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

Bob Mackin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Business, News

Bob Mackin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two Richmond witnesses were cited. 

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

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

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

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

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

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Bob Mackin The former Conservative MP for Steveston-Richmond

Business, News

Bob Mackin

FIFA’s 2026 World Cup logo (FIFA)

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

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

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

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

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

Super Bowl LVII (NFL)

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

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

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

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

Los Angeles 2028 Olympics (LA 28/IOC)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Business, News

Bob Mackin 

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

Jordan Peterson (Facebook)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greg Mather (UFV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Bob Mackin  An official with the University of

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Bob Mackin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Bob Mackin Before members of TransLink’s Mayors’ Council

Business, News

Bob Mackin

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

Doug McCallum in the Surrey courthouse parkade (Mackin)

But it won’t last forever.

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

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

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

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

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

Richard Peck (Peck and Co.)

Locke did not respond to requests for comment. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Bob Mackin The amount paid to the law

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

Guest contributor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Excerpt from Ding’s commentary published March 7.

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

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

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

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

Excerpt from Ding’s commentary published March 28.

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

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

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

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

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

Business, News

Bob Mackin

A week after the release of a scathing provincial government report on conflict of interest at BC Housing, the CEO of its biggest housing provider bowed to pressure and quit.

Atira CEO Janice Abbott with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland (second from left) (Nomodic/CMHC)

In a statement emailed at 11:29 a.m. May 15, Atira Women’s Resource Society said that Janice Abbott had resigned immediately. The organization will be led by executive directors of operations, human resources and finance until an interim CEO is named. 

“The board thanks Janice for helping thousands of women and children over her 31 years of leadership at Atira,” said chair Elva Kim in a prepared statement. “The focus for the board now is working collaboratively with the B.C. government and BC Housing, and restoring the public’s confidence in Atira’s integrity, vision, mission, purpose and values.”

Also on May 15, Abbott voluntarily resigned from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) board of directors. Chair Derek Ballantyne’s statement said Abbott cited “personal reasons.” 

“I would like to thank Ms. Abbott for her service as a CMHC board member,” said Ballantyne’s statement. 

On Thursday, the Atira board returned $1.9 million surplus funds to BC Housing and established a task force to hire a third-party reviewer. 

“The board and staff at Atira are deeply committed to serving and protecting women and children and providing much-needed housing. We are confident that this path forward will allow us to focus on the essential work with fewer distractions,” said Kim.

The Atira announcement came about a half-hour before Premier David Eby’s scheduled photo op at the Lafarge cement plant in Richmond. Eby and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon had publicly called last week for Abbott to resign in the wake of the Ernst and Young report that found her husband, Shayne Ramsay, subverted conflict of interest rules while he was CEO, in order to award contracts and funding to Atira. 

Ramsay (BC Housing)

“Leadership renewal at Atira will help it move forward in partnership with BC Housing and our government so that appropriate policies and procedures are in place,” Tweeted Kahlon. “We welcome the appointment of a government rep to Atira’s board and look forward to working with them to ensure concerns are addressed.”

That report said that since 2019, Atira’s funding outpaced other agencies, culminating in 2022 when it received $35 million more than the next-highest provider. 

The report also said that Ramsay modified meeting minutes and routinely deleted text messages, despite explicit instructions from the Office of the Comptroller General to preserve records.  

The Squamish Nation-owned Nch’kay Development said Friday that Ramsay was no longer the executive vice-president. He had joined the company, behind the Senakw towers development near the Burrard Bridge, after announcing his retirement from BC Housing. 

Abbott was in her second three-year term as a director of CMHC, which is loaning $1.4 billion to Senakw. 

A statement from the Office of the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion said the CMHC board is not involved in awarding national housing strategy funding, but it was reviewing Atira nonetheless. 

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Bob Mackin A week after the release of

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For the week of May 14, 2023:

The story of how Canadian technology changed the world of telecommunications has made it to the silver screen.

Blackberry is based on the book, “Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry,” by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff.

Jacquie McNish

Bob Mackin’s guest on thePodcast this week is Jacquie McNish, the former Wall Street Journal and Globe and Mail reporter. 

Blackberry was sold as a status symbol, McNish said, “like jewelry for businesspeople.”

“Within a couple of years after launching, they controlled the smartphone market,” McNish said. “They had, at their high, about 20% of the global smart smartphone market, and 50% of the North American smartphone market in a couple of years. To put the significance of that into context, it took the television 50 years to penetrate more than 50% of the North American market. This happened in a couple of years. This is all about the speed with which technology was changing our lives, and the first big iteration of this was the Blackberry.”

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

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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thePodcast: How Canada's Blackberry had the world in its hands
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For the week of May 14, 2023:

Business, News

Bob Mackin

The former CEO of BC Housing is gone from the Squamish Nation company involved in building rental towers around the Burrard Bridge, just four days after a provincial government report found Shayne Ramsay broke conflict of interest rules. 

Ramsay announced his retirement from BC Housing after 22 years last August but resurfaced in September with Nch’kay Development Corporation as its executive vice-president. After the Ernst and Young forensic audit report was released May 8, the Squamish Nation referred queries to Nch’kay, which did not respond until 12:29 p.m. May 11 with a nine-word email: “Shayne Ramsey [sic] is no longer with Nch’ḵay̓ Development Corporation.”

Ramsay (BC Housing)

Ramsay’s bio has also disappeared from the Nch’kay website. Nch’kay did not immediately reveal whether Ramsay had resigned or been fired. The Nch’kay board is chaired by former NDP leader Joy MacPhail. 

The damning report for the Office of the Comptroller General found Ramsay subverted conflict of interest rules and shifted contracts and funding to his wife, Atira Women’s Resource Society CEO Janice Abbott, without a competitive process. Ramsay had agreed in-writing in 2010 to a conflict of interest protocol to manage the business side of his relationship with Abbott. 

Abbott is also in her second three-year term on the board of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which gave a $1.4 billion loan last September to Senakw. 

A statement from the Office of the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion said the CMHC board is not involved in awarding national housing strategy funding. 

“However, as a precautionary measure, Minister [Ahmed] Hussen has already directed CMHC to review Atira. Minister Hussen will also be asking the chair of the CMHC board of directors to look into this to ensure all rules were followed by CMHC board members at all times.”

Atira communications director Caithlin Scarpelli has not responded to repeated queries. Premier David Eby and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon have publicly called for Atira to replace Abbott. However, a statement released late Monday night by the Atira board of directors said it “remains confident that its CEO and senior management will guide the organization through these challenges and make required improvements to Atira’s operations and administration.”

Since 2019, Atira’s funding outpaced other agencies, culminating in 2022 when it received $35 million more than the next-highest provider. 

“BC Housing’s financial reviews of Atira have been substantially delayed,” the Ernst and Young report said. “The most recently completed financial review was for fiscal year 2020, which was finalized in August 2022.”

The report also said that Ramsay modified meeting minutes and routinely deleted text messages, despite explicit instructions from the Office of the Comptroller General to preserve records.  

Meanwhile, Atira announced May 11 that it had returned $1.9 million in surplus funds from 2020 and 2021 to BC Housing on Thursday. 

It struck a task force involving board chair Elva Kim and chairs of finance and governance committees, to review of policies and practices. “Discussions are underway toward the appointment of the independent review team,” said the Atira statement. 

The statement from Atira said it takes the report “with the utmost seriousness” and is open to the idea of a provincial government representative on its board. 

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Bob Mackin The former CEO of BC Housing

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