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Ex-Surrey City Manager Vince Lalonde (Surrey)

Bob Mackin

The biggest personnel move during a time of turmoil at Surrey City Hall was announced Aug. 14, with the sudden retirement of city manager Vince Lalonde.

The announcement came after a weekend of social media chatter that Lalonde had been replaced by Rob Costanzo, the general manager of corporate services. Lalonde’s name had remained on the website throughout the weekend and Mayor Brenda Locke did not respond to a text message. 

According to last year’s statement of financial information, Lalonde was the highest-paid employee at city hall with more than $465,000 in salary and benefits plus $11,652.26 in expenses.

Almost an hour before Surrey city hall’s news release, a reporter asked the receptionist in Lalonde’s office whether it was true that he had departed. 

“He is off on vacation till September the fifth,” she answered.

Lalonde had a 26-year career at Surrey City Hall, including as general manager of engineering. He had been city manager for the past nine years, but half of that was consumed by an overarching controversy: the establishment of the Surrey Police Service to replace the Surrey RCMP detachment under ex-Mayor Doug McCallum and Locke’s winning campaign promise to close the SPS and keep the RCMP. 

Last month, Solicitor General Mike Farnworth directed Locke to carry on with the SPS and phase out the RCMP, a process that could take another three years.

The announcement about Lalonde’s departure came in the wake of Aug. 10’s closed door city council meeting. A source close to the mayor’s office, who is not authorized to speak on the record, said Lalonde’s employment status was on the agenda. Council appointed Costanzo to be acting city manager. 

In the news release, Lalonde said “the decision has not been an easy one,” but he was filled with pride over the achievements of city staff during his tenure. Locke thanked Lalonde for his leadership, which helped bring Surrey through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Vince’s legacy will be felt for a very long time and I wish him only the best in this next chapter of life,” said Locke’s quote in the news release. 

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[caption id="attachment_13480" align="alignright" width="317"] Ex-Surrey City Manager

Business, News

Bob Mackin

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry was evasive when asked whether Canada should follow the U.K. and call a national inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

But she thinks “we need to move on” from B.C.’s 2021 heat dome disaster that killed 619.

Dr. Lyne Filiatrault (PoP BC/YouTube)

The BMJ, one of the world’s leading medical periodicals, published a special edition in July critical of Canada’s federal and provincial response to the pandemic, which has resulted in the deaths of at least 52,750 people. BMJ noted that Canada’s 1,372 per million death rate exceeded the global average 855 per million, despite universal healthcare and a high vaccination rate.   

“An independent, national inquiry is needed to review Canada’s COVID-19 response, draw lessons, and ensure accountability for the past and future pandemic preparedness,” said the BMJ.

“I don’t have an opinion on whether we need a national inquiry, I think there’s pros and cons to it,” Henry said during an Aug. 10 news conference about ongoing wildfires and the upcoming heat wave. “I think that it’s very important for us to record what we went through, to understand the lessons from it and to really look at how do we have more robust, resilient communities.”

Lyne Filiatrault, a retired emergency room doctor and co-founder of the Protect our Province B.C. (PoP BC) coalition, is not optimistic Canadians will get the inquiry they deserve. 

“The whole pandemic has been a political response and so no political party wants an inquiry, because it would be an inquiry into how they mismanaged the pandemic,” Filiatrault said, pointing to snap B.C. and federal elections in fall 2020 and 2021, respectively. 

Last December, the B.C. NDP government released the results of what Filiatrault called a “sham” review. The authors, a trio of ex-senior civil servants, were not allowed to analyze Henry’s decision-making. Previously, Henry and her medical health officer subordinates did not participate when seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie reviewed the toll on long-term care homes in 2021. 

Filiatrault said Henry “has an inability to be accountable and an inability to learn.”

“If you look at the SARS commission of 2003, where she was intimately involved in the Toronto response, she learned nothing from that,” Filiatrault said. 

Henry was the associate medical officer of health for Toronto. Some of her testimony to the Ontario legislature’s Justice Policy Committee was included in the SARS inquiry report by Ontario judge Archie Campbell. 

“I think one of the things we learn over and over again in a crisis is that you can never do just enough,” Henry told the committee. “If you stop the outbreak, you’ve done way too much and you overreacted; if you don’t stop the outbreak, you clearly didn’t do enough.”

More than two years ago, just before the publication of her book about the early days of the pandemic, Henry admitted she was preparing for various public reviews of her work. 

VCH chair Penny Ballem (left), Dr. Bonnie Henry and Minister Adrian Dix in July 2020 (BC Gov)

“I think there’s going to be lots of time — I’ve said this before many times — lots of time for the recriminations, the class action lawsuits, and the public inquiries,” Henry quipped on a Feb. 10, 2021 web conference. 

As for the June 25-July 1, 2021, heat dome, Henry did not call an emergency news conference or issue any emergency orders. She only signed-off on a heat warning bulletin from Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health late in the afternoon on June 25, despite meteorologists warning since the previous weekend that a record heat wave was incoming. That bulletin was sent to media outlets after 5:30 p.m.

Ambulance paramedics and emergency room doctors and nurses were swamped with patients during and after the first weekend of summer. It was the biggest heat wave in the region since 2009 and most-severe solstice-week heat wave since 1925.

Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe’s June 2022 report found most victims were elderly, low-income, suffering a chronic disease and living alone without any cooling device, such as a fan or air conditioner.

“It’s unusual in British Columbia, in particular, for us to have been concerned about heat until we had that extreme event and tragic event in 2021, so we need to move on from that,” Henry said. “One of the things that we have done, is we have a very coordinated heat response committee that has been meeting regularly, we’ve been meeting several times this week. So that we have, everybody has, the information they need in the community.”

Said Filiatrault: “The 619 deaths that we had back in 2021, it’s shameful, completely shameful, completely unprepared, and again, showed that this government, part of the problem with the response is always reactive, never proactive. So I’m glad now they’re sounding the alarm. But where are the air conditioners for people that need them and can’t afford them?”

In June, timed for the second anniversary, the NDP government announced a $10 million program to distribute 8,000 air conditioners through BC Hydro to poor and infirm people. But fewer than 400 had been installed as of early August. 

Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon said the heat wave over the next week will be strong due to a ridge of high pressure building offshore, but less severe than the 2021 heat dome. 

“That was an extremely strong ridge of high pressure coinciding with some of the longest days of the year,” Sekhon said. “Now we’re about seven weeks removed from solstice. We’re dealing with longer nights and shorter days.”

Sekhon said there may be a multi-day heat warning issued as early as Sunday for Vancouver Island, the South Coast and Southwestern Interior. 

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Bob Mackin Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry

Business, Miscellany, News, Opinion

For the week of Aug. 13, 2023: 

Q: What do these books have in common? 

  • “Two Grooms on a Cake: The Story of America’s First Gay Wedding,”
  • “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters”
  • “Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy”
  • “Asterix the Gladiator”

A: They’re all targets of complaints from Vancouver Public Library visitors on a list of 17 challenges to books and one CD from the start of 2022 to the middle of 2023. 

The culture war between left and right has come to libraries, which are working to uphold the freedom to read, a cornerstone of democracy.

Bob Mackin’s guest on this edition of thePodcast is VPL chief librarian Christina de Castell. 

Plus commentary, the Virtual Nanaimo Bar award to a difference maker, and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. 

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 Aug. 13, 2023:  Q:

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Bob Mackin

A Chinese immigration consultant, who has an office in Vancouver, is in custody in Shanghai, according to various Chinese language media reports. 

Linda Mei He, president of the Wailian Overseas Consulting Group Inc., is accused of illegal foreign exchange trading involving more than RMB100 million or $18.6 million in Canadian funds. The reports say that He, 54, was one of five suspects arrested, but one of two that were detained.

Linda Mei He of the Wailian Group (EY)

Her company, Wailian, services wealthy immigrant investors and claims to be one of China’s largest immigration intermediaries with offices in major Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore and Vancouver. 

A phone call to the number listed for the Vancouver office went to a mobile account that has yet to be formatted. 

Ernst and Young profiled He in 2018 as part of its annual top Asia-Pacific female entrepreneurs. The bio on the EY website said she had more than 500 employees in 30 branches across the Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe and Oceania. 

“To satisfy the evolving demand of Chinese families for overseas investment, Wailian proactively created a ‘service loop,’ covering overseas investment and lifestyles, promoting cultural integration for investors and assisting investors’ children to study abroad, plan their careers and deal with adolescence,” said the EY bio for He.

It also said that He has been involved in several philanthropic ventures, been a keynote speaker at international forums on business and migration and was the only Chinese expert invited to edit the “EB-5 Handbook: A Guide for Investors and Developers.” 

(Wailian Group)

British Columbia’s corporate registry shows an entry for Wailian Overseas Consulting Group Inc. and two related companies: Wailian Education Group Inc. and Wailian Investment Group Inc., which both name Xu Weibiao as a director. A source familiar with Wailian said that Xu, who also uses the English name Sean, is He’s husband and lists a residential address in Arbutus on the corporate registrations.

The company’s website, translated to English, says Wailian “advocates the lifestyle of ‘immigration without emigration’ and does special research on ‘rapid immigration,’ constantly breaking its own fast record.”

“American customers can pass in two days at the earliest,” Wailian boasts. “With the approval of the Immigration Bureau, Australian customers can be approved by the state government as soon as one day, Canadian customers can land in Vancouver as soon as one month, and European customers can get an investment residence visa as soon as five days without going abroad.”

The company website also claimed Wailian has participated in more than 100 investment projects in the U.S. 

Wailian Investment Group has also been active politically in B.C. Elections BC shows a $1,000 donation to the BC Liberals, now known as BC United, dated Nov. 30, 2016, from the company, via principal officer Xin Wang. 

Then-Premier Christy Clark and International Trade Minister Teresa Wat held a “Winter Celebration and Fundraising Gala” at the River Rock Casino show theatre in Richmond on Nov. 26, 2016. Clark and Wat met during the same week with visiting executives from China Poly Group, one of China’s biggest state-owned conglomerates. 

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FIFA demands a lot from its landlord. 

Seattle’s Lumen Field and Vancouver’s B.C. Place Stadium were announced as sites of the 2026 World Cup on the same day in June 2022, but the cities have totally different approaches to transparency. Unlike Vancouver, Seattle city council released copies on Aug. 8 of the agreements to be among the 16 cities hosting the 48-nation tournament in less than three years.

Lumen Field, home of the Sounders (Sounders)

The stadium use contract for the home of the Seahawks and Sounders is officially between the U.S. Soccer Federation and First and Goal Inc., the Washington Public Stadium Authority’s private leaseholder. It gives FIFA full control of what goes on inside and outside the building from 30 days before the first match to seven days after the last. But infrastructure for food, beverage, hospitality, media, ticketing and technology may show up well before and remain well after that period. 

“The stadium authority shall make available, at no costs… all relevant areas and/or facilities at the stadium for any such set-up, installation and preparation work to be done at the stadium as of three months prior to the day of the opening match until two months after the day of completion of the last match staged at the stadium,” the agreement states. 

FIFA also has the “non-exclusive right to have free and unrestricted access to visit and inspect the stadium” at no cost, at any time.

The stadium shall be provided to FIFA free and clear of any advertising, merchandising and brand recognition and it will not be known as Lumen Field when the tournament kicks off. FIFA has the power to temporarily rename the stadium, to remove any reference to the naming rights sponsor, owner or user of the stadium.

There must be two independent sources of power supply and an emergency power system so that “power failure shall not lead to the cancellation or postponement of a match.” 

FIFA will decide on temporary overlay infrastructure and provide FIFA delegation members, commercial affiliates, media rights licensees, the hospitality rights holder, media representatives and service providers use of and access to the stadium during the exclusivity period. The stadium authority must secure insurance coverage no later than two years prior to the opening match and pay all insurance costs.

Lumen Field, has an official maximum capacity of 68,250, according to the agreement, and exceeds the 60,000-seat minimum to host a semi-final match, should FIFA decide to hold one there. A minimum 5% or 2,250 seats is the quota for hospitality seating, whichever is greater. 

There is a deadline of mid-2025 for any construction and renovations, to be paid by the stadium. Lumen Field’s to-do list includes lighting and heating/ventilating/air conditioning upgrades, improvements to concession stands, removal of rows containing a total 800 seats in the corners of the lower tier to accommodate a bigger, temporary natural grass pitch over the existing artificial turf.

FIFA’s 2026 World Cup logo for Vancouver (FIFA)

The contract states the pitch area must be no less than 125 metres by 85 metres and the field of play no less than 105 metres by 68 metres.

Seattle’s stadium contract includes a clause that set June 30, 2023 as the deadline for a final version of hosting requirements.

An appendix about stadium rent says the basic cost, per match day, is only US$20,313. But a slew of additional labour costs pushes the total over US$1.27 million, including security and safety services (US$853,787); facility management (US$196,151); and cleaning and waste service (US$120,384). FIFA will not bear the cost of electricity or water. 

FIFA has not decided how busy each stadium will be. Seattle’s local organizing committee estimates between three and eight matches are coming to Lumen Field. Vancouver was expecting to equally split with Toronto the 10 originally allotted for Canada. In March, FIFA expanded the tournament from 80 to 104 matches over 39 days.

Very little has been released by officials in B.C. 

In January, the province shifted responsibility to City of Vancouver for $230 million in costs and gave it temporary authority to charge a 2.5% accommodation tax through 2030. The province said Vancouver city hall was planning to spend $73 million for security and safety, $40 million for venues, $20 million for the FIFA Fan Festival, $15 million for a host city office, administration and volunteer service, $14 million for traffic and stadium zone management, $8 million for decoration and brand protection, and $8 million for insurance. The budget includes a $52 million contingency. 

The NDP government has not released a budget for construction and renovation at B.C. Place Stadium, except to confirm that it will need a temporary natural grass pitch. 

Multiple sources confirmed that B.C. Place officials are exploring interior renovations to expand the number of VIP suites on level three and possibly build a new broadcast facility inside the stadium.

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FIFA Seattle Agreement by Bob Mackin on Scribd

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Bob Mackin FIFA demands a lot from its

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Bob Mackin 

More than two thirds of the diplomats at the People’s Republic of China consulate in Vancouver have gone since 2021.

According to the July update to the Global Affairs Canada-published (GAC) “Diplomatic, Consulate and Other Representatives in Canada,” China has 22 consular officials in Vancouver, the same number as the April 2021 edition. However, 15 exited over the past two years.

Wilson Miao (left), Parm Bains, Tong Xiaoling, Lam Siu Ngai, Taleeb Noormohamed and Michael Lee in January 2022. (PRC consulate)

The most-prominent departure was Consul General Tong Xiaoling, who left her post at the end of July 2022, just shy of her fifth anniversary in Vancouver. Tong was the subject of stories in the Globe and Mail earlier this year, based on leaks from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. CSIS alleged that Tong interfered in the 2021 federal election in favour of Liberal candidates and in the lead-up to Vancouver’s 2022 civic election to defeat pro-Taiwan Mayor Kennedy Stewart. 

Yang Shu succeeded Tong last September, however Vice-Consul General Wang Chengjun remained. Deputy Trade Commissioner Liu Wei’s name appears in the April 2021 directory, but was replaced by Yang Fan in the March 2023 version. Chen Qingjie is also a notable addition to the post-2021 list. Chen, who is officially ranked consul, is the director for the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, which runs activities for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) United Front propaganda and influence program. 

The Chinese consulate did not respond to a query about its turnover and the relatively high number of diplomats that represent Beijing in Vancouver. 

“Diplomatic life is one of continual change – of arrivals and departures, greetings and farewells,” wrote Canada’s Chief Protocol Officer Stewart Wheeler in the directory’s introduction. “In Canada, approximately 200 members of the diplomatic corps depart every month, with another 200 arriving to join our diplomatic community.”

The Chinese consulate’s economic, trade and cultural offices are based in a $19.87 million-assessed, walled compound on Granville Street south of 16th Avenue in Shaughnessy. The visa office is in a tower at West Broadway and Oak, while the education section is located in a $4.5 million house across the street from Prince of Wales secondary school in Arbutus. 

An analysis of the directory shows that China’s 22 consular officials in Vancouver outnumber the 16 at the United States’ consulate, while Japan has nine and India eight envoys. The directory does not list support staff or contractors.

The U.S. has 80 diplomatic personnel at its embassy in Ottawa and another 61 spread across Canada in consulates at Halifax, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver for a total of 141. 

China is close behind with 135 diplomatic officials, including 56 at the Ottawa embassy and 79 in the Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver consulates. 

By comparison, Japan has 63 diplomats across Canada and U.K. and India 33 each. Since 1970, Canada has only officially recognized Mainland China. It does maintain informal relations with Taiwan, which operates the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver to provide consular and trade promotion services. TECO has 37 staff in Canada, according to the directory.

Consul-General Yang Shu (left) with MP Parm Bains and Coun. Alexa Loo in November 2022. (Phoenix TV)

During February testimony at a Procedure and House Affairs Committee hearing, a former diplomat in Canada’s Beijing embassy and a senior fellow with a think-tank called the size of China’s contingent unusual when compared with other major nations, such as India, Japan and U.K.

“It does make me wonder if a significant proportion of China’s exceptionally large diplomatic cohort here are engaged primarily in the United Front work, monitoring agents involved in the influence-peddling, disinformation and coercion,” said Charles Burton of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. “I would imagine that CSIS would know the answer to that question, and if so, I do hope that CSIS will be prepared to share that information about the United Front Work mandate of the Chinese diplomats here in Canada with this committee.”

Burton said the CCP’s United Front Work Department is a massive bureaucracy, inside and outside China, that secretly develops and implements “a strategy of carefully crafted deception about the true intentions” of the CCP, with the goal of suppressing voices critical of China’s domestic and international policy. 

On Aug. 9, GAC announced that its rapid response mechanism (RRM) detected an information operation to spread false or misleading narratives on WeChat about Conservative MP Michael Chong between May 4 and 13. 

“One third of the network included known state-media outlets and accounts that are likely linked to China’s state apparatus but whose linkages may be opaque,” the announcement said. 

On May 8, foreign minister Melanie Joly expelled Zhao Wei from China’s Toronto consulate for intimidating Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong. 

During the same period, staff at then-Fisheries and Oceans Minister Joyce Murray’s Vancouver-Quadra constituency office discontinued using the Liberal MP’s WeChat channel. They have not disclosed the reason, despite repeated requests from a reporter. 

“RRM Canada specialists performed monitoring activities, such as keyword searches specifically related to the by-elections,” said GAC spokesperson Genevieve Tremblay. “No information was seen on Mrs. Murray or on any other MPs, with the exception of Mr. Chong.”

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Nine years since the speaker of B.C.’s Legislative Assembly apologized for charging taxpayers when her husband accompanied her to South Africa, the two Liberal speakers in Ottawa dinged Canadians almost $31,000 to bring their wives to Australia.

Canadian Speakers Anthony Rota and George Frey in Australia (CSPOC/Twitter)

Then-Senate Speaker George Furey and Karen Furey and House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota and Chantal Piche Rota traveled to the Jan. 3-6 Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth in capital city Canberra. They were half of Canada’s eight-person delegation that spent more than $150,000. 

Furey was named to the Senate in 1999 by Prime Minister Jean Chretien and became speaker in the upper chamber in 2015 after Justin Trudeau led the Liberals back to power with a majority. Rota Is the Liberal MP for Nipissing-Timiskaming who became House of Commons speaker after the 2019 election.

“After eight years of Trudeau, it is clear he and his Liberal government never miss an opportunity to jet-set around the world to visit global elites and stay in fancy hotels,” said a statement from Michael Barrett, the Conservative shadow minister for Ethics and Accountable Government. ”Canadians are struggling to put food on the table or afford a place to live, but the Liberals continue to add to the inflationary fires with their wining and dining on the tax payer’s dime.” 

George Furey spent $23,234.13 and Karen Furey $19,441.98 on airfare, accommodation and daily allowances, more than Anthony Rota’s $15,246.24 and Chantal Piche Rota’s $11,398.45. The Fureys charged taxpayers $17,972.92 each for airfare alone. 

Karen Furey received $1,469.19 in daily allowances and Chantal Piche Rota $1,387.63. 

“When the speaker’s spouse accompanies him on an international trip to represent Canada, her travel and accommodation expenses are paid by the House of Commons, and she receives a per diem because she is considered a member of the delegation,” said Amelie Crosson, director of communications in Speaker Rota’s office.

“For international trips such as these, the House of Commons only pays travel expenses for the spouse of the speaker and does not pay travel expenses for the spouse of any other member of parliament or employee.”

The expensive junket, originally reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, also included ex-Clerk Charles Robert, who was listed as “parliamentary staff” and charged taxpayers $21,170.42.

(Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth 2023

Robert took leave of absence in mid-November but quit in early December after denying allegations of misconduct — including showing pro-Liberal bias.

The entourage also included Senate Clerk Gerald Lafreniere ($19,997.85), Furey’s Chief of Staff Vince MacNeil ($19,130.29) and Rota’s Chief of Staff Alexandre Mattard-Michaud ($20,280.16). 

Rota chairs the Board of Internal Economy, which sets spending rules in the House of Commons. Liberals hold the five-vote majority on the nine-member committee, which also includes two Conservatives and one each from the NDP and Bloc Québécois.

“Instead of controlling the costs of government which drive up the cost of everything else, this out of touch Liberal government is taxing Canadians more in order to spend more on itself,” Barrett said. “Canadians are out of money and this Liberal government is out of touch.”

In August 2013, then-BC Liberal Speaker Linda Reid charged taxpayers for her husband’s business class airfare, meals and hotel when she attended a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference in South Africa. In March 2014, when Reid was exposed, she said she reimbursed the public treasury for her husband’s $5,528.16 airfare. She did not respond to repeated requests from a reporter to see the proof of repayment. The B.C. Legislative Assembly remains exempt from B.C.’s freedom of information law, despite NDP Deputy Premier Mike Farnworth’s 2019 promise. 

One of Reid’s successors, Darryl Plecas, became speaker in 2017 and blew the whistle on lavish spending by globetrotting, BC Liberal-appointed Clerk Craig James. In 2017, James racked-up $51,649 in expenses on top of his $347,090 salary.

One of Plecas’s legacies is the the Legislative Assembly Management Committee’s 2019 policy on employee travel, that includes an explicit ban on reimbursement for costs incurred by a spouse. 

Plecas called in the RCMP after finding waste and corruption, including James’s unnecessary overseas trips, purchases of watches and gifts, failure to report and pay duties to Canada customs, the purchase of a wood splitter kept at James’s house and a $257,000 retirement allowance James decided to give himself in 2012. James and Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz were suspended in November 2018 and both retired in disgrace the following year. 

In May 2022, a B.C. Supreme Court judge found James guilty of fraud and breach of trust. He was sentenced to a month of house arrest and two months of curfew for spending $1,886.72 of taxpayers’ money on custom shirts and suits for personal use. 

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Quest University’s land and buildings may soon have a new owner, which could mean the Squamish institution that suspended classes in April will reopen. 

The 55-acre property was listed for sale by NAI Commercial in late February, a day after the private university’s board announced the end of instruction. The land was assessed last year at $15.08 million and buildings $54.17 million, but real estate agent Marshall MacLeod said the asking price was only available for bidders who signed a non-disclosure agreement. The offering brochure has since disappeared from the NAI website and MacLeod has not responded for comment. 

An executive with the seller did not deny a deal is near.

Quest University Canada in Squamish, B.C. (Quest)

“We hope for the best resolution for the future of Quest and the community of Squamish,” said Charles Lee, director, strategy and business development for Primacorp Ventures Inc., said by email. “We are pleased that the parties are working together and discussions are moving forward.”

Primacorp paid $43 million for the land and university buildings to rescue Quest out of court protection from creditors in December 2020. Quest sought protection in January of that year after its biggest lender, the Vanchorverve Foundation, demanded repayment of $23.4 million. Vanchorverve is one of dozens of charities registered by Vancouver lawyer Blake Bromley.

Could the private university become public? 

Capilano University president Paul Dangerfield and vice-president of strategic planning Toran Savjord did not respond to phone and email queries about whether it offered to buy the land and buildings. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills initially referred a reporter to Quest. Pressed to answer whether taxpayers money could be invested to resurrect Quest, Lisanne Bowness refused to answer. 

“We have no further comment at this time,” Bowness said. “We hope to be able to share more information in the coming days.”

There could be a complication. Another charity set-up by Bromley, the Eden Glen Foundation, has lost its Canadian Revenue Agency charitable registration, as per the Canada Gazette on July 29. 

In a June 15 letter, published on researcher Vivian Krause’s blog, director general of charities Sharmila Khare wrote that the foundation gifted almost $5 million to a numbered company, a non-qualified donee, when it sold one of Quest’s original land parcels in April 2018. 

“When the foundation sold the beneficial ownership interest of Lot 12 to the corporation for $2 million (that is, $4.745 million less than the property’s fair market value), it provided an unacceptable private benefit to the corporation,” said Khare’s letter. 

Instead of assessing sanctions, CRA chose to revoke Eden Glen’s registration due to severity of the non-compliance.

Primacorp bills itself as Canada’s largest provider of private post-secondary education with 15,000 annual enrolments, including the CDI College chain, and has subsidiaries in seniors’ housing, commercial real estate and self storage in Canada and the U.S. 

In July 2021, Chung reportedly paid $42 million for the Belmont Estate, the 22,000 square foot Northwest Point Grey mansion formerly owned by philanthropists Joe and Rosalie Segal.

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Seattle city council did what Vancouver city hall and the B.C. Pavilion Corporation’s freedom of information offices have refused to do.

Release the host city contract for FIFA World Cup 26.

Lumen Field, home of the Sounders (Sounders)

On Aug. 8, Seattle civic politicians formally delegated responsibilities to the Seattle International Soccer Local Organizing Committee. They also published the agreements and annexes that define the relationship between the home of the Sounders and soccer’s Switzerland-based governing body, which is staging the 48-nation tournament in less than three years in Seattle, Vancouver and 14 other cities in U.S., Canada, and Mexico.  

Unless otherwise explicitly stated, the host city authority shall be responsible to bear all costs and expenses incurred to fulfil hosting obligations and waive any and all claims of liability against FIFA, its officials and related entities. 

The main contract, which is likely similar to Vancouver’s, states the host city authority is responsible for supporting the government to provide safety, security, fire protection and medical services at no cost to FIFA, plus free public transportation to ticketholders on match days and to anyone accredited by FIFA throughout the competition period. The host city shall provide police escorts to the FIFA president, heads of state, international dignitaries, FIFA officials, guests, teams and match officials, and close any roads and restrict access to certain vehicle lanes as necessary. It must also provide space for parking and event transport vehicle depots. 

The contract says Seattle must provide sufficient back-up power and cleaning services around the stadium and beautify the city during the competition period. FIFA will determine a “controlled area” adjacent to Lumen Field’s outer perimeter, where “certain commercial and other activities are prohibited on match days and the days prior to match days.”

Seattle will remove or fully cover any advertisement or commercial identification and not permit any activities within the controlled area, including in any buildings and spaces within, unless approved by FIFA. 

“The controlled area must be subject to strict traffic restrictions in order to ensure regulated and controlled access and circulation only, including the establishment of access permission systems and its enforcement through access permit controls by the relevant public authorities,” the contract states.

Seattle is responsible for installing, maintaining and dismantling any decorative material for the venue dressing program at any FIFA-selected location and is liable for any damages. It must also secure and provide to FIFA any billboards, transit shelters and other outdoor advertising space in the area for a period beginning two weeks before the tournament and through 48 hours after the last match staged in the host city.

Inside B.C. Place Stadium (Mackin)

FIFA requires that no other major sporting event be held in the host city seven days prior to the opening match. The prohibition lasts until seven days after the final match in each city. There can also be no other substantial cultural events, such as concerts, other than those approved by FIFA, between one day prior to a match day and one day after a match day. 

The host city authority shall support measures for “preferred treatment procedures” for entry and exit of teams, officials, FIFA delegations, VIPs and VVIPs, “including special immigration, customs and security procedures.”

The contract includes clauses for human rights, labour standards, anti-corruption and environmental protection. The latter is meant to minimize “any adverse impact on the natural environment.” But, the host city agreement is explicitly “to be governed by, and interpreted in accordance with, the laws of Switzerland.”

The host city authority agrees that any taxes, duties and levies imposed directly or indirectly on FIFA and related parties due to the competition shall be borne by the host city authority. “The parties agree that they shall cooperate in good faith to minimize non-refundable taxes, duties and levies in line with applicable legislation and practice.”

But, with the risks, come rewards. Not just the promise of hundreds of thousands of tourists spending money in hotels, restaurants and bars in June 2026. Specifically, front of the line access to tournament tickets for city insiders.

FIFA’s 2026 World Cup logo (FIFA)

Seattle city council also released a pamphlet titled “FIFA World Cup 2026: Host Committees Rights and Assets,” which touts the merits of being a host city: Direct access to FIFA audiences, fundraising support and host city promotion via global broadcast exposure, advertising and merchandise.

The pamphlet states that FIFA will provide purchase access, prior to general public sale, to 1.5% of the available purchase capacity of the stadium, per hosted match. “These tickets can be used to assist fundraising efforts and included as part of a host city supporter package.”

That would translate to more than 1,000 tickets per game at 67,000-seat Lumen Field, but less at B.C. Place Stadium, where capacity is 54,500. 

FIFA also provides host cities with 175 to 250 complimentary VIP tickets at each match the city hosts. Host cities are also eligible for a small amount of tickets at matches they don’t host, such as four to the tournament opener, four to each semifinal and four to the final. Those tickets are not available for public purchase and cannot be resold.

B.C. was not included in the successful three-nation, 2018 bid to FIFA. Then-Premier John Horgan changed his mind in 2021 when Montreal dropped out due to rising costs. More than six months after Vancouver was named a host city, the province shifted responsibility for $230 million in costs to Vancouver city hall and decreed it could charge a temporary 2.5% accommodation tax through 2030.

In January, the province said Vancouver city hall was planning to spend $73 million for security and safety, $40 million for venues, $20 million for the FIFA Fan Festival, $15 million for a host city office, administration and volunteer service, $14 million for traffic and stadium zone management, $8 million for decoration and brand protection, and $8 million for insurance. The budget includes a $52 million contingency. 

PavCo has not revealed its budget for upgrades to B.C. Place Stadium, including two temporary natural grass pitches. 

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FIFA Seattle Agreement by Bob Mackin on Scribd

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With less than a month until schools reopen, a coalition of doctors, nurses, health scientists, and advocates for pupils and teachers is warning the NDP government about a repeat of the so-called “tripledemic.”

Dr. Lyne Filiatrault (PoP BC/YouTube)

“In short, we are on track for a rinse-and-repeat of last year,” Protect Our Province B.C. (PoP BC) said in an Aug. 8 open letter to Premier David Eby, Health Minister Adrian Dix and Education Minister Rachna Singh. 

Last August, PoP BC sounded the alarm about a coming triple whammy of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and another COVID-19 wave. Eventually, six children in the province died and emergency rooms were jammed throughout winter. 

“Currently in B.C., we have no mask protections in schools, no proof of indoor air quality in schools including monitoring of carbon dioxide levels during full class occupancy, no [high efficiency particulate air] filtration units available in most classrooms, almost non-existent [nucleic acid] testing, and only the occasional provincial public health report (and those reports we do see are of limited value),” the open letter said.

PoP BC fears that parents will send infected children to school and make things worse, leading to mass-absenteeism and another round of emergency room delays. They point to a new “summer wave“ of COVID-19 in parts of the U.S., new variants spreading in Japan and the U.K., as well as the bellwether rise in respiratory illness during southern hemisphere winter. 

POP BC proposed a five-point plan: improved ventilation and air cleaning; a return of mask mandates in schools; admitting COVID-19 in airborne and can hang in the air for hours, like cigarette smoke; dipping into the federal stockpile of 39 million rapid antigen tests and distributing them widely; and vaccination children and families against COVID-19 and influenza early.

“You as leaders have a choice: either do nothing or decide to protect B.C. children, their educators and their families. Schools are not islands. Viruses walk in and then viruses walk out to infect families and communities. Studies show that schools are still the major source for COVID-19 transmission with 70% of COVID-19 infections transmitted to households from children.”

New versions of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines await federal approval and could be ready by the end of September.

More than a year-and-a-half ago, the B.C. government pivoted to a hybrid immunity theory, relying on a combination of high vaccination rates and mass-infections of less-lethal mutations of the virus. When the B.C. government discontinued its weekday-updated COVID-19 dashboard in April, it had counted almost 400,000 confirmed cases and 5,430 deaths since the pandemic began in early 2020. 

More than 50 signatories to the open letter include the Safe Schools Coalition B.C., B.C. School Covid Tracker, Do No Harm B.C., Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council’s health and safety committee and the Canadian Aerosol Transmission Coalition.

PoP BC co-founder Lyne Filiatrault is a retired emergency room doctor who, in March 2003, helped identify and contain the first case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) at Vancouver General Hospital in a patient who had returned from Hong Kong. 

The 2007 report of Ontario’s SARS judicial public inquiry credited “robust worker safety and infection control culture, with better systemic preparedness” in B.C. and urged public health to adopt a precautionary principle across the system. 

“Safety comes first,” concluded the final report. “That reasonable efforts to reduce risk need not await scientific proof.”

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