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Bob Mackin 

Less than three days after staying in power with a minority government in the 2021 snap election, planning was underway for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s getaway to Tofino.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (PMO)

Trudeau flew to his favourite Vancouver Island vacation spot Sept. 30, 2021, instead of attending a ceremony on the first national day to remember Indian residential school victims. 

But email between the Prime Minister’s Office and the Department of National Defence office that books government jets shows the original plan was to travel before Truth and Reconciliation Day. 

Email obtained under the access to information law, after a delay of more than 13 months, shows that a person in the PMO, whose name was censored, emailed the 8 Operations Support Squadron at Canadian Forces Base Trenton at 10:11 a.m. Sept. 23, 2021. 

“We are still planning the private trip to Tofino, so the dates are not locked in, but hoping you could provide the [comparable prices] for departure from Ottawa on either 28 or 29 September for Tofino and return on either the 02 or 03 October,” the PMO email said. 

Under government policy, when travel aboard the fleet is for personal reasons, DND asks a travel agent for the lowest possible commercial fare on a comparable flight and an invoice is issued to the traveler.

Four days later, on Sept. 27, 2021, the person in PMO emailed the DND contact, with new travel dates: Sept. 30-Oct. 4. 

The DND quote for lowest comparable fare was $261.57 per person on Westjet between Vancouver and Ottawa and $560.70 per passenger on Pacific Coastal Airlines between Vancouver and Tofino, for a total $822.27 per person. 

DND invoiced the Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau $1,644.53 on Oct. 16, 2021, which was only a fraction of the cost of the flight. 

Inside a Bombardier Challenger jet.

On Oct. 1, 2021, DND estimated the cost of the round trip at $19,869.90, of which $14,198.90 was fuel and $907.36 food and catering. 

The itinerary showed Ottawa departure at 8:09 a.m. on Truth and Reconciliation Day and Tofino arrival at 10:28 a.m. local time. 

The morning after attending a ceremony in Ottawa, PMO staff originally claimed Trudeau was spending the new federal holiday in the national capital. They were forced to admit where he really was, after images from flight tracking websites hit social media, showing a Canadian Forces Challenger CC-144 jet from the national capital had landed in Tofino.

There were only three passengers on the manifest for the first, fourth and fifth legs of the journey: the Trudeaus and a person whose name was censored. Generally, the Prime Minister travels with an RCMP bodyguard.

The plane did not stay in Tofino. It flew without passengers to Victoria and returned to Tofino Oct. 3. The Trudeaus and the other passenger departed Oct. 4 at 7:24 a.m. and stopped for a half-hour in Vancouver before continuing to Ottawa for a 3:30 p.m. arrival. 

The trip to Tofino was Trudeau’s eighth as Prime Minister. This time, he stayed in a secluded Chesterman Beach estate, rather than a resort hotel. By skipping Truth and Reconciliation Day, Trudeau upset First Nations leaders, including the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir, who invited Trudeau to come in person or send a video greeting if he couldn’t make it. 

During an Oct. 6, 2021 news conference in Ottawa, Trudeau tearfully apologized. 

“Travelling on the 30th was a mistake and I regret it,” he told reporters. 

Pressed for details of how it came about, Trudeau said: “the ‘how it happened’ is far less important than that it happened, which I regret.”

Kamloops Indian Residential School (UBC IRSHDC)

Trudeau was back in Vancouver on Dec. 2 to meet Premier David Eby in Vancouver and attend a photo op for a federal and provincial subsidized childcare program. He headlines a $500-per-ticket cash for access Liberal Party fundraiser in Surrey on Friday night. 

Four of his eight trips to the West Coast in 2022 have included a party fundraiser. One of those trips was an April vacation to Whistler. 

Documents obtained under access to information show that Trudeau charged taxpayers $800,000 for flights aboard government jets to criss-cross the country between May and August of 2019, prior to that year’s scheduled election. The last of Trudeau’s flights during that period cost $54,000 and was built around the production of a Liberal election campaign ad on the Grouse Grind in North Vancouver. 

According to the SherpaReport, which follows the private jet industry, the Bombardier Challenger 600 series CC-144 jet uses 340 gallons per hour of fuel. The Prime Minister’s entourage flew for 142 flight hours from May to August in 2019, meaning the jets used 48,280 gallons or almost 182,000 litres of jet fuel.

In June 2019, Liberal MPs led the House of Commons in a motion to declare a climate change emergency.

An unofficial account on Twitter called @RCAF-VIP keeps track of Canadian government VIP flights. It estimated the Dec. 1 flight carrying Trudeau to Vancouver used 5,130 litres of fuel at a cost of $8,808 and caused 14 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. 

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Bob Mackin  Less than three days after staying

Bob Mackin

A former member of the Vancouver Whitecaps’ women’s team, who blew the whistle in 2019 on Bob Birarda’s return to coaching, told a House of Commons committee Dec. 1 that two prominent Canadian soccer executives should not be involved when Canada co-hosts the FIFA World Cup in 2026.

Ciara McCormack (Twitter)

Ciara McCormack testified to the all-party Status of Women committee’s hearing on women and girls in sport that there needs to be a judicial inquiry into the Canadian sport system, including a full investigation of the finances and operations of the Canadian Soccer Association.  

“There’s a lot of taxpayer money going into FIFA 2026 and there was so much harm done in our situation that hasn’t been remedied in any capacity,” McCormack testified.

Former women’s national under-20 head coach and Olympic team assistant coach Birarda pleaded guilty last February to sexually assaulting four players between 1988 and 2008. In November, he was sentenced to 16 months in jail. 

McCormack said the roles of former CSA president Victor Montagliani and general secretary Peter Montopoli are particularly problematic, because they were both in power when Birarda was employed in 2008. Montagliani is now a vice-president of FIFA and Montopoli the chief operating officer for the 2026 World Cup matches in Vancouver and Toronto.

“People like this have no place in sport and we need mechanisms to remove them,” McCormack told the committee. “Because what kind of message does it send to reward leaders of taxpayer-funded sport whilst simultaneously covering up child abuse?”

Last July’s report by University of Western Ontario sport law professor Richard McLaren found that instead of acknowledging Birarda’s abuse and firing him in 2008, “Canada Soccer misled players and obfuscated the true reason for his departure: his continued harassment of players and abuse of the power imbalance between Birarda and players on the team. Moreover, the CSA’s failure to terminate Birarda and impose disciplinary sanctions afforded him the opportunity to continue coaching, putting other players at potential risk.”

McCormack’s appearance at the committee came three hours after Canada’s men’s team lost its third and final match at Qatar 2022. Canada, U.S. and Mexico have already qualified as co-hosts to 2026’s 48-nation, 80-match tournament. 

But the number of matches could be increased if some in FIFA have their way. 

FIFA VP Montagliani and president Infantino (Twitter)

U.S. is already committed to hosting 60 matches, with 10 for Canada and 10 for Mexico. But, the Guardian reported that there have been informal talks behind the scenes in Qatar about changing the opening round format from 16 groups of three nations to 12 groups of four nations. That would result in 24 additional first round matches.

More first round matches could benefit both Vancouver’s B.C. Place Stadium and Toronto’s BMO Field, which fall below FIFA’s 60,000 minimum capacity to host a match in the quarter-finals and beyond. But there would be additional costs. City of Toronto is already expecting to spend $290 million, while the B.C. said it could cost up to $260 million. That doesn’t count the federal contribution for security and other costs. 

“We have not received any information from FIFA regarding the possible expansion of the 2026 World Cup,” said Corinna Fillion of the B.C. Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport communications office. “At this time, we do not yet know how many matches will be held in each city.”  

There is a lot that the public does not know about the 2026 tournament. In response to a freedom of information request for B.C.’s hosting proposal to FIFA, B.C. Pavilion Corporation withheld almost all 117 pages. The taxpayer-owned stadium operator cited exceptions to the public records law that protect policy advice or recommendations, intergovernmental relations or negotiations, financial or economic interests of a public body, and business interests of a third party.

The only information visible includes Ministry and PavCo letterhead, PavCo CEO Ken Cretney’s signature, the words “table of contents” and “introduction,” and nine pages with “Vancouver Questionnaire” at the top.

PavCo budgeted $30,000 to send three employees to Qatar for FIFA’s Qatar 2022 observer programs, while Vancouver city hall budgeted $25,000 to send one Sport Hosting Vancouver employee and two Vancouver Police officers.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim went to Qatar to watch the World Cup on a personal vacation booked before he won the mayoralty. City hall has refused to release his daily calendar for now, citing a section of the law that allows it to delay by up to 60 business days the release of information that it intends to publish.  

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Bob Mackin A former member of the Vancouver

Bob Mackin

TransLink’s vaccine mandate is over. 

A Nov. 28 staff memo announced the mandatory vaccination policy is suspended effective Thursday for all workers, contractors and visitors of B.C. Rapid Transit Company, West Coast Express, TransLink, Coast Mountain Bus Company and Metro Vancouver Transit Police.

TransLink’s Sany Zein

“Proof of vaccination against COVID-19 will no longer be required and employees who are currently on an unpaid leave of absence will be invited back to the workplace,” said the memo from BCRTC president Sany Zein. “Additionally, new employees hired after Dec. 1 will not be required to declare their vaccination status.”

The policy had been subject to “ongoing re-evaluation since its implementation.” TransLink pledged to continue to monitor provincial health guidelines, but isn’t closing the door on reinstating a vaccine requirement.  

“As federal and provincial restrictions continue to ease, we believe suspending our policy at this time is the right decision. Rest assured this decision was not made lightly.”

Employees on leave of absence due to refusing vaccination must declare their intent to return to work by Dec. 23, but are eligible to return Dec. 1. The memo said incumbent workers are entitled to return to their prior role or an equivalent role. 

“The topic of COVID-19 vaccination is a difficult one, but no matter your vaccination status,

everyone deserves to be treated with respect. It is important that we are all committed to

creating a respectful, kind, and considerate workplace, irrespective of your colleagues’ choices.”

TransLink also reiterated that employees still seeking vaccinations will receive up to three consecutive hours of paid leave for each dose, as per the Employment Standards Act.

Each TransLink division maintains a communicable disease prevention plan, which still calls for employees and contractors to conduct a self-assessment before coming to work, and to not enter the workplace if feeling unwell, even with mild symptoms.

Nanaimo SkyTrain Station (Google)

BCRTC, however, maintains a self-isolation policy, despite Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s Nov. 17 announcement that the infected must quarantine. TransLink’s occupational health office will no longer require employees provide notification of a positive test.

The FAQ also emphasized employees are allowed to take up to three consecutive hours of paid leave for each COVID-19 vaccine dose, under the Employment Standards Act. 

“Please keep in mind that BCRTC operates an essential service for Metro Vancouver and employees are encouraged to schedule vaccination appointments while off-shift,” said the document. 

The change in policy coincides with the TransLink board’s last scheduled meeting of 2022 on Dec. 1. A report from CEO Kevin Quinn says that ridership reached 76.2% of pre-pandemic levels during the first week of November. Weekend ridership is growing faster than weekdays, because many downtown Vancouver workers are continuing to spend some or all of their time working from home. 

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Bob Mackin TransLink’s vaccine mandate is over.  A Nov.

Bob Mackin

The all-party committee that oversees Legislative Assembly operations voted Nov. 28 to amend communication rules for constituency offices, but the policies remain subject to the honour system.

Red carpet and snow shovel ready for the Lieutenant-Governor’s arrival at the Legislature on throne speech day, Feb. 12, 2019 (Mackin)

A report to the Legislative Assembly Management Committee (LAMC) from a subcommittee that meets behind closed doors said MLAs are personally liable for the cost of any communications deemed ineligible. But there is no enforcement regime, because MLAs decided it is up to each MLA and their staff to ensure they follow the Members’ Guide to Policy and Resources.

“MLAs are not allowed to print, mail, publish or distribute at the expense of the Legislative Assembly, any material seeking financial support or containing any identification or information of a partisan or political nature,” said the briefing note for the first LAMC meeting since August. “Constituency office communications cannot include political party or caucus logos/branding.” 

The briefing note indicated that members of the subcommittee on administration and operations “did not want an attestation form included in this process or for a scrutiny role to be undertaken by Legislative Assembly staff.”

It said the role of the Legislature’s financial services department is not to review and approve constituency office communications, but it may provide guidance on request about the content of proposed communications. 

The eligibility policy added advertising — including the MLA’s name and contact information — on benches, billboards, buses and at arena ice rinks. 

The ineligible communications list mentions party slogans, political statements, or other identifiers (excluding names and colours) and content that disparages any party or member.

Bowinn Ma models her branded mask (Twitter)

“Must not include negative comments or criticize another Member, caucus, or party’s policies, platforms, or actions,” it said.  

Ineligible communications also include soliciting donations (such as scholarships) in any form for any group or individual. Members may still encourage constituents to donate generally to food banks or other categories of charities.  

Right before the snap 2020 election, NDP MLAs went on a spending spree, using taxpayer funds to bolster their profile in the weeks and days leading to the Legislature’s dissolution. Nineteen MLAs combined for almost $145,000 to mail out letters, leaflets and postcards from their riding office budgets. 

Vancouver-Fraserview MLA George Chow expensed $10,269 for six transit shelter ads beginning the week before John Horgan called the election. Bowinn Ma (North Vancouver-Lonsdale) spent almost $19,000 to buy 5,000 non-medical cloth facemasks bearing her name and riding from Dad’s Printing. Delta North’s Ravi Kahlon spent almost $12,000 from the same supplier on 4,000 masks promoting his office.  

During the April 1 to June 30 quarter, MLAs spent a combined $249,248 on communications and advertising. Peace River South BC Liberal MLA Mike Bernier topped the list at $16,996.

MLAs also spent a combined $2.15 million on office administration for the quarter. 

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Bob Mackin The all-party committee that oversees Legislative

Bob Mackin

Two Richmond politicians joined China’s top local diplomat at a Nov. 22 ceremony for the swearing-in of a board affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.

Consul-General Yang Shu (left) with MP Parm Bains and Coun. Alexa Loo (Phoenix TV)

Liberal MP Parm Bains (Steveston-Richmond East) and Richmond Coun. Alexa Loo sat in the front row of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations (CACA) event with People’s Republic of China Consul-General Yang Shu. Bains and Loo also spoke from a podium at the event, according to a report by Phoenix TV, an outlet associated with the government in Beijing. 

“They’ve been contributing in a number of ways with charitable causes,” Bains said on the Phoenix TV report. “We’ve had several, not only natural disasters, but a pandemic we went through.”

The event was the inauguration ceremony of the 9th executive team of CACA, a Richmond-based umbrella for more than 100 business and cultural groups whose website states that it is in active participant in Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO) activities. OCAO is an arm of the CCP’s United Front program. A 2019 report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians warned that one of the United Front’s aims is to influence foreign politicians to adopt pro-China positions. 

The consulate’s Chinese website said Yang reiterated the goals of the recent CCP 20th national congress and expressed hope that new executive chair Xue Xiaomei and the rest of CACA would continue to support their ancestral country’s economic and social development. It also said Xue mentioned support for reunification of China, a reference to Xi Jinping’s goal of taking control of Taiwan.

Consul-General Yang Shu at the CACA board event (PRC Consulate)

Neither Bains nor Loo responded to interview requests. Richmond Coun. Kash Heed, a former B.C. Solicitor General and police chief, said politicians at every level of government need to be cautious of foreign influence attempts.

“Local government representatives get invitations from all types of organizations throughout the Lower Mainland. It’s incumbent upon any of these elected members to do their due diligence, to ensure they’re not caught up in any other foreign influence political moves,” Heed said. 

Prior to her recent re-election, Loo joined Yang outside the Vancouver Art Gallery at a culture festival on Oct. 1, to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of CCP rule in China. 

In January, Bains and fellow Liberal MPs Taleeb Noormohamed (Vancouver Granville) and Wilson Miao (Richmond Centre) attended a private lunar new year event in Chinatown where then-Consul-General Tong Xiaoling promoted the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. In December 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada joined an international boycott of Beijing 2022 over the treatment of Uyghur Muslims and other human rights abuses.

A statement released by Bains’s office after the Chinatown event said that he believed “open dialogue is more helpful” in dealing with China.

“I will continue to share and promote Canadian values and be a vocal advocate for human rights with all diplomats that are stationed here in Canada,” said Bains.

However, he subsequently admitted that he did not discuss human rights with Tong.

“The fact that local politicians are really dancing to the tune of China’s senior official in the region is, to my mind, just unconscionable and it should not happen,” said David Mulroney, former Canadian ambassador to China, in a February interview. “There should be Canadian solidarity on issues around human rights.”

Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog (left) with China’s Vancouver Consul-General Yang Shu (PRC Consulate)

The CACA board swearing-in came after Trudeau’s tense sidelines meeting with Xi at the G20 summit in Bali and a Global News report that CSIS warned Trudeau last January that the Chinese government meddled in the 2019 federal election. 

Three weeks after the original Global report, Trudeau claimed he knew nothing about Chinese government-funded campaigns. 

In the 2021 election, Bains beat Conservative incumbent Kenny Chiu, who had been targeted by a Chinese social media disinformation campaign after proposing a foreign agents registry and being sanctioned for voting to declare China’s treatment of Uyghurs a genocide.

Meanwhile, on November 17, Yang visited Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog. 

The consulate’s Chinese website said that Yang congratulated Krog on his re-election. A photo showed Krog, holding a facemask, standing next to Yang, with more than four consulate-branded gift bags on a table behind them. 

“The two sides exchanged views on jointly promoting local exchanges and cooperation between China and Canada,” said the consular website. 

Krog did not respond for comment. 

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Bob Mackin Two Richmond politicians joined China’s top

Bob Mackin

Protests against China’s strict “zero COVID” policy and the Chinese Communist Party government spread to Vancouver on Nov. 27. 

Around 200 people gathered on the Vancouver Art Gallery’s north plaza for a candlelight vigil for the Uyghur victims of a Nov. 24 apartment fire in Urumqi, capital of China’s northwestern Xinjiang province. At least 10 people died when firefighters and equipment could not reach them in time. It became the tipping point for anger that has simmered for weeks over pandemic lockdowns, including mass-protests at the Foxconn iPhone factory in Zhengzhou.

From the Nov. 27 candlelight vigil outside VAG (Mackin)

On the rainy Vancouver night, flowers and lit candles were strewn across the art gallery’s steps, with portraits of some of the Urumqi fire victims interspersed with messages in Chinese and English, urging Xi Jinping to resign and echoing the “give me liberty or give me death” phrase. Winnie the Pooh dolls were propped-up, back-to-back on a table, representing an unflattering caricature of Xi. One poster overlaid the Nazi swastika on the Chinese Communist Party’s hammer and sickle and mocked the party’s “serve the people” slogan.

People waved replicas of the sign Wulumqi Road sign. So named for the Xinjiang capital, the Shanghai street became the rallying point for protesters on Saturday. 

Speakers on a portable sound system led the Vancouver crowd in song and slogan, repeating phrases heard throughout the weekend in social media clips from Chinese street protests. Some speakers also expressed support for Tibetans, feminists and LGBTQ people.

Recently elected ABC Vancouver Coun. Lenny Zhou Tweeted photos he shot after the protest, including a selfie beside a replica of the street sign on a silent protester’s tablet. 

“In memory of all those who lost their lives due to the zero COVID policy. Appreciate everyone who attended the commemoration event tonight at [VAG], even with the wind and rain. The light of [candles] won’t go out!” Tweeted Zhou, who originally came from Beijing to Vancouver as a student in 2005.

A few protesters waved Republic of China flags. One student explained he is not Taiwanese, but that he is against communism and believes the true government of China fled to Taiwan in 1949. He exchanged words briefly with a bigger group which had a smaller version of the People’s Republic of China’s five-star flag. The Vancouver Police officers parked on Howe Street were not needed.

Vancouver Coun. Lenny Zhou of ABC after the protest on Nov. 27 (Twitter/LennyNanZhou)

Afterward, an elderly man moved a flyer from the art gallery wall to a lamp post at Georgia and Howe. It urged support for Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese and Ukrainians, to “stand with all the peoples resisting dictatorship, oppression and violence.” 

The man declined to give his name, but said he was originally from Hong Kong and encouraged by the youth of the crowd. “This is a good sign for us,” he said.

Andrew, who did not want his full name published, was the man holding the tablet from Zhou’s selfie.

“Although I’ve been a Canadian for a very long time, I still have my Chinese heritage, my family is still Chinese and I believe I should be here and to show support, show solidarity with my own people,” he said. “To show that even if this road sign was removed in Shanghai, that it will pop up worldwide in any city, as long as people stand with democracy, stand with sensible humanity.” 

The protests across China recall the student uprising in the spring of 1989, which ended with the Tiananmen Square massacre. Andrew, who said he studied political science, worries that history could repeat. He also called the students who came to protest outside VAG courageous. 

“There’s a very real chance that people are putting their security at stake, because first of all, many of them, the international students, have family in China. Time and again, it has been shown that the CCP will make problems and will warn their family members, so that they can stop their protests overseas.”

In the 1970s, the Chinese government created the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), which has affiliates on university and college campuses around B.C. A 2020 report by the U.S. State Department said the CSSA is overseen by the United Front Work Department to “monitor Chinese students and mobilize them against views that dissent from the CCP’s stance.”

Nobody from the CSSA chapter at the University of B.C. responded for comment.

From the Nov. 27 candlelight vigil outside VAG (Mackin)

The mood Sunday night was in stark contrast to the heated August 2019 protests by Chinese nationalist students in various cities, including Vancouver, to counter pro-democracy demonstrations in support of Hong Kongers. 

Local protests took place outside the Broadway City Hall Canada Line station, on the Granville Mall, outside the Chinese consulate and Tenth Church, where the Hong Kong protesters held a prayer vigil. Some of the nationalists even waved Chinese flags in a parade of supercars. The Canada Vancouver Shanxi Natives Society later took responsibility for organizing the nationalist protests. 

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Bob Mackin Protests against China’s strict “zero COVID”

Bob Mackin

When Canada finally returned to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar with a narrow 1-0 loss to number two-ranked Belgium, it didn’t look like a team that lost an opportunity to play a key warm-up match.

Back in June, players staged a strike that scuttled a friendly against Panama, the replacement for the cancelled B.C. Place Stadium meeting with World Cup-bound Iran. The Canadian Soccer Association had not agreed to share the Qatar 2022 appearance money of at least $10 million. Players wanted 40% of the sum, travel, accommodation and tickets to Qatar for friends and family and pay equity for the women’s team. CSA president Nick Bontis dismissed the players’ demands as “untenable.”

Canada’s men’s national team in 2022 (CSA)

The squad was shocked to learn that the CSA had virtually given away most of its marketing rights to Canadian Soccer Business, a private entity behind the Canadian Premier League and the OneSoccer streaming service.  

Bontis said in a Nov. 9 webcast with the National Soccer Coaches Association of Canada that the CSA was nearing an equitable deal with players on both the men’s and women’s teams and many of their concerns were being addressed. 

North Vancouver lawyer Ron Perrick represented the players the first time Canada qualified for the World Cup, at Mexico 1986. For him, history was repeating. 

“The controversy was a result of the CSA not getting their ducks in a row and getting some aggressive marketing out there for the players,” Perrick said. “I mean, the only player that we were hearing about was [Alphonso] Davies. We didn’t hear a lot about all the other players. There was no profile.”

Perrick felt the CSA should have bargained fairly and openly with the players as soon as they finished as the top qualifier from the North and Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF) zone in March. Especially since they automatically qualify for 2026 when Vancouver and Toronto are among the host cities.

(FIFA/CSA)

“This tournament [in Qatar] will set the table for the next one, and a lot of these players will be around and then that’ll give the incentive for a lot of other young players to want to get on that team and it should snowball in the right direction,” he said. 

It came down to the wire 36 years ago. A month before Canada debuted at Mexico 1986, Perrick reached a deal with the CSA that included training camp per diems, $1,500 per game per player, and a percentage of the CSA’s receipts from FIFA. “If the CSA does well, the players will do well,” Perrick said at the time.

The deal came after Molson Breweries put up a half-million dollars for the players, who were playing in a post-North American Soccer League environment in Europe, the Major Indoor Soccer League and even in domestic senior men’s leagues. CSA chief operating officer Kevan Pipe balked. 

“We locked horns,” Perrick recalled. “I came to a deal and what we did is we shared it, and then each player was allowed to go out and get his own sponsorships, and he could retain the money for that. As a collective group, we would split the money up with that, and we would share with the CSA and they would share with us.” 

Friendlies in Vancouver against Wales and Burnaby against England went ahead. The team lost its matches in Mexico against the Soviet Union, France and Hungary.

After failing to qualify for Italy 1990, the stakes were high for 1994, when the tournament was going to be next door in the U.S. CSA secretly sold the rights for a Toronto qualifier against Mexico to the owner of the Toronto Blizzard for $100,000 and let him keep proceeds from the gate receipts. Perrick continued to negotiate with Pipe as Canada prepared for a match in Edmonton against Australia at the end of July 1993, the first of a home-and-home series for a wildcard berth in USA 1994. Perrick and Pipe didn’t reach a deal. 

“We didn’t say strike, we just weren’t going to play,” Perrick said. 

Perrick left his Edmonton hotel to return to Vancouver. On the way out, he stopped for a drink and a chat with Jim Taylor in the lounge. The legendary sports columnist later told a radio show the game wasn’t going to happen. 

“That caused a lot of excitement,” Perrick said. “By the time I got back to Vancouver, into my house, we had a deal. It was a good one for the players and when the Australian guys found out what the Canadian players were making, when they had the return match back in Australia, they went on strike. It was pretty funny actually.”

CBC SportsWeekend (CBC)

Perrick negotiated for the players to receive $1,750 per game and $250 per point. They would have received a $5,000 had they advanced to the 1994 tournament.

Canada did play in the U.S., albeit more than six years later when they won the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup in Los Angeles. It was the men’s national team’s biggest achievement prior to 2022. Perrick negotiated for the players to receive $3,000 for a win, $2,500 for a tie, $2,000 for a loss, whether they were on the pitch or on the bench. 

Since then, soccer has grown in Canada, through Major League Soccer’s expansion, recruitment of Canadian players by top European teams, and TV and streaming deals that showcase the best teams and players.

“Everybody should get rewarded, and if you’ve got smart people or good people in the marketing positions, the sky’s really the limit, and it should be,” Perrick said. 

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Bob Mackin When Canada finally returned to the

For the week of Nov. 27, 2022:

Canada’s team at the FIFA men’s World Cup didn’t play like 41st-ranked country when it held second-ranked Belgium to a slim 1-0 win on Nov. 23 at Qatar 2022. 

Canada returned to soccer’s biggest stage after a more than 36-year absence. After the team qualified in March, players went on strike briefly over the Canadian Soccer Association’s reluctance to share the $10 million minimum prize for appearing in this fall’s tournament. President Nick Bontis said Nov. 9 that a deal with the men’s and women’s teams is nearing. 

North Vancouver lawyer Ron Perrick negotiated the deal for Canada’s first World Cup team to be paid fairly for its appearance at Mexico 1986. The players were amply compensated, but Perrick had to keep going back to the CSA before successive qualifying tournaments to cut new deals. 

“The [2022] controversy was a result of the CSA not getting their ducks in a row and getting some aggressive marketing out there for the players,” said veteran player agent Perrick, Bob Mackin’s guest on this week’s thePodcast. “I mean, the only player that we were hearing about was [Alphonso] Davies. We didn’t hear a lot about all the other players. There was no profile.”

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and a commentary.

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For the week of Nov. 27, 2022: Canada’s

Bob Mackin 

Pacific National Exhibition officials got an earful Nov. 22 from Hastings Park neighbours, two months after a weekend hip-hop festival ended in a riot. 

The Sept. 17-18 Breakout Festival was also the loudest weekend of the summer for many East Vancouverites who say they can’t enjoy their patios and backyards due to live shows with deep bass and amplified profanity emanating from the PNE Amphitheatre. The venue is earmarked for a $70 million redevelopment by 2026.

Artist’s rendering of the new PNE Amphitheatre (City of Vancouver)

“I will not say that there will be no multi-day shows,” PNE president Shelley Frost said to the meeting of 250 people. “I will say that if there are multi-day shows, they would have to hit a particular type of sound genre and there would have to be other considerations. Multi-day events are not necessarily the devil, the types of music that can be played in a festival, like Breakout, was problematic.”

Breakout ended violently after headliner Lil Baby cancelled at the last minute. Tipsters have led Vancouver Police to identify eight of 10 suspects accused of causing tens of thousands of dollars of damage to venue fixtures and food and drink vending kiosks. VPD appealed Thursday for the public to help identify another 15 suspects, who are also accused of taking their violent spree into area neighbourhoods.

Karen Massicotte, the PNE’s vice-president of sales, marketing and business development, said that the Breakout Festival sound team was “extremely difficult to work with” and the festival is not welcome to return to the PNE. 

Massicotte explained that when pandemic restrictions ended last spring, the PNE was faced with a pent-up demand from concert promoters to rebook cancelled shows and pent-up demand from the public, which had been without concerts for a couple of years. 

The meeting heard a variety of complaints about area residents selling parking, the PNE’s removal of trees, lack of access to parts of Hastings Park during the annual fair and the impact of concert sound on small animals and migratory birds that frequent the Hastings Park Sanctuary.  

But the present and future use of the amphitheatre dominated discussion. 

Last year, city council approved building a new outdoor venue under a roof on the site of the 1960s era amphitheatre, which was previously used for demolition derby and logging sports shows during the annual fair. 

Revery Architecture was hired to design a venue to hold events for crowds of 1,500 to 10,000. The project will happen simultaneously with the long-awaited daylighting of a stream. Massicotte said the intention is for the new venue to appeal to both touring concerts and community festivals. 

“By putting in the right infrastructure, we will appeal to a wider range of artists. We will be able to host family shows and other types of events,” Massicotte said. “The purpose of redevelopment is not to over-program it with concerts of the same calibre as we’re hosting now. We want to offer a venue that is inclusive, accessible and vibrant for the community with a positive experience for the neighbourhood.”

Damian Doria, founder and acoustics services lead for New Jersey-based Stages Consultants, is the expert hired for the project. He told the meeting that the PNE has directed him to “explore all reasonable methods of reducing sound transmission beyond the audience areas.”

The roof will play a primary role to direct sound to the audience and not the area beyond, he said. 

“We’re exploring areas directly around the amphitheatre that can be shaped to further contain soundscapes around its perimeter,” Doria said. 

After the roof system and landscape design, he will work with the manufacturer of the house sound system “to keep sound closer to audience members at a pleasing level while not directing as much sound in any other direction.”

PNE president Shelley Frost (Mackin)

Several neighbours suggested the venue be reoriented so that speakers face Hastings Racecourse and the North Shore, though Frost said that was not going to happen.

A neighbour who spoke at the meeting called September’s concert noise “the worst ever” and another said it was “horrendous.” A proponent of the new amphitheatre was pessimistic about PNE management, saying “I don’t think you’re going to be very good stewards about it.”

Ian Gregson, a professional sound engineer and musician, said he heard PNE concert sound travel for the first time to his home of 28 years near Adanac Park.

“It got my attention,” said Gregson. 

He said the selection of bands or music is key in avoiding a repeat of the Breakout riot. 

“Those kids were pissed off, and they had a lot of energy to expend and this is where it all took part,” Gregson said.

As for a new venue, he suggested the PNE take its inspiration from the design of the Expo Theatre. The open air Expo 86 venue had a fixed roof and sound mitigation measures.

“The city is dying,” he said. “Its soul is being lost, music venues are disappearing, left, right and centre, just because of higher prices for clubs, for venues.” 

Plans for interim sound mitigation at the existing PNE Amphitheatre are scheduled to be presented to the Dec. 1 open meeting of the PNE board, under new chair Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung. 

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Bob Mackin  Pacific National Exhibition officials got an

Bob Mackin

The Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) hearings into the use of the Emergencies Act to end the trucker convoy blockades climaxed Nov. 25 with testimony from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

The commissioner of the RCMP already testified the force didn’t ask for the law to be invoked. The director of CSIS said there was no national security threat, but said the law was needed. Meanwhile, evidence showed that the ministers of justice and public safety discussed calling in the army and deploying tanks to remove protesters.

Jean Chretien, Nov. 25, 1997 (Nardwuar); Justin Trudeau, Nov. 25, 2022 (POEC)

The Ottawa inquiry was required under the Act to decide whether the government was justified in declaring the national emergency from Feb. 14-23 and whether the measures were appropriate and effective in dealing with the protests against COVID-19 vaccination and pandemic restrictions in Ottawa, Windsor, Ont., Coutts, Alta., Emerson, Man. and the Pacific Highway border crossing in Surrey. 

Mark Twain famously said history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes. This is not the first time a Liberal Party Prime Minister and his inner circle were accused of political pressure on police to crack down on peaceful protesters while the world watched. 

The POEC hearing is happening, coincidentally, on the 25th anniversary of Vancouver hosting the ninth Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation leaders’ summit in 1997. 

It was Vancouver’s biggest event between Expo 86 and the 2010 Winter Olympics. 

More than 8,600 delegates from 18 Pacific Rim nations participated. The Vancouver Convention Centre was the site for most events and B.C. Place Stadium hosted a gala banquet. 

The leaders’ summit was Nov. 25, 1997 at the University of B.C.’s Museum of Anthropology, where Prime Minister Jean Chretien plied the visiting leaders with shiny, leather Roots jackets for a photo op.

APEC leaders at the 1997 summit at UBC (APEC)

They met to talk trade, e-commerce, sustainable development, climate change, women in economic development and education and training. They endorsed a $60 billion International Monetary Fund package to battle the so-called “Asian economic flu” and signed the Vancouver Framework for Enhanced Public-Private Cooperation on Infrastructure. 

Peru, Russia and Vietnam were admitted as members for the 1998 summit.

What Vancouverites remember most, however, is how the RCMP handled anti-globalization protests, which included pre-emptive arrests, the removal of a Tibetan flag from the Graduate Student Society Building and even the arrest of law student Craig Jones — who had innocently placed paper signs on a security fence outside Green College residence that read “democracy, human rights and free speech.”

More than 2,500 protesters planned to walk to the barricades near MOA and surrender to police in front of media. They were motivated by opposition to Indonesia’s President Suharto and China’s Jiang Zemin. The former for human rights abuses in East Timor. The latter, for the legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and Beijing’s ongoing control of Tibet. 

Some scaled a security fence near the Rose Garden Plaza, sparking violent clashes with police who ran rampant, deployed canisters of pepper spray in every direction and arrested 48. 

An on-again, off-again public inquiry was eventually held under retired judge Ted Hughes, who found that police were under pressure from the Prime Minister’s Office and they violated the protesters’ civil liberties.

Chretien famously joked to reporters on the day of the riot, while wearing his leather Roots jacket, about the pepper spray Mounties used to quell protesters: “Pepper, I put it on my plate!” 

Hughes did not have power to order Chretien’s testimony and the PM declined an invitation to appear. 

The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP inquiry evaluated 52 complaints of police wrongdoing and, in many cases, found the conduct “inconsistent with the Charter and not appropriate for the circumstances.” No RCMP officer was charged, however.

Hughes’ 2001 report recommended proper training of police assigned to public events, protesters be given a “generous opportunity” to see and be seen, and that police “brook no intrusion or interference” from government officials.

Late UBC professor of law history Wesley Pue wrote in the Osgoode Hall Law Journal in spring 2001 that the most-stunning finding was the PMO meddling in the RCMP security operation. The Mounties, he wrote, succumbed to government influence and intrusion.

UBC’s 30th anniversary ceremony of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 2019. (Mackin)

“This is the first such authoritative finding of wrongful interference with the police on the part of any Canadian prime minister or his or her office,” Pue wrote. 

Pue described the security operation as a comedy of errors and likened the RCMP to keystone cops. On the day of the summit, busloads of officers were taken away from where they were needed, crucial information about co-operation from law-abiding protesters was not communicated and disinformation was acted on. 

“The RCMP command left its officers open to improper pressure from the Prime Minister’s Office and from the Chinese consulate,” Pue wrote.

Jones became president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, a law professor at Thompson Rivers University and, most-recently, general counsel to Premier David Eby. 

In a 2017 interview, he remarked on the long four years to get the APEC inquiry’s conclusion. 

“In a way, kind of gratifying to participate in that process,” Jones said. “I was quite struck by how offended Canadians seemed to be by what happened and how willing they were to set up a process to figure out exactly what happened and see what they could do to correct it.”

Those involved in the trucker convoy protests won’t have to wait so long. But will they share that sentiment about Commissioner Paul Rouleau’s inquiry after it’s done? 

The POEC final report is due by Feb. 20 in the House of Commons and Senate.

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Bob Mackin The Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC)