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Bob Mackin

BC Hydro stepped-up security after last November’s spate of physical attacks on electric substations in Oregon and Washington.

BC Hydro headquarters (BC Hydro)

A BC Hydro security report, obtained via freedom of information, said there was no direct threat to B.C., but the incidents led the corporate security team to “augment the security posture at some of our stations closer to the U.S. border.”

A Dec. 1 email from a manager to a vice-president said the FBI and state officials were investigating the incidents and asked other utilities to notify them if they experience any similar incidents.

“Our mobile security personnel will be advised to be on heightened awareness when patrolling sites and engage with anyone, again out of the ordinary,” Ben Peco, BC Hydro’s senior manager of security and emergency management, wrote to senior vice-president of safety Kirsten Peck.

The email also said BC Hydro was monitoring social media for any related chatter and notifying leaders in stations field operations and transmission and distribution system operations to be on “heightened awareness.”

Peco’s email summarized details of the incidents.

A Washington state utility, whose name was omitted, found a distribution substation control house on Nov. 22 that had been damaged by fire. Suspects sprayed automatic transmission fluid over electrical equipment and left lit road flares inside the control house. They did not cause an outage. 

On the same day, a suspect shot a small-calibre gun from outside another Washington state company’s 115 kilovolt transformer toward a distribution substation, causing a 5,000-customer outage. 

On Nov. 24, sabotage at a Bonneville Power Authority substation in Oregon City, Ore. A suspect penetrated a reactor unit’s cooling radiators with three bullets. 

Four days later, on Nov. 28, the substation operator in Clackamas, Ore. found significant damage to the communications equipment and computer control system.  

BC Hydro COO Chris O’Riley (BC Hydro)

Also, an electricity information sharing and analysis centre (E-ISAC) member had reported two break-in and vandalism incidents at separate Washington substations within a close geographical proximity. BC Hydro withheld the dates, locations and other facts over an alleged concern about third-party trade secrets. 

Peck emailed CEO Chris O’Riley on Dec. 2 to say that BC Hydro meets monthly with the Western Electricity Coordinating Council’s security committee. 

“There is one upcoming where we might learn more,” Peck said. “We haven’t heard anything from Canadian intelligence at this point.”

Peck said BC Hydro had earlier been asked to develop training scenarios which “would help in a situation like this so that we can react quickly if/when sabotage occurs.”

Also in Washington, two men were charged after four substations near Tacoma were sabotaged on Christmas Day, leaving 14,000 customers in the dark. Authorities allege Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, of Puyallup, Wash. were motivated to disrupt power in order to commit a burglary.

A 60 Minutes investigation last August pointed to the vulnerability of the U.S. electricity grid, a network of 55,000 substations run by 3,000 private and public utilities that lacks a single, overarching regulator. 60 Minutes quoted Grid Security Now website operator Michael Mabee who analyzed 1,000 physical attacks over the last decade and blamed a general lack of security.

In B.C., there are 18,000 kilometres of high voltage lines and underwater submarine cables and 292 substations. The BC Hydro grid connects by three lines to Alberta and four to the U.S. 

B.C.’s most-famous attack occurred in May 1982 when the Squamish Five (aka Direct Action) eco-terrorist group bombed the Dunsmuir substation near Qualicum on Vancouver Island and caused $3.8 million damage. 

Since then, the biggest security incident on an energy-related site occurred almost a year ago. Approximately 20 people in disguises, some wielding axes, attacked security guards and destroyed equipment and vehicles at a Coastal GasLink pipeline work camp in a post-midnight rampage on Feb. 17, 2022.

In December, the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association and Crime Stoppers offered a $100,000 reward for information to solve the crime. 

The documents released via FOI also included heavily censored internal security reports for Nov. 28-Dec. 5 and Dec. 19-26. BC Hydro uses a five-step scale for physical security and cybersecurity threats, from low to imminent, but the actual ratings were censored.

Itron OpenWay smart meter (BC Hydro)

For the two periods, cybersecurity operations received 50 incident reports, including one of note, and issued 75 threat advisories. There were also 180 new physical security files. 

The one cyberincident of note was deemed low-risk phishing. 

“Three lookalike BC Hydro domains were discovered, including one that was reported by an employee who received a smishing text.” The phishing attempt via text message mentioned the Crown corporation’s one-time $100 credit to BC Hydro residential customers. 

“Cybersecurity operations blocked all the domains in question and issued a takedown request,” said the confidential weekly security report.

Under physical security incidents, a thief smashed the window of a BC Hydro cable van in for repairs at a Ford dealer in Victoria and stole tools overnight on Dec. 17 and Nicola substation surveillance camera footage was reviewed after a Dec. 22 incident. The reason for the manager’s report was censored, but concluded that nothing suspicious was found.

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Bob Mackin BC Hydro stepped-up security after last

Bob Mackin

The director of the University of B.C.’s Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ) arranged space last May for a Vancouver lecture by a federally funded activist with a history of antisemitic comments.

UBC professor Leonora Angeles (UBC/SCARP)

UBC’s West Mall Annex at the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) hosted Laith Marouf of the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC). The federal Liberal government granted $134,000 for Marouf to hold Building an Anti-Racism Strategy for Canadian Broadcasting seminars in six cities, but cancelled the contract after media attention last August to Marouf’s myriad comments against Jews, French-Canadians and Americans. 

At the May 14 event, Marouf thanked SCARP for “in-kind contributions,” called Israel’s government “the Zionist apartheid regime,” referred to “the colony of Canada” and accused the media of upholding white supremacy and genocide. 

The event happened just three weeks after UBC released then-President Santa Ono’s anti-racism task force report.  

Last August, a prepared statement from the university denounced antisemitism, denied SCARP was a sponsor and said an unnamed faculty member helped book the venue. 

Correspondence obtained via freedom of information showed the faculty member was Leonora Angeles, who had been a professor at SCARP before joining GRSJ. 

Angeles told SCARP director Heather Campbell and communications coordinator Kyle Mallinson in an Aug. 22, 2022 email that she was “more than happy to talk to media for what it is worth, and clarify SCARP was not a sponsor of this event and we are not interested in harbouring antisemitic sentiments.” 

Laith Marouf, UBC May 14 (credit CMAC:Internet Archive)

Angeles explained that the organizers “approached me for a favour.” Specifically, a social work professor at Carleton University, whose name she omitted, sought a venue at a “reasonable price as their budget is limited.” She offered the West Mall Annex.
“There is really no news there but we live in very strange times,” Angeles wrote. “It seems there is interest in some circles to identify who are the people and places identified with the project and if they are harbouring any antisemitic sentiments.”

Angeles also helped promote Marouf’s appearance. Three days before the event, she asked Mallinson to “please kindly invite our faculty, students and staff.”

“I think media outlets will milk this thread for what is worth,” Angeles said in the Aug. 22 email. 

“Thanks for the context Nora,” Mallinson replied. “It’s very possible that this reporter was trying to create a story by getting us to respond.” 

The next evening, UBC Applied Science marketing director Wendy McHardy circulated an “approved statement” that was later provided to the reporter, distancing UBC from the event and “the abhorrent views that have been expressed by one of its speakers.”

“The event was not an official SCARP event, nor was it sponsored in any way by SCARP,” the statement said. “Centrally booked events are assessed for safety and security, as well as hate speech.”

UBC’s Heather Campbell (left), Kyle Mallinson and Wendy McHardy

In an Aug. 24 email to McHardy and Faculty of Applied Science Dean James Olson, Campbell said SCARP was already reviewing the process for faculty to book rooms for external groups.  

“While I wouldn’t say this publicly, in all honesty, I’m not sure it would have made any difference in this case, when you look at the nature of the event, including folks from Indigenous radio etc., but there’s never any harm in reviewing policies,” Campbell wrote. “I certainly have no intention of speaking to any reporters.”

She said she had not raised this matter with other faculty at SCARP, but assumed their reactions would be the same as hers: “complete ignorance.” 

“I’d also expect that they’d refer any SCARP-related approach from a reporter to me,” Campbell said. 

Neither Angeles nor Campbell responded to interview requests. Likewise for Marouf. 

Last September, Marouf accused the “Zionist lobby” and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of falsely claiming his Tweets were hate speech.

On Monday, a senior bureaucrat told a House of Commons committee that the Department of Canadian Heritage hired a collection agency because there is “strong interest” in clawing back the $122,661 paid to CMAC. 

Associate Deputy Minister Mala Khanna said the department terminated CMAC’s contract on Sept. 23, after a 30-day suspension. Since then, department policies changed. 

“Applicants are now asked to certify, in-writing, that they will not undermine the anti-racism strategy, and will respect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act,” Khanna said. “The minister now has the option to immediately terminate a contract.”

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Bob Mackin The director of the University of

Bob Mackin 

The Canadian Olympic Committee and Four Host First Nations say they haven’t given up on bidding for the 2030 Winter Olympics.

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

In December, the International Olympic Committee delayed its decision to 2024, after the NDP government refused in October to provide more than $1 billion and a deficit guarantee.

“With the IOC’s new timeline, we have almost a year to continue the conversation,” spokesperson Chris Dornan said optimistically. “The proposal remains an incredible opportunity for the Host Nations, the province and the rest of Canada.”

Sapporo became the perceived frontrunner in October, but the Tokyo Olympics corruption scandal overshadowed its efforts. Salt Lake City said it could do the job, but prefers 2034. Meanwhile, Sweden announced this week that it is now exploring a run for 2030.

An advocate for athletes says the time is wrong for Canada to be pondering another Olympics. 

“Canadian sport is not fit for purpose, and as a result, if Canadians don’t have their own act together, in protecting athletes, ensuring athletes are safe, they should not be welcoming the world to our country to show them how sport should be run,” said Rob Koehler, director general of Global Athlete.

Koehler is campaigning for a federal judicial public inquiry into the Canadian sport system, after an unprecedented wave of athlete protests in 2022 against abuse and corruption across the sport system. Hearings before the House of Commons’ Status of Women committee are a welcome step, but no substitute for a full and complete investigation of all the federal and provincial organizations responsible for the rot in Canada’s sport system, Koehler said.

Rob Koehler of Global Athlete (Mackin)

“Abuse In sport is a global issue, it’s a human rights issue and we need to address it not only for Canadians but to be leaders globally. That’s why we’re pushing so hard for this inquiry to bring the truth to the surface and to protect athletes for the future. Until that’s done, we are going to continue to see abuse happening across this country, untreated and people still turning a blind eye to it.”

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics opened 13 years ago this Sunday and one of its legacies is the Own the Podium high performance program that Koehler said has fostered a toxic, win-at-all-costs mentality.

“What’s the objective? Is it gold medals? Or is it a healthier, stronger, more robust society? Those are questions that need to be asked.”

He points to the Norwegian system, where play and participation are emphasized, while the best and brightest athletes are naturally identified and nurtured.

Koehler said Canada also isn’t ready to host the world again while premiers butt heads with the prime minister over healthcare funding and resources, something that also affects developing and high performance athletes. 

“They’re left with a public system that is is overburdened, when it comes to mental health issues, when it comes to physical issues. So we have a crisis here.”

The IOC is also courting controversy by proposing Russian and Belarusian athletes be welcomed at the Paris 2024 Olympics as neutrals. Ukraine threatened a boycott and the IOC has threatened suspension.

Vladimir Putin (left) and Xi Jinping during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics (PRC)

Koehler said Russia deserves shame for committing crimes against humanity in Ukraine. Competing under a neutral flag is merely a facade, because authoritarian regimes with poor human rights records like Russia and China, which hosted the Winter Games a year ago, consider sport part of the state machinery.

“The IOC, their moral compass needs a complete correction. We’ve seen time and time again that the IOC continuously favours Russia, over any other stakeholder. We saw it leading into the 2016 Rio Olympic Games when it was uncovered that Russia was undermining the tip the complete Olympic Charter by institutionalized doping.”

Canada’s Sport Minister Pascal St-Onge participated in an online summit Friday with more than 30 other countries. She Tweeted support for banning Russian and Belarusians from Paris 2024. 

“I have reiterated this to my international counterparts and to President Zelenskyy. Let’s stand in solidarity with Ukraine,” St-Onge said. 

However, the COC favours the IOC position because it says banning athletes solely on nationality contravenes Olympic ideals. Koehler said Canadian sport leaders should be aligned with the values of the country.

“Shame on the Canadian Olympic Committee,” Koehler said. “All you have to do, you don’t have to look very far, the head of the Canadian Olympic Committee is also an IOC member.”

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Bob Mackin  The Canadian Olympic Committee and Four

For the week of Feb. 12, 2023: 

Thirteen years ago, on Feb. 12, 2010, the Winter Olympics opened in Vancouver. Among the legacies: Own the Podium, the high performance strategy that helped Canada set a record for most host nation gold medals.

Rob Koehler of Global Athlete (Mackin)

Rob Koehler of Global Athlete contends that the win-at-all-costs mentality has resulted in a toxic Canadian sport system. In 2022, athletes across sports blew the whistle on abuse and corruption in their sports and are demanding the Canadian government launch a judicial public inquiry. 

Koehler is Bob Mackin’s guest on this edition of the Podcast, to discuss what’s wrong in Canadian and international sport and how to fix it. He said Canada has no business bidding for another Olympics until athletes are protected. You will also want to hear his thoughts on the International Olympic Committee and Canadian Olympic Committee’s willingness to allow Russians to compete at Paris 2024. 

Andrea Neil (ParlVu)

Also hear from Canadian Sports Hall of Famer Andrea Neil, who testified Feb. 2 at the House of Commons status of women committee studying abuse in Canadian sport.

The former Canadian national team assistant coach and Vancouver Whitecaps captain says an inquiry must include a forensic audit of the Canadian Soccer Association and its past and present leadership. 

Plus Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim headlines.

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For the week of Feb. 12, 2023:  Thirteen

Bob Mackin

Dilbag “Dylan” Hothi, the suspended Surrey Police Service officer who died at a shooting range on Feb. 8, was remembered on Facebook for optimism and kindness. 

“He was the kind of guy who would lend a helping hand to anyone in need,” wrote Adam Bach, a competitive shooter and firearms trainer. “Sometimes feeding off the positive vibes of others helps your own personal headspace and this individual was never short on being positive.”

Dilbag Hothi in the 2019 Vancouver Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade (B.C. Brigade)

The Independent Investigations Office said Hothi, 26, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot at the Range Langley. 

Hothi was listed as a new recruit in the Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles newsletter in 2016 and photographed in combat uniform with the Canadian Forces delegation at the Vancouver Chinatown Lunar New Year parade in 2019. He had a year of experience with the RCMP before joining the Surrey Police Service.

However, Hothi was arrested last Aug. 16 for alleged breach of trust.

Chief Norm Lipinski issued a statement after being contacted by a reporter, confirming that one of his officers had been suspended with pay, pending the result of an “active and ongoing” investigation. He also said the force notified the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner about the incident. At the time, a charge had not been approved by the B.C. Prosecution Service, Lipinski said.

A source familiar with the investigation said detectives were probing whether a police officer provided information to someone associated with a gang.

Asked Thursday for status of the file, B.C. Prosecution Service spokesperson Daniel McLaughlin said “BCPS has no information to share on this matter at this time.”

Hothi’s death came the week after a B.C. Coroners Service inquest into the 2019 suicide of Vancouver Police Const. Nicole Chan. The five jurors made 12 recommendations, eight of which were directed to Chief Adam Palmer. The recommendations included mandatory psychological interviews for every officer candidate, mandatory annual check-ins with a psychologist and a peer-support case representative assigned to regularly contact each employee on mental health leave. Palmer said he would take time to consider the recommendations. 

Surrey Police Service spokesperson Ian MacDonald did not answer questions about SPS policies and procedures for mental health evaluations of job candidates.

“The SPS recruiting, interviewing, and vetting process is thorough and rigorous,” MacDonald said. “We maintain continued and consistent contact with all our staff regardless of their working status.” 

May 2019 photo of Patton (left), Coun. Linda Annis, McCallum, Guerra, Nagra and Elford. (Annis is a member of Surrey First)

Langley RCMP referred queries about the incident to the B.C. RCMP’s senior public information officer, S. Sgt. Kris Clark, who refused to comment. 

IIO said its investigation will seek to confirm what role, if any, police actions or inactions may have played in Hothi’s death. The civilian agency’s statement said Langley RCMP officers were attempting to locate a man reported to be in distress at the Range Langley. 

“The man, who was identified as an off-duty member of the Surrey Police Service, sustained a serious injury that appears to have been self-inflicted while police were in the building,” IIO said. “The man was subsequently pronounced deceased.”

Range Langley is a public, no license-required facility near the Golden Ears Bridge and marketed as “Canada’s largest shooting range.” Its website says it supports and employs Canadian military and police members. 

The Range Indoor Shooting Inc.’s only director is Dustin Sikora, who is also one of four directors of the Range Indoor Shooting Club society.

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Bob Mackin Dilbag “Dylan” Hothi, the suspended Surrey

Bob Mackin

A Crown prosecutor asked a Provincial Court judge Feb. 9 to sentence the leader of Extinction Rebellion Vancouver and its spinoff Save Old Growth to 90 days in jail and revealed that he is facing deportation to his native Pakistan.

Muhammad Zain Ul Haq, 22, pleaded guilty to five charges of mischief for his role in illegal road and bridge blockades in 2021 and one for breaching a release order for an August 2022 protest on the Cambie Bridge.

Ellen Leno, who is also seeking 18 months probation for Haq, said he has been arrested 10 times since joining an Extinction Rebellion protest on the Burrard Bridge in 2019.

Muhammad Zain Ul-Haq faces possible deportation (Save Old Growth)

In January 2022, Haq helped incorporate Eco Mobilization Canada to raise money and founded Save Old Growth to stage climate change protests targeting vehicle drivers on major highways and bridges in Metro Vancouver and Victoria.

He was not arrested during the Save Old Growth protests he coordinated, but Haq did spend nine days in jail in a year ago for criminal contempt after violating the Trans Mountain Pipeline injunction in September 2021 and was jailed for nine days on an arrest warrant last September related to the Aug. 15 Cambie Bridge protest. Canada Border Services Agency kept Haq in custody last June for violating the terms of his student visa. 

Leno said that there is a removal order in place for Haq and an exclusion order, barring him from returning to Canada for one year once he is removed. She emphasized in court that Haq had promised police each time he was released that he would not block vehicles or pedestrians and he was aware of the consequences before engaging in the Aug. 15 protest for another spinoff group, called Stop Fracking Around. 

“[CBSA] would have removed him in the fall but for these proceedings, what’s kept him in the country is these proceedings,” Leno told Judge Reginald Harris. “And so, once this matter is concluded, if he is given a jail sentence, once that jail sentence is served, then they’ll be able to act on the order.”

Haq is seeking a conditional discharge, but his lead lawyer, former Victoria city councillor Ben Isitt, said that if the judge rejects the conditional discharge, then Haq would be willing to accept a 30-day house arrest and six months of curfew arrangement, plus probation and 150 hours work service. 

Isitt said there is an element of “youthful exuberance” and that Haq’s offences differed from other Save Old Growth defendants, because he did not use devices like a ladder or chains. 

Isitt replaced Haq’s previous lawyer, Abdul Abdulmalik, and was joined in court by Flora Yu of the Toronto firm Waddell Phillips. Partner John Kingman Phillips was on webconference.

Yu argued that jailing Haq would not be in the public interest, because it could lead to his deportation to authoritarian Pakistan.

Phillips said that his firm is working pro bono after being contacted by unnamed social justice activists. Isitt said that he is being paid through legal aid. Haq’s appearance in court was promoted by a Victoria publicist, Valerie Elliott of ID2 Communications. She said by email that she volunteered her services.

Haq had boasted last August in the New York Times that Save Old Growth received US$170,000 in grants from the California-based Climate Emergency Fund.

Leno showed Harris several videos featuring Haq at protests, instructing others on civil disobedience. One clip was shot outside the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Coquitlam, where he served nine days of a 14-day criminal contempt sentence in February 2022. Haq boasted that he watched Seinfeld reruns in jail and suggested Prime Minister Justin Trudeau be tried and sentenced for crimes against humanity. 

Leno also recited an August 2021 email from Assistant Chief David Boone of the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services, rejecting Haq and Extinction Rebellion’s offer to briefly pause a planned roadblock on the Georgia Viaduct to accommodate emergency vehicle traffic. 

Boone said it would be irresponsible for firefighters to approach a protest group while en route to an emergency, such as a cardiac arrest, overdose or structure fire.

“Lives can be affected or lost as a result of the delay in responding to critical incidents,” Boone wrote. “Know that by blocking a bridge, you force us to divert to an alternate route that results in a delay in response to the critical incidents we are called to. Please appreciate, these are members of our community in a time of need, and I encourage you and Extinction Rebellion Vancouver to reconsider your location of choice for these acts of nonviolent civil disobedience.”

The sentencing hearing was adjourned. The continuation date is to be determined. 

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Bob Mackin A Crown prosecutor asked a Provincial

Bob Mackin

A Green Party MLA tabled a private member’s bill Feb. 8 daring Premier David Eby to scrap the NDP-imposed $10 application fee for freedom of information requests.

Green Party MLA Adam Olsen (Adam Olsen)

In November 2021, under then-Premier John Horgan, the NDP government used its majority to amend the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to allow cabinet to set a non-refundable application fee. 

When she tabled Bill 22, Citizens’ Services Minister Lisa Beare offered a $25 estimate. Shortly after becoming law, cabinet set the price at $10. 

The Information and Privacy Commissioner’s review last month found the government grossed just over $16,000 during the first six months of charging the fee. 

“[Michael McEvoy] noted that political requests were already in decline before this fee was introduced and, following the fee, journalists, researchers and community groups felt the most significant barriers to getting public information,” said Adam Olsen (Saanich North and the Islands), the private member’s bill’s sponsor.

McEvoy’s review found media applications fell by 80%. 

“Right now there is a waning public confidence in democracy, at a time of growing fear and misinformation, at a time when people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories and less likely to trust their government,” Olsen said. “This assembly needs to be held to a higher standard. The truth needs to be readily accessible and available.”

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

Olsen was on the all-party committee that reviewed B.C.’s freedom of information law last year and reminded the Legislature that the committee heard testimony that secrecy can undermine democracy and lead to extremism. NDP committee members blocked a recommendation to repeal the fee. 

Before entering politics and while in opposition, Eby was a prolific user of freedom of information. Last June, when he was Attorney General, Eby released the Cullen Commission report into money laundering in B.C. and thanked reporters for using FOI to expose the BC Liberal government’s failure to keep dirty money out of casinos. But he refused to commit to repealing the fee.

Olsen’s bill will proceed to second reading debate. Private member’s bills, however, rarely pass in the B.C. Legislature. 

Olsen’s bill came three days after the fourth anniversary of then-NDP House Leader Mike Farnworth’s unfulfilled promise to add the Legislative Assembly to the FOI law. 

McEvoy and Ombudsperson Jay Chalke had written an open letter to Farnworth seeking more transparency in the wake of then-Speaker Darryl Plecas’s report on corruption in the offices of the Clerk and Sergeant-at-Arms.

Last year’s committee report recommended the the law be extended to the administrative functions of the Legislative Assembly, while still protecting constituency office case files. 

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Bob Mackin A Green Party MLA tabled a

Bob Mackin

When B.C. Place Stadium hosted the Women’s World Cup in 2015, FIFA’s contract prohibited the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame from opening on match days. 

When FIFA returns for the next men’s World Cup in 2026, the province’s sports shrine will likely be smaller.

B.C. Sports Hall of Fame at B.C. Place (Facebook)

According to two sources not authorized to speak publicly, the Crown corporation that runs the stadium is planning to expand the Pacific Rim private suites on level 3 in time for the stadium to be one of the 16 venues for the North America-hosted tournament. FIFA is expected to schedule five matches in the early rounds in Vancouver.

B.C. Pavilion Corporation [PavCo] had originally proposed relocating the entire Sports Hall but has since narrowed its sights on the back-of-house, archival storage area. 

B.C. Place already has 50 private furnished and catered suites that hold between 10 and 24 people. During the recent 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA subcontracted high-end ticket packages and VIP hospitality to the Swiss company Match Hospitality. 

A spokeswoman for PavCo did not deny the suite expansion concept. 

“We are in the process of planning for projects required to host the FIFA World Cup 2026 at B.C. Place in conjunction with our partners, those plans and associated budgets are not finalized at this time,” said Meaghan Benmore in a prepared statement. “We have a very collaborative working relationship with the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and will continue to work closely with them regarding the space that they rent within B.C. Place.”

Inside a B.C. Place Pacific Rim suite (PavCo)

The Sports Hall’s CEO also did not deny that suites could replace part of his facility. 

“The B.C. Sports Hall of Fame has a collaborative relationship with B.C. Place,” said Nicholas Cartmell. “We have ongoing discussions about a range of matters, but it’s too early to speculate on what the future may hold for space we hold within B.C. Place to house our archives.”

During the 2015 Women’s World Cup, FIFA exerted its strict guidelines for third party operations inside official venues to prevent the Sports Hall from opening on match days. Part of the Sports Hall’s compensation in 2015 was display space at the FIFA FanFest in Larwill Park on game days. 

“FIFA ‘owns’ the building right now,” then-Sports Hall executive director Allison Mailer conceded in a 2015 interview. 

During the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Sports Hall opened limited hours behind security barriers while B.C. Place hosted opening, closing and nightly medals ceremonies.  

When FIFA chose Vancouver last June, the provincial government said the cost to taxpayers would be $240 million to $260 million. But, in January, it revealed that Vancouver city hall was responsible for $230 million in costs and would use a new 2.5% civic accommodation tax to pay the bill by 2030. The province did not disclosed how much it is spending.

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Bob Mackin When B.C. Place Stadium hosted the

Bob Mackin

One of B.C.’s most-outspoken anti-vaccine campaigners and COVID-19 deniers did not die from the virus.

Anti-masker Mak Parhar (centre) at a Flat Earth convention in 2020 in the U.S. (Facebook)

According to a B.C. Coroners Service report, Makhan Singh Parhar, 48, died accidentally from a mix of alcohol, fentanyl and cocaine in early November 2021. 

“Despite a positive post-mortem COVID test result, there is no indication this illness played a role in Mr. Parhar’s death,” said the report by coroner Damian Balam, which was dated May 9, but released Feb. 6. 

Parhar was discovered unresponsive by a family member in his New Westminster residence at 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2021. B.C. Ambulance Service paramedics declared Parhar dead on the scene. He had been last seen alive around midnight. 

There was no traumatic injury, and no evidence of foul play or acute self-harm. 

“Paraphernalia commonly associated with illicit substance use was found nearby (uncapped syringe, burnt spoon, glass pipe),” the report said. “Mr. Parhar had an uncomplicated medical history. There was no recent documented history of problems with substance use, hospitalization, or prior opioid agonist treatment. At the time of his death, he was not followed by a family physician.”

Parhar had made a video the day before he died, indicating that he had used ivermectin, the horse parasite treatment that prompted warnings against human use by Health Canada. In a prior video, published in late October 2021, Parhar was coughing and said he was fatigued and experiencing chills, but denied he had the virus, because he believed the virus did not exist. 

At the time of his death, Parhar was awaiting trial for allegedly breaking the Canada Quarantine Act. He was arrested in November 2020 after appearing at a protest outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, where he boasted he refused to self-isolate for 14 days after returning from a conference in South Carolina for people who believe the Earth is flat. 

Balam’s report said that toxicological analysis found concentrations of fentanyl usually associated with fatalities and a cocaine concentration usually associated with recreational use. 

“The effects of these substances, in isolation or when combined, are unpredictable and are sufficient to cause death,” the report said.

In B.C., there have officially been 5,106 deaths from COVID-19. 

At least 11,171 people in B.C. have died from illicit drug toxicity since the province’s April 2016 declaration of a public health emergency.

On Jan. 31, B.C. began a three-year, federally approved experiment to decriminalize possession by adults of 2.5 grams or less of fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, meth and ecstasy. 

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Bob Mackin One of B.C.’s most-outspoken anti-vaccine campaigners

Bob Mackin

The gap is narrowing. 

The NDP took in just $116,275.07 more in donations than the BC Liberals did in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Elections BC.

Premier David Eby on Nov. 18 (BC Gov/Flickr)

Premier David Eby’s party reported $1.3 million in funds raised during the Oct. 1-Dec. 31 period, just ahead of the BC Liberals, who told Elections BC they raised $1.182 million. 

But the NDP finished the year well ahead of Kevin Falcon and the official opposition. 

Elections BC’s database shows the NDP raised $4.01 million in 2022, $1.483 million better than the BC Liberals.  

The BC Green Party grossed $1.075 million in 2022, including $418,319.02 in the fourth quarter. 

Kevin Falcon

The first month of the last quarter included municipal elections and the NDP leadership race, in which Eby’s campaign reported $383,570.27 income. 

Also in 2022, the NDP received $1.57 million, BC Liberals $1.11 million and Greens $497,000 through taxpayer-funded allowance scheme that replaced corporate and union donations in 2018. The parties received their latest instalments on Jan. 15 (NDP $786,086; BC Liberals $556,629.50; Greens $248,632.13).

The next election is scheduled for October 2024. Eby has denied he is planning to call an early election. 

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Bob Mackin The gap is narrowing.  The NDP took