Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s office that he was an advisor to Premier David Eby.

Premier David Eby meeting Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and his wife Trudy on March 13, 2023 in Olympia (WA Gov/FOI)

In email obtained under freedom of information, Gregor Robertson contacted Inslee climate policy advisor Becky Kelley on Feb. 27 as a representative of the Cascadia Climate Project.

“Although I’m not attending monthly PCC [Pacific Coast Collaborative] meetings I am advising B.C.’s new Premier David Eby on ambitious climate and energy opportunities. And he’s coming to Seattle on March 13 for a first meeting with your Governor!” wrote Robertson, the Vision Vancouver mayor from 2008 to 2018. “Do either of you have a few minutes asap to talk about possible opportunities for action that align with the PCC and your work in Washington?”

In a subsequent message, Robertson wrote “I need to keep this unofficial for now, the Premier’s [intergovernmental] and scheduling staff are managing the visit and I’m gathering some intel and ideas to share more directly.”

Kelley agreed to set-up an “informal/unofficial” chat with Geoff Potter, Inslee’s international relations and protocol director.

Robertson, the executive vice-president of Vancouver construction materials company Nexii Building Solutions, did not respond to an emailed request for comment. 

Since becoming premier, Eby hired former Victoria mayor Lisa Helps as a housing advisor and the former Robertson-hired Vancouver city manager Penny Ballem as a health advisor. Premier’s office communications director George Smith said Robertson has not been hired by Eby, who he said speaks everyday to “stakeholders, experts as well as everyday British Columbians.”

Robertson’s exchange was among almost 1,000 email, briefing note, calendar entry and text message files that Inslee’s office disclosed free of charge under the Washington State public records law.

The documents detail the planning and execution of the third-term Democrat governor’s March 13 hosting of the new NDP premier for a bilateral meeting and lunch in state capital Olympia.

The B.C. government, by contrast, charged a $10 application fee, disclosed only 18 pages, and withheld four. 

“There is more information that could and should have been available from the premier’s office,” said Jason Woywada, the executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association. “It’s a shame that they redacted as much as they did, because we have no guarantee that they weren’t being overly cautious with some of that information.”

The B.C. documents show how staff working for the two leaders planned the meeting, but the Washington files show greater detail before, during and after Eby’s first visit with Inslee.

The B.C. file shows Potter’s Jan. 18 email to Nicole Longpre, Eby’s U.S. relations aide, suggesting a March meeting. Almost a month later, on Feb. 17, Potter confirmed March 13 for 90 minutes. By March 1, the meeting was expanded to two hours, including lunch at the Governor’s residence. 

Longpre’s internal email said the two leaders would discuss “housing/homelessness and climate, and particularly on driving sub-national leadership in these areas, with other files discussed as time allows, setting up for a media avail focused on those two areas.”

Gov. Jay Inslee’s staff text during his bilateral news conference with Premier David Eby. (WA Gov/FOI)

The next paragraph was censored because Eby’s office feared it would harm intergovernmental relations. The same reason, along with an exclusion for policy advice, was used to justify withholding the four pages. 

Censorship by Washington, however, was minimal. 

The two-phased disclosure included briefing documents for Inslee that recommended he also discuss high-speed rail, management of the Nooksack River, ending daylight saving time and the legacy of Indigenous boarding schools (Washington had 15, the last of which closed in 1969). Biographical material for Inslee explained that Eby succeeded John Horgan after the party disqualified climate activist Anjali Appadurai “due to alleged improper coordination with outside parties.” 

“Premier David Eby is 6’7”,” Inslee’s briefing material said. “His staff indicated he might be open to shooting a few baskets upon walking to the Legislative Building.” 

Before Eby arrived in Seattle on March 12, an RCMP officer requested an executive protection unit-trained state Washington State Trooper to drive a Suburban SUV containing Eby, deputy minister Silas Brownsey, senior advisor Jessica Smith, deputy chief of staff Aileen Machell and MLA Rick Glumac, Eby’s liaison to the Pacific Northwest Economic Region. Security officers also requested the front doors be closed during Eby’s time in Inslee’s office.

Eby’s staff arranged to bring Inslee a University of B.C. Thunderbirds’ hockey jersey. Inslee reciprocated with a Coast Salish wool blanket by Nooksack Tribe artist Louie Gong. 

Potter received dietary advice from the B.C. side, which he forwarded to the Governor’s mansion to prepare lunch. Eby prefers gluten-free food and is a pescatarian, while Glumac doesn’t eat farmed salmon and prefers to avoid beef. 

Potter’s email also included food allergy information for two members of the B.C. delegation, which Woywada said should have been censored. 

“It’s great to see how transparent they were, also they were probably overly transparent because that could put somebody’s personal health at risk and possibly cause harm,” Woywada said. “In a Canadian context, we try to avoid that. But we also end up with over-redactions, as evidenced by what we’re seeing from the Premier’s office. So it’s kind of a pox on both their houses in this instance and here’s hoping that in the future, they can get it right.”

On a lighter note, the text messages included banter among Inslee’s communications staff during the bilateral news conference. 

After a reporter from Global TV asked Eby a question on behalf of a female Vancouver Sun reporter — in case time ran out and she didn’t get a chance — Inslee’s communications director Jaime Smith typed: “Leave it to a man to ask a question on behalf of a woman… but I digress.”

Press secretary Mike Faulk replied with an animated graphic showing the man who crashed the stage and interrupted five women from The Talk during the 2016 People’s Choice Awards.  

Smith responded with an image of a bemused blonde woman holding a beverage. 

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Bob Mackin A former Vancouver mayor told officials

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Bob Mackin

The president of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) told the House of Commons Canadian Heritage committee on June 12 that the organization’s high performance director was a victim of abuse.

New Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton president Tara McNeil (BCS/Twitter)

Tara McNeil was acclaimed president at the BCS meeting last November in Whistler when the embattled Sarah Storey bowed to pressure from athletes and did not run for a third term. Storey, who was also the acting CEO, and high performance director Chris Le Bihan were both targets of a post-Beijing Olympics campaign by sliding athletes who demanded they resign over a combination of toxic culture, inadequate safety, lack of transparency and poor governance. The BCS scandal was the first mass-uprising of Canadian athletes in a year of upheaval across the Canadian sport system. 

McNeil said she discovered in her first week with BCS that Le Bihan had been “the recipient of abuse” and had been treated unfairly. She did not provide further details. 

“So imagine my surprise and concern about all of this,” McNeil told the committee. “And so, with that, we sought careful legal counsel as to how to manage all the circumstances. We were in daily contact with our sport partners as to how to manage and we brought on a CEO as quickly as possible, an interim CEO [Patrick Jarvis, the ex-Canadian Paralympic Committee president and Snowboard Canada executive director], to be able to do a very extensive deep dive into the staffing concerns.”

McNeil called it a “very challenging time,” because the organization’s assets were also frozen.

McNeil, a Calgary physiologist who has consulted for BCS, Canadian Luge Association, WinSport and the Canadian Sport Institute, testified the organization is at a crossroads, focused on restoring operational stability and good governance.

“Once we have our operations and board of directors fully in place, we’ll be working to fully adopt all governance principles in the Canadian Sport Governance Code, as requested by Sport Canada, by April 2025,” McNeil said. “This will also require further review of all of our bylaws.”

BCS is based in Calgary, but the Whistler Sliding Centre, built for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, is the country’s main international sliding venue because the Calgary 1988 track needs a major upgrade.  

For 2021-2022, the most-recent fiscal year published, BCS reported just over $3 million of its $4.1 million revenue came from federal taxpayers. The organization finished with a $194,000 surplus. 

Meanwhile, the committee also heard from Skate Canada CEO Debra Armstrong. In late April, an anonymous whistleblower, through Skating For Change, alleged there had been incidents of physical, verbal and emotional abuse by coaches from the Champs International Skating Centre of British Columbia, formerly known as the B.C. Centre of Excellence, at the Scotia Barn in Burnaby. 

“We are very disturbed when allegations like this come to our attention and so we immediately provided links to Skate-Safe [confidential reporting system], as well as to Abuse Free Sport, and we then took the initiative to send the information we received in that open letter on the 27th [of April] directly to Skate-Safe, our investigator,” Armstrong said. “We have no knowledge of what’s happened since we’ve sent it there.”

Armstrong said the organization also had no prior knowledge of the allegations, but has ongoing dialogue with Figure Skating For Change.

“We are not aware of the athletes who are involved in this particular set of allegations that are raised in the open letter,” Armstrong said. “So we have had no change in our approach to athletes since that time.”

For the year ended March 31, 2023, Skate Canada reported a $2.7 million deficit. Of its $21.1 million revenue, almost $2.9 million came from government grants and $8.8 million from membership fees.

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Bob Mackin The president of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton

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Bob Mackin

A Richmond city councillor said now that the RCMP is investigating China’s intimidation of a Member of Parliament, the federal force needs to show results. 

Commissioner Michael Duheme told a House of Commons committee on Tuesday that there are more than 100 foreign interference investigations. One of the newest files is about the targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong (Wellington-Halton Hills).

RCMP Comm. Michael Duheme (RCMP)

Coun. Kash Heed, who is also a former B.C. solicitor general and municipal police chief, said arrests and prosecutions would reduce calls for a public inquiry. 

“Utilize the current system and we’ll be able to deal with it,” Heed said. “But now we’re kind of focused too much on the inquiries act for political reasons, we’re not really looking at how to deal with the cause of this, how to make sure that there’s deterrence in place — so it does not happen again — and that there are significant consequences for those who act as agents, for example, of foreign countries.”

Duheme testified that the RCMP began investigating after the Globe and Mail reported May 1 on a leak from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) involving a Chinese diplomat focusing on Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong. Foreign Minister Melanie Joly expelled Zhao Wei the following week. 

CSIS subsequently briefed the NDP’s Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) and Conservative Erin O’Toole (Durham) that they were also targets of the Chinese Communist Party. Their cases were referred to the Commissioner of Canada Elections for investigation.

Duheme, sworn-in May 25 as the 25th top officer in the Mounties’ 150-year history, told the house’s procedure committee that the RCMP shut down the illegal overseas police service stations that were operating in Richmond, Toronto and Montreal, but investigations continue. 

“We took an overt action, aggressive overt action, marked cars, people in uniform, a lot of outreach in the communities to have people come forward,” Duheme said. 

One of those under the national security investigation is the Wenzhou Friendship Society, which maintains a clubhouse in Richmond. Last December, RCMP officers canvassed neighbours and left an RCMP-marked, black SUV parked overnight outside the Hazelbridge Way building. Hua Wei (Harvey) Su, one of the society’s directors, has not responded for comment. 

“You’re able to shut down these so-called police stations on our sovereign soil and not prosecute? I don’t understand that,” Heed said. “If you’ve got enough to do all of what you’ve done so far, in my opinion, you should have enough to prosecute.”

Kash Heed (Mackin)

Duheme also said the RCMP has offered assistance to the Commissioner of Canada Elections, which investigates and enforces violations of the Canada Elections Act. The agency’s head, Caroline Simard, told MPs in March that it was investigating allegations of Chinese government meddling in the last two elections. Steveston-Richmond East Conservative incumbent Kenny Chiu lost to Liberal Parm Bains in 2021 after a disinformation campaign on Chinese social media. 

Like the RCMP, Heed said, elections overseers also need to improve their compliance and enforcement. 

“I’ve been through this, I know this, if someone doesn’t file it and you have a rogue campaign manager, which I did, you have to deal with the consequences of that,” said Heed, who was fined $8,000 after his BC Liberal Vancouver-Fraserview campaign manager overspent the limit in 2009 without his knowledge. 

“Elections BC, Elections Canada have the power to deal with it. The problem is, we get frustrated by the lack of enforcing our current laws that we default to this so-called public inquiry process thinking that it’s going to make a difference.”

Duheme recently attended a meeting for the Five Eyes security alliance in Australia, where foreign interference was a key topic of discussions. He identified the People’s Republic of China as the greatest threat to democracy in Canada.

RCMP SUV outside the Wenzhou Friendship Society clubhouse in Richmond on Dec. 10, 2022 (Mackin)

At the committee, Duheme also named the Russian Federation and Islamic Republic of Iran as other adversaries actively undermining Canada, its institutions and individuals.

“The strategic interests of a state and methods can include threats of violence, coercion, or surveillance of the public, including culturally or linguistically diverse groups, human rights defenders, political dissidents, pro-democracy advocates, and politicians at all levels, including members of parliament,” Duheme said. 

Former governor general David Johnston quit last Friday as the special rapporteur appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after opposition parties disagreed with his recommendation against a foreign interference public inquiry. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc suggested the government may hire a replacement and proceed with the Johnston-recommended public meetings this summer. But he challenged the opposition leaders to propose public inquiry commissioners, timelines and terms of reference. 

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Bob Mackin A Richmond city councillor said now

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Bob Mackin

A former Conservative MP, who lost his seat in 2021 after being targeted by a Chinese social disinformation campaign, said he is not holding his breath for a public inquiry, despite a senior cabinet minister suggesting one could happen. 

Special rapporteur David Johnston quit his $1,400 to $1,600-a-day post June 9, citing the partisan debate since his May 23 report that recommended no public inquiry into Chinese Communist Party interference in Canadian elections. The former governor general recommended the Liberal government consult opposition leaders — the same ones who called for his resignation — about a replacement.

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

Kenny Chiu, the Steveston-Richmond East MP from 2019 to 2021, said the Liberals would rather hold the opposition parties accountable than be accountable for their own actions and inactions in dealing with foreign interference and intimidation. 

“The government that has all the power in legislation, and also the executive powers, they are the ones who are throwing up their hands,” Chiu said. “[They say] ’you want it? Here you go,’ just toss it. I don’t think that’s a mature act. And, unfortunately, from their track record, from their histories, it looks like that they will continue to find ways to bury this.”

On June 10, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc blamed Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for “partisan buffoonery.” LeBlanc suggested a public inquiry could still happen, but the government may simply hire a replacement for Johnston and proceed with Johnston’s concept for a public meeting tour this summer. 

“If he says this is a serious issue, this is the moment, very quickly, to come back to me and say, we think that these are two examples of the kinds of people who could lead this, we think this should be the terms of reference, here’s how we suggest that you deal with the obvious legal impediment around dealing with highly classified information,” LeBlanc told reporters. “Serious leaders would have serious suggestions on those issues.”

Chiu said Johnston was among the best to serve as governor general, but was “used” by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose party benefited from Chinese government interference to stay in power. Chiu said Johnston’s lack of independence gave the opposition too many reasons to doubt Johnston, due to his friendship with the Trudeau family, membership in the Trudeau Foundation and frequent meetings with People’s Republic of China officials throughout his career. Johnston’s lawyer Sheila Block made more than $7,000 in donations to the Liberal Party and he even admitted to taking advice from veteran Liberal and NDP campaign masterminds, Don Guy and Brian Topp, respectively. 

“So the whole thing gives people the impression that Mr. Johnston is in a hurry to prove that nothing to see here on the government side, and a public inquiry that would call people subpoena witnesses to it, and put witnesses under legally binding conditions, would not help somehow,” Chiu said.

Chiu said Johnston’s two months as “special rapporteur” began to unravel when he told a House of Commons committee on June 6 that he wasn’t able to access all the information and evidence before his report. The report already been drafted and sent to translation before he sat down with 2021 Conservative leader Erin O’Toole. Chiu said the turning point was when O’Toole spoke a week after Johnston’s report in the House of Commons about the Canadian Security Intelligence Service briefing that confirmed he was a target of the Chinese government.

“He did have a few pages to cover Steveston-Richmond East, in my case, because there have been media indications that the riding has been having more than a fair share of Chinese interference. But Mr. Johnston, and his resourceful office, has not even bothered to contact me,” Chiu said.

Johnston cited the breadth of classified information as the reason that a public inquiry was impossible. However, former Supreme Court Justice John Major oversaw the Air India Flight 182 inquiry from 2006 to 2010, which still managed to hold public hearings. Major’s report mentioned that commission counsel had access to uncensored versions of all documents, but only redacted versions could be disclosed to parties and entered as evidence.  

History also shows that a public inquiry could be bogged down by restrictive terms of reference, conflict of interest and meddling.

The public inquiry into RCMP conduct at the 1997 Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit at the University of B.C. was temporarily derailed by resignations in late 1998. Commission lawyer Marvin Storrow quit after he attended a Liberal fundraiser, Solicitor General Andy Scott stepped down over allegations that the outcome was fixed and commission chair Gerald Morin resigned due to interference allegations. Morin’s successor Ted Hughes, the former Saskatchewan judge and B.C. conflict of interest commissioner, did not have the power to order Prime Minister Jean Chretien to testify. Chretien declined an invitation to appear.

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Bob Mackin A former Conservative MP, who lost

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Bob Mackin

A B.C. Supreme Court judge refused to block the June 30 closure of Queen Elizabeth Annex, after he refused to grant parents an injunction to keep the Kindergarten to Grade 3 French immersion school open.

Queen Elizabeth Annex (VSB)

But Justice David Crerar’s Tuesday verdict in favour of the Vancouver School Board, published on Friday, says that there will be classes at the Dunbar school under different management in the fall. 

“Successful judicial reviews of school closures are rare, reflecting the appropriately very limited jurisdiction of the court to interfere with the multifaceted decision of an elected body,” Crerar wrote. “While the petitioner parents [Queen Elizabeth Annex Parents’ Society] are unhappy with the form of consultations, and the ultimate outcome, they had many opportunities to argue their case to the board and its representatives, and did so extensively and powerfully.”

The School Board voted in April to declare the the school surplus. But Crerar said the worst-case scenario is for Annex students to move to one of two Kindergarten to Grade 7 schools a kilometre away. One of the alternatives, Jules Quesnel Elementary, offers French immersion. 

The 1964-built, one-storey Annex has 70 students, but the land was assessed last year at $45.1 million. The board had pondered its closure since 2008, when Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique (Conseil), the provincial school board for francophones, began pursuit of the property. 

The Annex and 10 other schools were under consideration for surplus designation in 2016, the year that the provincial government fired the elected school board. 

Also in 2016, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled in favour of Conseil, that the rights of francophone students were infringed because their education needs were underserved on the West Side of Vancouver.

A 2018 report by PartnershipsBC recommended developing a new elementary school for Conseil on the Annex site. 

In December 2020, Conseil filed suit against the board and the province, seeking the transfer of the Annex site, in order to comply with the 2016 court decision. The Queen Elizabeth Annex Parents’ Society argued that the board’s 2022 consultation process was a sham, because it already decided to close the Annex and transfer the school to Conseil.

“The petition alleges that the closure of the school was a fait accompli, coordinated between the board, the province, and the Conseil, to provide a future or potential settlement of the Conseil action, in return for provincial funding for the board’s number one priority since June 2018: an elementary school in the densely-populated Olympic Village neighbourhood,” Crerar wrote.

The verdict said the board and Conseil have entered into a lease for the next school year and the Conseil is proceeding to register and prepare the school for francophone operations in September.  

“While the Court is sympathetic to the petitioner, a group of parents rather than a corporate entity brimming with cash and resources, its members consist primarily of sophisticated professionals,” the judge wrote. “They were well–motivated and well–organized to challenge the proposed closure of the Annex in the many months leading up to the closure decision: they would also have been in a position to continue those effort in the immediate wake of the closure decision, and to file its petition more promptly.”

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court judge refused

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