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Bob Mackin 

Officials from the Canadian Olympic Committee and Four Host First Nations weren’t willing to admit Oct. 28 that their bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics was over, despite the NDP government’s refusal to underwrite another Olympics.

Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith (left) and Four Host First Nations executive director Tewanee Joseph (second from left) at the Dec. 10 bid exploration announcement (Twitter/Tewanee Joseph)

But, hours later, the office of Lisa Beare, the Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Minister, reiterated the decision that was announced the previous day.

During a news conference at the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame, where the bid exploration was originally announced last December, Squamish Nation council spokesman Wilson Williams said “our canoe is stalled for now.” Musqueam Indian Band Chief Wayne Sparrow hoped the NDP would flip-flop like it did with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup. After not agreeing to bid demands in 2018, the NDP government reopened negotiations in 2021 and B.C. Place was named a host venue last June.

Unlike FIFA, the International Olympic Committee doesn’t have the luxury of time. It wants to begin negotiations with bidders as soon as December and decide the 2030 host by next October. It originally wanted to name the host in May 2023. Salt Lake City and Sapporo, Japan remain in line. 

A statement attributed to Beare said the COC gave a November deadline for a funding decision. Cabinet decided it could not afford to approve spending time or money on another Games, “while there are many competing priorities and challenges to be addressed.”

“Cabinet reviewed the proposal carefully with these timelines in mind before coming to a decision to decline our support for the 2030 bid, given the significant investment and risks involved,” said Beare’s statement. “I met with the host First Nations and the COC virtually on Monday to relay that decision on behalf of cabinet as I am the Minister responsible for sport. I understand the Nations are disappointed in this process and for that, I am truly sorry.”

COC president Tricia Smith said the bid team wanted one more chance to make its case to provincial and federal officials. 

“That’s all we’re asking for, let’s get in a room,” Smith said. “If it doesn’t make sense at the end of the day. I’m with everyone at the table here, it doesn’t make sense and we don’t go forward.”

She said the reconciliation-themed bid relied on revitalizing venues from the 2010 Games, except for building new athletes villages which could have provided much-needed social housing stock.

Tourism Minister Lisa Beare (BC Gov)

Williams didn’t dismiss the possibility of regrouping to bid for the 2034 Games, but Smith said there would be more competition. Germany, IOC president Thomas Bach’s home country, has already announced it is exploring a bid for winter 2034 or summer 2036. While Salt Lake City is in the running for 2030, it had expressed preference for 2034 due to Los Angeles already hosting the 2028 Summer Games.

Beare’s predecessor, Melanie Mark, had ordered a business case from the COC and Four Host First Nations in mid-August. A government source who reviewed the most-recent version said it fell short of expectations because many questions were unanswered and it suggested municipalities shoulder more costs than originally contemplated.

There were also differences between what the feasibility team made public in July with what was on the desk of politicians and their staff earlier this month. 

For instance, the July estimates said the 2030 Games would cost taxpayers $1 billion to $1.2 billion to help pay for venues, villages and security. The organizing committee, funded by broadcast rights payments, sponsorship, ticket sales and merchandise, would be responsible for $2.5 billion to $2.8 billion to plan and stage the Games.  

The latest version of the budget, however, said $1.309 billion would be needed from taxpayers plus $384 million for contingencies, for a total of nearly $1.7 billion in public funding. 

The new budget also included $150 million for legacy endowment funds and $277 million worth of in-kind land contributions from First Nations and municipalities. The grand total: $2.12 billion, which was estimated to be worth $2.715 billion by 2030. 

The federal government was asked to pay a 50% share of the public-funded portion and B.C. 35% plus a guarantee to cover any deficits. Federal sport minister Pascal St-Onge said Thursday that she respected the B.C. decision because an Olympics would require all levels of government to approve.

Snowboarding at Sun Peaks near Kamloops (Sun Peaks Resort)

The COC proposed reusing most of the Vancouver 2010 venues in Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler, with the exception of the Agrodome for curling, Hastings Racecourse for big air skiing and snowboard jumping and Sun Peaks resort near Kamloops for snowboarding and freestyle skiing. The proposal did not attach individual cost estimates for venue upgrades, but included long lists of needed and wanted works. 

The June-released proposal said the Vancouver Olympic Village could be built on MST Development’s Jericho lands or Heather lands. But the latest, unpublished version proposed a third option, the former Liquor Distribution Branch warehouse property on East Broadway near the Rupert SkyTrain Station — just over 4 kilometres from the proposed Olympic Park on the Pacific National Exhibition grounds. 

The latest version of the bid also suggested Whistler’s Olympic Village could be built at the golf club driving range near Whistler Village or at Cheakamus Crossing, near the 2010 athletes’ village. 

The 2010 Games are believed to have cost $8 billion, all-in. The true costs are unknown, because the Auditor General never did a post-Games study, the organizing committee was not subject to the freedom of information law and its board minutes and financial files won’t be open to the public at the City Archives until fall 2025. 

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Bob Mackin  Officials from the Canadian Olympic Committee

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Bob Mackin

The Winter Olympics aren’t returning to British Columbia in 2030, after the NDP government announced Oct. 27 it would not back another multibillion-dollar mega-event, even with many venues left over from Vancouver 2010. 

The International Olympic Committee will choose between 2002 host Salt Lake City and 1972 host Sapporo, Japan next fall, assuming one doesn’t drop out sooner.

B.C. Sport Minister Melanie Mark (BC Gov)

In late June, then-NDP tourism and sport minister Melanie Mark demanded the Canadian Olympic Committee and its First Nations partners provide a mini business case by mid-August for consideration by cabinet. 

Mark warned them not to assume taxpayer support and she indicated there was already a daunting list of socio-economic, geopolitical and environmental challenges facing B.C. She handed the portfolio to predecessor Lisa Beare in September and it was Beare’s job to be the bearer of bad news to the bid team earlier this week.

When the plan was submitted, according to one source, there were still many holes that could not be quickly filled in time to satisfy the bidders’ late November deadline to firm-up government support to be ready for “targeted dialogue” negotiations with the IOC beginning in December. 

What went wrong? 

Timing 

It was simply a bad time for a Games bid, with an ongoing pandemic and shortage of doctors and nurses in a year marked by rising interest rates and inflation. Not to mention the fear of a recession in the new year. 

A public backlash forced Premier John Horgan to scrap his plan to spend nearly $800 million on replacing the aging Royal B.C. Museum with a new Indigenous-themed institution. Horgan is handing the reins to David Eby on Nov. 18, just over a month after angry municipal voters dumped incumbent mayors, including 2030 bid booster Kennedy Stewart in Vancouver. 

Olympic Village site uncertainty 

The bid proposal revealed in June said that First Nations-owned MST Development’s Jericho Lands and the Heather Lands were candidates for athlete accommodation in Vancouver. 

Instead of choosing one or the other, the latest version added the former Liquor Distribution Branch warehouse site in East Vancouver, but suggested an unspecified other site could also fit the bill for an estimated 410 non-market units of varying sizes. 

The proposal suggested the Whistler Golf Club’s driving range and/or Cheakamus Crossing, the site of the 2010 Whistler athletes’ village, for 579 units. 

David Eby and John Horgan (BC Gov/Flickr)

Costs 

The bid sought $2.12 billion from governments in cash and in-kind funding in 2022 dollars, estimated to be worth $2.715 billion by 2030. Half of that from Ottawa and 35% from B.C., which would have doubled as the deficit underwriter — a role that the NDP ultimately rejected.

It also contemplated $1.6 billion in allowances for contingencies and cost escalation. 

“The proposal looks to the municipalities and [First] Nations to contribute land for the villages and in-kind essential municipal services,” said the latest version of the document. 

The budget bundled security with essential services totalling $756 million ($958 million in 2030), with the same low-ball estimates for public funding of venues ($286 million) and villages ($267 million). 

The proposal did not offer a site-by-site cost breakdown, though there is a laundry list of required upgrades attached. 

Governance 

The NDP’s checklist called for explanation of governance for an “Indigenous-led” Olympics.

Just like 2010, the organizing committee would be not-for-profit. This time a 25-member board of directors would include two members from each of the Four Host First Nations — in 2010, there was only one representing all four. Secwepemc, on whose territory Sun Peaks sits, would also get a seat. The federal, B.C., Vancouver and Whistler governments and COC and Canadian Paralympic Committee would get two each, plus a seat reserved for a recent Olympian and a recent Paralympian.

Whither Richmond? 

The showcase urban venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics was the Richmond Olympic Oval. When Burnaby balked at rising costs, Richmond enthusiastically jumped in and also found a way to pay its share by selling neighbouring land condo towers. The Oval is now a multisport community centre with an interactive Olympic museum, often criticized for its reliance on operating subsidies.

Richmond Olympic Oval hosted a temporary anti-doping lab in 2010 (Richmond)

Richmond was not a partner with Vancouver and Whistler in the 2030 bid exploration with the Four Host First Nations. Chief administrative officer Serena Lusk’s letter was included in a package of 100 endorsement letters, but it stands out from others. 

“However, while supportive of the bid effort, Richmond is not considered a partner city,” Lusk wrote. “As a result, our support for the use of the Richmond Olympic Oval is provided within the context that acceptable terms are negotiated and that the City of Richmond will not assume any share of the financial costs, risks or liability that the organizers will incur.”

The proposal did not indicate how much it would cost to retrofit the Oval to bring back long-track speed skating in 2030. The list of upgrades, however, is long. 

Required: Removal and replacement of all hard court and plastic flooring, batting cage, divider curtains, dasher boards and glass; Removal and reinstallation of elevator; Upgrade and replacement of ice plant and HVAC; Replacement of ice resurfacing machines. 

Legacy upgrades: Contribution to the creation of additional meeting space and contribution to the roof replacement capital fund.

Public attitude

Bid team leaders must’ve known they were skiing uphill.

Their proposal includes an appendix with rosy economic forecasts by PwC, the same firm hired to help sell the 2010 Games. 

While PwC’s $5 billion estimate of economic activity before and during 2030 looks nice on paper, how well would it stand up in reality? B.C.’s Auditor General never did an audit of the post-recession 2010 Games, the organizing committee minutes and financial records are hidden until 2025 at the Vancouver Archives and the organizing committee was deliberately incorporated beyond the reach of B.C.’s freedom of information law.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart on Dec. 10 (City of Vancouver)

There was a successful plebiscite in 2003 that played a role in the IOC choosing Vancouver for 2010. But, in 2022, no similar appetite for democracy, owing to the IOC and COC fearing a repeat of 2018, when Calgarians narrowly rejected a 2026 bid.

Third-place Vancouver mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick included a bid plebiscite in her campaign platform after unsuccessfully asking her city council colleagues to put the question on the Oct. 15 ballot.

COC hired Delaney and Associates to gauge feedback from more than 4,500 people who participated in community events, focus groups and an online survey over the summer. Many comments were unflattering. 

For instance, there was a sense of “general skepticism.” Workshop participants felt the draft concept statement for the bid was political and abstract. It was also described as “greenwashing.” 

Another heading read “clarity required” about the meaning of Indigenous-led, including whether First Nations would help finance the event. 

Others were concerned about negative economic impact and misplaced spending priorities. Shouldn’t healthcare, addressing the cost of living and supporting Indigenous communities be at the top of the list? 

Some brought up the “corruption and diminished reputation” of the IOC and feared a repeat of the displacement of people and disruption to daily lives that occurred due to the 2010 Games. 

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Bob Mackin The Winter Olympics aren’t returning to

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Bob Mackin

The Canadian Olympic Committee’s bid to bring another Winter Olympics to Vancouver is over.

Bad actors? Premier John Horgan and Lisa Beare on the Riverdale set in 2019 (BC Gov/Flickr)

The B.C. NDP government announced Oct. 27 that it was declining to support the bid, which was sold as Indigenous-led, because of the COC’s partnership with Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Lil’Wat leaders. 

Federal sport hosting policy states that Ottawa does not underwrite major event deficits, a responsibility left to the host province. Without Victoria acting as guarantor to the International Olympic Committee, the bid is over. 

“I know that the prospect of hosting these Games is exciting to athletes and sports fans. However, the Province has the responsibility to weigh the benefits with the costs and possible risks of the project,” said Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Minister Lisa Beare in a news release. “There are billions of dollars in direct costs, and potential guarantee and indemnity liability risks on this project that could jeopardize our government’s ability to address pressures facing British Columbians right now. Based on careful consideration, the Province is declining to support a bid.”

Federal Sport Minister Pascal St-Onge said the Liberal government respected the local decision, but would look for other ways to fulfill Truth and Reconciliation calls to action.

“For a bid of this kind to go forward, all levels of government need to be in favour,” St-Onge said.

Beare, who replaced Melanie Mark last month, noted the province is already supporting the 2025 Invictus Games and 2026 FIFA World Cup. Mark had demanded a mini business plan in mid-August, including details on whether all the parties in the bid would share costs and risks of such an event. Mark had told COC president Tricia Smith not to assume provincial support. A source has confirmed that what the COC delivered did not answer all of Mark’s questions. 

Smith did not immediately respond for comment, but the COC issued a statement that said the COC feasibility team had been informed earlier this week of the B.C. government decision. 

“We are taking time to process this information today,” the statement said. COC, Canadian Paralympic Committee and Four Host First Nations leaders are expected to respond Friday morning. 

At a Greater Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon, Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow said he was disappointed by the way the province told the Four Host First Nations. He said “it sets us back a couple of steps” and shows “how far we have” to go with reconciliation.

Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith (left) and Four Host First Nations executive director Tewanee Joseph (second from left) at the Dec. 10 bid exploration announcement (Twitter/Tewanee Joseph)

Vancouver International Airport Authority  CEO Tamara Vrooman was also disappointed, saying that she was looking forward to the contribution the Games would have made. 

The decision came less than two weeks after the Vancouver civic election. Both outgoing Mayor Kennedy Stewart and incoming Mayor Ken Sim supported another Games. Third-place finisher Colleen Hardwick of TEAM for a Livable Vancouver promised a plebiscite on the bid. In 2003, a majority of voters supported the 2010 concept. However, the IOC earlier this year told any bidder to avoid a public vote in 2022. Four years ago, Calgary voters rejected a bid for the 2026 Games. 

Hardwick was pleased the provincial government approached the decision in a more-reasonable fashion than her colleagues on city council.

“They did go through a balanced exercise of looking at the pros and cons, didn’t respond just to the boosterism or to the fact that it was the First Nations bid, but rather, what its impact would be overall, and the risks that would be taken and looking at the larger economy,”Hardwick said. “So that was a responsible thing for the provincial government to do. When the city did it, through staff, the electeds overruled it. So this shows to me that the provincial government has taken a much more mature and balanced approach to assessing the opportunity.”

The 2030 bid was originally hatched by former Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong at a February 2020 Greater Vancouver Board of Trade breakfast to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2010 Games. The pandemic delayed the bid exploration until fall 2021, when Stewart, Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton and leaders of the Four Host First Nations announced a memorandum of agreement to explore the bid. The COC came on board in early 2022 and acted as the de facto bid committee and liaison with the International Olympic Committee. 

Salt Lake City, the 2002 host, and Sapporo, Japan, the 1972 host, are also exploring bids. The IOC was expected to take official applications and begin closed-door negotiations later this fall, and require completed bid questionnaires in early 2023, in anticipation of a decision at the annual general meeting in late May 2023. However, that was delayed to September or October 2023. 

The COC estimated Vancouver 2030 would cost $4 billion, including at least $1 billion from taxpayers. It proposed reusing most of the Vancouver 2010 venues in Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler, with the exception of the Agrodome for curling, Hastings Racecourse for big air skiing and snowboard jumping and Sun Peaks resort near Kamloops for snowboarding and freestyle skiing. 

The 2010 Games are believed to have cost $8 billion, all-in. The true costs are unknown, because the Auditor General never did a post-Games study, the organizing committee was not subject to the freedom of information law and its board minutes and financial files won’t be open to the public at the City Archives until fall 2025.

—with files from Kirk LaPointe

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Bob Mackin The Canadian Olympic Committee’s bid to

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Incoming Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver party is already walking back the timing of one of the campaign promises that earned him a record number of votes and his party a majority in the Oct. 15 civic election.

ABC website, post-election: no links to platform, news releases (ABC Vancouver)

During the campaign, ABC promised that “on his first day as mayor, with an ABC majority on council, [Sim] will be requisitioning for the hire of 100 new police officers and 100 mental health nurses.” 

Nov. 7 is Sim’s first scheduled day as mayor, when he will be sworn-in along with the 10 city councillors, seven of whom ran on the ABC Vancouver ticket. Following the ceremony, city council’s inaugural meeting. 

But the first step in tackling the city’s street crime and addiction crises will not be on the agenda.

Near the end of Tuesday’s final scheduled meeting of the 2018-elected city council, the three ABC incumbent councillors took turns notifying city council of upcoming motions for the Nov. 15 meeting. 

Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said she would table motions titled “Urgent Measures to Uplift Vancouver’s Chinatown” and “Adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Anti-Semitism.” 

Coun. Rebecca Bligh followed with notice of her “Transport Pricing: Stopping the Road Tax,” motion, before Coun. Lisa Dominato with “Enabling the Requisitioning and Hiring of 100 New Police Officers and 100 Mental Health Nurses” and “Accessibility Audit of All City-Owned Assets.”

Outgoing Mayor Kennedy Stewart reminded them that the motions must be submitted in-writing to the clerk’s office before the meeting.

ABC Vancouver’s campaign ad with Ken Sim and co-star Laura Appleton (ABC Vancouver)

The hiring of police officers and mental health nurses was a cornerstone of the ABC campaign and often a cause for confusion. ABC sometimes pledged on social media and in broadcast advertising to hiring the officers and nurses on day one of a Sim-led ABC majority, even after the original news release said Sim would begin the process to requisition on day one. 

The allocation of funds and actual recruitment, training and onboarding could take considerably longer. It took the Surrey Police Service just over a year to announce the hiring of its 100th officer in September 2021. If new Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke successfully shuts down the fledgling municipal force in favour of keeping the RCMP, experienced officers could come available sooner.

That it was Bligh who mentioned the anti-road tax measure was a moment of irony. She was one of six councillors who voted for the Climate Emergency Action Plan. The plan included exploring a tax on driving in downtown and triggered $1.5 million of spending to study the measure. 

ABC used the proposed road tax as a wedge issue against Stewart, who repeatedly denied that city hall would impose such a tax if re-elected. Stewart accused ABC of U.S.-style disinformation and complained to radio stations that carried ads carrying Sim’s anti-road tax message. 

Meanwhile, the rest of ABC’s platform has disappeared from the party’s website. Its campaign promises, news releases and candidate biographies were no longer visible on Oct. 26. They had been replaced with a headline reading “Thank You, Vancouver” and buttons to donate to council/park board candidates, school board candidates and to sign-up as a party supporter. 

Neither Sim nor transition team head Kareem Allam responded for comment.

Near the end of the Oct. 25 meeting, Stewart remarked on the challenge of governing through the pandemic. Despite the political differences on council, he estimated there were more unanimous votes than not.

“I look forward to interacting with you in different ways after this is done,” he said vaguely, while looking around the chamber. “I’ve enjoyed my time, and it’s really been the honour of my life to serve here, but I look forward to serving the city in some other way.”

The city council meeting ended with city manager Paul Mochrie debuting a five-minute video montage of images and headlines about civic policy and program achievements since 2018.

“This has been a term unlike any other,” said Mochrie, who succeeded Sadhu Johnston in early 2021. “I think it’s probably fair to say that you didn’t sign up for this job in 2018 thinking you were going to be governing Vancouver through the biggest catastrophe since World War II, but those were the cards you were dealt.”

He also gave gift bags containing commemorative medals to Coun. Michael Wiebe and Stewart, the only outgoing council members remaining in the chamber.

“So the loot has been divvied up!” Stewart exclaimed, before formally adjourning the meeting.

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Bob Mackin Incoming Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC

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While John Horgan packs up and leaves the premier’s office for incoming David Eby, the NDP government is running four ad campaigns worth more than $13.5 million. 

Horgan came to power in 2017 after slamming the BC Liberal government for over-spending on politically motivated ads.

David Eby and John Horgan (BC Gov/Flickr)

The biggest is the latest wave of the Ministry of Health’s $8.8 million 2022 campaign to promote COVID-19 shots, which began Sept. 5 and is scheduled to run through Dec. 11. 

Creative contractors are Trapeze Communications of Victoria and Captus Advertising of Vancouver. The media buyer is iProspect Canada, an arm of Japan-based global giant Dentsu. 

The Government Communications and Public Engagement department refused to provide the current expenditure, claiming it sets budgets by fiscal year, not by month or season. 

The latest edition of the CleanBC campaign is budgeted at $1.67 million and began Sept. 19, running through Nov. 13. NOW Communications Group and iProspect are the contractors. 

NOW and iProspect are also contractors on the Oct. 17-Nov. 27 version of the $2.37 million anti-stigma Stop Overdose campaign. 

The fourth campaign is the $724,000, fall harvest wave of the Ministry of Agriculture’s BuyBC, by Trapeze and iProspect. It launched Oct. 3 and runs through Oct. 30.

“Sharing information with people about how to benefit from programs and services is part of good government and our commitment to working for people,” said a prepared statement from the Ministry of Finance, which oversees GCPE.

Incoming Premier David Eby (left) and chief of staff Matt Smith (BC Gov)

iProspect Canada billed $15.7 million for the fiscal year ended March 31. It billed another $3.9 million in April, according to the government’s public accounts. 

In a November 2015 interview, while in opposition, Horgan said the BC Liberals were “padding the pockets of their political pals.”

“They spend countless dollars, time and energy withholding information that the public asks for, but when the public’s not looking for information they’ve got mountains of money to spend, to bury us in self-congratulatory promotion,” Horgan said at the time.

Two of the creative contractors for the current campaigns have strong ties to Horgan and Eby’s party.

NOW originally formed by members of Mike Harcourt’s campaign team after the 1991 election. It billed the party $1.78 million for work on Horgan’s 2020 re-election campaign. Multicultural specialist Captus received $498,787 for its work on the 2020 NDP campaign.

Public accounts show that Trapeze received $934,910 in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, and invoiced for another $433,196 in April. NOW was second last year at $783,199. It got another $236,423 in April. 

The NDP promised in its 2017 platform that it would end partisan government advertising. While it still spends on campaigns that correspond with its strategic objectives, it has not enacted any new laws to restrict government advertising in any way. It does, however, seek advice from Advertising Standards Canada to meet a non-partisan checklist, such as preventing the use of party colours and slogans or the name, voice or image of a government politician. 

Meanwhile, Eby is replacing Horgan’s chief of staff Geoff Meggs with Matt Smith, former president of the NDP’s polling and data-mining contractor Strategic Communications. 

Shannon Salter, the deputy attorney general since February, will become Eby’s deputy minister and head of the public service, replacing Lori Wanamaker. 

Smith’s appointment signals the high likelihood of more, not less, government advertising under Eby en route to the next scheduled election in 2024. 

Smith was president of Vancouver-headquartered Stratcom for almost five years. Prior to joining Stratcom, he was director of voter engagement on Vision Vancouver’s 2011 election campaign. 

At Stratcom, Smith’s specialties included telephone town halls, micro-targeting, peer-to-peer texting and MobileReach, Stratcom’s list of likely cell phone numbers. 

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Bob Mackin While John Horgan packs up and

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Bob Mackin

Vancouver city hall’s integrity commissioner has recommended the co-chair of the Vancouver Renters Advisory Committee be reprimanded for comments made against a city councillor.

Kit Sauder of the Renters’ Advisory Committee (Twitter)

Lisa Southern’s Oct. 19 report found Kit Sauder broke the code of conduct bylaw with posts on a Facebook group that denigrated Colleen Hardwick and her political party.

“Whether a female leader is being described as a ‘bitch,’ a ‘witch,’ ‘wicked,’ a ‘nasty woman,’ or a ‘(climate) Barbie; (which was the description used by a reporter for Environment Minister Catherine McKenna during an interaction in 2017), the impact is the same – negative, discriminatory stereotypes are being applied to women who seek and/or hold political office,” Southern wrote. “In this case, it is not a member of the public making these comments: it is an advisory board member making them against a council member. The respondent’s position requires him to adhere to the code of conduct. He is in a position of leadership and responsibility for the City of Vancouver.”

Southern investigated a June 12 complaint from a member of the public against Sauder and received additional evidence provided Aug. 3. Political strategist Sauder worked in the BC Liberal government from 2013 to 2017 under Premier Christy Clark and managed the OneBurnaby party’s campaign in the Oct. 15 election. He admitted that he targeted Hardwick and that his Facebook posts on the VanPoli group were “made as a result of an emotional reaction to previous exchanges.”

Southern ruled that “the terminology used to describe Council Member Hardwick in the Facebook posts was gendered and perpetuated harmful stereotypes when addressing a colleague.” She did not find fault with Sauder’s Tweets.

Vancouver integrity commissioner Lisa Southern (SBP)

“He admitted the Facebook posts were inappropriate and described the language he used to describe Council Member Hardwick as ‘misogynistic.’ He acknowledged he should not have made the comments,” Southern wrote.

The report said both advisory board members and councillors have the right to hold and express opinions and engage in free speech consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But Southern cited human rights tribunal decisions that found “gendered, demeaning language” in the workplace has violated human rights codes. 

The city’s code of conduct requires advisory board members and council members to “treat members of the public, one another, and staff respectfully, without abuse, bullying or intimidation and ensure that the work environment is free from discrimination and harassment.” 

Southern interviewed Sauder and two witnesses, who were not named in the report. She suspended the investigation between Sept. 29 and Oct. 16 due to the election. 

The finding against Sauder is Southern’s second investigation report published in 2022. In July, Southern found Mayor Kennedy Stewart had broken the code of conduct when he published a series of misleading Tweets in March against Hardwick’s proposed plebiscite on the 2030 Winter Olympics bid.

NPA Coun. Collen Hardwick (Mackin)

Stewart wrongly stated that a plebiscite would contravene an agreement with Resort Municipality of Whistler and four First Nations. The memorandum of agreement clearly stated it was not legally binding and it did not contain any clause that would have prevented putting a question about the bid to voters. 

Prior to Southern’s appointment at the start of 2022, investigations were handled on an as and when needed basis by lawyer Henry Wood. In July 2019, Wood cleared Hardwick of conflict of interest after a complaint by Abundant Housing Vancouver activist Peter Waldkirch. Wood found no evidence that the 2018-elected councillor used her PlaceSpeak.com civic engagement company improperly.

Hardwick ran under the TEAM for a Livable Vancouver banner on Oct. 15 and finished third in the mayoral election.

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Bob Mackin Vancouver city hall’s integrity commissioner has

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Bob Mackin 

Vancouver city council rubber-stamped five contracts worth almost $85 million on Oct. 25 at the first meeting since the civic election and last meeting of Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s term.

The only no-bid contract approved was $3.165 million to FCA Canada Inc., formerly Chrysler Canada Inc., to buy 54 Dodge Charger Enforcer police cruisers.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart (Mackin)

The contract is temporary because FCA notified the city that it will discontinue Dodge Charger Enforcers after the 2023 model year. The city and FCA originally entered a contract in August 2013 for three years, but the initial term was extended to six years in 2013 and included two one-year options. 

“FCA Canada Inc. will begin to receive orders for 2023 Model Year Dodge Charger Enforcers at the end of October/beginning of November 2022,” said the report to council from Alexander Ralph, the city’s chief procurement officer. “If city orders are not placed during this narrow timeframe, the City may not be able to procure sufficient supply of vehicles to meet the VPD’s annual fleet replacement requirements.”

Green Coun. Adriane Carr questioned why the city wasn’t buying any electric vehicles. 

“There are no electric options for this type of vehicle at this time,” said Albert Shamess, the city’s director of green operations. He said it could be a few more years before battery technology is suitable for police cars. 

City procedures delegate authority to a so-called bid committee comprised of the city manager, chief financial officer and head of the relevant department that seeks a contractor for goods and services (including construction) between $750,000 and $2 million. 

The bid committee meets in secret and does not publish agendas or minutes, though it does publish summaries of contract awards. City council’s nod is needed for bid committee-recommended contracts over $2 million.

The biggest contract award approved Tuesday was for $28.23 million to Pomerleau for work on the Granville Bridge to demolish the north loops and reconfigure the bridge. Pomerleau underbid three competitors,  BD Hall Constructors Corp. ($36.7 million), Jacob Bros. Construction Ltd. ($34.65 million), and NorLand Limited ($36.94 million). It went to vote during the afternoon session. Only councillors Mellissa De Genova and Colleen Hardwick voted in opposition.

Another report gave a $23.3 million contract to Microserve for computer hardware and services and $9.94 million job to CDW Canada Corp. for enterprise software and services. The city has more than 7,000 personal computers at over 100 worksites under the auspices of city hall, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, Vancouver Police Board and Vancouver Public Library Board. 

Compugen Inc. and Insight Canada Inc. were unsuccessful bidders for both contracts. CompuCom Canada Co. was the other bidder for the hardware contract and Long View sought the software contract. The request for proposals for the five-year contract, with four one-year options to extend, was originally advertised before the pandemic, in December 2019. 

City council agreed to a three-year, $17.9 million traffic control contract for Ansan Industries Ltd., plus an option for up to six one-year renewals. 

The bid committee chose Ansan over Metro Traffic Ltd., and Lanesafe Traffic Control Ltd. in part because Ansan flaggers are unionized and the company is replacing its fleet with hybrid electric vehicles. 

Vancouver city hall (Mackin)

The fifth report to council did not name the second bidder. 

Bid committee decided June 30 to recommend a $2.237 million contract for Direct Equipment West Ltd. for supply and services of shoring equipment for three years, with an option of six more one-year terms. 

The bid committee’s internal summary, however, said United Rentals of Canada Inc. was the only other bidder that responded to the tender announcement by the May 25, 2021 deadline.

Shoring equipment is used to reinforce excavations to protect workers and utilities during construction.

The 2021 annual procurement report, tabled at the March 30 city council meeting, said the city’s supply chain department awarded $107.4 million worth of contracts during the year. 

Last year, bid committee approved 35 contracts totalling $145 million. City council approved 12 contracts worth $125 million.

In 2011, the city’s bid committee picked Chevron Canada’s $17.4 million, three-year regional fuel-supply proposal the day before the civic election. Because there were no council meetings for three weeks, the committee used its authority to choose Chevron. 

During the 2014 election period, staff began to publish the contract award summaries while resisting a reporter’s efforts to seek agendas and minutes from the bid committee. 

In 2015, an adjudicator with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner allowed the city to withhold records of bid committee deliberations under an exemption to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for policy advice or recommendations.  

By comparison, City of Toronto’s bid award panel holds open meetings and publishes agendas and minutes.

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Bob Mackin  Vancouver city council rubber-stamped five contracts

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For the week of Oct. 23, 2022:

It’s the most wonderful time of year for sports fans in North America: NHL and NBA regular seasons are still young, NFL and NCAA football are nearing mid-season, the World Series is nigh and Major League Soccer’s final is coming.

What better time than now to hear from Vancouver sports radio legend Dan Russell?

Russell joins host Bob Mackin Jr. for part 1 of an interview about Pleasant Good Evening, Russell’s memoir of 30 wild and turbulent years hosting Canada’s longest running sports radio talkshow.

Plus the sounds of a week of political change in British Columbia, with new mayors of Vancouver and Surrey and the controversial end of the NDP leadership contest.

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

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For the week of Oct. 23, 2022:

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Bob Mackin

A B.C. Supreme Court judge gave a Richmond real estate and immigration lawyer another chance to avoid jail for contempt of court. 

Justice Gordon Weatherill had threatened Oct. 14 to incarcerate Hong Guo for 40 days for failing to provide financial documents to a civil case in which she is a defendant. On Friday, Weatherill adjourned the case and stayed the contempt order to Nov. 7, so that he could hear from Guo and her lawyer, if she brings one to court. Guo said in court that she had contacted three lawyers without success — one in Kamloops, one occupied by a hearing underway and another who is on vacation.

Richmond 2018 Mayoral candidate Hong Guo

In May 2018, immigrant investors Qing Yan and his wife Kai Ming Yu sued Guo, Zhong Ping Xu, Xiao Hong Liu, 1032821 B.C. Ltd., Vancouver Soho Holding Ltd and Canada Sparkle Long Holdings Inc. for fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract relating to a collapsed $40 million real estate deal. 

Yu and Yan hired Guo in 2013 to assist their immigration application. Guo introduced them to Xu and Liu, the principals behind Canada Sparkle, and they entered a joint venture for the Vancouver Soho high-density commercial and residential project on Minoru and Lansdowne in Richmond. 

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Guo acted as lawyer for both Vancouver Soho and Canada Sparkle and took advantage of the plaintiffs’ poor English skills. 

Yu and Yan want Guo to disclose banking information, including about her law firm’s trust accounts. At one point, Weatherill asked Guo about not being the signing officer of those trust accounts. She explained that she has two supervisors because of theft by an ex-employee. The Law Society intervened in Guo’s practice after $7.5 million went missing in 2016, eventually leading a tribunal to find she committed professional misconduct. Guo said she complained to the Richmond RCMP about her former bookkeeper, but she said the Mounties took no action.

Justice Gordon Weatherill (LinkedIn)

Guo provided a binder of documents to the court a day earlier. But Weatherill and Glen Forrester, lawyer for Yu and Yan, agreed they were incomplete. Weatherill asked Guo what she had done over the last week to purge her contempt.

Said Guo: “You can read the affidavits, all the documents are in the affidavits.”

Weatherill said it took the prospect of jail for Guo to act at the last minute, but it still wasn’t good enough. While Forrester conceded that he recognized one document that was new, Weatherill said the 400 pages were poorly organized without tabs.

He called Guo’s submission “just a regurgitation of what you’ve already produced,” proceeded to chastise her for defying the court and challenged her to come prepared to the Nov. 7 hearing.

“You have told me in open court today that you have complied with all of the orders that have been made. So we’re going to test that and, if what you just told me isn’t true, then there will be consequences,” Weatherill said. 

The Law Society of B.C. website lists nine disciplinary actions against Guo, who faces potential disbarment. Guo, who also has a law office in Beijing, is a former lawyer in the State Council, the Chinese Communist Party government’s central cabinet office.

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court judge gave

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Bob Mackin

A transnational drug criminal from Vancouver, who was linked by police to a notorious underground Richmond bank, was sentenced to 14-and-a-half years in a U.S. prison Oct. 20. 

Central District of California Judge John Kronstadt handed down the sentence in Los Angeles, following a jury’s March conviction of Vincent Yen Tek Chiu, 44, for conspiracy to distribute and export controlled substances, and distribution of cocaine, heroin and MDMA.

(FBI)

Chiu, who also went by nicknames “El Chino” and “Tiger of Mexico,” arranged to bring bulk cocaine to Canada in exchange for bulk exports of MDMA to the U.S. He employed a sophisticated cross-border distribution network that relied on encrypted mobile phones and 18-wheel trucks. Investigators believe the shipments were worth more than $3 million on the wholesale market.

More than a dozen defendants were involved in the scheme and police seized nearly 1,000 pounds of cocaine, nine kilograms of heroin, 46 kg of methamphetamine and 46 kg of ecstasy, as well as more than $800,000 in Canadian cash.

Five others have received jail terms, four of whom are Californians and the fifth a Vancouverite, Anthony Louis Lam. The 37-year-old is serving a four-year prison sentence.

Investigators say the operation involved members of Canadian, Mexican, Serbian, Chinese, and Sudanese gangs, some of whom used coded language and military-grade, end-to-end encrypted devices to hide their communications.

In April, two Metro Vancouver men charged in the same U.S. investigation met different fates. 

Tenny Guon Lim and Dario Antonio Baruca were indicted in May 2019 by a grand jury for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Watchuk said there was enough evidence to send Lim south, but not for Baruca. 

Chiu’s brother, Richard Yen Fat Chiu, was found dead in Colombia in June 2019. Both were investigated, but not charged, in a probe of Richmond’s Silver International. The Canadian case against Silver International and operators Caixuan Qin and Jian Jun Zhu collapsed in November 2018, when an informant’s identity was errantly revealed to defence lawyers.

Richard Charles Reed and Yuexi Lei are charged with first degree murder after Zhu was gunned down in a Richmond Japanese restaurant in September 2020. Paul King Jin, who was banned from B.C. casinos for alleged loan sharking, survived the attack. 

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Bob Mackin A transnational drug criminal from Vancouver,

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