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Bob Mackin

While the 87 members of B.C.’s Legislative Assembly won’t be getting a cost of living increase in 2023, a report estimated the budget to run the seat of government would balloon by nearly $13 million. 

At the all-party Legislative Assembly Management Committee’s Dec. 13 meeting, new NDP house leader Ravi Kahlon agreed with BC Liberal and Green counterparts that lawmakers shouldn’t get a raise while British Columbians are grappling with higher costs.

Ravi Kahlon (Twitter)

A report from the closed-door Nov. 23 meeting of the finance and audit subcommittee assumed and budgeted a 6% consumer price index rise of $6,902.76 to the current  $115,045.93 base salary for lawmakers, who are eligible for additional payments if appointed to a committee. 

An across-the board cost of living increase for MLAs would have cost taxpayers another $600,540.12.

“I’m pleased that the government has come to his senses on this,” said Todd Stone, the BC Liberal house leader, during the meeting.

David Eby already receives an additional $103,541.34 a year as premier for a total $218,587.27. Cabinet ministers and opposition leader Kevin Falcon are paid $172,568.80 annually. 

In last spring’s budget, the NDP government did away with the 10% penalty for each cabinet members whose ministry overspends. It amounted to a $5,551 raise per minister. 

Even without a pay raise for inflation, MLAs who were first-elected in 2017 are looking forward to June 2023. That is when they meet the six-year requirement to qualify for a pension.

A staff presentation, however, showed a proposed 2023-2024 Legislature budget of $104.88 million — up $12.9 million or 14% over 2022-2023. Inflation is blamed for 48% of the increase. 

The budget submission, which is subject to Treasury Board approval, was temporarily stood down by the committee, pending further analysis from staff.

The proposed budget included spending $7.05 million more on Legislative support services, for a total of $43.3 million, and $5.1 million more on Members’ services, a total of $49.36 million. 

Those are both substantial increases compared to four years ago. In 2019-2020, Legislative services cost $32.23 million and Members’ services almost $41 million. 

Constituency office staffing and operations is $26.15 million of the proposed Members’ services budget. The biggest driver of cost increases is $3.9 million for a new constituency office funding formula that Stone called “excessive.”

Snow on the main dome of the B.C. Legislature, Feb. 12, 2019 (Mackin)

“While it may be well intentioned and there may be pieces of it that we could revisit in subsequent fiscal years, now is not the time to proceed with a multi-million-dollar increase to constituency office budgets,” Stone said. “One of the largest increases on a year over year basis that I think the assembly has asked for and presumably will receive when the government votes this through, in many years.”

Inflation, at almost $7.8 million, is the biggest pressure on Legislative support services, partly offset by $1.73 million in business expense savings and professional services reductions. 

Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd told the committee that the Legislature is also facing increased energy costs. For example, the cost of steam to heat the Parliament Buildings has risen by $10,000 a month.

“We’ve relied upon natural gas price forecasts, as well, for other utilities, such as electricity and water, to inform the budget plan and are anticipating that those will account for about a $420,000 increase, or 25%, to utilities, materials and supplies managed by our legislative facilities team,” Ryan-Lloyd said. 

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Bob Mackin While the 87 members of B.C.’s

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A vice-president of the union that represents B.C. paramedics says the province needs more than new emergency management legislation and updated guides on how to plan for the worst in a world that gets more dangerous.

November 2021 RCMP CBRNE exercise at B.C. Place Stadium (BC RCMP)

The “Lessons Learned” report on how the NDP government handled the pandemic emergency was critical of the province for abandoning the emergency management approach. The three co-authors found the government switched gears early in the pandemic, in favour of government coordination and the healthcare system.  

“It was replaced by an executive decision-making model more familiar to senior government leaders, as happened in many other jurisdictions. The result was effective crisis decision-making but not effective cross-government response coordination,” said the report, which the government concealed for nine weeks before its Dec. 2 publication.  

The report said that government should consider developing a new approach to plan for province-wide emergencies “that includes much more than a plan for how government will be coordinated, including risk identification, developing, practising, and continuously improving plans for major emergencies.”

Dave Deines with the Ambulance Paramedics and Emergency Dispatchers of B.C. said planning and policies can only go so far when staffing is inadequate. That became obvious during 2021’s heat dome and atmospheric river disasters.

“Even if the ambulance service was staffed at 100%, during those environmental emergencies, we still would have been taxed and unable to respond,” Deines said in an interview. “But the reality is, when that happened, you had, in some cases, 30 or 33% of the fleet was not staffed, which, again, is just compounding these issues over and over and over until we almost saw near complete collapse of the paramedic service in British Columbia during the heat dome.”

While the government readies the new law for the new year, a legacy of security planning for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is already needing an update, after a year that included threats by Russia to use nuclear arms in the Ukraine war and the perennial threats by North Korea to fire a missile across the Pacific Ocean. 

From B.C. CBRNE Plan (BC Gov)

The B.C. Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives [CBRNE] Response Plan, obtained under freedom of information, is a 50-page guide on preparation, prevention, response and recovery should an accident occur or a terrorist attack the province. 

Written in 2009, the plan cites 9/11 and 1995’s Tokyo Subway nerve agent attack and the Oklahoma City bombing as examples of CBRNE incidents. It contemplates potential incidents and remedies for each of the five categories, but concedes response would be difficult. 

“In most scenarios, there is a possibility of overwhelming the health facilities due to casualties, contamination and public concern (i.e. psychosocial effects) and this should be considered as a potential consequence in any CBRNE event,” the guide states. 

The province is responsible for preparedness and development of capabilities to respond to a CBRNE attack, in conjunction with local, regional and national agencies.

From B.C. CBRNE Plan (BC Gov)

“It’s not just Ukraine,” Deines said. “I mean, on a daily basis, the amount of hazardous materials, including radioactive materials and transit through British Columbia, and across Canada, for that matter. People really have no idea how much is going through the country, but, at any time, there’s potential for catastrophic dispersal of those hazardous materials.”

A related blueprint, called the B.C. Nuclear Emergency Plan [NEP], was signed-off by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Deputy Health Minister Stephen Brown while politicians were away from the Legislature during the 2020 snap provincial election. 

The 71-page guide said that the risk of a nuclear emergency in B.C. is low, but acknowledged a need to prepare for such an event and to regularly update planning, based on lessons learned. 

The plan is designed for accidental or unintentional events, but elements may be used to address the consequences of deliberate or malicious acts. In that sense, it is a bookend to the CBRNE plan.

The NEP ranks potential incidents in five categories, including emergencies at nuclear power plants in Canada, U.S. or Mexico, a nuclear powered vessel in Canada, and other nuclear emergencies inside and outside North America.

The nearest nuclear plant is some 400 kilometres south of B.C. in Richland, Wash., while there are particle accelerators at the University of B.C.’s TRIUMF and Redlen Technologies in Saanichton. 

In the case of a nuclear emergency outside North America, the NEP assumes small quantities of radioactive material, if any, would be expected to reach Canada (as happened after the 1986 Chernobyl and 2011 Fukushima disasters) and would likely not pose a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. The main focus for authorities would be Canadians living or traveling in the affected region and control of food and material imports into Canada from the affected areas. 

In November 2021, the RCMP’s CBRNE team held a three-day, joint training exercise with military, fire, police and federal and provincial public health officials, but not B.C. Emergency Health Services. One of the scenarios was a simulated mass casualty attack at B.C. Place Stadium. 

The next exercise to be led by B.C.’s Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness is scheduled for February 2023, but Exercise Coastal Response is an earthquake simulation.

Deines said B.C. Ambulance Service had a robust CBRNE team that was disbanded when Provincial Health Services Agency took over the service a decade ago. CBRNE training is now on an ad hoc basis.

“It becomes a real Catch-22 of how do we train to prepare for an event when we can’t respond to the core business right now?” 

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In its campaign platform, ABC Vancouver promised that if it won a majority of the seats on city council, that it “will limit partisan activity from Mayoral office staff.” 

Ken Sim won the mayoralty on Oct. 15 in a landslide and all seven of his council candidates were elected. But it could be easier said than done to curb the partisan enthusiasm over the next four years, as nine of Sim’s 10 political staffers listed in the city employees’ directory have backgrounds working in political jobs or as candidates for a civic office.

ABC mayoral candidate Ken Sim (YouTube)

Topping the list is Kareem Allam, the new party’s campaign manager who transitioned into a job as Sim’s chief of staff after the Oct. 15 election victory. 

Allam started 2022 as campaign manager for Kevin Falcon’s successful political comeback to win the BC Liberal leadership. Allam joined Fairview Strategy in October 2019 after two years at Hill and Knowlton Strategies. He had stints earlier in his career with Fortis, Britco and TransCanada, and was the vice-president of corporate development at Monark Group. The Surrey firm spearheaded the Kater driversharing app, among other projects. 

Sim’s senior advisor is David Grewal, who fell 1,668 votes shy of the 10th and final seat in the race for city council in 2018. Grewal’s fellow NPA candidate Sarah Kirby-Yung, now with ABC, made the cut. 

Grewal co-founded natural gas supplier Absolute Energy Inc. in 2003 and is a past-chair of the West End Business Improvement Association.

Director of communications Taylor Verrall had the same role for ABC Vancouver from May to November, after working as communications manager on Falcon’s campaign under Allam. 

He also managed the unsuccessful Saanich South BC Liberal campaign of Rishi Sharma in the 2020 provincial election. Verrall was active in the riding association from 2016 to 2018.

Verrall has a background in campaign data management and graphic design. He is credited with designing the magenta, azure and marigold ABC party logo that symbolizes the desire to be a civic coalition of Liberal, Conservative and NDP supporters. 

Sim’s office has five people with director in the title. 

(Kareem Allam/Twitter)

Melissa Morphy: director of policy. Formerly with Hill and Knowlton, an ex-constituency assistant for former BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson and a youth organizer for the BC Liberals prior to the 2017 election. 

Patrick O’Connor: director of legislative affairs. A New Westminster BC Liberal campaign worker who was part of the 2011 Christy Clark campaign. He is a former communications and policy researcher for the NPA. 

Trevor Ford: director of field operations. The ABC campaign director of data analysis and operations and 10-year veteran of Communica Public Affairs. 

Yunxia (Chris) Qiu: director of outreach. A 12th place NPA candidate for school board in 2018. Five years ago, Qiu was the spokesperson for the Marpole Residents Coalition that opposed the 78-suite temporary modular housing project at 59th and Heather. 

Manuel Santos: director of outreach. Santos was director of field operations from May to Vancouver for ABC and spent 2019 to 2022 as a regional organizer for the BC Liberals after six years as an office manager for the BC Liberals.

Research coordinator Conor Doherty graduated to the mayor’s office after two stints as Coun. Rebecca Bligh’s political assistant. Doherty is also a former junior policy analyst with Global Affairs Canada and Infrastructure Canada and a former vice-president with the Alma Mater Society at UBC Vancouver.

The office directory also lists five administrative employees: assistants Cheryll Chingcuangco, Billa Medhurst and Nenita Pio Roda, executive assistant Connie Pavone and manager of mayor and council support Leslie Tuerlings. 

How much is this all costing? 

Neither Allam nor Verrall responded for comment. 

During 2021, then-Mayor Kennedy Stewart spent $824,313.88 of his $1,112,010 office budget on political salaries in his office. Unlike Sim, Stewart had two chiefs of staff: Anita Zaenker ($137,904) and Neil Monckton ($126,366). Communications director was Alvin Singh ($125,567), who ran on Stewart’s Forward Together ticket, which was shut-out in October.

Combined, the trio of Stewart’s senior aides accounted for 47% of the political salaries in 2021. 

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A Richmond city councillor who was once B.C.’s top cop says the RCMP needs to swiftly determine whether a mainland Chinese townsman association was hosting an illegal foreign police operation at its Richmond clubhouse.

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

A Dec. 5 report from a China-focused human rights organization based in Spain said that the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau set up a police station in Vancouver.

A black Ford RCMP sport utility vehicle was photographed parked on Browndale Road around 10 p.m. on Dec. 10, across from the Wenzhou Friendship Society clubhouse. The same vehicle was in the same spot midday Sunday. Global TV reported that officers went door-to-door on Saturday, asking neighbours questions about the clubhouse.

Coun. Kash Heed, the former West Vancouver police chief who was solicitor general in 2009 and 2010, said if the Wenzhou police operation is substantiated, it must be suppressed immediately and addressed directly with the Chinese government. 

“We are a sovereign nation,” Heed said. “When you have foreign governments or the appearances of foreign government interfering in our systems, whether there are protective service systems or even our political system, it is very concerning and it has to be responded to immediately.”

Cpl. Kim Chamberland of the RCMP’s national headquarters confirmed in a statement that the RCMP is investigating reports of criminal activity relating to so-called “police stations,” but declined to provide any details of the investigation. 

Richmond 2018 candidates Hong Guo, Chak Au and Peter Liu in the front row with Vision Vancouver’s Wei Qiao Zhang at the Aug. 26 fundraiser. (Wenzhouren.ca)

“The RCMP recognizes that Chinese-Canadians are victims of the activity we are investigating,” Chamberland said. “There will be no tolerance for this or any other form of intimidation, harassment, or harmful targeting of diaspora communities or individuals in Canada. It is important for everyone to recognize that Chinese Canadians are the victims of this type of activity and it is important that we support the Chinese community.”   

The report by Safeguard Defenders said there was evidence of at least 102 “Chinese Overseas Police Service Centres” in 53 countries, including one in Vancouver under the jurisdiction of Wenzhou, a major port city in Zhejiang province. 

Three police stations in Toronto under the auspices of Nanzhou were identified in a September report by Safeguard Defenders on the same topic.

Wenzhou Friendship Society made headlines during the 2018 local government elections when the society hosted fundraising events and endorsed candidates in several municipalities. Among those it supported were incumbents Coun. Chak Au in Richmond and Coun. James Wang in Burnaby. The society also backed unsuccessful Richmond mayoral candidate Hong Guo and Vancouver mayoral contestants Wai Young and Fred Harding. The society offered a $20 transportation allowance on WeChat to get out the vote. RCMP investigated the alleged vote-buying, but no charges were laid.

That was the first election after amendments to campaign financing laws that allowed only individuals to donate. Heed said both the laws and enforcement need strengthening, in order to keep foreign influence out of Canadian politics.

“The brazen attitude of some of these foreign countries certainly needs to be challenged. If we don’t challenge them now, our freedoms, our civil liberties of everyone on Canadian soil is, threatened,” Heed said. 

Heed also said there is also a role for civic bureaucracies to ensure that societies which operate clubhouses for whatever purpose are adhering to all relevant bylaws.

A phone call to the Wenzhou Friendship Society on Sunday morning was answered by someone who initially said they didn’t speak English. The person then said nobody was available: “No, today is off day.”

The Safeguard Defenders report said the vast majority of the police stations were set up beginning in 2016 motivated by a desire to “harass, threaten, intimidate and force targets to return to China for persecution.” More than a dozen governments have launched investigations.

Kash Heed (Mackin)

Coincidentally, the RCMP canvassed in the neighbourhood on the 21st anniversary of the Wenzhou Friendship Society’s Dec. 10, 2001 incorporation.

The clubhouse is valued at $2.04 million according to B.C. Assessment Authority and has a Hazelbridge Way address. 

The society’s filings with the provincial government say its purposes are to engage fellowship of all members and their friends, enhance community stability and world peace, conduct charitable activities, assist in environmental conservation, conduct vocational training or language learning classes for members, establish a library and “to build, lease or rent a clubhouse for the gathering of members and friends for lectures, debates, singing or worship for education, recreational or religious purposes.”

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For the week of Dec. 11, 2022:

It’s the most-expensive FIFA World Cup in history and the most-harmful to the environment. 

“These mega events have become so huge. They suffer from what a lot of people call gigantism. It’s incredibly difficult to envision an actual green games,” said Jules Boykoff, guest on this week’s edition of thePodcast. 

Boykoff is a political science professor at Pacific University in Portland, Ore. and the author of several books about the politics and economics of mega-events. He recently wrote a commentary for Scientific American about the fallacy of Qatar 2022. 

“FIFA has actually said that the Qatar World Cup is a fully carbon neutral event, which is pretty striking and made a lot of people in the environmental community think twice and raise eyebrows,” Boykoff told host Bob Mackin.

Listen to the podcast for Boykoff’s perspective on the $220 billion spectacle, the next World Cup in 2026 in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the International Olympic Committee’s indefinite delay in awarding the 2030 Winter Olympics, and developments in the business of women’s pro soccer on both sides of the border. 

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and a commentary.

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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

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A government watchdog says a New Brunswick Court of Appeal decision on Dec. 8 could be useful when it appeals the June ruling that found B.C.’s 2020 snap election didn’t break the province’s Constitution Act.

John Horgan announced the 2020 election in a Langford cul-de-sac (CPAC)

Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs called an election for Sept. 14, 2020, more than two years early and without a non-confidence vote. The province had held three elections according to a fixed dates law beginning in 2010. 

Democracy Watch filed a court application to contest the breach of the law, just as it did in B.C., when then-NDP Premier John Horgan called an election a year early in fall 2020.

A Court of Queen’s Bench judge threw out the New Brunswick challenge in October 2021, but a court of appeal tribunal heard the case in May and September and found errors in the lower court ruling. 

“In my respectful view, the judge in first instance erred in dismissing Democracy Watch’s application on the basis of non-justiciability [not triable in court], and I would set aside his ruling on the question,” said the reasons for judgment authored by Justice Ernest Drapeau. “The Premier’s prerogative in respect of dissolution and election advice [under the Legislative Assembly Act] is undoubtedly political to some extent, but its scope and the legality of its exercise are legal questions subject to judicial review.”

The New Brunswick law states that nothing affects the power of the Lieutenant-Governor to prorogue or dissolve the Legislative Assembly at the Lieutenant-Governor’s discretion. It also required the Premier to advise the Lieutenant-Governor to dissolve the assembly and hold a provincial election on the third Monday in October in 2022. 

Democracy Watch’s application, however, was dismissed on the grounds that there was no admissible evidence that Higgs’s dissolution and election advice were for “the pursuit of purely partisan electoral advantage.” 

The ruling said the Premier is not only honour-bound, but legally bound to provide advice that accords with the schedule for elections, while preserving the Lieutenant-Governor’s “right to derogate from that obligation in certain circumstances.” 

Drapeau’s verdict said that the two relevant sections in the law “operate in tandem to foreclose dissolution and election advice purely for partisan electoral advantage.”

“We won on most grounds, including the precedent-setting ruling that, if the evidence shows that a snap election call is only to favour the ruling party’s re-election chances, then it violates the fixed-election date measures,” Conacher said. “The ruling should help in both our B.C. case and the federal case [against the 2021 snap federal election], as we have filed evidence in both cases showing that the snap election calls were only to favour the ruling party’s re-election.”

On June 21, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Gomery ruled that the B.C. Constitution Act is “unambiguous,” because it gives the Lieutenant-Governor power to dissolve the Legislature “when the Lieutenant-Governor sees fit” — despite the fixed election date clause.

Democracy Watch’s Duff Conacher

The BC Liberal government amended the Constitution Act when the party came to power in 2001 and the province held four consecutive elections every four years in May. 

Horgan took advantage of a lull between waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and polling favourable to the NDP government to break a confidence and supply agreement with the Green Party on Sept. 21, 2020 in order to seek a majority mandate. 

It worked, because the NDP won 57 seats in the Oct. 24, 2020 election.

The B.C. ruling came, coincidentally, the week before Horgan announced he would retire upon the NDP choosing a new leader. The New Brunswick ruling came the day after new Premier David Eby’s cabinet was sworn-in at Government House in Victoria. 

After the ceremony, a reporter asked Eby if B.C. voters would again go to the polls early. The former Attorney General said he is committed to the scheduled October 2024 election. 

“The reason is quite straightforward,” Eby said. “I was all across the province, I didn’t hear one British Columbian say ‘gosh you know what I really hope happens now is a provincial election.’ They said deal with public safety, they said deal with housing, deal with healthcare, make sure our economy is strong in the face of global headwinds. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

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If the Canadian Olympic Committee and Four Host First Nations can’t get back in the race for the 2030 Winter Olympics, the door could open later.

IOC president Thomas Bach (IOC/YouTube)

On Dec. 7, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach addressed the previous day’s executive board decision to indefinitely delay naming a 2030 host so that the Future Host Commission can re-evaluate the way Winter Games are held. 

That could mean creating a roster of cities with existing facilities to host the Winter Games on a rotating basis, which could reignite hopes for 2010 host Vancouver. The commission also decided it needed more time to decide whether to award the 2030 and 2034 Games simultaneously. Salt Lake City and Sapporo, Japan are the only two viable bids, after a proposal to bring the Games back to Vancouver failed to secure the necessary provincial government backing in October.

“The commission is saying by a double allocation, we would win some time to then establish a sound rotation system,” Bach told reporters after the third day of executive board meetings in Switzerland. “So you know, that this then would follow the allocation for 2030.”

The IOC had planned to choose the 2030 host by May 2023 at its annual meeting in Mumbai, but that got delayed to next fall. IOC officials did not provide a new schedule for negotiations with bid cities or a deadline to decide. The next milestone meeting after the 2023 annual session would be the standard pre-Games session before the Paris Olympics open in July 2024.

The IOC did not spell out the specific reasons for stopping shy of the double award, but a corruption scandal involving the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee has dominated headlines in Japan. The Salt Lake City group said it could be ready for 2030, but the U.S. Olympic Committee prefers 2034 so that it can avoid sponsor conflicts with Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games. 

Christophe Dubi, the executive director of the Games, addressed the Japan controversy. 

“We trust very much so that those business practices of some Japanese individuals, which are allowed by some Japanese companies, are being looked into in a very, very serious fashion and we have the utmost confidence that the authorities will go to the bottom of this investigation when it comes to business practices,” Dubi said. “So full trust that what they are looking into, which is also to create a framework, a governance framework for event hosting in the future, will positively impact, including the project for Sapporo.”

Vancouver 2030 bid logo

On Dec. 6, the B.C. government emphatically reiterated its decision not to fund another Games in 2030, due to a multitude of other spending priorities. 

“The Province’s decision is binding and will not be revisited,” according to the Ministry of Tourism, Art, Culture and Sport.

The previous Vancouver city council agreed it would not support another Games without full backing from the provincial and federal governments. The only hope to resurrect a 2030 bid could be convincing the federal government to amend or waive the 2008-established federal policy for hosting international multisport Games.

“Canada will limit its contribution to a maximum of 35% of total event costs and will not exceed 50% of the total public sector contribution to the event,” the policy states.

More-importantly, the policy prohibits Ottawa from picking up the cost of losses: “At no time will the Government of Canada undertake to guarantee deficit funding of a bidding or hosting project.”

When the NDP government announced its decision in October, federal Sport Minister Pascal St-Onge said she respected the B.C. decision.

“For a bid of this kind to go forward, all levels of government need to be in favour,” she said.

The COC estimated Vancouver 2030 would cost $4 billion, including at least $1 billion from taxpayers. It proposed reusing most of the 2010 venues in Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler, with the exception of the Agrodome for curling, Hastings Racecourse for big air skiing and snowboard jumping and Sun Peaks resort near Kamloops for snowboarding and freestyle skiing. 

The 2010 Games are believed to have cost $8 billion, all-in. The true costs are unknown, because the B.C. Auditor General never did a post-Games study, the organizing committee was not subject to the freedom of information law and its board minutes and financial files won’t be open to the public at the City Archives until fall 2025.

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A Save Old Growth (SOG) protester, whose portrait was exhibited in Premier David Eby’s office window, was sentenced to 30 days house arrest and 18 months probation on Dec. 6 in Vancouver Provincial Court.

Save Old Growth protester William Winder in a photo on David Eby’s office window, July 16 (Mackin)

William Glen Winder, a 71-year-old, retired University of B.C. French professor, had pleaded guilty to charges of mischief and breaching an undertaking to not block highways and bridges. 

Judge James Sutherland said in court that Winder was sentenced by a B.C. Supreme Court judge to 21 days in jail last February for disobeying the Trans Mountain Pipeline injunction. Two months later, he illegally blocked traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway in Burnaby, gained release on a promise to not block another road and then, two months after that, illegally blocked the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge. 

“These were not spontaneous, impulsive events,” Sutherland said. “They were planned and coordinated. Furthermore, Mr. Winder had a clear intention to be arrested. He achieved that on a short term basis, what he had set out to do. Police, fire, ambulance resources were required, public safety issues arose.”

Winder sat in court beside his lawyer, former Victoria city councillor Ben Isitt, as Sutherland summarized the agreed statement of facts about the climate change protests that went too far. 

On April 13, Winder and other SOG members entered the Trans-Canada Highway near the Willingdon exit in Burnaby at 7:45 a.m. and blocked Vancouver-bound motorists by sitting or standing on the highway.

“Police attended shortly after 8 a.m. and all of the protesters fled when the officers arrived,” Sutherland said. “Mr. Winder, though, remained seated in the roadway with his ankle locked to a barrel partially filled with cement. Police worked to clear Mr. Winder and the barrel off the roadway. It took three police officers to move Mr. Winder and the barrel, Mr. Winder was then arrested. Burnaby Fire Department had to attend to cut the chain lock off his ankle.”

Winder was transported to the Burnaby RCMP detachment and released when he promised that he would not block or obstruct any roadway in B.C. and protest only in a safe and lawful manner.  

He was scheduled to appear in court on a mischief charge on June 16. But, three days before that date, Winder played a key role in SOG’s June 13 illegal blockade of the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge.

Sutherland said that officers impounded three older vehicles parked near the bridge, with the doors and windows glued shut. But, at 7:35 a.m., Winder drove an older vehicle containing three passengers and stopped just before the bridge in the middle northbound lane. The two rear passengers exited in order to glue themselves to the roadway. Winder and the front passenger tried to lock their necks around the steering wheel with U-shaped bicycle locks, but a police officer used a baton to smash the side windows and puled them out. Winder was held in custody overnight. 

One of the others arrested on June 13, Deborah Sherry Janet Tin Tun, pleaded guilty Nov. 21 to a separate mischief charge and is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 21.

“Every citizen has the right to protest and express themselves and attempt to influence others by any lawful means within the democratic process,” Sutherland said. “They don’t have the right to take the law into their own hands and break it for their own purposes.” 

Protester William Winder illegally blocking the Trans-Canada Highway on April 13 (SOG/IG)

Sutherland noted that Winder has not engaged in any illegal conduct since his arrest five-and-a-half months ago. The judge, however, said Winder was misguided to believe that breaking the law for political purposes is acceptable or serves a moral purpose. 

“I accept that he is remorseful for the disruption to the hundreds, if not thousands, of commuters lives who likely missed medical appointments, work, everything else that was certainly very important to those individuals,” Sutherland said. 

Winder remains involved with SOG, in a support and information role for other members appearing in court. There have been 48 arrests leading to charges of 34 individuals from SOG since the Extinction Rebellion splinter group formed last January. They have failed to convince the NDP government to outlaw old growth logging.

“Mr. Winder claims that he will not be engaged in frontline protesting going forward, not necessarily because he appreciates the moral blameworthiness associated with it, but more because he finds it’s taking a physical and mental toll,” Sutherland said. “He doesn’t have the physical and mental rigour required to be a frontline protester and acknowledges that it’s difficult for his family and friends, the disruption that it creates.”

Sutherland said that the house arrest applies to Winder’s residence and yard, 24 hours a day, except to leave for a medical emergency or another legitimate absence approved by his conditional sentence supervisor. 

“So, the Christmas get togethers will have to be at your house,” Sutherland said. “It will restrict your liberty, it will provide a measure of deterrence because it is a jail sentence. The only difference is where you serve it.”

A portrait of Winder in a collection celebrating Vancouver-Point Grey residents was displayed on the window of Eby’s riding office last summer, before Eby quit as attorney general to run for the NDP leadership. 

SOG’s website says the group receives most of its funding for recruitment, training, capacity building and education from the California-based Climate Emergency Fund (CEF). Earlier this year, leader Muhammad Zain Ul Haq told the New York Times that SOG had received US$170,000. The student from Pakistan pleaded guilty Nov. 15 to mischief under $5,000 and breach of a release order. 

In the most-recent SOG protest, Vancouver Police arrested five people on Oct. 20 for blocking the Lions Gate Bridge. They timed the protest for the morning after the NDP disqualified environmentalist Anjali Appadurai and made Eby the successor to Premier John Horgan.

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Bob Mackin A Save Old Growth (SOG) protester,

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Ten days after the federal government announced its new Indo-Pacific foreign policy in Vancouver, a new provincial minister of state for trade sworn-in at Government House in Victoria. 

NDP Premier David Eby named Surrey-Fleetwood MLA Jagrup Brar on Dec. 7 to replace Vancouver-Fraserview MLA George Chow in his new cabinet. Chow had held the post since July 2017 under Premier John Horgan.

Jagrup Brar (centre) at the Dec. 7 swearing-in of Premier David Eby’s cabinet (BC Gov/Flickr)

The switch of trade ministers in Canada’s Pacific province aligns with the federal Liberal strategy that emphasizes closer trade with India, the sixth-biggest destination for B.C. exports, and a decreased reliance on number two destination China, partly due to national security concerns. The Indo-Pacific strategy includes negotiations for a new trade agreement with India, expanded air travel between Canada and India, and aims to expand natural resource and technology exports to India. 

Brar was born in Deon village in Bathinda, Punjab and played in the Indian national basketball program. His disclosure statement says he still jointly owns one-quarter of a family farm in Deon. The same statement also discloses shares in Shanghai electric car maker Nio Inc.

Brar was originally an NDP MLA from 2004 to 2013, ran unsuccessfully for party president in 2013 and made a comeback in Surrey-Fleetwood in 2017.

China-born Chow had a 30-year engineering career at BC Hydro and is a past president of the pro-Beijing Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver. He served two terms as a Vision Vancouver city councillor from 2005 to 2011 before winning a provincial seat in 2017 election.

NDP minister of state George Chow (WeChat)

Eby said Chow will have a duty assisting cabinet in strategies to revitalize two troubled neighbourhoods outside his riding. 

“I am looking to minister [sic] Chow, in particular, to support the work that we have to do in the Downtown Eastside and in Chinatown, in Vancouver, and making sure that we’re responding to the needs of both the community and Chinatown, but also the Downtown Eastside,” Eby told reporters after the ceremony. “He’s taking a leadership role there.”

Chow’s role since 2017 as a liaison to Chinese Communist Party government officials and their supporters raised eyebrows during the 2020 election, when a campaign by a coalition of pro-Hong Kong, Uyghur and Tibetan human rights activists, called #NoBCforXi, deemed Chow to be “CCP leaning.”

In December 2018, Chow met with CCP officials in Guangdong, China, almost a week after Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on behalf of the U.S., which later charged Meng with fraud. Chow’s assistant said at the time the trip was “personal.” Chinese-language media reports said Chow briefed the officials about B.C.’s plans for a Chinese-Canadian history museum, while the officials briefed Chow on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics and the Belt and Road infrastructure program.

Chow appeared at an October 2021 event on Jack Poole Plaza to promote the countdown to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics during the 72nd anniversary of CCP rule in China. Chow representatives said that his appearance was in his capacity as an MLA, rather than as minister.  

On Dec. 1, in the wake of rare protests in China and Vancouver calling for Xi’s resignation, Chow sat beside new Consul General Yang Shu at the head table in River Rock casino’s theatre for the 2022 B.C.-Guangdong Economic and Trade Summit. The event included a video link with participants in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. 

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Bob Mackin Ten days after the federal government

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Elections BC says it sent a reprimand to former Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s re-election campaign about robocalls, instead of a get out the vote email on election day. 

A citizen who complained Oct. 15 to Elections BC mere minutes after receiving an email from Stewart and his Forward Together party received a response Dec. 2 from Elections BC investigator Sara Burnett that the runner-up for the Vancouver mayoralty violated the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act.

Ex-Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart (Twitter)

“The investigation has now concluded and subject Kennedy Stewart was found to be in contravention to section 45 of LECFA,” said Burnett’s email. 

Elections BC now says that Stewart was reprimanded because robocalls are not permitted on election day, while emails without a placement cost are.

“The calls were primarily ‘get-out-the-vote’ messages, but did encourage voters to visit the Forward Together Vancouver website,” said Elections BC communications advisor Melanie Hull. “LECFA allows ‘get-out-the-vote’ messages on general voting day, but election advertising is prohibited. We contacted the Stewart campaign and they amended the pre-recorded messages promptly.”

Specifically, Stewart ran afoul of the section that states: “An individual or organization must not transmit election advertising or non-election assent voting advertising to the public on general voting day.”

Stewart won’t be facing any further discipline on this complaint, however, because Elections BC decided to exercise discretion. Burnett determined Elections BC would not treat the contravention as an offence. 

“In light of what has happened, a warning letter was provided to the subject and serves as a formal written reprimand,” Burnett wrote. 

Hull said that, whenever possible, Elections BC tries to bring political participants into compliance with the law before resorting to a fine for violations of section 45. The only options are a reprimand or forwarding the file to the B.C. Prosecution Service. 

The Stewart campaign email, sent at 11:18 a.m. Oct. 15, under the subject “33% to 33%,” cited a ResearchCo poll released the previous day that said the race was deadlocked. The message also attacked ABC Vancouver candidate Ken Sim’s platform and urged the recipient to share it with three friends and ask each one to go and vote.

“In 2018, Kennedy won by under a thousand votes, and this time it’s looking like it will be even closer. With only nine hours left until the polls close, we need to get every single voter out for Kennedy,” the email said. 

In the end, it wasn’t even close. 

Sim handily won the mayoralty with 85,732 votes over Stewart’s 49,593, four years after Stewart edged Sim. 

According to an analysis by Andy Yan, director of the Simon Fraser University city program, Stewart won several election day polls in Kitsilano, Grandview Woodland, Mount Pleasant, Strathcona and the West End. 

But, in the rest of the city, Sim dominated. 

Stewart campaign spokesman Mark Hosak has not responded for comment.

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Bob Mackin Elections BC says it sent a

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