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Bob Mackin The detainee found dead in the

Video: NDP trio kicks-off return to Lunar New Year banquets

Bob Mackin

An NDP cabinet minister attended one of the Lower Mainland’s first major Lunar New Year banquets since the pandemic began, where guests included a Chinese military veteran and the president of a society under an RCMP national security investigation.

NDP MLAs Henry Yao (left), George Chow and Anna Kang on Jan. 7 at River Rock casino (Henry Yao/Twitter)

The Canadian Community Service Association (CCSA) celebrated the upcoming end of the Year of the Tiger and beginning of the Year of the Rabbit at River Rock Casino Resort’s show theatre on Jan. 7.

The head table for the gala featured CCSA president Harris Niu, Consul General Yang Shu and two other local People’s Republic of China diplomats, Richmond’s two Liberal MPs, Wilson Miao and Parm Bains, Mayor Malcolm Brodie and Senator Yuen Pau Woo.

NDP Minister of Municipal Affairs Anne Kang and Richmond South Centre MLA Henry Yao, who both hail from Taiwan, and former Minister of State for Trade George Chow were seated across from Rongxiang “Tiger” Yuan.

Yuan, dressed casually in red from head to toe, served in the People’s Liberation Army, is president of the Canada-China Friendship Promotion Association and a former owner of the Tiger Arms firearms store in Port Coquitlam.

An English-speaking host introduced Yuan simply as “a representative of the Chinese community in Canada” before he stepped on stage to briefly address the crowd in Mandarin.

“Hello everyone, it is a great honour to participate in the Spring Festival Gala,” said Yuan, according to a translation. “The Spring Festival is the most important festival in China. I hope that the traditional Chinese culture can be carried forward. We are a minority here, we have to remember our traditional culture, but also dedicate our second home Canada. Canada is a great country with inclusive culture and the coexistence of all ethnic groups, with stable and progressive social development. As ethnic minorities, we must also actively participate in and discuss state affairs, we must obey the law and pay taxes according to regulations.”

Yuan’s name appeared in a February 2016 Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch compliance division analysis of cash buy-ins conducted at the River Rock casino cages. Yuan, whose occupation was listed as “real estate company owner,” bought-in for a total $4.19 million in cash during the 2015 calendar year. Eight of the 18 high rollers on the list were in real estate, property development or construction.

Rongxiang “Tiger” Yuan on Jan. 7 (CCSA/FX186)

Yuan dined with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a Liberal fundraiser and made three July-dated donations to the party, including one to Trudeau’s Montreal-area riding association, totalling $4,300.

Another of the event’s hosts announced the long list of attendees, which included Zhu Jianguo, president of the Richmond-based Wenzhou Friendship Society.

A Dec. 5 report from China-focused human rights organization Safeguard Defenders said that the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau set up a police station in Vancouver. The following week, the RCMP confirmed that a national security investigation was underway. Officers interviewed neighbours of the society’s clubhouse across from Aberdeen Centre.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs forwarded a request to interview Kang to Cailin Tyrrell, a research and communications officer in the NDP government caucus.

Tyrrell said Kang attended in her role as a Burnaby-Deer Lake MLA and that neither Kang nor Yao would be available for an interview.

In a November interview, Richmond Coun. Kash Heed, a former B.C. Solicitor General, said elected officials should conduct due diligence before attending events “to ensure they’re not caught up in any other foreign influence political moves.”

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January 14, 2023

Bob Mackin An NDP cabinet minister attended one

Is the recall David Eby campaign destined to be the 28th failure in 26 years?

Bob Mackin

Salvatore Vetro said he worked through the Christmas holidays preparing a petition aimed at recalling Premier David Eby as the member for Vancouver-Point Grey.

The actor and former bus driver opposed the NDP government’s vaccine mandate and said the last straw was Bill 36. The NDP majority rammed the Health Professions and Occupations Act through the Legislature in the fall, giving the government more power over a streamlined set of healthcare regulatory colleges.

Salvatore Vetro

“Where was the constituency town hall meeting, or is it only held when an election is held, you know, when they want your vote?” Vetro said.

He submitted his application to Elections BC on Dec. 19 and got the go-ahead Jan. 10.

To unseat Eby and force a by-election, Vetro’s campaign must sign-up at least 16,449 people between Jan. 17 and March 20.

But there’s a catch: Every one of those petition signatories must also have been registered to vote in Vancouver-Point Grey at the last election in 2020.

There’s another catch: They must also be currently registered to vote in B.C.

“We have a good team in place, we know the threshold, we’re going to go above and beyond that,” said Vetro.

It won’t be easy. Eby has won three elections in a row, most recently with 12,602 votes in 2020, a 51.3% share.

Vetro was involved in the Social Credit Party during the 1980s when Bill Vander Zalm was premier. Vander Zalm’s successor, Rita Johnston, set the wheels in motion for recall with a referendum held simultaneously with the 1991 provincial election. Instead of a step forward for democracy, critics called it a gimmick from a defeat-fearing, scandal-plagued party.

The Mike Harcourt-led NDP beat the Socreds and the BC Liberals became the opposition party. But 81% voted yes to the idea of allowing removal of an MLA between elections.

David Eby’s swearing-in on Nov. 18, 2022 (BC Gov)

In February 1995, Harcourt’s government made it law. Prince George North NDP MLA Paul Ramsey, the Minister of Education, Skills and Training, was the first recall target in 1997. The petition fell 585 signatures shy of forcing Ramsey out of of office and triggering a by-election.

Petition organizer Pertti Harkonen cried foul after forensic accountant Ron Parks delivered a report that found Ramsey’s anti-recall campaign overspent by $3,288 and benefitted from union-funded phone canvassers.

Since then, citizens have tried 26 more times to recall MLAs. On five other occasions, petitioners have returned signatures to Elections BC. Only once did a petition garner the necessary numbers.

Parksville-Qualicum voters went beyond the 17,020 threshold in 1998 in their bid to get rid of BC Liberal MLA Paul Reitsma.

Reitsma had been ridiculed after the Parksvillle Qualicum Beach News caught him writing letters to the editor in praise of himself, under the pseudonym “Warren Betanko.” The “throw the bum out” sentiment was a great motivator: 24,530 people signed the recall Reitsma petition, but the official count was never completed.

Elections BC officially considers it a failure, though Reitsma opponents were satisfied. He resigned rather than face the humiliation of becoming the answer to the trivia question “who was the first MLA recalled in B.C. history?”

Vetro’s will be the third time in Vancouver-Point Grey. The attempt to unseat BC Liberal opposition leader Gordon Campbell failed in 1998. As did one five years later in 2003 when Campbell was premier.

Elections BC imposed a $33,902.72 spending cap on Vetro and Eby, should the premier want to mount a counter-campaign. The expenses limit for recall advertising sponsors is $5,839.16.

If Vetro can deliver a petition with enough support, Elections BC would have 42 days in which to verify the signatures.

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January 13, 2023

Bob Mackin Salvatore Vetro said he worked through

Video: Mexico’s military offered hints to Mazatlan beachgoers, the day before takedown of El Chapo’s son

Bob Mackin

Something was up the day before Mexican forces arrested alleged fentanyl and methamphetamine boss Ovidio Guzman, son of the notorious drug lord known as “El Chapo.”

A Vancouver couple was on the beach near their Mazatlan hotel Jan. 4 and captured video of a dozen soldiers in commando gear emerging from the waves with rifles drawn.

Mexican military commandos on a beach in Mazatlan, the day before a major takedown of a cartel boss. (Dee Douglas)

“I tell you, this could have been a sheer coincidence, I don’t know,” said Greg Douglas, a veteran Vancouver sports media figure and 2010 B.C. Sports Hall of Fame inductee. “But the day before the arrest, we saw armed marine troops patrolling the streets here in Mazatlan. They were in vans, and there were helicopters flying overhead.”

A smartphone clip shot by Douglas’s wife Dee shows one soldier with right knee on the beach, waving comrades to join. They slowly emerge from the waves with rifles drawn and assume a similar kneeling position. A few moments go by and they slowly advance up the beach and kneel again, facing an officer observing the drill. The Douglases observed a similar drill from their eighth floor hotel room a day earlier.

Guzman’s arrest the next day sparked a fierce battle between soldiers and Sinaloa drug cartel gangsters, mainly centred around state capital Culiacan, which Greg Douglas said is a 90-minute drive from Mazatlan. Mexican media reported 19 cartel gunmen and 10 soldiers died in the battle. Mazatlan’s airport closed and Global Affairs Canada warned Canadians in the region to shelter-in-place.

(DEA)

“Everything, literally, everything shut down. Not a soul on the beach. No automobile traffic at all. Restaurants were closed after the after the word got out about the arrest,” Greg Douglas said. “Normally this area is just spilling over with locals and tourists, and everything went dead quiet.”

The city reopened Jan. 6 and everything was back to normal by Jan. 7. They were not in danger, but had to negotiate an extension at the hotel and re-book their flight to Vancouver with WestJet.

“Outside of a little added expenses here with the hotel and whatnot, it’s an extended vacation by a week,” Greg Douglas said.

In 2019, a New York judge sent Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to jail for life after a jury convicted him on a laundry list of drug trafficking, murder, firearms and money laundering conspiracy charges. Ovidio Gomez was originally arrested in October 2019 but freed. He remains in custody, facing possible extradition to the U.S.

The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada’s 2019 public report on organized crime in Canada pointed to Mexican cartels as a major source of cocaine and synthetic drugs, like fentanyl.

“At least four [high level threats] are linked to money launderers for large international organized crime networks, providing laundering services for domestic and international drug traffickers,” the report said. “Many of these groups have links to Mexican cartels, are suspected of importing synthetic drugs and cocaine and of being involved in illegal gaming, and are involved in the international movement of bulk cash and in loan sharking.”

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January 11, 2023

Now on Google Podcasts!

Bob Mackin Something was up the day before

Business, News, Opinion

thePodcast: What can Wall Street and Main Street expect in 2023

For the week of Jan. 8, 2023:

Supply chain chaos remains, but West Coast ports are experiencing container relief. COVID-19 is raging in China. Russia’s losing war on Ukraine drags on. High inflation is running rampant and a recession looms.

Supply chain consultant and newsletter publisher Glenn Ross of ACC Group in Surrey, B.C. joins host Bob Mackin to analyze the trends affecting Wall Street and Main Street in 2023.

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

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

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

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theBreaker.news Podcast

thePodcast: What can Wall Street and Main Street expect in 2023

00:00 / 00:22:13

January 8, 2023

For the week of Jan. 8, 2023: Supply

Judge scolds Chinese state-controlled airline

Bob Mackin

A B.C. Supreme Court justice scolded China Southern Airlines (CSA) for the way it treated a fired manager and behaved in legal proceedings when he ordered the Chinese government-controlled carrier pay $208,000 in damages.

China Southern Airlines flies Guangzhou to Vancouver (CS Air)

Paul Chu sued the Guanghzhou-based company in September 2019 for wrongful dismissal after working for the airline from 2008 to 2018.

Justice Frits Verhoeven’s Jan. 5 verdict said Vancouver general manager Shaohong “Kitty” Chen approached Chu, a former manager and board member of Harmony Airways, to ask for his help in setting up Vancouver operations for CSA in 2008. He eventually was named marketing and business development manager.

At the start of 2018, Rui “Jocelyn” Zhang replaced Chen, demoted Chu in March 2018 to customer service at the reception desk in the downtown Vancouver office and cut his pay 25%.

Chu alleged that CSA embarked on a campaign of insincere warnings, unfair discipline and public embarrassment against him.

“CSA had no complaints about the plaintiff’s work prior to the arrival of Ms. Zhang in January 2018,” Verhoeven wrote. “However, beginning in February 2018, CSA began criticizing the plaintiff’s work, issuing reprimands accompanied by threats of dismissal, and carefully documenting disciplinary measures with self-serving records”

Chu was demoted again and assigned to work at Vancouver International Airport before he was fired Feb. 1, 2019 for alleged incompetence and time theft — despite the airline’s commitment to provide more training.

After Chu filed his lawsuit, CSA countered with a statement of defence that contained 17 allegations. All were baseless according to Verhoeven, except for Chu’s inability to perform as a frontline airport services worker. The judge noted that prior to the two-day November summary hearing, CSA abandoned the most-serious allegations of fraud, theft of model airplanes and sexual harassment in the workplace.

“The defendant has singularly failed to establish just cause for dismissal without notice,” Verhoeven wrote. “All of its allegations are either entirely unsupported by evidence or lacking in any merit. Accordingly, the plaintiff is entitled to damages for wrongful dismissal.”

Chu, a Canadian citizen since 1979, was 68 when fired. Since then, the pandemic hit and he unsuccessfully applied for jobs with aviation and tourism-related businesses. His application to work at McDonald’s was rejected, but now works as a DoorDash meal delivery driver.

Vancouver International Airport control tower (YVR)

Verhoeven ordered CSA to pay Chu $100,000 in punitive damages, $58,053 for wrongful dismissal and $50,000 for mental distress.

Verhoeven noted CSA is a “very large corporation” which reported the equivalent of $590 million in 2019 profits and rebuked CSA for responding to Chu’s lawsuit with “vicious, vindictive, and unfounded allegations that it knew or ought to have known could not be supported.”

Verhoeven said CSA failed to provide documents from its list of documents, was uncooperative in scheduling the examination for discovery, caused delays in trial scheduling, and failed to pay costs.

“The record shows a pattern of conduct on the part of the defendant designed to stall and frustrate the prosecution by the plaintiff of his claims in this litigation, in circumstances where CSA must be taken to know that the plaintiff’s financial claims were modest, especially in relation to the high costs of litigation and his limited resources,” the judge wrote. “The description ‘hardball tactics’ easily applies to the defendant’s behaviour both before and after his termination.”

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Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court justice scolded

Bomb threat ended afternoon shift at Deltaport

Bob Mackin

A bomb hoax forced evacuation of the GCT Deltaport container terminal on Jan. 5.

Marko Dekovic, the vice-president of public affairs for GCT Global Container Terminals, said the security incident around 2 p.m. required evacuation and notification of authorities, including the Delta Police Department.

Scene outside Deltaport on Jan. 5 after a bomb threat (Dave Pasin)

Transport Canada said that it closely monitored the situation for the duration of the event.

“Out of an abundance of caution, a full terminal evacuation was ordered by [GCT],” said spokesperson San Sau Liu. “After the evacuation, the threat was deemed to be non-credible by the Delta Police Department.”

Dekovic said after the all-clear was given, operations resumed for the 1 a.m. shift.

“Making a bomb threat is a criminal offence and Transport Canada takes every threat seriously,” Liu said. “Any actual, attempted, threatened or suspected unlawful act, which would cause an interference, breach or malfunction of the maritime transportation system is immediately investigated further.”

A contractor on-site at the time noticed traffic backed up quickly, but sympathized with the facility’s staff.

“The sense of urgency was palpable, they were getting everybody out of there as fast as they could,” said Dave Pasin. “I was quite impressed with the way they did it. It was clear the welfare of their employees was paramount.”

The semi-automated Deltaport terminal is 85 hectares on Tsawwassen’s Roberts Bank with access to the CN and CP rail networks and highways. GCT is proposing a fourth berth on the east side of the Roberts Bank Causeway in order to handle 2 million more containers per year.

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Bob Mackin A bomb hoax forced evacuation of

Glen Clark out of Jim Pattison Group C-suite

Bob Mackin

Glen Clark is no longer president and chief operating officer of the Jim Pattison Group.

Ex-B.C. Premier Glen Clark (JPG)

But chairman Jim Pattison said he is not going far.

The former BC NDP premier retired at the end of 2022 without fanfare, but will remain on the boards of two companies in which Pattison is the largest shareholder: lumber, pulp and paper producer Canfor and coal exporter Westshore Terminals.

“We decided a year ago that at age 65 he would retire from his job with us,” Pattison said in a Jan. 6 interview. “But he’s still going to be involved.”

Clark joined Pattison’s sign division as regional manager in 2001 and rose through the ranks to become president in 2011, and chief operating officer in 2017.

“He’s been with us 20 years, he’s done a good job, but time goes by and he’s getting older,” said Pattison, who is 94. “He’s going stay on some of our boards, as a director, and the new president is going to be Ryan Barrington-Foote, who is 44.”

Barrington-Foote, a Simon Fraser University business administration and economics grad, joined Pattison in 2001 from KPMG as a taxation manager. He advanced through the accounting department before being named executive vice-president in 2019.

Tycoon Jim Pattison (left) with Premier John Horgan in February 2019 (BC Gov)

Clark was Pattison’s right-hand man, responsible for a substantial part of Pattison’s privately held corporate empire, including Canadian Fishing Co., COMAG Marketing Group, Everything Wine, Genpak, Guinness World Records, Jim Pattison Lease, Montebello, Ocean Brands, Overwaitea Food Group, Pattison Sign Group, Ripley Entertainment, Sun Rype, the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group and TNG.

Clark has not responded to an interview request.

Why no public announcement or retirement party for Clark?

“Well, I can’t answer that,” Pattison said. “Because we didn’t really anticipate, we don’t consider Glen leaving the company, because he’s going to be still involved with some of the things that we’re doing.”

Former union organizer Clark was elected the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Kingsway in 1986, was appointed finance minister under Premier Mike Harcourt in November 1991 and succeeded Harcourt as B.C.’s 31st premier in February 1996.

He led the NDP to victory in the 1996 election over BC Liberal Gordon Campbell. The NDP finished with six more seats than the BC Liberals, who had more than 2 per cent more votes provincewide.

In August 1999, Clark resigned in scandal over the granting of a casino licence to a neighbour who performed renovations on his East Vancouver house. The conflict of interest commissioner ruled in 2001 that he broke the conflict laws, but a BC Supreme Court judge acquitted Clark of breach of trust in 2002.

Even before he was found not guilty, Pattison had hired him, on the recommendation of former NDP premier Dave Barrett. Barrett hosted a talk show on Pattison’s CJOR radio for three years in the mid-1980s before turning to federal politics.

Pattison’s website says the company had $14 billion in 2021 sales and 49,000 employees.

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Bob Mackin Glen Clark is no longer president

Business, News, Sports

B.C. Place releases roof inspection, but lacks documents from summer malfunction

Bob Mackin

Sixteen years after B.C. Place Stadium’s original inflated fabric roof ripped and collapsed, how is the 2011-opened retractable system faring?

B.C. Place’s retractable roof (Mackin)

A report obtained from B.C. Pavilion Corporation (PavCo) via freedom of information about the spring 2022 inspection found no major concerns. But inspectors did recommended keeping the roof tidier.

“Apart from the wear of the fabric due to folding, the fabric and the belts are in good condition,” said the results of the March 28-April 1, 2022 inspection by Pfeifer Structures, which merged with original installer FabriTec in 2014.

“No significant damage was found, several but not all minor damages were patched. The drive system of the roof and the hydraulic system of the garage worked without any failure and with only minor errors prior to the inspection, but could be fixed during the maintenance.”

The list of 17 recommendations for minor work highlighted the need for regular cleaning where the fabric is in contact with other parts of the structure, and to stay ahead of curious pigeons, seagulls and crows.

“The roof should further be cleaned from the inner filling dripping from the upper radial cables. As far as we know, the inner filling does not compromise the integrity of the fabric, but long- term impacts have not been investigated,” the report said.

“To prevent the birds from causing damage by further pulling yarns from the edge of fabric seams on the roof, the yarns should be cut on a regular basis. It is recommended using kids scissors with blunt-tip blades to avoid accidental damage to the fabric.”

PavCo spokesperson Meaghan Benmore said all but three of recommendations have been completed.

The hole cut in B.C. Place’s roof on Jan. 5, 2007.

“All repairs and updates will be completed ahead of our spring 2023 inspection and the costs are incorporated in our ongoing maintenance costs,” she said.

Three months after the inspection report, a malfunction kept the roof closed for two events during some of the hottest days of the summer of 2022: a July 21 B.C. Lions game and a July 23 Vancouver Whitecaps game. Two sources said that the malfunction happened after workers had been spraying water on the roof.

PavCo’s FOI office said that neither an incident report nor a work order was created. Work to reopen the roof was conducted via video chat and remote access with Pfeifer, which sent a representative from Europe.

“It was a mechanical failure that posed no danger to the roof or building,” said the PavCo response.

PavCo also said at the end of October that there was no repair or maintenance log for the retractable roof since January 2020.

The roof was built atop the 1983-opened stadium as part of a $514 million project. Major works closed the stadium from May 2010 to September 2011.

The roof replacement was triggered by the Jan. 5, 2007 rip-and-collapse of the original air-supported roof. On that day, snow had been allowed to accumulate, the air temperature fluctuated and five snow alarms were ignored. Instead of activating the snow-melting system, a control room worker spiked the interior air pressure. That caused a mini-avalanche of snow, ice and slush that sliced a gash in the fabric roof.

After the roof was repaired and reinflated, architects and engineers studied whether to replace it before the 2010 Winter Olympics. They concluded it was too complex to guarantee completion before the opening ceremony.

PavCo had already been pondering the future of B.C. Place. A heavily censored June 20, 2006 “Infrastructure Improvements” report, released under FOI, said the stadium had “worn out assets which are critical to basic tenant operations” and improvements were required to “bring it up to standards expected by clients and spectators at events.”

Last June, B.C. Place was named one of 16 venues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

According to PavCo financials through March 31, 2022, it owed $128.9 million under a loan agreement with the provincial government. “The current repayment schedule reflects loan payments by PavCo of $7.33 million for fiscal years 2022 through 2048 and $3.7 million for fiscal year 2049,” said the annual financial report.

The latest assessment pegs the stadium at $222.9 million, of which $55.42 million is the land. By comparison, the neighbouring Parq casino and hotel complex is valued at $316.78 million, including $142.98 million land.

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Bob Mackin Sixteen years after B.C. Place Stadium’s

Coast Mountain Bus Company feels parts pinch

Bob Mackin

Last month it was the winter weather taking Coast Mountain Bus Company [CMBC] vehicles out of service, this month it is the supply chain crunch.

(CMBC)

TransLink spokesman Thor Diakow said parts have been delayed for a total of 20 buses.

“This means that more spare buses have been affected that we would like,” Diakow said. “However, none of our bus routes have seen service delays because of this. We are working to rectify the situation as quickly as possible and are able to service our routes without disruptions at this time.”

Coast Mountain has 1,700 buses in its fleet, but the situation is affecting equipment types according to drivers who are not authorized to speak to the media. One said he had noticed a lot of parked, broken down buses over the last month. Another said shorter, 40-foot buses are being used on rush hour service for popular routes such as the 99 B-Line, instead of longer 60-foot articulated buses.

Diakow confirmed that some 60-footers were switched for 40-footers on Jan. 3.

“This was due in part to the 20 buses waiting for parts and maintenance workers on annual vacation, which is higher than normal in late December and early January. No buses were cancelled or delayed as a result.”

Winnipeg-headquartered New Flyer Industries [NFI] Group warned in a third quarter presentation on Nov. 16 that it was short critical parts for wiring, door controllers and parts containing microchips. It halted new vehicle line entries at all plants in late October/early November in a bid to catch-up. The company expects parts delays to continue into the first half of 2023.

“Seeing initial signs that recessionary impacts in the broader economy may help lower demand and reduce input costs,” said the NFI presentation.

The president of the CMBC maintenance employees’ union, Unifor Local 2200, said parts supply is an issue, but understaffing is more acute. President Mike Smith counts 1,100 members, of which more than 700 are in skilled trades.

“The problem is manpower,” Smith said. “I give it to Coast and TransLink, they’re looking for them. Where are they?”

CMBC general manager Michael McDaniel told last month’s TransLink board meeting that farebox revenue reached approximately 70% of pre-pandemic amounts by the end of September, up 12% from July’s tally. It expects to have another 15 battery electric buses delivered by the end of 2023.

As of September, CMBC had hired 352 of the targeted 457 new drivers for 2022. The report did not mention mechanic numbers, but warned operational risks include the inability to recruit enough trades within the required timeline, which “may cause negative impacts on overtime, morale, delays, and other operational constraints.”

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January 5, 2023