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Bob Mackin 

The Canadian Olympic Committee and leaders of the Four Host First Nations said July 8 that they need at least $1 billion from taxpayers to stage another Winter Olympics in B.C. in 2030.

The COC is acting as the bid committee with blessing and input from leaders of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Lil’wat councils. They estimate $299 million to $375 million would be needed in government grants to renovate existing venues left over from Vancouver 2010 and to build new ones, $165 million to $267 million for new Olympic Villages, and $560 million to $583 million to secure the Games.

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 report estimated an organizing committee’s $2.5 billion to $2.8 billion budget would be privately funded from broadcast, sponsorship, ticketing, merchandise and other revenue. So the overall bill could be $4 billion.

Vancouver city council is expected to decide after hearing a July 20 staff presentation whether to support an official bid to the International Olympic Committee. The B.C. NDP government has provided no commitment so far and has given COC president Tricia Smith until Aug. 15 to provide a detailed plan, including whether all host communities and First Nations would each share costs and risks.

Salt Lake City, the 2002 host, and Sapporo, the 1972 host, are also exploring bids. The IOC plans to pick the 2030 location in May 2023. 

The RCMP-led police and military operation at Vancouver 2010 cost almost $1 billion, which was substantially more than the original $125 million estimate. Mary Conibear, a former Vancouver 2010 operations manager who is also the COC’s provincial lobbyist, said a lower cost in 2030 would be achieved by relying on intelligence and technology, including surveillance cameras. She said the 2030 Games would be a sporting event with security, rather than a security event with sport — which was also the line often repeated more than 12 years ago by Bud Mercer, the RCMP officer in charge of the 10,000-person Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit. 

Conibear bristled at a reporter’s suggestion that relying on technology would affect Vancouverites’ civil liberties. 

Vancouver 2030 proposed venues map (COC)

“Obviously, Vancouver is not Beijing,” Conibear said. 

Conibear said the cost estimates were produced in tandem with RCMP and engineering consultants. Their names do not appear in the report and she did not provide their names when asked by a reporter. 

“In every case, it’s people with a great pedigree, but we can put that up on the website for sure,” Conibear said. 

By afternoon, the GamesEngagement.ca website showed bios for four security experts: senior RCMP event security veterans Alphonse MacNeil, Brian London and George Reid and Peter Johnston, formerly of the Royal Canadian Navy. No engineering or construction experts were listed with the bid feasibility team.

The Vancouver 2030 bid is positioned as “Indigenous-led,” but would any of the four host first nations be involved in financing the Games or assuming liability for a potential deficit? 

Chris Lewis, the Squamish Nation director of Indigenous initiatives and reconciliation, was the only representative of the four to offer an answer. He indicated that the only commitment is in the form of land on which the Olympic Village would be built in Vancouver on land owned by First Nations-owned MST Developments. 

“This is really about unlocking the economic potential of the host nations,” Lewis said. “As you know, we have 90 acres of land at Jericho that we had to purchase back as Indigenous peoples to start economic development, and now we’re offering our own parcels of land for a little bit of time to build the athletes’ village.”

RCMP veteran Alphonse MacNeil is the Canadian Olympic Committee’s 2030 bid security consultant (LinkedIn)

The report said the estimates include a built-in 25% contingency for increases and uncertainties, including cancellation insurance. 

There is, however, a long list of unknown costs described as essential services that would be required from multiple levels of government for snow removal, traffic control, temporary road closures and waste management to bylaw enforcement and permitting, ambulance and health services to provincial emergency planning, border services, airports and visas. 

The 2030 cost estimate also doesn’t include the possibility of government sponsorships and hospitality venues or related infrastructure. In 2010, the $2 billion Canada Line and $600 million Sea-to-Sky Highway were necessary for the staging of the Games. An extension to the Broadway Subway to UBC, with a station at the Jericho Lands, is proposed. If accelerated to meet a 2030 Games deadline, it would become a multibillion-dollar Olympic cost.  

Most 2010 venues would reprise their roles if the Games return in 2030, except snowboarding and freestyle skiing would go to Sun Peaks near Kamloops, curling at the Agrodome, and a temporary big air skiing and snowboarding ramp at Hastings Racecourse.

Whereas False Creek was the focal point for Vancouver 2010, the Vancouver 2030 hub would be Hastings Park. Nightly medal awards concerts would be held at the PNE Amphitheatre, and the official merchandise superstore, a daytime live site, cultural village and sponsor pavilions would be elsewhere on the site. 

The only new venue with a publicly known cost is the amphitheatre, at almost $70 million.  

The all-in cost to build and operate the Vancouver 2010 Games was as much as $8 billion, but the B.C. Auditor General never conducted a final report. The organizing committee, VANOC, was not covered by the freedom of information law and its records were transferred to the Vancouver Archives after the Games with restrictions not to open the board minutes and financial ledgers before fall 2025.

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Bob Mackin  The Canadian Olympic Committee and leaders

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Bob Mackin

Disgraced former B.C. Legislature Clerk Craig James was sentenced July 8 to one month of house arrest in his Saanich home and two months of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes found James guilty May 19 of fraud and breach of public trust. He was sentenced only for breach of public trust, because of rulings against multiple convictions for the same circumstances.

Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the B.C. Supreme Court.

The Crown cited previous breach of trust judgments and wanted a year in jail or a similar combination of house arrest and curfew for James, the equivalent of chief executive at the seat of government from 2011 to 2018. 

James’s lawyers wanted a conditional discharge and community service work.  

In B.C. Supreme Court, Holmes rejected a conditional discharge and jail for James, a 71-year-old with no prior criminal record. 

“I conclude that the conditional sentence order in this case should be shorter than those in the cases on which the Crown relies,” Holmes said. “However, it should be long enough to show even taking account of the harsh publicity Mr. James has endured, that violations of the public’s trust, particularly at the heart of a body supporting one of our key institutions, are treated as very serious indeed.”

Holmes ordered James to repay $1,886.72 for the cost of the custom shirts and suit that he illegally bought for himself with public funds. She also assessed a $200 victim fine surcharge.

Despite the court-imposed conditions, James is allowed to leave his house for urgent medical care or a medical appointment for himself, his wife and daughter, to attend weekly mass and for a maximum two-hour grocery shopping trip per week. 

Holmes said James had the highest level of responsibility, apart from the speaker, “within a public institution, on which society fundamentally depends.” He received a generous $347,090-a-year salary and benefits. James also received a $258,000 long-service bonus in 2012; Holmes ruled in May that the bonus was not criminal, but James was likely not entitled to the sum and his involvement in obtaining it was a conflict of interest.

Craig James (left) and Gary Lenz (Commonwealth Parliamentary Association)

Holmes said James’s attitude showed a disrespect for his duties to lead and protect the Legislative Assembly. He deliberately made false statements in three separate expense claims at different times in 2018. 

“Mr. James was specifically responsible for among other things, the management of [the Legislative Assembly of B.C.] public funds are very funds from which he drew for his own personal purposes in committing the offence. Mr. James’s motivation for the offence can only have been personal gain,” she said.

Holmes said there were many mitigating circumstances, including the relatively low dollar value of the offence, James’s age and loss of job, his lack of criminal record, prior good reputation, mental suffering and scathing media attention after he was suspended. She also mentioned James’s plans for the future, including supporting his daughter and hopes to resume traveling with his wife. 

“However, in my view, public criticism and blame through the media cannot entirely displace the court’s own role in denouncing conduct and in deterring others through the sentence it imposes,” Holmes said. 

James stood trial on three charges of breach of trust by a public official and two charges of fraud over $5,000 from Jan. 24 to March 3 in Vancouver. He did not testify in his defence. Holmes acquitted James for the purchase of a $13,000 woodsplitter and trailer that he kept at his Saanich home and for receiving the $258,000 payment. 

The native of Moose Jaw, Sask., came to B.C. in 1987 after working nine years at the Saskatchewan Parliament. The BC Liberal caucus under then-Premier Christy Clark named him clerk in June 2011 rather than allow an all-party committee to decide the appointment. 

James was suddenly suspended along with Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz, on Nov. 18, 2020. Then-Speaker Darryl Plecas and chief of staff Alan Mullen had called in the RCMP to investigate corruption.

The top two permanent officers of the Legislature both claimed they did no wrong and demanded their jobs back, but retired in disgrace in 2019 without reimbursing taxpayers. 

In May of that year, James was found to have committed four types of misconduct. Lenz quit five months later to avoid discipline under the Police Act for breaching his oath. Only James was charged under the Criminal Code in late 2020.

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Bob Mackin Disgraced former B.C. Legislature Clerk Craig

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Bob Mackin

The highest-paid employee in City of New Westminster in 2021 didn’t work the final two months of the year. 

Tim Armstrong suddenly retired in October 2021 as the New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services chief with less than a week’s notice. The Royal City’s statement of financial information for 2021 shows he received $324,081 and charged $4,725 in expenses.

Tim Armstrong (Justice Institute)

Armstrong’s pay was $129,729 higher than in 2020, when New Westminster paid Armstrong $194,802. He also billed taxpayers $3,827 in expenses that year. 

The official story, as New Westminster city hall tells it, is that the 12-year department head notified city manager Lisa Spitale on Oct. 22, 2021 that he would retire on Oct. 28. There was no public announcement, only carefully worded internal memos distributed by Spitale and Armstrong. 

City hall’s freedom of information office is refusing to disclose all email between Spitale and Armstrong for the last month-and-a-half of his employment, and it has also refused to show Armstrong’s payroll data. That has prompted a reporter’s appeal to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. 

The statement of financial information also includes a special note signed by Eva Yip, the acting director of human resources and IT, stating: “There was one severance agreement made between the Corporation of the City of New Westminster and a non-unionized employee during the 2021 fiscal year representing a total of 13 months of compensation.”

Neither Spitale nor Mayor Jonathan Cote responded for comment, but city hall did not deny that the note relates to Armstrong’s severance. 

“The city considers details of severance and retirement packages personal and privileged information and we do not discuss personnel issues publicly,” said Blair Fryer, New Westminster’s economic development and communications manager, in a prepared statement. 

Spitale was the second-highest paid employee, with $285,590 remuneration and $621 in expenses, for a total $286,850. Director of parks and recreation Dean Gibson ($210,742) and human resources director Richard Fong ($210,202) were the next-highest. 

Armstrong departed just three days before one of the busiest nights of the year, Hallowe’en. His parting memo generally thanked staff and said it was “time for a change” after 40 years in the fire service and public safety. There was no explanation for the short, six-day gap between his notice and retirement. 

Interim fire chief Curtis Bremner was introduced at a Nov. 1, 2021 council budget workshop without fanfare and without mention of his predecessor. Bremner later retired and Erin Williams became the new acting chief. Bremner was paid $187,603 in 2021, and Williams $167,320.

City hall is spending $50,000 on a consulting contract through the end of the year with former Port Moody fire chief Ron Coulson to review the New Westminster department’s organizational structure, mentor managers and promote engagement between management and union members. 

In early 2020, the Justice Institute of B.C. awarded Armstrong an honorary doctor of laws degree. Armstrong joined Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services at age 21 and rose the ranks over 28 years to become Deputy Chief. He became New Westminster’s fire chief in 2009 and also served as the Royal City’s director of emergency management. His also trained firefighters in the U.S. and Taiwan. 

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Bob Mackin The highest-paid employee in City of

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Bob Mackin

The B.C. NDP government has set an Aug. 15 deadline for the Canadian Olympic Committee to make its case for provincial government support for another Vancouver Winter Olympics.

The COC is acting as the Vancouver 2030 bid committee, with the blessing and input of the Four Host First Nations and the mayors of Vancouver and Whistler.

Nathan Cullen (right) with John Horgan and Melanie Mark in 2017 (BC NDP)

Salt Lake City, the 2002 host, and Sapporo, the 1972 host, are also exploring bids. The International Olympic Committee plans to pick the 2030 location in May 2023. 

The provincial government had previously told the bid exploration team that it would not underwrite the 2030 Games. Melanie Mark, the Minister of Tourism, Art, Culture and Sport, wrote a June 24 letter to COC president Tricia Smith, seeking what amounts to a preliminary business plan. 

The COC had been planning to make a formal proposal to B.C. and federal treasury boards this fall. It wants to confirm government support by November, to be ready when the IOC is expected to open negotiations with bidders in December. 

“Consideration of hosting major international sporting events requires significant time and resources by all parties,” said Mark’s letter, which was provided by a source. “The experience in preparing for the 2010 Games, the magnitude of an Olympic and Paralympic Games is very large and complex, and requires careful consideration by all levels of government and host First Nations. As you will appreciate our environment has changed since 2010, particularly in relation to the risks and challenges created by pandemics, evolving domestic and international security threats, and the effect of global climate change.” 

Mark wants a “clearer understanding” of how the bid and potential organizing committee would be funded and governed. Specifically, she wants to know whether host communities and first nations would share costs, risks, benefits and legacies. Mark also wants to know whether the organizing committee would be self-sustaining with private funding and to what extent the IOC would fund its activities and assume the liability for risks. 

While Mark wants a plan to minimize the burden on taxpayers, she also wants to know how B.C. could benefit from IOC-sanctioned pre-Games events.

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)

“As the province focuses on economic recovery from the global pandemic, we consider support for such events within the context of benefits to communities and the province’s priorities and financial and operational capacity,” said Mark’s letter.

Mark referenced the recent awarding of the 2025 Invictus Games to Vancouver and Whistler and the naming of Vancouver as one of 16 cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The latter is expected to cost taxpayers up to $260 million. 

The timing of Mark’s letter is notable. June 24 was two days after Premier John Horgan stopped the unpopular $789 million, 2030-scheduled rebuild of the Royal B.C. Museum and four days before Horgan announced he would resign as premier when the NDP chooses a new leader this fall. 

It is the latest curveball for the bid, which is facing economic and geopolitical headwinds and the uncertainty of this fall’s municipal elections. The COC had already told partner municipalities and First Nations to refrain from holding a referendum this year. In April, Vancouver Coun. Colleen Hardwick, the TEAM for a Livable Vancouver mayoral candidate, had unsuccessfully proposed a bid plebiscite for the Oct. 15 civic election ballot. Nobody on council agreed to second her motion. 

The Vancouver and Whistler councils are expected to decide this month whether to carry on with the bid. 

The COC released its 26-page feasibility study on June 14 in conjunction with the Four Host First Nations, but it did not include a cost estimate for the proposed Feb. 8-24, 2030 Olympics and March 8-17, 2030 Paralympics. COC lobbyist Mary Conibear called the cost estimate a “complex calculation” and said it would be released in mid-July. 

The lobbyist registry shows Conibear communicated May 16 with Assistant Deputy Finance Minister Doug Foster and Assistant Deputy Tourism Minister Kim Lacharite. The COC is asking the government for provincial staff resources to build the bid book.

Snowboarding at Sun Peaks near Kamloops (Sun Peaks Resort)

“Should a Games Concept evolve into a successful bid, it could impact a host of government policies, including Indigenous relations, the environment, housing, economic development and others,” said Conibear’s entry in the registry.

Most 2010 venues would reprise their roles if the Games return in 2030, except snowboarding and freestyle skiing would go to Sun Peaks near Kamloops, curling at the Agrodome, and a temporary big air skiing and snowboarding ramp at Hastings Racecourse. MST Developments’ Jericho Lands or Heather Lands are proposed for a new Vancouver Olympic Village. 

Whereas False Creek was the focal point for Vancouver 2010, the Vancouver 2030 hub would be Hastings Park. Nightly medal awards concerts would be held at the PNE Amphitheatre, and the official merchandise superstore, a daytime live site, cultural village and sponsor pavilions would be elsewhere on the site. The only new venue with a publicly known cost is the amphitheatre, at almost $70 million.  

In early May, the IOC sent managers Mattias Kaestner and Pierre Dorsaz, along with consultant Stefan Klos, to inspect proposed venues. 

The all-in cost to build and operate the Vancouver 2010 Games was as much as $8 billion, but the B.C. Auditor General never conducted a final report. The organizing committee, VANOC, was not covered by the freedom of information law and its records were transferred to the Vancouver Archives after the Games with restrictions not to open the board minutes and financial ledgers before fall 2025. 

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Bob Mackin The B.C. NDP government has set

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Bob Mackin

A judge will announce July 8 whether the former Clerk of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly will be sent to jail, serve house arrest or be conditionally discharged with community service work.

Portrait of Craig James outside the Clerk’s Office at the Parliament Buildings (Mackin)

Craig James stood trial on three charges of breach of trust by a public official and two charges of fraud over $5,000 before Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes from Jan. 24 to March 3 in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. On May 19, Holmes found James guilty of fraud and breach of trust, but is sentencing him on the latter for buying almost $1,900 in custom shirts and a suit for personal use. The fraud conviction was stayed because Canadian law says a person cannot be convicted more than once on the same facts from the same criminal act. 

On July 4, Holmes heard from the two Special Prosecutors who want James to be jailed for around a year or sentenced to a combination of house arrest and curfew. James’s defence lawyer wants a conditional discharge, meaning no criminal record after a period of time, and 150 hours of community service work. 

Both sides agreed he should repay the $1,886.72 to the Legislature. 

Special Prosecutor Brock Martland said that James, who was the equivalent of the chief executive officer of the seat of government from 2011 to 2018, harmed both the institution and the public. He said James was “the person to whom one could reasonably be expected that everyone in the building looks up to for moral leadership and ethical guidance.”

Instead, James enriched himself and helped increase public cynicism in such a way that the average man on the street could say “Well, they’re all crooked, they’re all stealing. They’re all on the take.”

Martland said the Crown wants a jail sentence in the range of a year, based on legal precedents. If Holmes opts for a conditional sentence, he said it should be two-thirds house arrest and one-third curfew. Such a sentence would help deter those officials who might misconduct themselves. Martland called a conditional discharge contrary to public interest because James took advantage of his position of significant trust for personal gain.

“The offence here is a breach of trust by the most senior public official, in an important institution to parliamentary democracy,” Martland said. “And while it’s fair to say that there’s not a massive dollar figure involved in the conduct underlying the conviction, we say that the sentencing requires a clear and unequivocal denunciation.”

Brock Martland (vancrimlaw.com)

Martland conceded the 71-year-old had no prior criminal record and shows little or no risk to reoffend, but he had not shown any remorse. James had pleaded not guilty to all charges and did not testify in his defence at the trial.

James’s lawyer Gavin Cameron said his client’s reputation had been “eviscerated” when he was suddenly suspended from his $347,090-a-year job. He told Holmes that senior courts have found a judge must find alternatives to incarceration for someone guilty of their first offence. Jail, he said, would be “unduly punitive to Mr. James.”

“He is imperfect, he concedes that, he made decisions that he wishes he could change,” Cameron said.

Further, Cameron said James had already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion after being led away from the Parliament Buildings in front of TV cameras in 2018. 

“This isn’t a plea for sympathy for Mr. James. I’m not saying feel sorry for Mr. James, because the newspapers were mean to him for four years. But I am saying that denunciation and specific and general deterrence have all been accomplished in spades. What happened outside of this courtroom, and continues to happen outside of this courtroom, is a form of punishment, and a form of deterrence.”

Cameron said a week after James had been suspended from the Legislature, he was prescribed anti-anxiety medication by Dr. Keith McQueen of Victoria, who provided a sworn statement to the court. Cameron also submitted character reference letters from two of James’s Saanich neighbours and four recognizable names: ex-B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell, ex-Attorney General Geoff Plant, former Senate Speaker Gary O’Brien and former B.C. Speaker John Reynolds.

Reynolds was to be a Crown witness at the trial, but was excused because of his age and health. He is now a co-chair of Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown’s bid for the Conservative party leadership. Plant and James met 14 times in 2017 and 2018 and Plant billed the Legislature $156,000 for legal services. 

In the gallery was James’s daughter and third wife (he broke up with his first wife who came from Saskatchewan and his second wife died of breast cancer in 2000). Court also heard that his stepson from the first marriage died of suicide in 2013. 

Holmes asked both sides about the $258,000 retirement allowance that James received in 2012. She had ruled James did not obtain the money criminally, but she did decide that he may not have been entitled to the sum. 

“Our position was and would be that the money should not have gone to the accused, shouldn’t really be seen as compensation properly obtained, it was in fact retained,” Martland said. “I haven’t heard of repayment.”

Gavin Cameron (Fasken)

On the retirement allowance, Cameron said it would be an error to take it into account during sentencing because he was not convicted on that account. Holmes, however, said there was no doubt that James took the allowance. Holmes also asked Cameron whether James was receiving a pension, to which Cameron paused and said “he had to be very careful with that.”

“I can tell you Mr. James is not and has not been receiving any employment income, period and full stop,” Cameron said. “I can say that.“

James, a native of Moose Jaw, Sask., came to B.C. in 1987 after working nine years at the Saskatchewan Parliament. The BC Liberal caucus under then-Premier Christy Clark appointed him clerk in June 2011 rather than allow an all-party committee to decide the appointment. James and Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz were suddenly suspended in November 2018 after then-Speaker Darryl Plecas and chief of staff Alan Mullen called in the RCMP to investigate corruption.

The top two permanent officers of the Legislature both claimed they did no wrong and demanded their jobs back, but retired in disgrace in 2019 without reimbursing taxpayers. In May of that year, James was found to have committed four types of misconduct. Lenz quit five months later to avoid discipline under the Police Act for breaching his oath. Only James was charged under the Criminal Code in late 2020.

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Bob Mackin A judge will announce July 8

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For the week of July 3, 2022

It’s the special 2022 mid-year edition of theBreaker.news Podcast and host Bob Mackin welcomes back crystal ball-gazing guests Mario Canseco and Andy Yan. 

Canseco, the president of ResearchCo, and Yan, the director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, offered their fearless predictions for the year ahead on the first edition of 2022. 

On this edition, Mackin checks how some of their predictions went and asks Canseco and Yan to look ahead to the next six months of 2022.

Also, headlines from the Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest. 

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

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For the week of July 3, 2022 It’s

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Bob Mackin

At the end of May, Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents met with Mayor Kennedy Stewart and warned him that the People’s Republic of China government could directly or indirectly interfere with the 2022 civic election. 

How did we get here? 

2010

June 22

Former CSIS director Richard Fadden (Mackin)

CSIS director Richard Fadden tells CBC: “There are several municipal politicians in British Columbia and in at least two provinces there are ministers of the Crown who we think are under at least the general influence of a foreign government.”

He highlighted China’s foreign influence tactics in a recent speech. 

Three days later, a House of Commons committee demands Fadden resign for tarnishing the reputation of politicians and Chinese-Canadians.

Sept. 6

Mayor Gregor Robertson’s starts his first trade mission to China in Beijing. During 11 days, visits Tianjin, sister city Guangzhou, the 2010 Expo in Shanghai and poses with a statue of distant relative Dr. Norman Bethune in Shijiazhuang. He tells a reporter: ”You can question how worthwhile democracy is in a lot of countries right now.”

2011

March 21

Consul General Liang Shugen urges Robertson to boycott the Shen Yun show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, calling it full of Falun Gong “cult messages and political attacks on the Chinese government.” The program contains a welcome message by Robertson, but he does not attend due to a family vacation. 

2012

Late October

Robertson opens an account on China’s Sina Weibo social media service, amassing more than 70,000 fans in a week. It took Robertson four years to attract 28,000 Twitter followers.

2013

Wanting Qu (left) and Gregor Robertson

November 4

Robertson begins his second trade mission to China. Entourage includes Tourism Vancouver singing ambassador Wanting Qu.

2014

Nov. 15

Robertson elected to a third term as mayor. In early 2015, he reveals he is dating Qu.

Dec. 4

B.C. Supreme Court upholds civic bylaw regulating protest structures as a reasonable limit on freedom of expression. Falun Gong supporters who began occupying a spot in 2001 outside the Chinese consulate mansion must pack up their hut and go.

2015

April 24

News that Qu’s mother Qu Zhang Mingjie, a Harbin City government development official, is arrested for corruption over the sale of government land. In 2021, she’ll be sentenced to life in jail.

2016

Sept. 30

Acting Mayor Kerry Jang raises China’s flag at a Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations-organized ceremony outside city hall to mark 67 years of Chinese Communist Party rule. Consul General Liu Fei is among the dignitaries.

Robertson and the Mayor of Shanghai, Ying Yong (PRC)

2017

Sept. 5-9

Robertson’s last trade mission China, which was not publicized prior to his departure. Includes meetings with the Mayor of Shanghai and officials of e-commerce giant JD.com and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

2018

April 22

Robertson makes official civic apology to the Chinese community for discriminatory laws between 1886 and 1949. Acting Consul General Kong Weiwei attends ceremony.

May 

Robertson speaks at the opening of the World Guangdong Community Federation Conference in Vancouver.

Oct. 1

Kennedy Stewart, the labour-endorsed, NDP MP for Burnaby South, brings his mayoralty campaign to the Chinese Benevolent Association banquet in Chinatown marking 69 years of CCP rule.

Kennedy Stewart at 2018’s Chinatown celebration of 69 years of CCP rule. (Stewart/Twitter)

Oct. 20

Stewart narrowly beats the NPA’s Ken Sim for the mayoralty. Meanwhile, RCMP investigates a $20 transportation allowance offered on WeChat by the pro-CCP Canada Wenzhou Friendship Society after it endorses several candidates in Richmond, Burnaby and Vancouver — including members of Vancouver 1st and Coalition Vancouver. No charges are recommended. 

Dec. 9

During a banquet in Chinatown attended by Stewart and defence minister Harjit Sajjan, Consul General Tong Xiaoling slams Canada for arresting Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou on behalf of the U.S. Stewart calls Tong’s speech awkward but meets her one-on-one Dec. 12. Stewart vowed to “continue to engage” an important trading partner. 

2019

Feb. 10

Stewart joins Tong and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Chinese Benevolent Association’s Year of the Pig Lunar New Year banquet in Chinatown.

April 9

National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians report warns: “China is known globally for its efforts to influence Chinese communities and the politics of other countries. The Chinese government has a number of official organizations that try to influence Chinese communities and politicians to adopt pro-China positions, most prominently the United Front Work Department.”

Aug. 17-18

Pro-China group surrounded Tenth Church in Vancouver on Aug. 18 while worshippers prayed for Hong Kong (Mackin)

Hong Kong pro-democracy rallies are overshadowed by Chinese nationalist counter protesters waving flags and singing China’s anthem, some of them in supercars. The Canada Vancouver Shanxi Natives Society later takes responsibility. 

Sept. 25

Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West leads a boycott of the Chinese consulate-sponsored cocktail party at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention. Stewart does not attend, but Green Coun. Pete Fry does.

Oct. 1: 

NPA Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung and BC Liberal MLA Michael Lee are the only politicians at a Vancouver Art Gallery north plaza event marking China’s 70th anniversary.

2020

June 29

Stewart has a phone call with Ambassador Cong Peiwu. The embassy website says: “Stewart expressed gratitude to China for its support and assistance for Canada, especially the City of Vancouver, in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that Vancouver attaches importance to developing its relationship with China and is committed to stepping up co-operation across the board with China.”

Stewart spokesman Alvin Singh: “The Ambassador’s statement is his own and we can’t comment on it.”

Kennedy Stewart and the Taiwan government’s B.C. envoy, Angel Liu, discuss twinning Kaohsiung and Vancouver. (TECO/Twitter)

2021

Feb. 22

the House of Commons votes unanimously to condemn China’s genocide of Uyghur Muslims and urges the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics out of Bejing. Canada sanctions Chinese officials, then China retaliates by sanctioning Stewart friend and Conservative MP Michael Chong. Stewart says “that’s not diplomacy, that’s bullying.” In April, he says he will not meet with Chinese government officials, after having at least a dozen meetings since becoming mayor in 2018.

Sept. 20

Liberals remain the minority government after the federal election. But Richmond Conservative MPs Kenny Chiu and Alice Wong are defeated by Liberal rookies. People involved in a disinformation campaign targeting Chiu on WeChat call it a victory. 

Oct. 5: 

Stewart does not attend a Jack Poole Plaza event promoting the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. But Sim does. 

Nov. 9

Tong tells local Chinese language media that China firmly opposes city hall considering Kaohsiung, Taiwan as a friendship city.

2022

Jan. 19

In a Federal Court of Canada immigration case, a judge says the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office is “engaged in covert action and intelligence gathering against the overseas Chinese communities and other minorities around the world.”

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie (second from right) with Tong Xiaoling (second from left) on June 23, 2022 (PRC MFA)

Jan. 30

Stewart marks Lunar New Year Year of the Tiger on Granville Island at the opening of the Taiwan government-sponsored LunarFest with Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office director Angel Liu. Stewart says: “All my love to the Taiwanese-Canadian community that does so much to enhance our country, thank-you.”

May 30

CSIS meets with Stewart. 

June 23

Tong headlines a Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office banquet at the Hotel Vancouver to mark the upcoming 25th anniversary of China’s takeover of Hong Kong. Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie and Vancouver Park Board Commissioner Stuart Mackinnon attend, but Stewart does not. His staff tell a reporter he continues to avoid meetings with Chinese government officials.

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Bob Mackin At the end of May, Canadian

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Bob Mackin

One of the most-visible Save Old Growth protesters will have no criminal record if he refrains from blocking vehicles and pedestrians for the next two years. 

Ian Wiltow Schortinghuis, 30, pleaded guilty on June 29 to three counts of mischief and two counts of breach of undertaking for his role in protest roadblocks in Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond.

Ian Schortinghuis arrested April 4 on the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Bridgel (Save Old Growth/Twitter)

Schortinghuis was arrested June 13 at the Massey Tunnel and jailed until his June 30 sentencing. In Vancouver Provincial Court, Judge Laura Bakan sentenced Schortinghuis to time served, 24 months probation and 125 hours of community service work. She opted for the conditional discharge, because a criminal record would harm Schortinghuis’s ability to further his career or travel outside Canada.

“It puts the onus on you to make sure that you do not reoffend,” Bakan told Schortinghuis, who appeared via video from North Fraser Pretrial Centre. “If you reoffend you will likely lose the benefit of a conditional discharge and face a sentence for any new charges.

Bakan waived the $100 per offence victim surcharge. She said Schortinghuis was a first time offender with mental issues, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), who quickly pleaded guilty to all charges and expressed genuine remorse. 

Bakan said Schortinghuis had previously volunteered for Hollyhock and Meals on Wheels and has been accepted into an auto repair program at Vancouver Community College. He had lost his job as a bike courier during the pandemic and felt a sense of belonging with Save Old Growth.

“He fits the profile of some persons that I find, unfortunately, are used by organizations as foot soldiers while those behind organizing stay safe and sound,” Bakan said. 

Schortinghuis was part of a group that blocked Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge traffic on April 4, Grandview Highway and Boundary Road on April 27 and the Massey Tunnel on June 13. He was released after each of the first two incidents when he promised to not block traffic or pedestrians. He refused to surrender outside the Massey Tunnel, prompting police to use a truck to pluck him from a ladder. 

Just before Schortinghuis pleaded guilty on June 29, Save Old Growth announced it was ending major traffic disruptions and would turn to other tactics, including public outreach and events. 

Bakan called Schortinghuis’s dangerous actions harmful to the health and wellbeing of both the community and the environment. While she doesn’t think many people deny climate change in Canada, “it is not the message of the protesters, it is the way they go about it.”

Ian Schortinghuis on June 13 at the Massey Tunnel (Save Old Growth/Twitter)

“While there was no individual complainant in this case, hundreds of persons driving during rush hour in the Lower Mainland area were blocked from reaching work, medical appointments, dropping children at school and daycare,” Bakan said. “Numerous people were stuck in the tunnel or on a bridge when there is no means of turning around. These effects of being stuck in this manner pose a risk of trauma, especially to persons with anxiety, children, and those who are missing crucial medical appointments, including persons from Vancouver Island who may be seeing medical specialists in the Lower Mainland.”

Bakan said the blockades caused more carbon emissions in the atmosphere due to vehicles idling or diverting to longer routes and deprived vulnerable Downtown Eastsiders suffering in the opioid overdose public health emergency.

“Anyone can see, walking outside this courthouse, a pandemic of its own. Sirens go off every five minutes, because people require resuscitation, hospitalization,” she said. “When paramedics are diverted by having to be at protests, those people are at risk and they’re very marginalized.”

Bakan cited various court precedents about the limits of freedom of expression and said that when one group breaks the law, another group that’s affected breaks the law. “That’s how anarchy starts and society breaks down.” 

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Bob Mackin One of the most-visible Save Old

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Bob Mackin

The Clerk of the B.C. Legislative Assembly introduced the new executive financial officer to the all-party oversight committee on June 29, but did not say a word about the previous one.

B.C. Legislature beancounter Hillary Woodward (BC Leg)

Kate Ryan-Lloyd suddenly met with Hilary Woodward on June 22, before Woodward was escorted from the Parliament Buildings. Ryan-Lloyd refused to comment to a reporter, calling Woodward’s departure a private personnel matter. 

The chartered accountant had more than 25 years experience in the B.C. public sector, including work as chief financial officer for the Ministry of Health. Her $209,748 pay in the 2020-2021 fiscal year was second only to Ryan-Lloyd’s $281,112. Woodward was the last witness at the fraud and breach of trust trial of Ryan-Lloyd’s mentor Craig James. Ex-clerk James faces a July 4 sentencing hearing after he was found guilty of spending almost $1,900 of taxpayers’ money on a custom suit and shirts for personal use.

At the Legislative Assembly Management Committee’s first meeting since March 30, Ryan-Lloyd said interim financial officer Randall Smith began June 23. Smith is the retired former chief financial officer of the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission. Ryan-Lloyd said his job includes implementing the assembly’s new, three-year strategic plan passed June 29.

Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Association of Former MLAs of B.C./John Yanyshyn)

“As members will know, the assembly administration has had challenges with organizational underspending of our approved operating and capital budget in recent years, and Randy will be conducting a current state assessment of our forecasting practices mid cycle allocations, budget development process and ongoing financial reporting,” Ryan-Lloyd said.

The meeting heard the Legislative Assembly finished the last fiscal year $3.7 million below its $86 million budget due to reduced travel during the pandemic, staff vacancies and savings on operational expenses. 

Ryan-Lloyd said the strategic plan through 2024-2025 also contemplates what she called a “renewal” of the Legislative Assembly Protective Services (LAPS), the police department for the Parliament Buildings. 

“We’ve already embarked on some initial work to establish [an MLA] safety and security program,” she said. “But we also recognize that much more can be done to strengthen the security environment for members, considering the types of challenges that have arisen over the course of the last year, including the need for additional advice and support to constituency offices.” 

The move comes two-and-a-half years after Alan Mullen, who was chief of staff to then-Speaker Darryl Plecas, submitted a report to LAMC that recommended saving $1 million by transforming LAPS into a security department and downgrading the sergeant-at-arms to a ceremonial role, with security and facilities maintenance overseen by others. LAMC commissioned former Vancouver Police Deputy Chief Doug LePard to study Mullen’s recommendations, but that report has not been made public.

Portrait of Craig James outside the Clerk’s Office at the Parliament Buildings (Mackin)

The Legislative Assembly is not covered by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. A recent report by an all-party committee struck to review the law once every six years recommended that the law be extended to include the Legislature’s operations. 

Just before the meeting went behind closed doors, Ryan-Lloyd said there had been three instances of policy non-compliance during the last quarter of the fiscal year. Two breaches were related to capital project review and approvals and the other related to procurement and contract management. Ryan-Lloyd did not disclose any details of the when, what or who of the violations. 

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Bob Mackin The Clerk of the B.C. Legislative

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Staff of the NDP cabinet minister who is the subject of a BC Liberal conflict of interest complaint say she did not participate in the decision to grant $15 million to the purchaser of her husband’s investment property.

NDP Minister Josie Osborne (BC Gov/Flickr)

In one of her first acts as Minister of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship, Josie Osborne announced the sum on April 21 for Watersheds BC through the MakeWay Foundation for indigenous-led or co-led watershed restoration projects. 

On Sept. 17 of last year, Osborne’s husband George Patterson sold the Tofino Botanical Gardens for $2.3 million to MakeWay. The 12.128 acre waterfront property on Pacific Rim Highway, built in 2006, includes a dormitory and cafe, and had been listed for sale at $3.75 million in August 2020. Osborne’s public disclosure statement said Patterson receives consulting/contracting income from MakeWay.

Neither Osborne nor MakeWay CEO Joanna Kerr responded for comment. But a statement from the Ministry said the grant decision was made when the program fell under the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. After becoming Minister for Land Water and Resource Stewardship, it said, “Osborne set up a screen with the Deputy Minister for Land, Water and Resource Stewardship to recuse herself from any decision-making involving MakeWay.”

Tofino Botanical Gardens (Clayoquot Campus)

“This is in line with public service processes for preventing and managing any potential or perceived conflicts of interest.”

The ministry called the BC Liberal complaint inaccurate and said Osborne has contacted the Conflict of Interest Commissioner, Victoria Gray, “to ensure that she has all the information necessary to resolve this matter quickly.”

The gardens’ company, Coastwise Holdings Corp., is registered to the address of Vancouver law firm Miller Titerle and Co. and the two directors are MakeWay director of finance Danae MacLean and MakeWay shared platform director Elizabeth Howells. The gardens have been rebranded as the Clayoquot Campus. 

MakeWay is formerly known as Tides Canada, the environmental charity that has supported causes opposing the oil and gas industry.

According to Osborne’s public disclosure summary, Patterson may have used some of the proceeds of the land sale to buy shares in pipeline companies Fortis and TC Energy, parent of Coastal GasLink. On Sept. 27, 2021, he also bought shares in Loblaw, BCE and Algonquin Power. The form is a summary of what is provided to the conflict of interest commissioner, but does not list quantities or dollar amounts.

Josie Osborne (left) and George Patterson in 2011 (Ofelia Svart/Ecotrust)

Marine biologist Osborne is the former Tofino mayor who was elected the Mid-Island Pacific Rim MLA in 2020. She became the Minister of Municipal Affairs and, earlier this year, was shuffled to the ministry sometimes referred to as “Land WARS.” 

The complaint about Osborne would be the first B.C. conflict of interest case involving gardens in more than 30 years. Social Credit Premier Bill Vander Zalm was forced to resign after Conflict of Interest Commissioner Ted Hughes found Vander Zalm used his office in an attempt to sell Richmond’s Fantasy Gardens to Taiwanese billionaire Tan Yu. 

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Bob Mackin Staff of the NDP cabinet minister

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