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Bob Mackin 

An International Olympic Committee official said March 29 that the Canadian Olympic Committee is “still at the table,” talking about bringing the Winter Olympics back to Vancouver, despite the NDP government’s refusal to provide financial support.

IOC Games executive director Christophe Dubi (IOC/YouTube)

However, the IOC’s executive director of Games, Christophe Dubi, spoke cautiously after the quarterly IOC executive board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

“Our understanding is that conversations will take place again between the COC and the local authorities. So this is during the next few weeks,” Dubi said during a webconference with reporters. “So until then, no further work to be done either from us or COC. But we understand that discussions will take place, so we look forward to hearing the result of these.”

Pressed further, on whether those discussions are about resurrecting the 2030 bid or mounting a bid for subsequent Games, Dubi said “I would be more comfortable if they do respond to this very question.”

“What I can tell you is there was a project with an economical situation that was discussed between the parties and they should confirm whether it’s for one specific edition or a longer-term perspective,” he said. 

The COC, which partnered with the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Lil’wat first nations, said the proposal has not changed, but did not offer any further details. 

“We remain hopeful that there will be an opportunity for all partners to come together to talk about the vision for the Games, and the lasting impact hosting a Games could have on the [Four Host First Nations], the province, and the rest of Canada,” said the statement from the feasibility team’s Chris Dornan. 

Last October, the NDP refused to back the bid, including providing deficit insurance, because of excessive costs and risks and other spending priorities. That left 2002 host Salt Lake City and 1972 host Sapporo, Japan in the running. 

The COC estimated it needed at least $1 billion from taxpayers for the $4 billion project. It proposed reusing most of the 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. 

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)

The COC’s Four Host First Nations-supported bid was also backed by Vancouver and the Resort Municipality of Whistler. The B.C. lobbyist registry shows no activity by COC lobbyists since last Oct. 12.

In December, the IOC postponed the decision on a 2030 host for a second time. It is using the indefinite pause to consider awarding the 2030 and 2034 hosting rights simultaneously and whether to award subsequent Winter Games to previous hosts that promise to only use existing and temporary venues. 

Salt Lake City remains the frontrunner. In mid-February, both houses of the Utah legislature voted unanimously to support a bid for 2030 or 2034 and to give the state’s governor power to enter a host city contract with the IOC that includes underwriting any deficit. 

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, however, is emphatic that it would prefer to host the Games in 2034 due to sponsorship conflicts with the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics.

In the meantime, Dubi said there is renewed interest in bidding from as many as six locations that he would not name. 

“These are very mature winter markets, so I’m definitely not worried with the timing,” Dubi said.

The next Winter Games in 2026 are in Milano-Cortina, Italy, the same region that hosted in 1956 and 2006. 

The 2026 runner-up, Stockholm, has launched its own 2030 feasibility study and could be a viable alternative to Sapporo, which is suffering from the Tokyo Olympics corruption scandal. 

German Olympic officials have also vowed to seek a future Winter or Summer Games. The country has not hosted an Olympics since summer 1972 in Munich.

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Bob Mackin

The federal government has pledged to fill a gap in Canada’s anti-money laundering laws, less than a month after a special prosecutor’s report blamed it for the failure to bring a Richmond man to justice.

River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond (Mackin)

But an anti-corruption watchdog said that improving the law on its own won’t be enough.

In March 28’s federal budget, the Liberal minority government revealed plans to amend the Criminal Code and Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. Key measures include criminalizing unregistered money services businesses and requiring criminal record checks for currency dealers.

Special prosecutor Chris Considine’s March 1-published statement succinctly explained the main reason why he agreed with a late 2021 B.C. Prosecution Service decision to not charge Paul King Jin for allegedly moving $2.4 million in dirty money during the first half of 2017. 

“At present, the Act criminalizes the failure to obtain a licence, but does not explicitly criminalize the operation of an unlicensed [money services business],” Considine wrote. 

The Jin case had been one of the biggest organized crime investigations in B.C. history and was featured throughout the B.C. NDP government’s $19 million Cullen Commission public inquiry into money laundering. 

Transparency International Canada executive director James Cohen said an amendment is better than a whole new legal structure, but, “as always, it comes down to enforcement.”

“Getting the resources there to the administrative bodies, and to law enforcement, so that we don’t just have something nice on paper, but we have the actual capability to enforce it,” Cohen said. “That’s really where this all comes down to, the rubber hitting the road.”

Cohen cautioned that the embarrassment of a case falling apart means there is also the risk of going too far in the other direction. 

“So we always want to see any new tool used wisely. But, definitely let’s plug the gaps that were being exploited.”

Paul King Jin (BCLC/Cullen Commission)

The federal government said it also plans to amend the Bank Act, the Insurance Companies Act, the Trust and Loan Companies Act and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Act, improve intelligence sharing between law enforcement agencies, the Canada Revenue Agency and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) and provide whistleblower protection to employees who report information to FINTRAC.

“Language is one thing you always want, you can’t take stern words as proof of something that’s going to happen. But it definitely feels as if the ears are open for, and there’s political will for, action,” he said. “So hopefully, this is an opportunity where the government’s listened to experts and doing a thorough review of what needs to be done.”

Many of the topics in the five-page section of the 270-page annual financial blueprint were already canvassed during B.C.’s Cullen Commission. The federal government already committed in last year’s budget to a public, searchable beneficial ownership registry of federal corporations by the end of 2023. Another round of amendments to the Canada Business Corporations Act is required before that comes to fruition. 

Cohen has campaigned for years for such a registry, which would be a key tool in combatting money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing in Canada. 

Last year’s budget included $2 million for Public Safety Canada to establish a new Canada Financial Crimes Agency. Further details are coming this fall. 

Meanwhile, the budget also includes $48.9 million over three years for the RCMP to beef-up its investigations of foreign interference and $13.5 million over five years to open a National Counter-Foreign Interference Office under Public Safety Canada. Both moves are in reaction to recent leaks from reports by Canada’s spy agency about Chinese government meddling in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections and Vancouver’s 2022 civic election. 

“There are implications of under the table money being given between intermediaries and politicians or even nominee for political office,” Cohen said. 

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A Spanish infrastructure company involved in a bitter lawsuit with Metro Vancouver over a North Vancouver sewage plant project has been shortlisted for a second contract on the $4 billion Surrey Langley SkyTrain extension.

Spain’s Acciona dominates B.C. megaprojects

The B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced March 27 that Acciona Infrastructure Canada Inc. is part of South Fraser Station partners with Aecon Infrastructure Management Inc., AECOM Canada Ltd., and Pomerleau B.C. 

The B.C. government has invited the consortium to submit a request for proposals on the contract to build eight stations against SkyLink Stations Partners, a team involving Dragados Canada Inc., Ledcor Construction Investments Ltd., SYSTRA International Bridge Investments Ltd. and IBI Group Architects (Canada) Inc. 

The winning bidder is expected to be announced early next year. 

Acciona is also part of South Fraser Guideway Connectors, which is bidding to design, build and finance the elevated guideway, roadworks and utilities for the 16-kilometre SkyTrain extension from King George Station in Surrey to Langley City Centre.

Acciona’s partners in South Fraser Guideway Connectors are the same companies as the proposal for the stations project. 

SkyLink is also the only other shortlisted bidder for the guideway. 

The shortlist for a third contract, to design and instal tracks and electrical systems, is to be announced later this spring. 

Metro Vancouver hired Acciona as the design/build/finance contractor for the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant in April 2017, a project expected to cost $525 million and be completed in late 2020. Two years ago, the cost had ballooned to $1.058 billion and completion delayed to 2024. 

Metro Vancouver fired Acciona in late 2021, but Acciona sued a year ago for wrongful termination and unpaid costs. Metro Vancouver countersued last summer.

Acciona is a partner with Samsung in Peace River Hydro Partners, the $1.75 billion main civil works contract at the $16 billion Site C dam. The company is in the Fraser River Crossing Partners joint venture with Aecon for the new $1.4 billion Pattullo Bridge and is the partner of Italian tunnel specialist Ghella on the $2.38 billion Broadway Subway.  

Acciona replaced corruption-plagued SNC-Lavalin as the major infrastructure contractor to the B.C. government. One of Acciona’s key consultants was Jim Burke, a former executive vice-president of SNC-Lavalin who died of cancer in 2020. 

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Bob Mackin A Spanish infrastructure company involved in

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For the week of March 26, 2023:

Except for U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa, the Chinese government’s meddling in Canada continued to dominate national headlines. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave ex-Gov.-Gen. David Johnston an Oct. 31 target to complete his work as special rapporteur on foreign interference. But there were more leaks from Canada’s spy agency. 

MP Han Dong left the Liberal caucus, denying that he asked a Chinese diplomat to delay freeing hostages Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor for political reasons. Then Dong voted the next day, with opposition politicians, to pass a non-binding motion in favour of a public inquiry into evidence that China interfered in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections. 

On thePodcast, Andy Yan, the director of the Simon Fraser University city program, says a full public inquiry and foreign agents registry are both needed without further delay. 

“With changes in technology, the intensification of flows of people and money, that we need to make sure our institutions catch up to those changes,” Yan tells host Bob Mackin. “And that this is really a need to look at how our institutions protect minorities like Chinese-Canadians, like so many others across this country, to keep our democracy transparent and accountable.”

Hear the full interview with demographics, urban planning and political science expert Yan. Also hear testimony to House of Commons committees from human rights activists Cheuk Kwan, Mehmet Toti, Bill Chu, Cherie Wong, Ai-Men Lau, Gloria Fung and Henry Chan about the threats they face from the Chinese Communist Party on Canadian soil.

Plus headlines from the Pacific Northwest and the Pacific Rim.

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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For the week of March 26, 2023:

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Bob Mackin

City of Vancouver’s “100 Grand” club broke the 2,000 mark last year. 

The annual statement of financial information, published March 22, shows 2,023 employees of city hall, the park board and fire department were paid $100,000 or more. 

In 2021, there were 1,798 employees with similar pay packets.

Paul Mochrie (Vancouver Economic Commission)

Twenty-seven of them grossed over $200,000, topped by city manager Paul Mochrie at $343,549.

Patrice Impey was second on the pay podium ($309,456), followed by city solicitor Francie Connell ($308,056). 

Community services general manager Sandra Singh ($306,774) and deputy city manager Karen Levitt ($302,926) rounded out the top five.

General manager Donnie Rosa was the highest-paid at the Park Board, where the 273 employees averaged $99,009.01.

Chief librarian Christina de Castell ($267,662) earned more than fire chief Karen Fry ($263,828). Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services’ 798 employees averaged $130,160.

There were 1,100 working in engineering under that department’s general manager, Lon LaClaire ($293,356). Engineering employees averaged $99,019.24 in 2022.

A total 3,639 names are on the 2022 sunshine list for employees paid $75,000 and up, a 6% increase from 2021’s 3,426. 

The report did not offer any details about the eight severance agreements in 2022 ranging from a half-month to 17 months gross salary.

Former Mayor Kennedy Stewart was the highest-paid politician at $181,679 plus $20,577 in local expenses. Stewart spent $780,390 on political staff and other discretionary expenses. Ken Sim succeeded Stewart on Nov. 7, after the landslide win in the October civic election. 

Two regional government utility boards, whose members are not directly elected, received the biggest total annual payments from city coffers: Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District ($91.5 million) and Greater Vancouver Water District ($89.6 million). Number three on the list was the B.C. Municipal Pension Plan ($86.9 million).

The city paid $16.58 million in grants to the 22 business improvement areas, including $6.05 million to the Downtown Vancouver BIA. Funds granted to BIAs are raised through a special tax levy. 

Vancouver Art Gallery ($2.12 million) and Vancouver Symphony Society ($1.59 million) were top cultural grant recipients. The biggest grants to non-profit agencies went to the Aboriginal Land Trust Society ($6.25 million) and Lookout Housing and Health Society ($5.38 million).

For the year ended Dec. 31, city hall reported a $552.4 million surplus on $2.45 billion revenue. 

The record property tax haul of $1.08 billion was $74 million better than budgeted.

City reserves stood at $1.69 billion at the end of 2022, $231.5 million higher, year-over-year,. It also reported $611.7 million in net long term debt. 

Sim and his majority ABC city council voted Feb. 28 to hike taxes 10.7% for this year’s $1.97 billion budget.

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Han Dong, the backbench MP who quit the Liberal caucus March 22, charged taxpayers for a trip to Vancouver last summer where he met with groups friendly to the Chinese Communist Party and socialized with a Chinese diplomat.

Han Dong (third from right) at the River Rock Show Theatre during last July’s 20th anniversary of the Canadian Community Service Association, with CCSA founder Harris Niu (second from right) and China’s Deputy Consul General Wang Chengjun (far right). (Rise Weekly)

Global News reported that Dong met secretly in February 2021 with a Chinese diplomat and allegedly suggested China delay freeing Canadian hostages Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor so as not to benefit the Conservatives. Dong denied the allegation and announced he would sit as an independent while he clears his name. On Thursday, opposition politicians outvoted the Liberal minority 172-149 in favour of a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections. 

Dong, who has represented Don Valley North in Toronto since 2019, disclosed a $2,391.73 bill for transportation from July 28 to Aug. 5, 2022, “to attend meetings with stakeholders about business of the House.” He did not charge for accommodation and meals. 

Dong’s only other travel expenses are for occasional transportation between his riding and Ottawa.

Nobody from Dong’s office or the Prime MInister’s Office has responded to req12uests for comment. 

Dong is a member of two House of Commons standing committees, Industry and Technology and Public Accounts, neither of which met last summer. He co-chairs the Canada-China Legislative Association and also sits on the Canada-Japan and Canada-Italy Inter-parliamentary Groups, but they also had no business during the period. 

Conservative Kenny Chiu, who was the Steveston-Richmond MP from 2019 to 2021, called Dong’s trip to the West Coast “questionable.”

“If you are not conducting any committee business, or if you are not fulfilling any duty because of your portfolio, then it becomes a bit questionable and weird,” Chiu said. “Because his riding is Don Valley North, which is quite a few thousand kilometres away from Greater Vancouver.”

Chiu wondered how Dong, who was neither a cabinet minister nor a parliamentary secretary, justified his trip to Vancouver. 

The Members’ Allowances and Services Manual says MPs are allowed to travel “in the fulfilment of their parliamentary functions only.” Chiu said during his trip to Ottawa in September 2020, he stopped in Toronto to attend a roundtable meeting connected to his duties as the opposition critic for diversity, inclusion and youth. 

There is nothing on Dong’s Facebook or Twitter accounts about the trip. However, the co-founder of the 1029 Crowdfunding Cafe in Richmond and Canadian Chinese Heritage and Future Foundation (CCHFF), published a diary on WeChat with photographs of Dong’s visit to Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby.

Zhang Jiawei (left), Kong Qingcun and Han Dong at the Chinese Canadian Society for Political Engagement Clubhouse (51vote.org)

Under a headline translated to English as “You came and left gently,” Zhang Jiawei called Dong a friend and contrasted the MP’s visit to Metro Vancouver with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan. 

Dong visited the Chinese Canadian Society for Political Engagement (CCSPE) at its clubhouse in a former Dunbar pizzeria on July 29, where he gave founder Kong Qingcun a Queen’s Platinum Jubilee pin. Dong and Kong visited Liberal MP Taleeb Noorhomamed’s Vancouver-Granville riding office and later attended the 20th anniversary banquet of the Canadian Community Service Association (CCSA) at the River Rock Show Theatre. Dong presented CCSA founder Harris Niu the jubilee pin and posed for photographs on stage with a group of people, including China’s Deputy Consul General Wang Chengjun.

Dong’s itinerary that week also included speaking from the stage at the Chinese Cultural Heritage Festival in Swangard Stadium, visiting the headquarters of TWG Tea Canada, and meeting with Phantom Creek Estates Winery owner Richter Bai Jiping and Keqin Zu, Vancouver bureau director of Chinese government-funded Phoenix TV. 

Dong and his wife, Sophia Qiao, the North American marketing director of Chinese streaming service iQIYI, visited the CCHFF office at the Terminal City Club on Aug. 3. Dong presided over a 15-person roundtable discussion about “politics and community public welfare and charity, especially against anti-Chinese discrimination and Canada’s multicultural policies,” according to Jiang’s diary. They dined at the Terminal City Club, met with Niu and Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations chair Wei Renmin and also attended a concert by the Vancouver Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at the Canadian Flower Winery in Richmond. 

In late February, Dong denied support from the Chinese consulate in Toronto helped his nomination to run in the 2019 election. On March 1, the CCSPE website defended Dong, urging “all Chinese public opinion representatives, regardless of party affiliation, to say no to the ‘smearing’ without practical evidence, because if you don’t stand up today, you may also become a victim tomorrow.”

Neither Kong nor Jiang responded to emailed queries on Thursday and nobody answered the phone number on the CCHFF website.

Representatives of several Chinese-Canadian groups have appeared before House of Commons committees this month, urging the government to call a public inquiry. They say the Chinese government and its proxies routinely use threats, intimidation and coercion against the diverse diaspora.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instead hired former Gov.-Gen. David Johnston as a special rapporteur and engaged two national security committees to study the issue. 

Bill Chu, of the Canadian Concern Group on the Chinese Communist Party’s Human Rights Violation, testified March 10 that the CCP intentionally confuses references to the party, China the state and Chinese people in order to make bogus claims of racism. 

“The purposes are simply to silence criticisms against the CCP by equating that as criticisms of all Chinese and also to rouse up a distorted sense of nationalism among all Chinese, including the diaspora,” Chu told MPs. 

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The former Vancouver Renters Advisory Committee co-chair has apologized to an ex-city councillor, four-and-a-half-months after he was censured for breaking the code of conduct.

Kit Sauder, ex-of the Renters’ Advisory Committee (Twitter)

On Oct. 19, Integrity Commissioner Lisa Southern reprimanded Kit Sauder for social media posts last spring that denigrated Colleen Hardwick and her political party, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver. Southern determined that Sauder used terminology that was “gendered and perpetuated harmful stereotypes when addressing a colleague.”

On March 17, Sauder tweeted his apology to Hardwick, after calling her the “Witch of the Westside” last June during a heated Facebook exchange over the Broadway Plan with Hardwick’s husband, actor Garry Chalk. 

“You put yourself forward to serve our city, and I earnestly believe you attempted to do so in line with your values and principles, and in the best way you know how,” Sauder wrote. “Your personal sacrifice and public service deserves to be acknowledged, and I want to unequivocally apologize to you, Garry and your family.”

Sauder’s term on the advisory committee ended Dec. 31. He said he is a Russian Orthodox Christian and the letter was part of a spiritual accounting during Lent, the period of contemplation and fasting preceding Easter. 

“I wrote a series of letters to apologize to people that I felt I had unfairly done wrong to, so I wrote a handwritten letter to former Councillor Hardwick, and then dropped off to her house,” Sauder said. “She sent me an email asking that I confirm that it was from me and, that if I wanted to make further amends, that I could share it publicly. So that’s what I did.”

Sauder denied the timing of the apology was related to his consulting career.

“The events themselves happened back in June of last year, so there’s been ample time for me to ruminate on this. But I made the apology three weeks ago, and that’s when I made it. “

Colleen Hardwick (PlaceSpeak)

The veteran political strategist 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.

Instead of seeking a second term as a city councillor, Hardwick challenged Kennedy Stewart for the mayoralty. She finished third in the Oct. 15 civic election. 

“I’m glad it’s been dealt with, it would have been nice if it had been dealt with at the time,” Hardwick said. “It would have been nice if it hadn’t happened at all.

“He apologized, the Integrity Commissioner identified it as inappropriate and hopefully this will be a lesson to others.”

Southern’s investigation of Sauder was the third of her four reports published so far.

Vancouver integrity commissioner Lisa Southern (SBP)

In June 2021, Southern cleared Stewart of conflict of interest after he used the Mayor’s Office to criticize NPA board members for alleged ties to the alt-right. 

In June of last year, Southern found Stewart broke the code of conduct for tweets that falsely accused Hardwick of contravening the city’s 2030 Winter Olympics bid exploration agreement with First Nations and Resort Municipality of Whistler.

More recently, on Feb. 17, Southern dismissed a conflict of interest complaint against Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung. 

Southern agreed it was rational for someone to question Kirby-Yung’s participation, given that her husband Terry Yung chairs the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden board. 

“A perception of a conflict of interest arises based on their familial relationship. However, relationship alone does not determine if there is a conflict of interest under the code of conduct,” Southern ruled.

In 2022, Southern’s law firm billed taxpayers $178,327.

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The seven current and former NPA board members ordered to pay ex-Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s legal costs are considering an appeal. 

Last July, Justice Wendy Baker threw out their defamation lawsuit when she ruled Stewart acted in the public interest and without malice by publishing a news release in early 2021 alleging NPA members had ties to the alt-right.

Kennedy Stewart’s Forward Together campaign promo (Forward Together)

The parties made written submissions to Baker on costs last fall. In a March 20 written decision, Baker ordered David Mawhinney, Christopher Wilson, David Pasin, Phyllis Tang, Angelo Isidorou, Federico Fuoco and Wesley Mussio to pay Stewart’s $100,000 legal costs, but not damages. 

“The sad part of this ruling is that the Court, rightly or wrongly, is endorsing that political opponents can participate in an American-style character assassin on their foes and actually benefit from doing so in the form of cost penalties,” said lawyer and ex-NPA director Mussio. “The judgment, if upheld in the Court of Appeal, encourages political foes to have a field day on one other. Is that Canadian? I do not feel that this is healthy for democracy in Canada but nonetheless, the NDP instituted this legislation to protect politicians and the court is required to make tough decisions to uphold it.”

Mussio referred to the Protection of Public Participation Act, the unanimously passed 2019 statute that Stewart relied upon to quash the defamation case against him. Then-Attorney General David Eby said the law was intended to protect people from costly lawsuits that aim to limit or stifle criticism or opposition to matters of public interest. 

In her ruling in favour of costs, Baker wrote that the defamation claim had substantial merit, but the plaintiffs did not prove they were harmed and Stewart did not make the statements with malice. Stewart alleged the action was brought in bad faith or for an improper purpose.

“I do not agree that Mr. Stewart could be characterized as a smaller and more vulnerable party than the NPA directors. Similarly, I do not agree that the NPA could be properly characterized as a large and powerful entity,” Baker wrote. “Nevertheless, it is clear that the NPA and Mr. Stewart were in a political competition, and the filing of this notice of civil claim did serve to limit Mr. Stewart’s political expression from the time he learned of the claim in February 2021, until this claim was dismissed in the summer of 2022, a state of affairs which could easily be seen as politically advantageous to the plaintiffs and the NPA.”

The judge agreed with Stewart that the plaintiffs caused distress when they made conflict of interest allegations against three different lawyers Stewart hired. There was no application to disqualify Stewart’s third lawyer, David Sutherland. 

“The positions taken by the plaintiffs in relation to Mr. Stewart’s choice of counsel certainly increased Mr. Stewart’s costs, and caused him anxiety,” Baker wrote. “I am satisfied that the plaintiffs took the positions they did for strategic reasons, in an inappropriate attempt to limit and thwart Mr. Stewart’s defence.”

Baker said the issue in deciding costs was whether the plaintiffs’ case was about reputation and public expression or whether it was a strategic lawsuit against public participation. She ruled it was the latter.

“In light of the fact that I have ordered full indemnity costs in favour of Mr. Stewart which he states, in his affidavit sworn Sept. 19, 2022, total in excess of $100,000, I find it would not be appropriate to order damages in favour of the defendant. I am satisfied that the full indemnity costs I have ordered fully addresses any harm to Mr. Stewart arising from this action.”

Image from WeChat video of Sept. 23 Fred Harding campaign event (NPA/WeChat)

In the court of public opinion, however, both sides of the case lost severely in the Oct. 15 civic election. 

Former NPA candidate Ken Sim defeated Stewart for the mayoralty in a landslide. None of Stewart’s Forward Together candidates was elected to city council.

The NPA was similarly shut out. Even its only incumbent, Melissa De Genova, was defeated when Sim’s new party, ABC Vancouver, won all but three seats on city council. 

Leaks from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service reported in the Globe and Mail suggest Stewart’s campaign suffered from meddling by Tong Xiaoling, China’s former consul general. 

NPA mayoral candidate John Coupar quit just over two months before election day and was replaced by parachute candidate Fred Harding, a former West Vancouver Police officer who lives in Beijing and promotes Vancouver real estate to Chinese investors. Harding finished a distant fifth place. 

The most media attention Harding and the NPA team got during the election period was when a Provincial Court judge allowed them to use Chinese characters beside their names on the ballot.  

  • Meanwhile, also on March 20, Elections BC fined Stewart’s campaign $500 for election

advertising without the required financial agent authorization statement. 

Elections BC received Sept. 28 and Oct. 4 complaints about Stewart robocalls and texts that lacked the name of the campaign’s financial agent and the financial agent’s contact information. 

The investigator found Stewart’s campaign spent $5,500 for all texts and $500 for a script that lacked the required authorization statement.

Investigator Adam Barnes could have fined Stewart’s campaign up to $10,000. He opted for the $500 penalty because all 13 telephone scripts and four out of five text scripts contained the authorization statement, the campaign amended the ad where possible and it had not been the subject of a previous fine. 

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A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered seven current and former NPA board members to pay ex-Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart $100,000 in costs, but not damages, after Stewart thwarted their defamation lawsuit last summer.

Law Courts Vancouver (Joe Mabel)

Justice Wendy Baker threw out the claim from David Mawhinney, Christopher Wilson, David Pasin, Phyllis Tang, Angelo Isidorou, Federico Fuoco and Wesley Mussio in July 2022 under the Protection of Public Participation Act. Baker ruled that Stewart acted in the public interest when he issued a news release in early 2021 alleging NPA members had ties to the alt-right. The parties made written submissions to Baker on costs last fall. 

Baker wrote in her March 20 decision that although the defamation claim had substantial merit, the plaintiffs did not prove they were harmed and Stewart did not make the statements with malice. Stewart alleged the action was brought in bad faith or for an improper purpose.

“I do not agree that Mr. Stewart could be characterized as a smaller and more vulnerable party than the NPA directors. Similarly, I do not agree that the NPA could be properly characterized as a large and powerful entity,” Baker ruled. “Nevertheless, it is clear that the NPA and Mr. Stewart were in a political competition, and the filing of this notice of civil claim did serve to limit Mr. Stewart’s political expression from the time he learned of the claim in February 2021, until this claim was dismissed in the summer of 2022, a state of affairs which could easily be seen as politically advantageous to the plaintiffs and the NPA.”

The judge agreed with Stewart that the plaintiffs caused distress when they made conflict of interest allegations against three different sets of lawyers Stewart hired. There was no application to disqualify Stewart’s third lawyer, David Sutherland. 

“The positions taken by the plaintiffs in relation to Mr. Stewart’s choice of counsel certainly increased Mr. Stewart’s costs, and caused him anxiety,” Baker wrote. “I am satisfied that the plaintiffs took the positions they did for strategic reasons, in an inappropriate attempt to limit and thwart Mr. Stewart’s defence.”

Baker said the issue in deciding costs was whether the plaintiffs’ case was about reputation and public expression or whether it was a strategic lawsuit against public participation. She ruled it was the latter.

“In light of the fact that I have ordered full indemnity costs in favour of Mr. Stewart which he states, in his affidavit sworn Sept. 19, 2022, total in excess of $100,000, I find it would not be appropriate to order damages in favour of the defendant. I am satisfied that the full indemnity costs I have ordered fully addresses any harm to Mr. Stewart arising from this action.”

The plaintiffs’ lawyer Karol Suprynowicz, a partner at Mussio’s firm, has not responded for comment. 

In the court of public opinion, however, both sides of the case lost in the Oct. 15 civic election. 

Former NPA candidate Ken Sim defeated Stewart for the mayoralty in a landslide. None of Stewart’s Forward Together candidates was elected to city council. 

The NPA was similarly shut out. Even its only incumbent, Melissa De Genova, was defeated when Sim’s ABC Vancouver won all but three seats on city council. 

Leaks from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service reported in the Globe and Mail suggest Stewart’s campaign suffered from meddling by Tong Xiaoling, China’s former consul general. 

NPA mayoral candidate John Coupar quit just over two months before election day and was replaced by parachute candidate Fred Harding, a former West Vancouver Police officer who lives in Beijing and promotes Vancouver real estate to Chinese investors. 

The most media attention Harding and the NPA team got during the election period was when a Provincial Court judge allowed them to use Chinese characters beside their names on the ballot.  

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court judge has

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A member of the human rights group that exposed networks of overseas Chinese police stations, including one allegedly in Richmond, told a House of Commons committee March 20 that Safeguard Defenders researchers were looking for something else.

(House of Commons)

“We came across the police stations as we were tracking how exactly the Chinese authorities had managed to return, according to their own statements, 230,000 individuals, all through clandestine means, between April 2021 and July 2022, alone,” Laura Harth, campaign director of Safeguard Defenders, testified to the Special Committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China Relationship. 

Safeguard Defenders, based in Spain, gained international headlines for its September report called 110 Overseas and its December followup, Patrol and Persuade. Harth told the committee how her team relied on independently verified, open source statements from Chinese authorities and state and party media reports. Harth said they also found chatter among dissidents and activists on social media channels.

“How, starting in 2016, public security authorities from four local Chinese jurisdictions with large diaspora communities overseas have established over 100 so-called overseas police service centres in at least 53 countries,” Harth said. 

At least five are in Canada. In December, after the followup report, the RCMP confirmed a national security investigation of the Wenzhou Friendship Society in Richmond. The RCMP is also investigating alleged overseas Chinese police stations in Toronto and Montreal, which is linked to a municipal councillor from Brossard, Que.

Harth said the stations are part of the Chinese Communist Party’s wider United Front “sticks and carrots” approach to promoting policies and activities aligning with CCP interests and dividing CCP critics. 

“All these organizations share a direct and demonstrable linkage to the United Front Work Department. Understanding this linkage is fundamental. The United Front is the Communist Party’s of China’s prime influence agency, which seeks to influence various public and private sector entities outside China, including, but not limited to political, commercial and academic spheres,” Harth said. 

She said China’s transnational repression and influence activities need to be publicly denounced and, when necessary, investigated. A foreign agents registry should be part of a wider national strategy, which should include using the Magnitsky law, formally known as the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, to sanction Chinese state institutions and officials. She also suggested promoting people in the diaspora communities that are not linked to the United Front. 

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

“Give them a voice,” she said. 

In December, Cpl. Kim Chamberland of the RCMP’s national headquarters, confirmed the Richmond investigation, but declined to provide specifics. 

“The RCMP recognizes that Chinese-Canadians are victims of the activity we are investigating,” Chamberland said. “There will be no tolerance for this or any other form of intimidation, harassment, or harmful targeting of diaspora communities or individuals in Canada.”

Also at the Monday’s committee meeting, Royal Military College of Canada Prof. Christian Leuprecht called Beijing’s espionage and interference program the “single greatest threat to Canada’s democratic way of life” and said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s staunch refusal to convene a public inquiry is jeopardizing Canada’s relationship with its most-important ally, the U.S.
“The PRC is intent on gaining control of Canadian critical minerals, and is actively running influence campaigns over resource development,” Leuprecht said. “[Spy] balloons and election interference are merely the latest episode in a long list of hostile, hybrid warfare efforts perpetrated by the CCP against Canada.” 

The Chinese consulate in Vancouver has denied leaked reports from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service about previous Consul-Gen. Tong Xiaoling meddling in federal and Vancouver elections.

“China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and has never interfered in any Canadian elections and has not interested in to do so,” read the March 16 statement on the consulate website.

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Bob Mackin A member of the human rights

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