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Business, News

Bob Mackin

For the third time in just over 11 years, Abbotsford South’s MLA has caused a B.C. political earthquake. 

Bruce Banman announced Sept. 14 that he had left the Kevin Falcon-led BC United opposition to sit as a member of the Conservative Party of B.C. under leader John Rustad. Most-recently, Banman was the Falcon-appointed shadow minister for emergency management, climate readiness and citizen services.

Bruce Banman (far left) and Kevin Falcon (far right) from Twitter.

A Conservative-issued statement from Banman said that he made the decision in order to keep his promise to represent his constituents’ best interests. He gave a ringing endorsement to Rustad and his party, saying nobody else in Victoria “stands for what’s right in the legislature, rather than rather than what’s politically convenient or politically correct.”

“As a Conservative MLA, I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to speak honestly and openly on behalf of my constituents,” Banman said. 

Banman’s defection means the Conservatives are tied with the BC Greens at two seats apiece and the former BC Liberals are down to 25. The NDP, under Premier David Eby, maintains a comfortable majority with 57 seats. 

In reaction, a BC United statement from Falcon said that Banman’s departure was “not entirely unexpected due to ongoing internal management challenges with Banman.”

“His decision betrays the Abbotsford constituents who elected him as a member of our team,” Falcon said.

Banman, a chiropractor, was Abbotsford’s mayor from 2011 to 2014 and returned as a city councillor in 2018. He won the riding for the BC Liberals in 2020, succeeding the twice-elected criminology professor Darryl Plecas.

Falcon ejected Rustad from his caucus more than a year ago after Rustad promoted someone else’s Twitter and Facebook post skeptical of carbon impacts on climate change. Although, former BC Liberal forests and Indigenous relations minister Rustad emphatically said he believes in climate change. He joined the Conservatives and became leader by acclamation last March. 

In 2012, former BC Liberal cabinet minister John van Dongen defected to the Conservatives under then-leader John Cummins. Van Dongen accused Premier Christy Clark of conflict of interest related to the BC Rail privatization and intervened in the auditor general’s lawsuit seeking the deal to pay $6 million to the lawyers of former BC Liberal aides Dave Basi and Bob Virk, the only two convicted in the BC Rail corruption case.  

The BC Liberals recruited Plecas, who went on to beat van Dongen in the 2013 election. Four years later, after the BC Liberals lost power to the Green-supported NDP minority, Plecas triggered Clark’s resignation when he threatened to quit the party and sit as an independent. 

Later that summer, Plecas became an independent MLA and was elected Speaker of the Legislature. A year later, he blew the whistle on corruption in the offices of BC Liberal-appointed Clerk Craig James and Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz, who both resigned in disgrace. James was found guilty last year of breach of trust and fraud, and sentenced to house arrest. 

Banman’s statement said the Conservatives “don’t support Trudeau-backed policies like the punishing carbon tax that hurts everyday people; we refuse to condone the ideological NDP education agenda that teaches students what to think instead of how to think; and, we will never support the myth of safe supply that kills British Columbians and poisons our communities with hard drugs.”

The Legislature reconvenes Oct. 3 for a fall sitting that ends Nov. 30. The next election is scheduled for Oct. 19, 2024. Eby has repeatedly denied plans to go to the polls sooner. 

The BC Liberals rebranded as BC United in April and its candidates in two June by-elections in safe NDP ridings failed to achieve 9% of the popular vote. 

Mike Harris, the Conservative runner-up to the NDP’s Ravi Parmar in Langford-Juan de Fuca, had nearly 20% of the popular vote. 

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Bob Mackin For the third time in just

Business, News

Bob Mackin 

After the torrential rains and floods that devastated Interior and Fraser Valley communities in November 2021, a researcher with the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA-BC) tested the regulatory regime.

(City of Abbotsford)

Local authorities are responsible for maintaining dikes, but must file annual inspection reports to Victoria, which has the power to investigate and order repairs under the Dike Maintenance Act. 

Ben Parfitt applied under the freedom of information law to five municipalities with extensive dikes, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Merritt, Princeton and Richmond, seeking their statutory inspection reports from 2017 to 2021. He also asked an office inside the Ministry of Forests for its responses to those reports, including any orders written by the provincial Inspector of Dikes to improve flood protection. It was a classic tale of deluge and drought.  

“In those 5,300 pages, there is but one single page from the provincial government, which is a single email running to less than a page,” Parfitt said in an interview. “And that’s it for the provincial record.”

Three professional engineers occupied the Inspector of Dikes position since changes to the law introduced by the BC Liberal government in 2003, Neil Peters, Mitchell Hahn and Yannic Brugman. Parfitt could find no evidence that they had issued any orders to the local governments and he said the province told him that no such order had been written in recent years.

Parfitt’s research for the left-leaning think tank found that, beginning in 2018, Merritt’s reports from a professional engineer with Interior Dams showed its dikes were a failure waiting to happen. No major repairs occurred. The 2021 disaster caused at least $150 million in damage.

Parfitt also found Abbotsford and Princeton did not properly report to the province. Princeton even used its own staff, rather than hiring a professional engineer. While it is allowed by law, it is not a best practice.

Parfitt said the root cause appears to be the amendments in 2003 by the BC Liberals, to shift reporting responsibilities to local authorities. Premier Gordon Campbell’s government was fond of cutting red tape and offloading.

Ben Parfitt (CCPA/Twitter)

“So while it is true, that there may have been more and more reliance placed on outside professionals to make certain calls, oversight was to remain with the province and this is where I think we’re seeing problems,” he said. 

The CCPA-BC wants the province to assume authority for all dikes, something Union of B.C. Municipalities members endorsed at their September 2022 convention, and provide more funding to upgrade dikes. The Auditor General should also be called upon to review provincial dike regulation.

While Parfitt said he was not troubled by significant delays or costs — “it was not as painful an FOI process as others have been for me” — he was taken aback by an answer to one of his followup questions to the Ministry of Forests about who is actually in charge. The government’s online directory showed only one person with the word “dike” in the job title. 

“I was told I would have to file a Freedom of Information request just to find out the names of these individuals,” he said. “It was at that point that I wrote the ministry back and I said, ‘look, this is ludicrous, you and I can do a Google search under B.C. government directory, and when you get to the B.C. government directory, it spits out any one of a number of names of public servants.’ So I pointed this out to the ministry and I said, ‘all I’m asking for here are the names, and I hope you’re not going to make me report that I have to FOI this. At which point, the next day, suddenly I had a list of names.”

Ultimately, Parfitt said, copies of the annual dike inspections should not be subject to FOI requests. They should simply be published proactively by each municipality or the province itself.

“Especially when we’re talking about matters concerning public health and safety,” he said.

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Bob Mackin  After the torrential rains and floods

Business, News

Bob Mackin

BC Hydro says it is meeting business objectives under the pandemic-triggered hybrid workplace, but acknowledges there are some challenges. 

A briefing note to a Feb. 21 meeting of senior executives about potential changes to what the Crown corporation calls the “flexible work model” says a one-size fits all approach to working from home may not be ideal in every department.

BC Hydro headquarters (BC Hydro)

“For the past three years most of our office employees have primarily worked from home,” said the document, obtained under freedom of information. “During this period we’ve demonstrated that we can operate our business and deliver on our projects and strategic priorities.”

The briefing note said that while the model is generally working well, though managers reported that it is more difficult to hire and train new employees remotely. 

An Aug. 24 job posting for a Burnaby-based procurement services manager position said how much an employee can work from home depends on the manager for each position and the specific operational requirements. At one end of the scale, some can spend four or more days per week at home. On the other end, field workers have no work from home option. 

“Employees also have the right to work full-time from the office if they prefer. All of our roles require at least some in-person time,” the job posting said. 

Employees want the option to spend most, if not all, their time working from home. Nearly three-quarters polled were satisfied or very satisfied. All other large B.C. Crown corporations, the Public Service and more than 90% of Canadian electric utilities and engineering consultancies offer some variation of flexible work. 

“A common suggestion in the written feedback is for more flexibility and reduced time in office,” the briefing note said about the internal survey. 

Key to the trend is the evolution of technology, including web conferencing and enhanced hardware to connect virtually. BC Hydro pledged to “continue to invest in technology,” such as refreshing laptops and creating additional rooms and auditoriums for hybrid meetings, with enhancements to Microsoft Teams and cameras that digitize whiteboards. “Improve network connectivity at remote sites, including the implementation of satellite connectivity.”

A March 28 briefing note to the human resources and flexible work project team said opinions on the flexible work model have improved, based on the poll of 4,400 employees. “Overall, 78% of employees who responded to the pulse check are feeling happy or very happy with the flexible work model; this is a 4% improvement over the October pulse check, and 8% increase since June.”

Employees were split on the number of in-office days — 49% said the amount was just right, 46% said it could be less — and opinions were mixed on desk-sharing — 51% for and 35% against. 

Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they would not consider a role that requires more days in office while three-quarters said they do not think working from home has limited their career or development opportunities. 

More than 90% of respondents felt supported and included, regardless of where they work. 

As for managers, 80% were happy with the flexible work model, 6% better than October 2022’s survey, and 87% agreed that BC Hydro can meet its operational and strategic goals. A significant improvement since the 63% from the June 2022 survey. 

An appendix showed BC Hydro is monitoring the program based on corporate, departmental and individual performance, impacts on employees, workspace and technology usage, costs and savings, greenhouse gas reduction, and by comparing notes about hybrid work trends with other companies. Another appendix about feedback from senior leaders was censored under the exception to B.C.’s public records law that allows a public body to keep policy advice and recommendations secret. 

In the October 2022 survey, employees who work from home cited the “positive impacts on wellbeing, and time and cost savings by not commuting.”

BC Hydro’s August 2021 agreement with the MoveUp union stated that 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 allowed BC Hydro to send a representative for a home workplace audit with a minimum 24-hour notification. BC Hydro provides 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 says it is meeting

Business, News

Jericho Pier (Bob Mackin)

Bob Mackin

The ABC Vancouver majority Park Board voted 5-1 Sept. 11 to jettison the staff recommendation to demolish the Jericho Beach Park Pier and keep it on “life support” with repairs. 

The badly damaged, 1977-built pier has been closed since a double whammy of November 2021 and January 2022 windstorms, the latter coupled with a king tide. Staff recommended spending as much as $3.6 million on demolition rather than up to $25 million on replacement. 

Comm. Angela Haer successfully proposed a compromise, to direct staff to proceed with a like-for-like repair. The price tag is estimated at $1.7 million, mostly funded from an insurance payout.

“I think everybody would love to have a renewed pier at higher elevation, but that price tag is just too high to happen right now,” said chair Laura Christensen. “As staff noted, the current pier is on life support, and I think this motion is to keep it on life support, and to continue with being on life support, because we’ve heard from the public that this is important to them.”

Mike Cotter, the general manager of the Jericho Sailing Centre, earlier spoke in favour of the staff recommendation, urging the board to explore a long-term plan to replace the pier. He said it is not only vital to mariners, but also important for the Canadian Coast Guard, Vancouver Police and B.C. Ambulance Service. 

Cotter said that Vancouver’s primary marine access park will be under immense pressure due to environmental factors and increased population due to development of the Jericho Lands. A SkyTrain station is proposed on the high density development at the MST Development project, which would bring more people to the area.

“We hope that when the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation embarks on a joint comprehensive planning study for the Jericho Beach Park with local First Nations, a new pier is included in the new park plan,” Cotter said.

Green Party Comm. Tom Digby called it a “catastrophically bad amendment” for ignoring environmental concerns and First Nations history and referenced the staff report, which called the pier a symbol of colonization. 

“You’re sending just a huge bill going forward and you’re not acknowledging that the sea level is changing, and that the climate is changing, and that this is a relic of a time when the temperature was 1.5 degrees colder than it is now,” Digby said. 

In 2017, the then-NPA majority approved a $16 million replacement plan. Commissioners from left-of-centre parties took control of Park Board in the 2018 election, fundraising fell flat and then the pandemic came in 2020.

By comparison, the White Rock community rallied after a December 2018 windstorm cut its pier in half, raised $4 million for repairs and reopened it less than a year later. 

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[caption id="attachment_13550" align="alignright" width="1024"] Jericho Pier (Bob

Business, News

Bob Mackin 

What happened since Vancouver Park Board commissioners voted in November 2017 to rebuild the aging Jericho Beach Park Pier? 

In no particular order: two elections, two damaging windstorms, a pandemic and an acceleration of First Nations reconciliation policies.

Rendering of the 2017-approved concept for a rebuild of the Jericho Pier (Park Board)

A staff report to the Sept. 11 meeting of the ABC supermajority board is an about-face from the concept that the NPA simple majority approved, a $16 million replacement of the 1977-built pier, also known as Discovery Pier. 

In November 2021 and January 2022, the pier was battered and bruised by a double-whammy of storms, the latter during a king tide. It has not reopened. Park Board staff estimate the cost of replacement at $21 million to $25 million, due to inflation, cost escalations, contingencies and ancillary costs. 

So they want to spend up to $3.6 million to get rid of the existing pier and maintain the timber breakwater to protect the Jericho Sailing Centre’s harbour.

Had the six-year-old recommendation been activated on schedule, Vancouver boaters, kayakers, swimmers, fishers, crabbers and selfie-takers could’ve already enjoyed one, if not two, summers on a new pier. 

“The aspirational goal is to begin construction by 2020, starting with demolition of the existing pier and completing the work by 2022,” said the staff report in 2017. 

That report said there had been a pier on the site since at least 1942. There was a wharf nearby, at a former air force base transformed into the United Nations Habitat Forum venue in 1976. That wharf, the last major vestige of the UN Conference on Human Settlements, was demolished in 2011. 

The new report calls the pier a “colonial structure,” and whatever happens on the site after demolition would involve the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, who are planning to build condo towers on the Jericho Lands up the hill.

In 2016, the Park Board had already adopted 11 calls for action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report. Five years later, Vancouver became the first Canadian municipality to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Early last year, the Park Board voted to explore co-managing parks with the three First Nations. 

The 2017 report said 867 people filled out a questionnaire, with 76% of them supporting replacement. An archaeological overview was conducted, recommending a more thorough assessment take place before any construction. 

White Rock Pier in 2021 (Mackin)

“Staff will continue to work with the [First] Nations to ensure that the final design adequately addresses their needs and concerns,” it said.

In 2017, staff did not shy away from the pier’s precarious position. The six issues and considerations for the site included the pier’s age, and threats from storm surge and sea level rise and strong wind and wave action. 

“King tides and storm surges flood the existing pier and cause damage. These conditions are expected to become more acute with climate change,” the 2017 report said. “The pier is subject to intense storm and wave action. The boats launched at the Jericho Sailing Centre require protection from the wave action.”

The Park Board requested $2 million from the 2016 to 2018 capital plan “as an emerging priority,” and suggested seeking more funds from the 2019 to 2022 version. The Disabled Sailing Association, which since rebranded as the Adaptive Sailing Association of B.C., and the Park Board began a fundraising campaign. 

But the new report starkly states: “Sufficient funding for construction of a new pier is not presently available.” Not surprising words, in an expensive city that is struggling (and, in many cases, failing) to provide basic housing and social programs to those in need.

Fundraising after the 2017 vote did not generate any donations or grants, according to the 2023 report. But how hard did they try? Or is this just the Rodney Dangerfield of piers, that it can’t get no respect? 

On the first weekend of May in 1978, fire crews saved it from disappearing. A pre-graduation party by a group of high schoolers went awry, causing $43,000 worth of damage. That is more than $200,000 in today’s dollars. Luckily it was restored. 

Something else happened since November 2017. In December 2018, a heavy storm cut the 1914-built White Rock Pier in half. The community rallied and $4 million in private and public funds were raised to repair Canada’s longest pier. It reopened the following summer. 

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Bob Mackin  What happened since Vancouver Park Board

Business, News

Bob Mackin

An internal BC Hydro report rated geopolitical, cybersecurity and capital planning risks higher priorities than climate change, debt and supply chain.

The draft quarterly risk report presentation for the March 2 board meeting, obtained under freedom of information, identified eight areas as high priorities on a so-called risk landscape, and said the Crown corporation’s enterprise risk management program was about to undergo its first internal audit since 2014.

Vladimir Putin (left) and Xi Jinping during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics (PRC)

“Ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions including the war in Ukraine, shifting global trade alliances, energy security, COVID-19 recovery, global inflation, etc. are driving uncertainty resulting in broad range of impacts to our business and our customers,” said the document. “Global GDP in 2023 is anticipated to be lower than predicted in 2022 with ongoing recession uncertainty however there are signs that global inflation may be starting to peak.”

To mitigate this risk, an executive subcommittee and working group of senior supply chain and business group leaders were meeting frequently to monitor price and availability issues. It also said that BC Hydro’s trading arm, Powerex, helps it understand the impacts of current events, such as the European energy crisis and surplus sales.

“Senior leaders maintain oversight on addressing cybersecurity advisories resulting from the potential Russian threat against NATO countries.”

When Russia invaded Ukraine, BC Hydro developed cybersecurity scenarios and reviewed North American cybersecurity advisories on potential threats against NATO members supporting Ukraine, including threats to critical infrastructure.

The elevated cyber threat level and significant threat of ransomware triggered the rollout of new mandatory cyber training at BC Hydro, with an end of February deadline for all employees and contractors. 

Meanwhile, the capital plan faced “significant cost pressure” due to system maintenance requirements and inflation-driven increases in construction, equipment and materials costs and labour and supply chain shortages. The presentation said that BC Hydro has a special reserve amount for large projects to account for cost escalation and an executive subcommittee and working group to monitor price and availability. “In some cases, project schedules are also being updated to account for longer lead times,” said the summary.

The Crown corporation’s biggest project, the $16 billion Site C dam, also got a high risk rating. The summary cited concrete production, delivery and placement, inflationary pressures, rising interest rates, and equipment and material supply constraints. Mitigation measures included completing a review of the project budget to identify cost pressures and savings, and confirm that the project can be delivered within the approved amount.

Hydro was also concerned about fluctuations in commercial electricity load due to customer decisions and shifting timelines. 

“Some recent examples of note have included the Prince George Canfor Pulp Mill closure announcement, the extension of government support to the Paper Excellence’s Crofton mill, the government moratorium on cryptocurrency project interconnections and the opportunity for full electrification of LNG Canada’s phase 2 expansion through additional transmission infrastructure delivering capacity to the North Coast.”

Under the heading of shareholder expectations, the Crown corporation flagged the transition from Premier John Horgan to Premier David Eby in late 2022 as a high priority. 

“BC Hydro’s efforts in improving our ability to efficiently connect customers (linked to the priority of attainable and affordable housing), implementation of the electrification plan in support of CleanBC and our progress on safely completing Site C on schedule and on budget are aligned with current shareholder expectations.” 

Climate change got the same medium risk priority rating as environmental incident, emergency preparedness and serious injury or fatality. 

To address the climate change risk, the report said BC Hydro relies on water management, and weather and inflow forecasting to mitigate the problem and has a suite of plans covering adaptation, greenhouse gases and electrification.

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Bob Mackin An internal BC Hydro report rated

Business, News, Opinion, Sports

For the week of Sept. 10, 2023: 

Many things divide Canadians, but few things unite us as much as the love for Terry Fox.

Terry Fox (left) and Bill Vigars in 1980. (Sutherland House)

On Sept. 17, millions coast-to-coast-to-coast will walk, run or roll in memory of the Canadian hero and his dream to end cancer.

Bill Vigars of White Rock, B.C. was right there with Fox during the summer of 1980, the “summer of hope,” as he calls it. 

Vigars was working for the Canadian Cancer Society in Ontario when he was sent to join Terry’s team in New Brunswick. 

Vigars has written about the highs and lows of what became the most-important Canadian road trip, “Terry and Me: The Inside Story of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope” from Sutherland House Publishers.

Hear the first part of a two-part interview on this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast with Bob Mackin.

Plus, commentary on the long-awaited foreign interference public inquiry and headlines from the Pacific Rim and the Pacific Northwest. 

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

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

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For the week of Sept. 10, 2023:  Many

Business, News, Sports

Bob Mackin

A bronze medal on Sunday and a medal of any colour next summer.

That is the mantra for Howard Kelsey, a West Vancouverite who played on Canada’s Olympic basketball team when it fell six-points short of bronze against Yugoslavia at Los Angeles 1984. 

Canada’s top men’s hoops players already qualified for next year’s Paris Olympics tournament — a first since Sydney 2000, during the Steve Nash era — by overcoming a 12-point fourth quarter deficit to upset defending champion Spain on Sept. 3 at the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Jakarta.

(Canada Basketball)

They fell to Serbia in Friday’s semifinal, but will play for third place in Manila against the United States, which lost the other semifinal to Germany.

“I’m going to look on the bright side here,” Kelsey said. “Yeah, I’m sorry, we stubbed our toe today, but no offense, Serbia just outplayed us today, they deserve it.”

The intriguing matchup with the U.S. pits the two teams with the most NBA players on their rosters, playing an NBA-style game within the international rules in a potential preview of next summer’s Olympics. 

“People are very proud to be affiliated with Canadian men’s basketball because [point guard] Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the top players in the world. He’s not just a good player from Hamilton, he’s the third-leading scorer in the NBA. He didn’t have the best game today, but he has been a candidate for the MVP,” Kelsey said. 

Kelsey wishes players of his generation had the payroll of the 2023 team. He also wishes today’s team had more “beef up front,” like centres Bill Wennington and Greg Wiltjer from his day. 

“We are getting out-rebounded, but overall their athleticism is much better than ours.”

A Canadian could still win the World Cup. Kelsey’s former national teammate Gordon Herbert, who was born in Penticton, is Germany’s head coach. Herbert’s players “have a silver medal in their hand right now and they may beat Serbia. So all systems go and all a lot of Canada’s fingerprints all over the FIBA World Cup.”

After Sunday, players turn their focus to the upcoming NBA season and later, the Paris tournament. Canada’s best Olympic finish was a silver at Berlin 1936. Canada’s first fourth-place finish was at Montreal 1976, under Kelsey’s mentor, Jack Donohue. 

Howard Kelsey during his playing days (NBTAA.com)

In 2024, with a talent-laden team of pros, it will be time for Canadians to raise their expectations. 

“We don’t care what colour it is, silver, gold or bronze, but it’s a medal, otherwise, we’re falling short,” Kelsey said. “But we’ve got a year to prepare for that. This was a big step.” 

It is undoubtedly the legacy of Nash’s double NBA MVP career, which turned more NBA scouts, general managers and coaches onto the Canadian talent pool. Kelsey also credits Canada Basketball’s past-president Glen Grunwald and current president Michael Bartlett for the program’s stability. Canada’s strongest showing at the FIBA World Cup comes in contrast to the disappointing performances at World Cups by Canada’s men’s and women’s soccer teams, both challenged by off-field conflicts with Canadian Soccer Association executives. 

Jerseys and balls from the bronze medal game could end up in a museum. Kelsey is a co-founder with David Turcotte and Misty Thomas of the Canada National Basketball Teams Alumni Association, which is behind a virtual Canadian basketball hall of fame project and a proposal for a physical hall of fame. Hockey and baseball have national shrines in Canada, so why not basketball? 

Kelsey suggests there could be three sites that share the distinction. One in Ontario, the province of basketball inventor James Naismith’s Almonte birthplace; an east coast location at St. Stephens, N.B., home of the world’s oldest basketball court; and a west coast location inside the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. 

“Not only did we invent the game, we are the host of the first women’s basketball Olympics, 1976 in Montreal, and the person who invented the pea-less whistle. Ron Foxcroft, one of the premier reps in FIBA, Order of Canada. That’s another Canadian thing,” Kelsey said.

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Bob Mackin A bronze medal on Sunday and

Business, News

Bob Mackin

Mayor Ken Sim and one of his top aides charged Vancouver taxpayers more than $16,000 to travel to the South by Southwest music and tech festival in Austin, Texas for a week last March. 

It was ABC leader Sim’s first major trip on city business since becoming mayor by a landslide in last October’s civic election. He attended with senior advisor David Grewal as part of the B.C. delegation led by Brenda Bailey, the NDP Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation minister.

Mayor Ken Sim and Minister Brenda Bailey at SXSW 2023 (Frontier Collective)

Sim and acting chief of staff Mellisa Morphy charged almost $4,000 to travel to the Big City Mayors Caucus meeting in Toronto in May. 

The two trips comprised almost all of the mayor’s office’s $20,360.59 in discretionary travel costs shown in the city’s open data report for the first half of the year. 

In total, Sim and his staff spent $461,826.72, of which $365,711.50 was for political staff salaries. 

Sim also received a $3,863.72 auto allowance. 

Sim, the 10 councillors and their staff cost a combined $1.27 million out of the $3.05 million 2023 budgets, according to the spreadsheet. 

While Sim’s office spent nothing on consultant services (compared to $98,472 during ex-Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s last 10 months in office), there were 40 charges totalling $3,820.93 for food for meetings and almost $300 in meeting supplies since last November. The list also includes $2,042.41 for entertainment expenses in a hosting capacity from December to May. The spreadsheet includes dates, but not details about the meetings. 

The $1,231.63 for subscriptions to the Globe and Mail and Vancouver Sun was exceeded by $2,018.06 for red envelopes and candy handed out at the Lunar New Year Parade in Chinatown. In February 2022 alone, Stewart spent almost $9,700 from his communications budget on political ads carried by five Vancouver radio clusters. 

Meanwhile, ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung is the biggest spender so far on council at $22,486.24, just ahead of fellow caucus member Peter Meiszner’s $22,392.05. 

Kirby-Yung’s $5,697.90 in travel expenses are also the highest. That included $4,250.44 for the May Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Toronto and $1,327.46 for the Lower Mainland Local Government Association conference in Harrison Hot Springs. Coun. Lisa Dominato racked up $4,007.53 for attending FCM board meetings in March in Ajax, Ont., and the May conference in Toronto. 

OneCity’s Christine Boyle reported the least expenses at $5,050.87. 

Seven councillors claimed $12,500 each for a political assistant. 

Each one is allotted $30,000 annually for discretionary expenses and $9,858.58 for local expenses. Almost 70% spent on councillors so far ($557,926.24) is for their salaries.

Sim’s salary is $185,595. For councillors, their base pay is $91,879. Elected officials are also paid a $3,048 annual supplement and bonuses ranging from $1,237 per month when they serve as acting mayor to $3,402 per month for being deputy mayor or duty councillor. 

City hall is running on a $1.97 billion operating budget this year, after a 10.7% tax increase. 

In April, Sim appointed a budget task force to review operating and capital budgets and recommend efficiencies. It is supposed to report in October. 

The ABC majority city council’s standing committee on city finance and services is scheduled to receive a report from senior bureaucrats on Sept. 13 who propose adopting a laundry list of new or significantly increased fees for business licences, parking and other services. 

The estimated $15.2 million in new revenue would offset the increase in property taxes required to balance the 2024 budget. 

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Bob Mackin Mayor Ken Sim and one of

Business, News

Bob Mackin

The Richmond Conservative MP defeated almost two years ago after an alleged China-sponsored disinformation campaign called the long overdue Sept. 7 announcement of a public inquiry into foreign interference “better than nothing.” 

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc named Justice Marie-Josée Hogue of Quebec’s court of appeal to act as the commissioner under the Inquiries Act. She will conduct public hearings about meddling by China, Russia and other state and non-state actors in the 2019 and 2021 elections, and must file her first report by the end of February 2024. Her final report is due at the end of December 2024.

Steveston-Richmond East runner-up Kenny Chiu before the election (Twitter)

The announcement came almost six months after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s failed appointment of former Gov. Gen. David Johnston as a “special rapporteur.” In late May, Johnston recommended against a public inquiry, claiming too many top secret files and not enough evidence of Chinese government interference. He quit two weeks later due to allegations of conflict of interest from opposition leaders. Negotiations on finding a judge to oversee a public inquiry and deciding terms of reference continued throughout the summer.

“A little bit of something is better than nothing,” said Kenny Chiu, who lost Steveston-Richmond East to Liberal Parm Bains in the Sept. 20, 2021 election. “For me, it’s like pulling teeth, every step of the way you have to push back, actively resist and we’re getting to where we are today. The next thing is, what about the registry, the foreign interference registry? [Ex-Public Safety Minister Marco] Mendicino, when he was in charge of that file, conducted, across the country, town halls and hearings and all that. Where is it? What is happening? We don’t know. It’s also constantly shrouded in secrecy.”

Before election day in 2021, Chiu went public with evidence of a disinformation campaign that falsely alleged his proposed foreign agents registry would make Chinese “second class citizens” in Canada if the Conservatives won. Chiu had also voted to condemn the Chinese government’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims as a genocide, for which he was sanctioned by Beijing.  

A video clip that circulated on WeChat showed supporters of an unregistered third party called the Chinese Canadians Goto Vote Association, which purported to be non-partisan, holding Bains’ campaign signs while meeting the Liberal candidate during the final days of the campaign. Two of the men were members of local groups related to the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front propaganda and influence program.  

Last February, the Globe and Mail reported on a leaked report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that indicated Chinese diplomat Tong Xiaoling boasted of helping defeat Chiu. 

Chiu is also dissatisfied that Hogue’s first deadline is so soon, he worries that the focus could be shifted away from China and that the inquiry could be derailed by a collapse in the Trudeau minority government before the scheduled October 2025 election. 

“Not even six months, five months away,” said Chiu, who is attending the Conservative policy convention in Quebec City. “The scope is also expanded because the the NDP wanted to include Russia.”

Nonetheless, Chiu said, “if the commissioner deems my input is valuable, I’m more than happy to share. It’s important that we also hear from other Canadians across the country.”

Jenny Kwan at a 2019 Lunar New Year banquet, with Chinese diplomat Tong Xiaoling in 2019. (CACA)

After Johnston’s resignation, new RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme testified to a House of Commons committee that there are more than 100 foreign interference investigations ongoing, including one about the targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong by Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei, who was expelled May 8. 

NDP Vancouver-East MP Jenny Kwan and former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole both went public about their meetings with CSIS agents who outlined the threats against them. The Commissioner of Canada Elections is also investigating foreign interference and Duheme pledged support from the Mounties.

In August, Kwan threw her support behind E-petition e-4534 that calls upon the House of Commons to pass a foreign agents registry law. One of the supporters, Mabel Tung of the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement, urged LeBlanc in a Wednesday letter to resist fearmongering and pass the foreign agents’ registry without further delay. 

“We sent out a letter to Minister LeBlanc yesterday without knowing there will be a public inquiry. It won’t change our message,” Tung said.

Tung’s letter said a law to require agents of foreign governments to register before lobbying the feds would help protect Canadian sovereignty and safeguard democracy and the welfare of Canadians of all ethnicities. 

“For too long we have seen China’s undue influence seeping into our community and it’s time to put a stop to that,” Tung wrote. 

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Bob Mackin The Richmond Conservative MP defeated almost

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