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Bob Mackin

Richmond real estate and immigration lawyer Hong Guo is banned from practising law for a year. 

A March 1 decision by the Law Society of B.C. Tribunal’s five-member Review Board rejected the Law Society’s bid to strip Guo of her licence.

Richmond 2018 Mayoral candidate Hong Guo

The Law Society found in November 2021 that Guo committed professional misconduct by misappropriation, breaching trust accounting obligations, failing to properly supervise her bookkeeper, and breaching an undertaking and a Law Society order.

Guo had alleged that bookkeeper Zixin “Jeff” Li took $7.5 million from her firm’s trust accounts for 100 clients in 2016, laundered the cash at a casino and fled to China.

The society found that Guo had signed blank trust cheques and left them with Li before departing on a two-week vacation in March 2016. 

“The bookkeeper was able to orchestrate the theft by crediting fake deposits to a trust account ledger he had set up in a former conveyancing assistant’s name, thereby inflating the apparent balance available for withdrawal,” the 2021 ruling said. 

The Review Board decided that Guo would not be disbarred due to exceptional circumstances, even though she created the circumstances that led to the theft. 

“[Guo] was essentially caught between a rock and a hard place,” said the new ruling. “Whether she took any steps or not, many of her clients’ pending transactions were adversely impacted by the massive theft.”

The misappropriations only occurred in response to the $7.5 million theft and were done to prevent losses to her clients. 

“[Guo] took steps to make her clients whole, including having employee defalcation insurance, asking the Law Society for help and through counsel pursuing the insurer to pay out the claim, which it eventually did after an 18-month delay,” said the ruling. “The Law Society has not alleged, and no hearing panel found, the respondent is ungovernable; and there is no evidence the respondent was dishonest with her clients about her misappropriations.”

By early 2018, Guo had deposited $2.6 million of family money and $4 million from the insurance policy to repay the trust account. The Law Society issued the citation against Guo in September 2018.

The Review Board still had harsh words for Guo. It called the current practice supervision agreement ineffective and said Guo has continued to downplay the pre-theft misconduct and focused on the theft as the underlying problem for her misappropriations and breaches. 

Richmond lawyer Hong Guo announced her run for Mayor of Richmond last June.

The panel also rejected Guo’s arguments that she suffered a breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

“Although the impact of discipline of a racialized lawyer on a marginalized group of the public may be a mitigating factor in certain circumstances, those circumstances do not arise here.”

The decision set March 8 as the beginning of Guo’s 12-month suspension. Before resuming her career as a lawyer, Guo must also enter, and comply with, a practice supervision agreement acceptable to the Law Society’s practice standards committee.

Guo is also ordered to pay costs and disbursements of $47,329.44 at a rate of $1,000-a-month beginning April 1. 

Guo originally came to Canada in 1993 and studied law at the University of Windsor. She worked in the State Council in China’s central government and was called to the B.C. bar in 2009. Guo finished fourth in the Richmond mayoral election in 2018 after an interview with theBreaker.news in which she denied the existence of China’s well-documented human rights abuses.

Guo was represented by Craig Jones, the Thompson Rivers University law professor who became counsel to Premier David Eby last November. 

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Bob Mackin Richmond real estate and immigration lawyer

Business, News

Bob Mackin

Better late than never to ban TikTok from federal government devices and investigate whether the video sharing app meets Canadian privacy laws, says an expert on Chinese social media companies. 

But Benjamin Fung, a professor in the School of Information Studies at McGill University, says WeChat should have been included.

Prof. Benjamin Fung (McGill/YouTube)

“If you talk about the intrusiveness of the app, WeChat is even worse,” Fung said.

Fung said Chinese-Canadians find WeChat, a popular social media, instant messaging and digital wallet app, useful to communicate with friends and family across the Pacific. It can also help new Canadians learn where to apply for a driver’s licence or social insurance number. But there is also a dark underside that can undermine Canadian institutions and values.  

“During the critical moments, like elections, then those communities will be used as a channel to spread disinformation,” Fung said. 

In January 2022, Fung and Sze-Fung Lee co-authored a Policy Options analysis of the 2021 defeat of Conservative MP Kenny Chiu in the Steveston-Richmond East riding. A disinformation campaign spread on WeChat, that falsely claimed Chiu’s proposal for a foreign agents registry would apply to anyone of Chinese ethnicity. Globe and Mail’s coverage of a leaked Canadian Security Intelligence Service report about the election reinforced Fung’s analysis. 

In May 2020, the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s “WeChat, They Watch” report looked  at how WeChat functions within China’s state surveillance and censorship regime. But the report’s authors revealed that parent company Tencent ignored questions about WeChat privacy policies. Tencent was “unwilling to provide any assistance or information above and beyond helping us use this tool: our more specific data access request questions were never acknowledged, let alone responded to.”

In early January, Ohio banned its state workers from using both TikTok and WeChat. By mid-month, similar bans, mainly targeting TikTok, were announced by a total 27 states. U.S. President Joe Biden has expanded the TikTok prohibition to federal devices. 

(TikTok/Douyin)

During a Feb. 23 conference in Vancouver, the privacy commissioners of Canada, Quebec, B.C. and Alberta announced a joint investigation of TikTok’s handling of personal information, including whether children’s privacy is at risk. A representative of B.C. commissioner Michael McEvoy said WeChat would not be examined, but offered no reason.

The privacy commissioners cited U.S. class action lawsuits and media reports about TikTok. Last June, BuzzFeed reported on leaked audio recordings from internal TikTok meetings that proved China-based employees of parent company ByteDance repeatedly accessed non-public data about users in the U.S.

On Feb. 27, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier gave federal workers one day’s notice to remove TikTok from government devices. She cited security risks, but said there was no evidence yet of government information being compromised. 

B.C. Citizens’ Services Minister Lisa Beare followed Fortier’s lead and announced a temporary TikTok ban on B.C. government devices “as we continue to examine the risks associated with the app.”

For the wider public, Fortier said social media apps and platforms are a personal choice, but echoed the Communications Security Establishment’s caution to put personal security before convenience and consider where data is stored.

WeChat/Tencent

Fung said TikTok users are vulnerable to inadvertently sharing information on their devices, including passwords. Despite ByteDance claiming that U.S.-housed data is safe, its workers in China are legally obliged to cooperate when the Chinese government demands to see data.

“It’s just like a Chinese company wearing a mask, and then pretending to be an American company,” Fung said. “So if there’s strong evidence showing that the engineer in China can access the data data in Canada, or in America, then then the privacy commissioner should look into that very closely.”
Fung said TikTok is built on a very powerful “recommender system,” a machine learning algorithm running that helps decide what the user sees. 

“This tool has the power to change people’s perception on some particular issues,” Fung said.

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Bob Mackin Better late than never to ban

Business, News, Opinion

For the week of March 5, 2023: 

It is the biggest political scandal out of Ottawa in 2023, so far.

Terry Glavin (Twitter)

A leaked report from Canada’s spy agency confirms China’s government meddled in Canada’s last two federal elections, helping flip two Richmond ridings from the Conservatives to the Liberals. 

Conservative and NDP members on a House of Commons committee want a public inquiry. Liberal members don’t. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his inner circle are bobbing and weaving, deflecting and denying. What did he know and when did he know it? 

Terry Glavin, National Post columnist and The Real Story Substack publisher, joins host Bob Mackin on this week’s edition of thePodcast to discuss the Chinese Communist Party’s influence over Canada’s so-called “natural governing party.” 

“He’s clearly hiding something, and what he’s hiding is that the Liberal Party in the Chinese communities and the United Front hierarchy, the Mandarin bloc, is the same thing,” Glavin said. “It’s one and the same.”

Has Canada reached the tipping point with Xi Jinping’s China? What next? Listen to the full interview. 

Plus commentary and Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim headlines.

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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

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For the week of March 5, 2023:  It

Business, News

Bob Mackin

Premier David Eby says he is not waiting for action from the federal government to continue his ongoing battle against money laundering in B.C.

Premier David Eby (left) with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 1 at Kwantlen Polytechnic (BC Gov)

On March 1, shortly after Eby’s healthcare funding photo op with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the B.C. Prosecution Service announced a special prosecutor secretly appointed almost a year ago decided not to charge Paul King Jin for money laundering and other 2017 offences. It brought a screeching halt to one of the biggest investigations in the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit’s history. 

Eby had used his power as Attorney General in November 2021 to order Assistant Deputy Attorney General Peter Juk to retain a special prosecutor after Crown counsel earlier concluded that the case against Jin would not likely result in a conviction. Eby believed prosecution was in the public interest.

However, special prosecutor Chris Considine reached the same conclusion about the case, code named E-Nationalize. Considine blamed gaps in the federal Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and the absence of a link between Jin’s cash and true criminal activity, as opposed to unlicensed activity.

“Regrettably, the challenge of proving a viable predicate offence, given the wording of the current legislation, combined with the complexity of an enormous data set in a foreign language [Mandarin], have conspired to make the prospects for conviction poor, despite the best efforts of many dedicated officers,” Considine concluded in his Wednesday-released report.

Eby did not respond to a direct request for comment, but referred it to press secretary Jimmy Smith, who delivered a prepared statement late Wednesday afternoon. 

Paul King Jin (second from right) and Tourism Minister Lisa Beare (second from left) on Aug. 27, 2019 at World Champion Gym in Richmond (Mackin)

“In relation to this case, the attorney general [Niki Sharma] has received the recommendations made by the special prosecutor and I join her in thanking the B.C. Prosecution Service for their diligent work,” said Eby’s statement. “Our government remains committed to working with the federal government to ensure federal law can properly respond to the challenge of money laundering. 

“We support [Considine’s] recommendation that propose changes to the criminal code to expand the tools available for prosecutors to successful convict money launderers but we are not simply going to wait for federal action. In the coming months, we will be tabling legislation that will allow the seizure of property and luxury cars that are likely the result of proceeds of crime and corruption.”

The province isn’t finished alleging that Jin has benefited from the proceeds of crime. Last summer, a fourth civil forfeiture action was launched against Jin in B.C. Supreme Court, aimed at seizure of Jin’s real estate.

The province may be in a better position to succeed under a lower burden of proof after last month’s Court of Appeal decision in the Director of Civil Forfeiture’s watershed quest to seize three Hells Angels clubhouses in East Vancouver, Nanaimo and Kelowna. 

The appeal tribunal ruled that the clubhouses “constituted instruments of unlawful activity” and are subject to forfeiture. The verdict overturned a 2020 B.C. Supreme Court decision by a judge who said there was not enough evidence the clubhouses were used for criminal activity. 

Nonetheless, Considine’s decision is politically embarrassing in the wake of the nearly $19 million Cullen Commission public inquiry into money laundering. Commissioner Austin Cullen had focused heavily on Jin’s casino and real estate exploits in his final report and called E-Nationalize “a groundbreaking investigation into a sophisticated money laundering operation.”

Commissioner Austin Cullen (Cullen Commission)

Cullen had granted Jin’s lawyer, Greg DelBigio, participant status to question witnesses at the public inquiry. But the commission lawyers never called Jin to testify. 

A related investigation, which also involved Jin, was called E-Pirate and it began in February 2015. Caixuan Qin and Jian Jun Zhu, the two principals of a Richmond underground bank called Silver International, were set to stand trial, but the charges against them were stayed in November 2018 after errant disclosure of a police informant’s name. 

Zhu was murdered in a Richmond sushi restaurant in September 2020 while seated next to Jin. Jin survived his injuries. Yuexi “Alex” Lei and Richard Charles Reed were charged with first-degree murder. 

Cullen’s June 15-published final report made more than 100 recommendations. In October, the province replaced the Mortgage Brokers Act with new regulations for brokers, lenders and administrators, giving new licensing powers to the B.C. Financial Services Authority. 

Little else has happened. Two of the marquee recommendations were to hire an anti-money laundering commissioner and create a dedicated, provincial money laundering intelligence and investigation unit.

During the six years after E-Nationalize was announced, Jin’s case also took a few plot twists that were politically embarrassing to the NDP.

Tourism, Art, Culture and Sport Minister Lisa Beare announced kickboxing deregulation in August 2019 in, of all places, Jin’s Richmond boxing and mixed martial business, World Champion Gym. She posed for a group photo with Jin and his wife, Xiaoqi Wei, and appeared surprised when a reporter pointed out Jin. 

“This was a venue chosen through the athletic commissioner’s office as a possible venue, and that [Jin’s ownership and attendance] is news to me,” Beare said.

Pursued by a reporter, Jin tried to refer questions to his lawyer, but eventually relented. “Nobody who charged me, nothing, four years already. I work hard and teach young people to work hard in Canada,” Jin said. 

In July 2020, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General licensed Blackcore Security and Investigations, a new company co-founded by Jin’s son, Jesse Xin Jia. Blackcore’s address was the same as World Champion Gym.

The next month, the Director of Civil Forfeiture filed a lawsuit to seize the gym, calling Jin the true owner of Warrior Fighting Dream Ltd., which bought the property at No. 5 and Dyke roads in June 2016. Blackcore quietly closed later in 2020. 

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Bob Mackin Premier David Eby says he is

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Bob Mackin

The week after Squamish’s Quest University announced it would close indefinitely at the end of April, a New York college related to the same Vancouver education company faces a similar uncertain future.

The King’s College (TKC)

The King’s College (TKC), a private Christian liberal arts college in New York City, announced in May 2021 that Primacorp Ventures Inc. would provide student recruitment, marketing and fundraising services.

The basics of the service agreement are similar to the one Primacorp made with the board of Quest in late 2020, when the company spent $43 million to buy the campus and surrounding lands in order to rescue the Squamish university out of court protection from creditors. 

Early this year, however, TKC announced it needed $2.6 million to finish its academic year. 

TKC’s board includes a Quest University director, former Jim Pattison Group executive Rodney Bergen, and its interim president is Stockwell Day, the former Conservative Party cabinet minister.

Day said by email that he was asked to step-in as interim president to assist with restructuring and is exploring a variety of options for the future.

“Scores of small liberal arts colleges in the U.S. and Canada are certainly not immune to the financial woes of these times which are causing layoffs or closures across so many industries,” Day said. 

On Feb. 24, Inside Higher Ed reported that TKC has fewer than 350 students (Quest has 135) and that Day pitched an idea for the 6,000 graduates to each donate $500 to keep TKC going.

By Feb. 15, however, only $178,000 had been raised. 

On Wednesday, Day told a hastily called meeting of TKC personnel that Primacorp chair Peter Chung would put up $2 million that he hoped to recoup from federal pandemic relief funds. 

China’s Vancouver envoy Tong Xiaoling (right) with former international trade minister Stockwell Day on Dec. 11, 2018 (Mackin)

Two sources with knowledge of the meeting, but who are not authorized to speak publicly, said participants were also told that graduation would go ahead in May, with staff being paid until May and faculty would be paid until July. Non-graduating students would be helped to transfer elsewhere. 

On March 3, TKC sent a memo to students and parents at 6:16 p.m. Eastern time, that said no decision had been made whether to close the college.

“We are pursuing every opportunity to keep King’s open and thriving, but at this point, we still haven’t secured an affiliation with another educational institution or raised enough funds to ensure that we are able to do that,” said the email from Day and four other executives.

The memo included a list of 10 schools to which students could transfer, if TKC closes. Five are in New York and two on the West Coast, Providence Christian College in Pasadena, Calif., and Seattle Pacific University. TKC has invited representatives of those institutions to send representatives to the TKC campus during the week of March 20.

“We will fight on for the next chapter of King’s and will leave no stone unturned. Thus, at this time there is no deadline we are setting as we keep all options open.”

In a Feb. 28 story on Religion Unplugged, executive editor and TKC journalism professor Paul Glader reported that TKC originally informed faculty of layoffs and cost-cutting last November. In January, TKC said it needed to find a mega-donor, merger with another institution or face closure.

Primacorp’s Peter Chung (Primacorp)

Primacorp had hoped to profit from TKC’s online education programs and planned to offer a “global rotation” program to require students at the New York campus to study for a year abroad, in the Middle East or South Korea. 

Glader’s story also noted the significance of a residential building, a former hotel, that TKC bought for $19.2 million in 2018 and is looking to sell. 

“The full picture of debts on that property is not clear to outside observers,” Glader wrote. “It’s also not clear who stands to profit from a sale.”

Real estate also figures in the Quest saga. On Feb. 24, the day after the Quest board’s announcement, NAI Commercial listed the 55-acre Quest University lands and buildings for sale. The university is not included and Quest claimed it did not know the property would be listed. 

Asking price is only available for bidders who sign a non-disclosure agreement. The land was assessed last year at $15.08 million and buildings $54.17 million.

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.

Requests to interview Chung have not been fulfilled. 

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Bob Mackin The week after Squamish’s Quest University

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Bob Mackin

A special prosecutor who was secretly appointed almost a year ago to consider charging Richmond money laundering suspect Paul King Jin has concluded there is no substantial likelihood or reasonable prospect of conviction.

Paul King Jin (BCLC/Cullen Commission)

The B.C. Prosecution Service made the announcement the afternoon of March 1, shortly after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby completed a healthcare funding news conference. It released a letter that Eby wrote in November 2021, while he was Attorney General, directing Assistant Deputy Attorney General Peter Juk to appoint a special prosecutor. 

Victoria criminal lawyer Chris Considine was retained in March 2022 and his clear statement,  also released Wednesday, gave reasons for his decision. 

“I have come to the difficult conclusion that I will not be approving charges arising out of the E-Nationalize investigation. Given the wording of the [Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act], the absence of a link between [Jin’s] cash and true criminal activity, as distinct from unlicensed activity, is the principal obstacle to a successful prosecution,” Considine wrote. 

“Regrettably, the challenge of proving a viable predicate offence, given the wording of the current legislation, combined with the complexity of an enormous data set in a foreign language, have conspired to make the prospects for conviction poor, despite the best efforts of many dedicated officers.” 

The B.C. government isn’t finished with Jin. Last summer, the Director of Civil Forfeiture filed a fourth lawsuit against Jin, seeking to seize real estate allegedly obtained via proceeds of crime. 

Eby’s direction to Juk mentioned that Crown counsel had rejected the charges recommended by the Joint Illegal Gaming Investigations Team (JIGIT) of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU). The anti-organized crime squad said Jin should be charged with participating in activities of a criminal organization, possession of currency and bank drafts obtained by the commission of an indictable offence and laundering currency and bank drafts, and knowing or believing that all or part of that property was obtained by the commission of a designated offence. 

While Crown counsel believed there was a possible path to prosecuting Jin, it decided there was not a substantial likelihood of conviction and the public interest did not require prosecution because the length and expense of prosecution. 

Eby’s letter explained that CFSEU appealed the Crown’s charge assessment decision to Juk, who concluded he should not interfere with or overturn the Crown’s decision. Juk briefed Eby, who then used his authority as Attorney General under the Crown Counsel Act to direct Juk to find a special prosecutor.

Chris Considine (Considine and Co.)

“Money laundering poses a threat to financial integrity in British Columbia and nationally. If there is a viable path to prosecuting Mr. Jin for money laundering or related offences and no prosecution is undertaken, public confidence in the justice system could be damaged,” Eby wrote. “If there is a viable path to a prosecution, it is my opinion that there is a strong public interest in conducting a prosecution.”

Considine’s clear statement said investigators identified 10 events, in which Jin moved $2.4 million between February 2017 and May 2017, a time when his alleged money laundering “was most robust.” They traced the chain of communications and transfer of funds to demonstrate that cash Jin obtained was the result of offshore transfer of funds. 

“The investigation revealed that between February 4 and May 19, 2017, [Jin] received approximately $5.4 million in bulk cash from [persons] A and B; provided over $6 million in cash, bank drafts or casino chips to clients; and arranged for the deposit of approximately $7.2 million into the Chinese bank accounts associated to A and B,” said Considine’s statement.

Investigators proposed eight charges and Considine said he found allegations of possession of the proceeds of crime and money laundering the most significant, but gaps in Canadian law would have made prosecution difficult to establish that the money in question was actually dirty money. 

“While it is possible to identify on paper a theoretical legal path to conviction, my instincts tell me a prosecution is likely to founder. The public interest would not be well served by embarking on an expensive and lengthy prosecution that comes to naught.”

A similar investigation, which also involved Jin, was called E-Pirate and began in February 2015. Caixuan Qin and Jian Jun Zhu, the two principals of a Richmond underground bank called Silver International, were set to stand trial, but the charges against them were stayed in November 2018 after errant disclosure of a police informant’s name.

David Eby, left, Carole James, Maureen Maloney and Peter German in 2019 (BC Gov)

Zhu was murdered in a Richmond sushi restaurant in September 2020 while seated next to Jin. Jin survived his injuries. Yuexi “Alex” Lei and Richard Charles Reed were charged with first-degree murder. 

In his final report on money laundering in B.C., released last June by Eby, Commissioner Austin Cullen called E-Nationalize a “groundbreaking investigation into a sophisticated money-laundering operation” and he spent extensive time in the report analyzing evidence about Jin. The public inquiry into money laundering in B.C. examined the links between casinos, real estate and drugs, a phenomenon that an Australian criminologist dubbed “the Vancouver model.”

Jin’s lawyer, Greg DelBigio, was granted participant status to question witnesses at the public inquiry. Jin, however, was not called to testify. 

Considine recommended federal legislative changes to crack down on unlicensed money services businesses. He noted that it is criminal to not obtain a licence, but the law does not explicitly criminalize the operation of an unlicensed money services business. 

Considine also said JIGIT did not have access to legal advice from two senior Crown counsel during their investigation and would benefit from a closer relationship with Crown. 

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Bob Mackin A special prosecutor who was secretly

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Bob Mackin 

The Crown corporation that operates B.C. Place Stadium and the Vancouver Convention Centre is expecting to lose almost $60 million over the next four years.

Inside B.C. Place Stadium (Mackin)

The B.C. Pavilion Corporation (PavCo) service plan, released simultaneously with the NDP government’s provincial budget on Tuesday, forecasts $12.05 million in losses for the fiscal year to end March 31. More than 70% of the total is attributed to B.C. Place Stadium. 

Next year’s loss is estimated at $17.32 million. 

B.C. Place forecasts hitting the 771,000 mark in annual attendance by the end of the current fiscal year, but dip to 656,000 next year. 

Delegate days at Vancouver Convention Centre, based on confirmed and tentative bookings, are forecast at 372,000 for delegates outside Metro Vancouver and 272,000 outside B.C. Those numbers are expected to rise substantially in 2023-2024, as the pandemic recovery accelerates, to 590,000 and 448,000, respectively. 

  • B.C. Lottery Corp. is forecasting record $1.62 billion net income in 2022-2023, the first full fiscal year of normalized gambling operations in what BCLC calls a “post-pandemic environment.” 

The lotteries and casinos Crown corporation’s pre-pandemic record was almost $1.42 billion in 2018-2019. It is forecasting $1.58 billion next year.

BCLC’s service plan said it is banking on revenue boosts from the Gateway-operated new Cascades Casino in Delta, Lotto 6/49 enhancements, and the expansion of its PlayNow.com sports and other betting site to Saskatchewan.

The new fiscal year is the target for completion the replacement of 3,500 lottery terminals and systems across the province, a $48 million project with $11 million left to complete. 

“The capital costs of this project increased by $5 million compared to prior year, primarily due to lingering pandemic related global supply chain challenges,” said the BCLC report. 

  • Liquor Distribution Branch forecasts almost $1.18 billion net income by March 31 and $1.15 billion next year. 

Site C dam under construction (BC Hydro)

“In fiscal year 2023/24 and future years, beverage alcohol sales dollar increases will be an average of 2.2 per cent primarily due to a small growth of volume in litres sold and higher costs,” the LDB report said. 

Meanwhile, LDB assumes increases in marijuana sales will not have a significant impact on liquor sales. More private pot retailers will enter the marketplace, product selection will increase and direct delivery will increase access to products.

  • Insurance Corporation of B.C. is forecasting a net loss of $298 million for the current fiscal year, a sharp switch from the $327 million in the black that it had expected for the year. 

“The forecasted net income for 2022/23 is $625 million lower than plan, which is mainly due to investment losses that are driven by global market volatility as inflation and interest rates increase,” said the ICBC report. 

ICBC is expecting to break even in 2023-2024, then be back in black at $450 million in 2024-2025.

  • BC Hydro is budgeting $712 million net income every year through 2025-2026.

Total revenues of $8.014 billion this year, dipping to $7.95 billion next year.

The electric company expects a decision in spring 2023 from its August 2021 rates application to the B.C. Utilities Commission. The report cautions the regulator’s decision may change revenue and expense projections. 

Seven capital projects worth a combined $451 million are targeted to be in-service during 2023. 

The G.M. Shrum control system upgrade and street light replacement program were budgeted at $75 million each. The latter involves converting 95,000 BC Hydro high pressure sodium and mercury vapour street lights to LED.

BC Hydro’s biggest project, the Site C dam, remains targeted for 2025 service at a 2021-approved budget of $16 billion. As of Dec. 31, BC Hydro had spent $10.46 billion. 

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Bob Mackin  The Crown corporation that operates B.C.

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Bob Mackin 

Vancouver city hall says taxpayers are on the hook for more than $66,000 due to the Barge on the Beach. But bureaucrats are seeking reimbursement.

Barge deconstruction on July 13 (Mackin)

The 84-metre-long bin barge that ran aground at Sunset Beach in a Nov. 15, 2021 windstorm, known officially as STM-5000, became a local pop culture icon for the first few months of its stay. An early attempt to tow it away failed and expert reports showed it was an environmental hazard. 

Crews from Vancouver Pile Driving took apart the barge, piece-by-piece, during a three-and-a-half month period last summer and fall in project estimated at $2.4 million. 

They finished the work Nov. 17, 2022 by making a final check of the seabed and disassembled the last remnants of scaffolding. Vancouver Pile Driving gave its final weekly update on Dec. 12. 

According to a statement from the city’s communications department on Monday, $66,112.23 in costs have been submitted for reimbursement from the vessel owner Sentry Marine Towing Ltd. and insurer Coast Claims Insurance. 

The total includes $58,264 billed by contractor Securiguard for round-the-clock protection from November 2021 to January 2022 and $7,848.23 for Vancouver Police on Nov. 15-16, 2021. 

Meanwhile, there will be no further clean-up work on the beach related to the Barge removal.

The Barge on the Beach (Mackin)

“The Park Board reviewed the assessments that were completed following the removal of the barge and were satisfied with the existing condition of the shoreline post-deconstruction. No remediation work is required,” said the statement 

A post-deconstruction habitat survey had been planned for May 2023.

Documents obtained via freedom of information showed that the barge wasn’t supposed to remain for the anniversary of its arrival. A late-April version of the contractor’s schedule estimated deconstruction and removal would be over by mid-July. Approval to use provincially owned land, negotiations for a licensing agreement between the city, Sentry and Coast Claims and discussions about the weight and type of site barriers all caused delays. 

Safety barriers were erected June 30 and deconstruction finally began July 25. 

A hazardous materials survey by Orca Health and Safety found breaches of the hull in at least three places. Testing found lead throughout the hull and bulwarks and diesel oil and hydraulic fluids. Copper and zinc were presumed in the hull underwater. No asbestos, volatile organic compounds or PCBs were found, but materials that were detected needed to be removed or contained prior to demolition.

“The presence of lead in the vessel’s paint systems is considered to pose a moderate to high risk to workers during breaking,” said the Orca report.

The barge was originally built in 1966 by Zidell Explorations Inc. in Portland, Ore., and known as Foss 275. It became STM-5000 after it was rebuilt and converted into a bin barge in 1987.

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Bob Mackin  Vancouver city hall says taxpayers are

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Bob Mackin

After Quest University’s president told a reporter that its landlord was aware of its troubles, the Squamish university says it was caught by surprise when Primacorp Ventures Inc. put the campus and surrounding lands for sale.

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

NAI Commercial published a flyer for the 55-acre property on Friday morning, less than a day after Quest announced it would close indefinitely at the end of April for financial reasons.

“The chair of the Quest University board of governors wishes to definitively state that the board’s decision to suspend regular academic operations after completion of the spring term in April 2023 was in no way related to any real estate offerings or transactions that its landlord may be involved in,” read a statement from the university on Feb. 25. 

“Upon contacting the agent, we learned that the posting went live sometime after our announcement on Feb. 23. In that discussion we also learned that the university lands have been on offer through NAI Commercial since some point in late 2022.”

Quest president Art Coren had told the Squamish Chief on Feb. 24 morning that Primacorp was “aware of where we’re at, and we’re counting on them to help us through an orderly and dignified windup.”

Quest University president Art Coren (Quest)

The asking price is only available to serious bidders who sign a non-disclosure agreement. The land was assessed last year at $15.08 million and buildings $54.17 million. The Quest campus and sportsplex occupy 23 acres. The remaining land could be redeveloped for market and non-market housing and commercial uses.

The university is adamant that it is suspending academic operations, but not ceasing to exist. Neither is it for sale, despite the headline on the NAI Commercial flyer. “Quest is still a university whether it resides in the Garibaldi Highlands, down by Oceanfront, or smack in the middle of Brackendale. We are much more than a piece of land.”

Quest sought court protection from creditors in January 2020 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. 

In December 2020, Primacorp paid $43 million for the land and university buildings to rescue Quest. The deal included an agreement for Primacorp to provide Quest student recruitment, marketing and fundraising services. Primacorp vice-president of marketing Melissa Davis said by email that Primacorp has completed its $20 million agreement with Quest, but she did not disclose the date that it ended.

Primacorp, under chair Peter Chung, bills itself as Canada’s largest provider of private post-secondary education with 15,000 annual enrolments and has subsidiaries in seniors’ housing, commercial real estate and self storage in Canada and the U.S. Requests to interview Chung have not been fulfilled.

Peter Chung (Primacorp)

The board that oversees operations of the private liberal arts and science university announced Feb. 23 that it plans to restructure finances and operations, but did not provide an estimated timeline. Quest said it had been seeking additional funding to continue beyond April, but “the board concluded that it had no alternative but to make the responsible decision it has at this time.” The board pledged to refund tuition owing and help students transfer elsewhere. 

“The board’s first priority is to protect our current and prospective students,” said the statement. “It is not prepared to continue offering our innovative programming if the university cannot confidently deliver the full 2023/24 academic year.”

Coren, who has not responded to interview requests, joined Quest as president in June 2022 after selection by a committee involving members of the Quest board, faculty, students and alumni. In 2012, he was hired to run the private University Canada West (UCW) when Chung’s company, then known as Eminata, was owner. 

He told the Professionals in International Education newsletter in 2017 that he joined UCW “basically as a rescue mission. They had gone through a lot of problems in the press in the previous ownership and we came in to do a turnaround.”

In April 2013, Coren and Chung were part of the Eminata delegation to Guangdong province in China for an agreement to establish an international Kindergarten to Grade 12 program at Taishan City Education Bureau. Coren’s Quest bio states that he holds a visiting professorship at Guangdong University of Foreign students. 

Quest opened in 2007 and graduated 1,000 students as of 2022. It receives no funding from the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, which said Feb. 27 that there are only 135 students eligible to graduate in April or transfer. The Ministry said it will make students whole if Quest doesn’t and encourages students to reach out to the Degree Quality Assessment Board Secretariat with any questions or concerns. 

The Quest website says it charges Canadians $23,000 and non-Canadians $38,000 for annual  tuition. Room, board, travel and other fees are estimated at $15,000.  

Quest is governed by the provincial Sea to Sky University Act, which includes a section about winding up and dissolution. If the university were to close permanently, instead of the announced suspension of operations, all funds and property remaining after payment to employees, cover debts, and fund student access to transcripts must be distributed to “qualified donees” designated by the board, as defined in the federal Income Tax Act. 

—with a file from Steven Chua

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Bob Mackin After Quest University’s president told a

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The fourth-place finisher in last fall’s race for the Vancouver mayoralty, who enjoyed success organizing political campaigns before the 2017 end of B.C.’s big money era, received an illegal $50,000 loan and is now struggling to return the money.

Christy Clark (left) and Mark Marissen – divorced but always a political couple (Silvester Law/Instagram)

Mark Marissen was the leader of Progress Vancouver and had received the loan from Jason McLean in February 2022 “to finance the day-to-day administration of Progress Vancouver’s elector organization office intended to operate on a continuing basis outside campaign periods,” according to an Elections BC prohibited campaign loan form. 

It was due for repayment on the Oct. 15 election day, subject to a 5% interest rate.

Jason McLean is CEO of the privately held McLean Group, which owns real estate, construction, film production, IT and communications, and flight charter companies. He is a former Vancouver Board of Trade chair and former Vancouver Police Board member who worked as an aide in the office of Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien. He declined comment. 

The Elections BC guide for elector organizations states that a loan received from an eligible individual must be counted towards the contribution limit for that individual in the calendar year the loan was received. Individual donations to parties and candidates in 2022 were capped at $1,250. The guide also said that if a financial agent becomes aware that it was accepted contrary to the law, the loan must be returned or repaid within 30 days. Elections BC has the power to issue fines for accepting or making a prohibited loan. 

After a reporter sought comment from Marissen, financial agent AnnMarie Aase forwarded a statement from Marissen, the principal of lobbying and strategic communications firm Burrard Strategy.

Marissen admitted Progress Vancouver was unaware of the NDP government’s amendments to campaign financing laws via the March 2021 Local Elections Statutes Amendment Act, “As it pertains to the effect of deeming all loans to an elector organization to be loans for election expenses and subject to the prescribed limit on loans from non-financial institutions.”

David McLean (left) and Jason McLean (McLean Group)

He also said the party received wrong advice from an unnamed lawyer in January 2022, who said there was no jurisdictional limit, dollar limit, or limit based on individual versus corporate status to fund the day-to-day operations of a party office outside of campaign or election periods. 

“Progress Vancouver became aware of the full extent of the amendments having come into effect only after it had paid bills for the purposes set out for the party as explained above,” Marissen said. “It hoped to be able to return Mr. McLean’s loan through campaign contributions, but has not been successful to date in doing so. Progress Vancouver continues to solicit permitted donations and intends to repay Mr. McLean.”

McLean made three donations totalling $3,239 to Progress Vancouver last year. Other family members donated $1,239 each, including Andrea, Melanie, Brenda and David McLean. 

David McLean was a major BC Liberal donor who backed Gordon Campbell and later Christy Clark in their rise to power. He was also the chair of CN Rail when it privatized BC Rail after the tainted 2003 bidding process. Only BC Liberal aides Dave Basi and Bob Virk were ever charged. They pleaded guilty during their 2010 breach of trust trial in exchange for taxpayers picking up their $6.2 million legal tab.

Marissen received 5,830 votes in a Vancouver civic election dominated by Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver party. None of Marissen’s six candidates for city council or Metro Vancouver’s electoral area A were elected. Since the election, he registered to lobby the NDP government on behalf of Surrey city hall to close down the Surrey Police Service and keep the RCMP as the local police force. Neither Mayor Brenda Locke nor Marissen have disclosed his contract value.

Progress Vancouver raised $256,097.79 (including the loan) and spent $265,673.53, according to its month-late filing with Elections BC, for which it was fined $500. 

Marissen’s ex-wife Clark endorsed his campaign and appeared on a robocall. She made donations totalling $2,224. Their son, Hamish Marissen Clark, is also listed for a $1,000 contribution.

Hector Bremner

Marissen was supported financially by numerous figures from the BC Liberals 2001 to 2017 dynasty: Clark’s ex-deputy chief of staff Kim Haakstad ($1,250), ex-chief of staff Ken Boessenkool ($1,239), campaign mastermind and lobbyist Patrick Kinsella ($1,239), former cabinet ministers Olga Ilich ($2,500) and Suzanne Anton ($400), and Clark biographer Judi Tyabji ($1,000).

Hector Bremner, who ran for mayor in 2018 under Marissen’s Yes Vancouver banner, gave $100, veteran federal Liberal Party activists David Gruber ($2,250) and Bill Cunningham ($500), and Dirk Brinkman, husband of Vancouver Quadra Liberal MP Joyce Murray ($975). 

British Columbia was famously deemed the “Wild West of Canadian Political Cash” in a 2017 New York Times investigation because it had no limits on the source or size of political donations. The NDP banned corporate and union donations after it came to power in 2017 with the support of the Green Party. Annual limits were set for individuals to contribute to provincial and municipal parties and candidates, and donors must be a resident of B.C. and a citizen or permanent resident of Canada. 

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Bob Mackin The fourth-place finisher in last fall’s

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