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Bob Mackin

The Liberal Party will announce Justin Trudeau’s successor as Prime Minister in 19 days. But Democracy Watch is determined to hold him accountable for the SNC-Lavalin scandal after finding evidence the RCMP bungled the investigation.

Co-founder Duff Conacher said Feb. 19 that he is filing a private prosecution application in the Ontario Court of Justice, aimed at charging Trudeau with obstruction of justice and breach of trust by a public official.

Democracy Watch’s Duff Conacher

Conacher’s application, supported by IntegrityBC founder Wayne Crookes, was announced the same day that Trudeau revealed SNC-Lavalin — now known as AtkinsRealis — is part of the Cadence consortium the Liberal government chose to build a multi-billion-dollar bullet train from Toronto to Quebec City.

Trudeau was found in conflict of interest in 2019 after he and several officials under him repeatedly pressured former-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould and her staff to drop corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin during the last four-and-a-half months of 2018.

SNC-Lavalin successfully lobbied for the Liberal government to enact a deferred prosecution agreement scheme in 2018, so that corruption charges could be settled with a fine instead of conviction. But Wilson-Raybould resisted pressure from Trudeau and company, to the point that she was shuffled out of the justice portfolio and into veterans affairs in early 2019.

Conacher found, via thousands of pages obtained under access to information — albeit delayed and heavily redacted — that the RCMP closed its investigation without interviewing Trudeau. That was not the only flaw.

“The investigating officer changed the standard of proof initially being used by the RCMP for the charge of obstruction of justice, and applied an incorrect legal standard as the basis for the conclusion that no one should be prosecuted,” said Conacher’s six-page will say document.

“The RCMP did not interview many witnesses, and accepted the cabinet’s restricted cabinet document disclosure order, and relied in part on the clearly self-interested and biased statement by Jody Wilson-Raybould in February 2019, while hiding part of statements by her and other key witnesses concerning whether the actions of the PM amounted to obstruction of justice.”

Further, the RCMP “did not even consider prosecuting the PM for breach of trust even though the evidence supports such a prosecution. The RCMP has also refused to disclose approximately 300 pages of its investigation records.”

Conacher’s application also includes a legal opinion from a retired Superior Court judge, who provided it voluntarily under the condition of anonymity. That opinion details the reasonable and probable grounds to believe Trudeau committed the criminal offences of obstruction of justice and breach of trust by a public official.

That legal opinion recalled the roots of the SNC-Lavalin scandal, in which an executive paid bribes to the family of dictator Moammar Gadaffi in order to obtain contracts in Libya.

If convicted, SNC-Lavalin would have been barred from bidding on Canadian contracts for up to a decade.

In May 2022, SNC-Lavalin announced it would pay $29.6 million over three years under the first deferred prosecution agreement with Quebec’s Crown prosecution office. The company had paid $2.3 million in kickbacks on the $128 million Jacques Cartier Bridge refurbishment contract from 1997 to 2004.

The company formerly known as SNC-Lavalin is a contractor on BC Hydro’s $16 billion Site C dam and operates the Canada Line rapid transit system in Vancouver and Richmond. AtkinsRealis Group CEO Ian Edwards and four others are registered to lobby the B.C. NDP government.

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Bob Mackin The Liberal Party will announce Justin

Bob Mackin

One of the biggest scandals of Justin Trudeau’s time as prime minister involved meddling in the corruption prosecution of SNC-Lavalin (now known as AtkinsRealis), for which he was found in conflict of interest.

On Feb. 18, Democracy Watch released 1,832 pages it obtained after a July 2022 access to information request for records from the RCMP’s aborted investigation of Trudeau.

Jessica Prince (X)

Democracy Watch called the RCMP’s work a “weak, incomplete investigation and attempted cover up.”

The file includes redacted RCMP interview transcripts with Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould and her aide, Jessica Prince. Prince is now an assistant deputy minister in B.C. Premier David Eby’s office.

In one section, Prince recalled a Sept. 16, 2018 phone call with Trudeau senior aides Mathieu Bouchard and Elder Marques.

“…we were getting a lot of attention from Ben CHIN on this file [Editor’s note: Chin was B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s executive director of communications; he now works in the Prime Minister’s Office]. Um, a-, and then yeah. So September the 16th I have a phone call with Elder and Mathieu, who at that point, Elder MARQUES and Mathieu BOUCHARD are both in the PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE at this point in time, they’re n-, neither of them are anymore but, um, they are both, they were both very Senior Advisors to the Prime Minister and they’ve both lawyers as well. Um, and they are, their roles at the time, I don’t if it, it’s said this on paper, but the understanding in government was that they were the most senior lawyers in the PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE. Um, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff and his principal advisor and the Prime Minister himself are not lawyers. And so, the understanding was if anything legal was ever going on, you had to talk to Elder or Mathieu. And um, so, the fact that they were the ones who called me, like I kn-, I, I sorta knew what this was about. Um, uh, they wanted to have a conversation about SNC-LAVALIN and then sort of the content of that conversation um, is, is, is captured here in the document. I don’t know if there’s much more to add in terms of the content. I would say it was notable that they both called me, like it was pretty rare to get, I mean, it was pretty rare frankly, for me to get a call from one of them, but for me to get a call from both of them at the same time, again, like would make me think okay, this is, this is, uh, like this has captured the attention of the PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE now. It’s not just the Finance Minister’s office, now PMO is involved and if they have both Elder and Mathieu it’s like, it’s ser-,like serious I guess? Um, so, uh, uh, yeah. So it look that on the next day September 17th, I had a conversation with, with our Deputy Minister. Um, and it looks like that’s when w., we had that discussion.

Jody Wilson-Raybould testifying on Feb. 27, 2019 (CPAC)

Prince also told the RCMP about an Oct. 26, 2018 phone call with Bouchard, who unsuccessfully appealed for Wilson-Raybould to intervene in order to protect the Liberals’ re-election chances.

He said, you know, Jess, we could have the best policy in the world, but if we, we have to get re-elected, right? And he was talking about the political context in Quebec, he was talking about the possibility of the company pulling its headquarters out of the province of Quebec. Um, he said you know, uh, there’s no, uh, ’cause I, at this point I think the Quebec election had passed, so I was like, what’s the time pressure? You know like, we, the election happened in Quebec, there’s no federal election coming up, and he said well look, uh-, there’s no per-, time pressure now but if six months before an election, they pull their headquarters out of Quebec, that’s really, really bad for us. Um, and, uh, y-, y-, you know, he just said we just don’t wanna make sure, we wanna make sure that no doors are closed, like we wanna make sure we’ve explored every avenue. So, again, I said look, like if you wanna talk to the Minister, she’s happy to talk to you, we can, we can set something up, right?

theBreaker.news sought Prince’s comment, including whether she recalls what the RCMP is withholding. Her office absence auto-response said she will return Feb. 25.

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Bob Mackin One of the biggest scandals of

For the week of Feb.16, 2025:

British Columbia’s 43rd Parliament opens Feb. 18. 

The hot topics in Question Period during this session will include the NDP government’s drug policy, public health and public safety. Two years after the Trudeau Liberals and Eby NDP imposed the drug decriminalization experiment in B.C. 

Bob Mackin’s guest is addiction and mental health expert Dr. Julian Somers of Simon Fraser University. 

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

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

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

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thePodcast: Trudeau and Eby's drug decriminalization experiment, two years later
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For the week of Feb.16, 2025: British Columbia’s

Bob Mackin

According to former central banker Mark Carney, who could become Prime Minister-designate on March 9, Canada’s tragic fentanyl death toll is a challenge, not a crisis.

Carney raised eyebrows on social media for his aggressive pledge at a Feb. 12 Liberal leadership campaign tour stop in Kelowna to “use all of the powers of the federal government” to accelerate major federal projects in the shadow of Donald Trump’s trade threats.

“Including the emergency powers of the federal government,” Carney said. He did not elaborate on the potential use of the Emergencies Act.

However, earlier in his speech, he referred to the tragic outcome of fentanyl abuse and addiction across Canada as only a “challenge.”

“Look, fentanyl is an absolute crisis in the United States,” Carney said. “It’s a challenge here, but it’s a crisis there, and us doing what we can to help them with that is absolutely appropriate.”

Crisis is the word used throughout Public Health Agency of Canada websites. As of last summer, 49,105 people died in Canada from “apparent opioid toxicity” since January 2016.

In British Columbia, the government declared a public health emergency in 2016. The Ministry of Health said 2,253 people died in B.C. in 2024, a rate of more than six per day.

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Bob Mackin According to former central banker Mark

Bob Mackin

Vancouver city council unanimously voted Feb. 11 to create a buy local/buy Canadian plan to counter tariffs threatened by Donald Trump.

“I believe it’s more important than ever before that Vancouverites work together during this uncertain time to ensure that our city remains resilient in an unpredictable trade environment,” said Mayor Ken Sim at a special council meeting. “We need to develop a strategic response that prioritizes Vancouver’s local businesses and economy while supporting Canadian industry as a whole.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the Oval Office in 2018 with U.S. President Donald Trump. (FIFA).

But, was it all for show?

The city does very little business with U.S. suppliers. The 2023 procurement report said 95% of city hall’s 622 vendors are Canadian, of which 492 are based in British Columbia.

“Most of what we purchase from the States is not actually product,” city manager Paul Mochrie told the meeting. “It’s things like software. So we have not done the analysis of alternatives.”

Moreover, the city is legally bound to increase spending with certain U.S.-based corporations.

During a freedom of information adjudication, theBreaker.news obtained a copy of the host city agreement for FIFA World Cup 26. It requires Vancouver to give preferential treatment to FIFA’s “commercial affiliates” and even buy their products.

Not one of FIFA’s seven partners, seven World Cup sponsors and three World Cup supporters is Canadian.

FIFA counts U.S.-based partners Coca-Cola and Visa, sponsors Bank of America, Frito-Lay, McDonald’s and Verizon and supporters Home Depot, Rock-It Cargo and Valvoline.

Others include oil giant Aramco (Saudi Arabia), Qatar Airways, Lenovo computers (China) and Hyundai-Kia motors (South Korea).

The host city contract requires Vancouver to integrate FIFA’s commercial affiliates at host city events, source goods and services from the commercial affiliates wherever possible and protect their brands from ambush marketing.

Vancouver is one of 16 host cities for FIFA World Cup 26. Seven matches are scheduled for B.C. Place Stadium from June 13-July 7, 2026. Hastings Park will host the tournament-long Fan Festival.

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Bob Mackin Vancouver city council unanimously voted Feb.

Bob Mackin

According to a letter seen by theBreaker.news, a lawyer for the Conservative Party of B.C. runner-up in Surrey-Guildford is demanding Elections BC resume its investigation of alleged corrupt voting in the Oct. 19 election.

John Rustad (left) and Honveer Singh Randhawa (IG)

Honveer Singh Randhawa’s 103-vote election night win over the NDP’s Garry Begg turned into a 22-vote loss in the Nov. 8 judicial recount. The result gave the NDP a bare, 47-seat majority. Premier David Eby rewarded Begg with appointment as the Solicitor General.

Randhawa found evidence of voting irregularities and provided it to Elections BC on Jan. 2. He also filed a petition Jan. 13 in B.C. Supreme Court, asking a judge to invalidate Begg’s win under the Election Act and order a by-election for the seat.

But, on Jan. 28, Elections BC suspended the investigation pending the outcome of the court case. Randhawa’s lawyer said in a Feb. 10 letter that the agency has the legal authority to resume the investigation.

“Should the Chief Electoral Officer decide not to continue with his investigation, my client hereby demands that he provide his reasoning for failing to do so within seven days of this letter so that his reasoning can be subject to judicial review,” wrote Sunny Uppal of McQuarrie Hunter LLP.

Uppal’s letter, to Elections BC’s law firm, Alexander Holburn Beaudin and Lang LLP, said the Chief Electoral Officer Anton Boegman’s misunderstanding of administrative law stands in the way.

“Contrary to what the Chief Electoral Officer is claiming,” Uppal wrote, “the complaint and petition, even if based on the same facts, are not likely to result in contradictory findings of fact because the purpose and scope of the proceedings is very different, with one potentially resulting in the Oct. 19, 2024 election being invalidated and the other one focusing on such election irregularities not occurring again in the future.”

Further, Uppal said the law does not give the Boegman the power to invalidate an election, but instead make recommendations and issue guidelines.

“In contrast, the Supreme Court of British Columbia’s role in this particular matter is to make ‘findings of fact’ and potentially grant an order invalidating an election.”

Randhawa found 45 voting irregularities, including 21 mail-in votes from the Argyll Lodge addiction recovery house across the street from the polling station at the Guildford Park Secondary School. Randhawa’s investigation also found that the NDP received a $1,400 donation from a person with the same name as Argyll manager Baljit Kandola.

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Bob Mackin According to a letter seen by

Bob Mackin

A group opposed to logging in Stanley Park is trying again to stop the chainsaws.

The Stanley Park Preservation Society filed a petition Feb. 10 in B.C. Supreme Court, asking a judge to declare that the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation and City Council overstepped their powers and order them to quash contracts with B.A. Blackwell and Associates Ltd.

The society and its four members also want “an injunction prohibiting logging in Stanley Park with the exception of trees designated, after individual inspection, as posing an immediate danger to the public.”

The B.A. Blackwell lumber yard near Brockton Oval in Stanley Park, Nov. 5, 2024 (Mackin)

The city says the Hemlock looper moth infestation killed 160,000 trees and it is spending $18 million to chop down dead and dying trees to protect them from falling on the public or becoming fuel for a wildfire.

Five months ago, a judge ruled against the society’s negligence lawsuit. The society took that route, instead of a petition, because there had been no open vote on the program. That changed Oct. 8 at park board and Dec. 9 at city council.

The Feb. 10 petition alleges that the park board, city and its contractors did not use the Wildlife Hazardous Tree Assessors Course (WHTAC) criteria to mitigate the pest infestation. Instead, they used Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ) methodology to identify hazardous trees, which the lawsuit calls “incorrect.”

“Only TRAQ Level 1 assessments were performed, which were not sufficient to determine hazard; the city failed to conduct TRAQ Level 2 iInspections of TRAQ Level 3 inspections, despite the fact that at least a TRAQ Level 2 assessment is required to determine hazard.”

The petition also alleged that the city failed to document, through tree risk assessment reports, “trees that were removed or mitigated.”

The petition pointed out the park board’s long-term agenda is to bring Stanley Park back to “precolonial composition” and Comm. Tom Digby of the Green Party called hemlocks a “doomed” species that should be replaced with Douglas fir, cedar, and red alder.

“The Stanley Park forest lies within the coastal western hemlock biogeoclimatic. zone, wherein coastal western hemlocks are naturally the predominant species,” the petition states.

Additionally, the petition says Blackwell’s report that justified the logging operation is scientifically flawed and unreliable.

“The Blackwell Report fails to account for the collateral damage caused by the tree removal work. Specifically, extensive machine logging fragments the forest floor, reduces canopy coverage, disrupts and damages root systems, increases insolation and ambient temperatures, and exposes remaining trees to wind tunnelling and blowdown.”

In fall 2023 and winter 2024, Blackwell subcontractors took down more than 7,200 trees. According to statistics released under freedom of information, crews removed 1,305 trees — 331.84 cubic metres of merchantable logs — across 41.1 hectares of the park between October and December 2024.

The allegations have not been tested in court and the city and park board have yet to respond.

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Bob Mackin A group opposed to logging in

Bob Mackin

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim appeared at a banquet with Chinese diplomats and supporters of Beijing, almost two weeks after the Hogue Commission final report warned that China is targeting Canadian politicians at all levels.

The event was the Chinese Benevolent Association’s (CBA) Feb. 9 founding ceremony for its new Youth, Entrepreneurs and Overseas Chinese Love committees.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim (centre) with Zheng Yan (fourth from left) and Ye Hongtao (third from right). (Yangshipin.cn)

Sim, NDP-aligned Burnaby Coun. James Wang and Conservative MLAs Steve Kooner and Dallas Brodie joined the People’s Republic of China’s Deputy Consul Gen. Zeng Zhi at the Terminal City Club, where attendees stood for the singing of the “March of the Volunteers” Chinese Communist Party (CCP) national anthem.

Sim posed for photographs with CBA chair Helen Qian Hua (organizer of a 2013 gala marking 120 years since Mao Zedong’s birth), Canada Shandong Business Association head Zheng Yan (leader of a 2023 Vancouver delegation to China for Xi Jinping Thought sessions) and Canada China Cultural Communication Association director Ye Hongtao (a participant in the August 2019 pro-CCP protests in Vancouver).

Sim’s office downplayed his attendance at the event. Press secretary Kalith Nanayakkara said he was there to “engage with the community and recognize the cultural significance of the occasion following Lunar New Year celebrations earlier this month—not to endorse, propose, or influence any initiatives of the CBA or any other group.

“Any suggestion that this implies coordination or meetings with a foreign government is categorically false.”

The Chinese consulate has repeatedly denied meddling in Canadian affairs. But the Jan. 28-released report from the federal foreign interference public inquiry said Chinese diplomats and their proxies target all levels of government in Canada, supporting parties and politicians that China believes are helpful to its interests.

“The United Front Work Department, formally a department of the CCP, tries to control and influence Chinese diaspora communities, shape international opinions and influence politicians to support PRC policies,” the report said.

Almost two years ago, leaks of Canadian Security Intelligence Service documents indicated a Chinese diplomat in Vancouver worked to help get a Chinese-Canadian candidate elected mayor in 2022. Sim and his ABC Vancouver party won a landslide over pro-Taiwan incumbent Mayor Kennedy Stewart, but he scoffed at the suggestion.

“If there is proof of this, I’d be as mad as hell as everyone else,” Sim said after the Globe and Mail story in March 2023.

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Bob Mackin Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim appeared at

Bob Mackin

Premier David Eby’s office gave $136,000 in no-bid contracts to a diversity consultant and two NDP insiders around last year’s election.

The three, short-term contracts were for “business intelligence consulting services,” but an official in Eby’s office has not disclosed what the contractors actually did for taxpayers’ money.

Mike Magee (left) and Mayor Gregor Robertson. Birds of a feather, hide email together. (Twitter)

Vanessa Richards, a presenter at the Hollyhock Centre on Cortes Island who specializes in community engagement, civic imagination, and diversity and inclusion, began a $43,480 contract Aug. 19, 2024 and ended Sept. 19, 2024..

Eby began his election tour on Sept. 20. Oct. 19 was election day.

Convergence Communications and Trevor McKenzie-Smith were hired between Oct. 29 and Nov. 18, for $52,627.02 and $39,600, respectively.

Convergence co-owner Mike Magee is a longtime NDP strategist who was chief of staff to Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson from 2008 to 2016.

McKenzie-Smith is listed on the website for NDP pollster Strategic Communications as vice-president of research and engagement. But Olivia Watson, Stratcom’s business development and marketing manager, told theBreaker.news that McKenzie-Smith “hasn’t worked at Stratcom since July 2024.”

Government procurement rules require contracts worth $10,000 or more in goods and $75,000 or more in services be advertised. Direct awards are allowed, if a contractor is uniquely qualified, the ministry urgently needs goods or services or the acquisition confidential or privileged.

“Direct awards must not be used for the purpose of avoiding competition,” the rules state.

None of the contractors responded for comment.

theBreaker.news asked for the scope of work and deliverables for each contract, but Eby’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Aileen Machell, did not fulfil the request.

Machell did say that Eby’s office works with external consultants “on matters that are not part of routine government operations.”

“The work covered by the three contracts includes facilitation, organizational development, and transition services,” Machell said. “Convergence Communications has an ongoing contract with the Premier’s Office for strategic consulting services. Vanessa Richards provides professional development services. Trevor McKenzie-Smith was contracted to provide advice during transition.”

Public accounts for the year ended March 31, 2024 show Convergence Communications Inc. billed taxpayers $122,444 and Strategic Communications $273,198.

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Bob Mackin Premier David Eby’s office gave $136,000

For the week of Feb.9, 2025:

Super Bowl LIX Sunday. The biggest day of the year for American sport, TV and gambling.

Declan Hill of the University of New Haven (UNH)

Canadian investigative reporter and academic Declan Hill says the explosion of government-blessed betting on both sides of the U.S./Canada border threatens the integrity of sport and the health of sports fans.

Hill is associate professor at the University of New Haven Sports Integrity Center, Crime Waves podcast host and author of two books on match-fixing. He is Bob Mackin’s guest on this week’s edition of thePodcast. 

Plus hear from Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. What does he promise to beef-up security at Canada’s un-policed ports? 

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

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

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

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thePodcast: How legalized sports gambling could ruin Super Sunday
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For the week of Feb.9, 2025: Super Bowl