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Business, News, Sports

Bob Mackin 

The federal sport minister has ordered an audit of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) after athletes bristled at the organization’s plan to hire a third-party mediator.

After a disappointing finish at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, athletes demanded change atop Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (COC)

A second open letter from 87 athletes on March 21 called BCS’s proposal a band-aid solution that would not solve the “physical, mental, emotional, and financial suffering as a result of BCS’s organizational failures.”

“We continue to believe that BCS is not able to move forward to address the athlete concerns in a positive or productive manner with the current leadership, and once again recommend that at the very least, the board president/acting CEO [Sarah Storey] and high-performance director [Chris Le Bihan] are placed on leave until this process is complete,” said the open letter, which did not name the athletes.

One of the Olympic-level athletes, who asked not to be identified for fear of losing funding, said in an interview that mediation will not fix the “structural integrity issues” at BCS.

“The last eight years, we’ve exhausted every internal mechanism that has been afforded to us,” the slider said.

Federal sport minister Pascale St-Onge responded by using her power to fast-track a regular Sport Canada audit of BCS to ensure compliance with all terms of its federal contribution agreement, including financial and governance.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, $2.35 million of BCS’s $3.4 million budget came from Sport Canada. Only $249,000 was from sponsors and donors. When Vancouver hosted the Games in 2010, BCS reported $804,000 in sponsorship.

Former Canadian bobsledded Kaillie Humphries joined the United States team in time for Beijing 2022 (USOPC)

St-Onge said the government is also working to establish, by end of spring, an independent reporting process through the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada that would be mandatory for all federally funded national sports organizations.

‘’Let me be clear: there is no place for harassment, abuse, discrimination, or maltreatment in sports. I want to recognize the courage of the athletes who have come forward,” St-Onge said in a statement.

The first letter on March 14 came two weeks after the 21-member Team Canada left the Beijing Olympics with only two bronze medals. Two-time Canadian Olympic gold medalist Kaillie Humphries slid to her first gold for the United States in the new monobob event. She quit the Canadian team in 2019 due to a coach’s verbal and mental abuse.

BCS spokesman Chris Dornan said Storey was not available for an interview, but sent a statement from the board that acknowledged receipt of the two letters and plans to improve. “We believe that constructive dialogue and a clear action plan will bring about positive change,” said the statement.

Storey responded to athletes after the March 14 letter to say that BCS, with Own the Podium support, would engage an independent, third-party mediator to convene meetings with athletes and other stakeholders, including board, management and funding agencies. The process is in addition to routine post-Olympic debriefs.

Frustration with Storey’s leadership had been festering since her election. The lawyer had been the vice-president who helped draft a new version of BCS bylaws in 2013 and was accused of using those new rules to win the presidency in 2014. Storey is also the BCS acting chief executive, despite the Canadian Sport Governance Code stating that no board member should become CEO or interim CEO during their term as a director.

A rival for the presidency in 2014 filed a whistleblower complaint to the Canadian Olympic Committee, which inadvertently shared the complaint with Storey. Rita Vathje had asked the COC to keep her name confidential to protect her daughter, national skeleton team member Elisabeth Maier, from retribution.

Vathje alleged that “by unregulated, unregistered voting membership in the Ontario provincial Bobsleigh Skeleton Association, president Max Storey cast 196 provincial member proxies (the majority of counted votes) to elect his sister, Sarah Storey president of the BCS.”

Bob Storey received the Olympic Order in 2012 (FIBT/IOC)

The “Fancy Bear” hacking group, affiliated with the Russian government, published the complaint in early 2018. Despite that, Storey was re-elected to another term later that year, unopposed.

Max Storey, an Olympic bid and organizing consultant, was involved in development of sliding centres for the Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 Olympics.

A national team athlete, who declined to be named, now regrets signing a proxy form in 2014.

“I just trusted in this person that they had my interests in mind. And that, you know, this was just another form to fill out. I didn’t realize I was signing my vote away in the sense of being complicit, I guess, in Sarah’s takeover.”

Vathje’s complaint also mentioned that elite athletes paid substantial funds to compete in world cup races to qualify for PyeongChang 2018, but Storey had withheld financial information from membership. Vathje declined to be interviewed.

Sarah and Max Storey’s father, Bob Storey, was three-time Canadian bobsleigh Olympian (twice as an athlete, once as a coach), BCS president from 1976 to 1994 and International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation president from 1994 to 2010.

In 2018, Sarah Storey withdrew her challenge for the IBSF presidency, citing poor transparency and governance. Ivo Ferriani, who defeated her father in 2010, won a third term.

Bob Storey is also known in the Lower Mainland as the founder of South Fraser Broadcasting, which owned Richmond’s CISL and Z95.3 FM radio stations. He was the chief international strategist for Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics bid. In 2012, longtime International Ice Hockey Federation president and IOC member Rene Fasel said: “Vancouver would not have won the 2010 Olympics without him.”

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Bob Mackin  The federal sport minister has ordered

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Bob Mackin 

Mexican media is abuzz about the citizenship of the mining union leader who lived 12 years in exile in the Lower Mainland before going home to become a senator.

Napoleon Gomez Urrutia fled north in 2006 and became a Canadian in 2014. In February 2018, he was nominated to the senate and returned to Mexico for his August 2018 swearing-in. Senators in Mexico must be Mexican-born and have no other citizenship.

Napoleon Gomez Urrutia: Out of Canadian exile and into the Mexican senate, thanks to proportional representation.

According to a translation of a March 31 Reforma news agency story in El Diario, Gomez “did not carry out any kind of procedure in Canada to renounce the citizenship of that country.”

The story quoted Gomez’s March 4, 2021, testimony to the 14th District Court on Administrative Matters: “I renounced any foreign nationality before the authorities that I consider to be competent, which in the case are the Mexican ones, not the Canadian ones […] it was not necessary to carry out procedures in Canada.”

To renounce Canadian citizenship, a person must deal directly with Canadian officials. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada requires a $100 payment and completed application with proof one is or will become a citizen of a country other than Canada, will not live in Canada, be at least 18 years old and is not a security threat. The application form is available online and, for those not living in Canada or the U.S., must be submitted to a Canadian embassy, high commission or consulate.

An email query to Gomez’s office did not elicit a reply before deadline.

Questions about Gomez’s citizenship status erupted more than two years ago after he was photographed at Vancouver International Airport. Gomez and his wife, Oralia Casso, flew first class on a Jan. 2, 2020, Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to Vancouver and presented dark blue-covered Canadian passports. Mexico’s are dark green.

Napoleon Gomez Urrutia at a Whitecaps FC match in B.C. Place Stadium (Facebook)

Gomez was head of the National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Allied Workers of the Mexican Republic, better known as Los Mineros, when he fled with his family to Vancouver in 2006. He blamed mining company Grupo Mexico and the Mexican government for “industrial homicide” after an explosion at a coal mine earlier that year in Coahuila killed 65 workers. He was charged for allegedly embezzling USD$55 million from a union trust fund that had been dissolved in 2005. Gomez denied the allegations. In 2014, a Mexican appeal court deemed the charges unconstitutional and cancelled an arrest warrant.

Gomez continued to run Los Mineros from afar and enjoyed the support of Unifor and the United Steelworkers. Elections BC’s database shows he made seven donations to the BC NDP, from 2009 to 2017, totalling $2,680. Oxford-educated Gomez succeeded his father as the union’s leader in 2000, but never worked in a mine.

In 2018, Gomez triumphantly returned to Mexico when he was appointed a senator under that country’s mixed member proportional representation system after the election of new president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. At the time, Gomez claimed he had renounced his Canadian citizenship. When he started his six-year term, Gomez said he wanted to reconstruct Mexico and fight corruption.

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Bob Mackin  Mexican media is abuzz about the

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Bob Mackin

The Chinese citizen arrested at Vancouver International Airport more than two years ago on charges he laundered money for Mexican drug cartels pleaded guilty on March 28 to a federal judge in Chicago.

Federal Court in Chicago (U.S. District Court)

Long Huanxin, aka “Little Long” or “Mateo K,” was accused of receiving bulk cash from the proceeds of narcotics, laundering the funds and delivering the money to drug-trafficking cartels in Mexico. 

During a video hearing, Long, 34, told Judge Gary Feinerman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois that he pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and that the facts against him were correct. The other three charges will be dropped. Long is held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

The plea agreement contemplates a prison sentence in the range of 14 years to 17.5 years. Long will also forfeit $70,000. The judge told Long he also faces the very high likelihood of deportation to China upon release. Feinerman set July 12 for a status hearing, at which the sentencing hearing is expected to be scheduled.

Had a trial gone ahead, Long could have faced up to 20 years in prison, a $500,000 fine or twice the amount of funds involved in the criminal transaction (whichever is greater), and up to three years probation. 

Long was destined for Mexico when he was arrested Feb. 5, 2020 at YVR after arriving on a flight from Guangzhou. Canada Border Services Agency officers were acting on a U.S. warrant issued in March 2019. Long agreed during a July 2020 B.C. Supreme Court hearing to surrender to U.S. authorities.

Prosecutor Sean Franzblau told Feinerman that in 2017 and 2018, Long acted as a broker of at least $14 million in narcotics through the collection of the proceeds from various individuals and the exchange of U.S. dollars for Chinese renminbi.

Long, he said, earned a commission fee of approximately 0.5% for each money pick up and associated mirror transaction that he facilitated, personally earning approximately $70,000. 

“The defendant also knew that he was collecting and exchanging narcotics proceeds in this manner, because the individuals who owned and controlled the money wanted to hide the connection to the proceeds from law enforcement, as well as the source and nature of the funds, and ultimately to remit the funds back to drug traffickers in Mexico,” Franzblau said. 

At the direction of co-conspirator Haiping Pan, Franzblau said, Long “facilitated up to one to two money pickups per week in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and other areas, including Atlanta, in amounts, typically ranging between $150,000 to $500,000 per pick up.” 

He described how Long and Pan used BlackBerry Messenger to communicate and how the serial number on a dollar bill in the money courier’s possession served as a transaction identifier and later a receipt.  

“The money laundering couriers then arranged to meet with other intermediaries involved in the money laundering operation, to deliver the money to them, so that they could facilitate the mirror transaction,” Franzblau said. “After the mirror transactions were completed, other intermediaries who have received the money from the couriers sent the couriers copies of the associated Chinese bank-to-bank wire transfer which proceeds which the money laundering couriers then forwarded to Long who forwarded the information to Pan.” 

The judge asked Long “did you do the things that [the prosecutor] said that you did?” 

Long answered: “Yes, I did, your honour.”

He also asked: “Is there any part of his statement, even if you think it’s a minor detail, that you disagree with?”

Said Long, after a brief pause: “No.”

Vancouver International Airport control tower (YVR)

Long may not be in custody and facing hard time in the U.S. had he not booked a flight through YVR due to the coronavirus pandemic.

After witnessing his wife give birth to their second child in November 2019 in Taiwan, Long returned to Guangdong province in China to visit his mother, according to evidence at a hearing of the Immigration and Refugee Board. When COVID-19 spread from Wuhan to other Chinese provinces, Taiwan banned entry for travellers from Guangdong. Since Long has both permanent resident status and business holdings in Mexico, he arranged to travel there to reunite with his family on a flight routed through Vancouver.

After his YVR arrest, where he was interrogated and his Huawei smart phone was searched, Long was transferred to the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam and held in quarantine, even though he did not appear to be infected with the coronavirus.

The immigration court in Vancouver heard that Long worked as a purchasing manager for a business owned by his parents-in-law that imports toys and clocks from Guangdong and sells from a warehouse in Mexico. 

Long, who holds a degree in international trade and economy from Guangdong University of Technology, had no prior criminal record. Long had previously invested in Mexican hotels, restaurants and karaoke bars, as well as bitcoin.

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Bob Mackin The Chinese citizen arrested at Vancouver

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Bob Mackin 

B.C.’s Auditor General says the government’s information technology department has adequate policies regulating employees working from home, except when it comes to the use of personal devices.

Michael Pickup, B.C.’s new auditor general (Nova Scotia)

But, during a March 29 media teleconference, he declined to comment on the state of cybersecurity and telework at the Legislative Assembly. 

In his new report, Michael Pickup said even though the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) prohibits use of personal devices for telework, the OCIO has not established technical controls to ban their use. 

“With no controls to enforce this policy, there is a risk of government data being stored in an unencrypted format on teleworkers’ personal devices,” the report said. 

Pickup became Auditor General in July 2020, four months after the government shifted to telework due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

In November 2020, after the NDP won a snap election, the Legislative Assembly suffered a cyberattack that remains shrouded in secrecy. The information technology department at the seat of government received emergency help from the OCIO, a division of the Ministry of Citizens’ Services.

“What we set out to do was look at whether the OCIO overall has established these processes and practices, and, of course, with the exception of the one area with a recommendation, found that they did these things,” Pickup said during a media teleconference. “So, otherwise, I would have nothing to comment in relation to that specific question.”

The Legislature’s website was taken down Nov. 10, 2020 and replaced with an image that claimed it was subject to “unscheduled maintenance.” The Clerk’s office finally admitted on Nov. 19, 2020 that it had been hacked, but downplayed the severity and said no data had been lost.

The all-party Legislative Assembly Management Committee (LAMC) and clerk’s office have not released the report into what went wrong. Neither has the NDP government fulfilled house leader Mike Farnworth’s February 2019 promise to add the Legislature to the freedom of information law. Farnworth made that promise after the Information and Privacy Commissioner, Merit Commissioner and Ombudsperson publicly demanded new transparency and accountability measures in the wake of the damning report by then-Speaker Darryl Plecas about spending misconduct by disgraced Clerk Craig James and Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz.

What the B.C. Legislature website looked like on Nov. 13 (Leg.BC.ca)

The public portions of most LAMC meetings have skirted the issue. Then-BC Liberal house leader Peter Milobar expressed frustration at the July 8, 2021 meeting over increasing IT costs and continuing network outages at constituency offices stemming from the incident. 

“Our own ability to service our constituents has been eight months of complete frustration that seems to not be getting any better — if anything, getting worse,” Milobar said. 

At the Dec. 16, 2021 meeting, Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd admitted that there had been an “underinvestment” in the IT infrastructure for years and that constituency office network replacement projects, to manage power or network outages, continued. She also said work was underway for a disaster recovery plan for financial systems.

“The network challenges experienced over the past year are well-known to members, as well as some of the other challenges that we have with Wi-Fi connectivity, for example, on the precinct grounds,” Ryan-Lloyd said.

The NDP government allotted $92 million for the Legislative Assembly’s 2022-2023 operating budget. The $5.8 million for IT is the biggest line item in Legislative Operations. According to the December budget update, it forecast spending $7.9 million on IT, a whopping $2.3 million more than budgeted for 2021-2022. 

Andrew Spence, the assembly’s chief information officer, said: “With all the challenges over the past year, we recognize the need to strengthen business continuity considerations and ensure business interruptions are minimized.“

B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes is expected to announce her verdict May 5 in the fraud and breach of trust case against James. 

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Bob Mackin  B.C.’s Auditor General says the government’s

Business, News, Opinion

For the week of April 3, 2022:

The B.C. NDP government doesn’t say so out loud, but it is surrendering to the coronavirus pandemic and putting the lives of the very young, very old and immunocompromised at risk. 

The testing and tracing program collapsed before Christmas, amid the omicron wave. It took another two months before anyone who wanted one could get a rapid test kit.

Dr. Lyne Filiatrault (PoP BC/YouTube)

The mask mandate was cancelled in March and, on April 1, it shut down the website that took reports of positive tests. 

The NDP has contracted a trio of ex-bureaucrats to examine the government’s response to the pandemic. They’ll report this fall. But the cabinet and provincial health officer are off-limits for the investigation. 

That, Dr. Lyne Filiatrault says, means it’s a sham. 

The retired Vancouver General Hospital emergency physician — instrumental in B.C.’s victory over SARS in 2003 — is the featured guest on this week’s theBreaker.news Podcast with host Bob Mackin.

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For the week of April 3, 2022: The

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April Scherz 

If the NPA’s John Coupar wins the mayoralty in October’s election, city hall could have a new “dome.”

Is Vancouver city hall for sale if NPA wins mayoralty?

According to a leaked version of the party’s platform, including photographs, the three-term park board politician wants to sell Cambie and 12th to a condo developer and transform the Bloedel Conservatory into the new seat of government. 

In 2011, Coupar led the campaign to save the 1969-built tropical paradise attraction atop Queen Elizabeth Park. “It’s the eighth wonder of the world,” he once proclaimed.

The 1936-built Art Deco city hall tower and surrounding campus were assessed last year at $142.8 million. The precinct extends from 12th to 10th and Cambie to Yukon and has one of the best views of downtown skyscrapers and the North Shore mountains.

John Coupar helped save the Bloedel Conservatory. Could it become city hall?

The NPA proposal says 1,000 units of social housing could be built on-site. The tower would be transformed into a new five-star hotel. 

“City hall is already like a jungle, so why not be in a real one?” reads a script prepared for Coupar. “Affordable housing, a windfall profit to reinvest in parks and public safety, and a new hotel. What’s not to like?”

Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth Park also figures in the platform of incumbent Mayor Kennedy Stewart, which has also leaked. 

Stewart proposes a contest to find a new name for Queen Elizabeth Park.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart could change Queen Elizabeth Park’s name

“It’s time to decolonize,” according to Stewart’s speaking notes. “We thank the Queen, who has graced our city on several occasions, for her leadership and service to the Commonwealth. But when the day comes that the crown is transferred to someone else, her name will be retired from the signs and maps for our beloved park.”

Though the election is almost six months away, both Coupar and Stewart are planning news conferences on April 1, just before noon. 

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April Scherz  If the NPA’s John Coupar wins

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Bob Mackin

Costs for City of Vancouver to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be much higher than Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s proposed $5 million grant, based on cost estimates by the City of Toronto.

British Columbia and FIFA flags in 2015 outside the Westin Bayshore host hotel (Mackin)

A Toronto staff report to the March 30 executive council meeting estimates hosting five matches could cost $290 million. Organizers of the joint U.S.-Canada-Mexico tournament are expected to name the 16 host cities in May.

Toronto, Edmonton and Montreal were among 23 candidates in the winning 2018 bid. Vancouver was excluded after the B.C. NDP government couldn’t reach an agreement over extra costs to taxpayers at BC Place Stadium. When Montreal withdrew last July over rising costs, Premier John Horgan said his government had reopened talks with FIFA.

Toronto city officials estimate almost $94 million in direct costs to city taxpayers, so they are asking the Ontario and federal governments to cover two-thirds of the budget, or $177 million. They contemplate only $12.7 million revenue from FIFA.

In 2018, the City of Toronto estimated taxpayers would be only the hook for only $30 million to $45 million. Since then, the Canadian Soccer Association and FIFA have shifted more hosting requirements onto city hall, Exhibition Place, Destination Toronto and the owners of Toronto FC.

“This exercise – which considered the full breadth of the host city agreement – saw a rise in costs in several areas such as security, stadium adaptation and expansion, and preparation of training sites,” the report said. “City staff anticipate that there are areas where savings can be secured given that there is time available for lower cost alternatives to be identified and for FIFA requirements to be negotiated.”

Toronto has committed to providing FIFA with BMO Field, training sites, a 34-day FanFest and transportation and safety and security services. FIFA is also demanding an addendum to the 2018 agreement for upgrades and rental costs at BMO Field.

“Signing the contractual addendum has been identified by FIFA as mandatory to remain in contention for host city selection,” the report said.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart (Mackin)

It could take until the end of the year, however, for federal support to be announced because of the required national safety and security concept. Toronto already estimates the cost of police, fire and ambulance service will be $40 million.

Provincial and civic officials were asked to comment on the Toronto cost estimates. Vancouver city hall’s sport hosting manager, Michelle Collens, referred a query to the communications department, which declined to comment on costs. A statement from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture said it has “all the levels of government at the table discussing requirements and assessing costs.”

In return for spending $290 million, Toronto estimates a $307 million economic impact, with 3,300 jobs and 174,000 overnight visitors, resulting in $3.5 million municipal accommodation tax revenue. The report, however, did not include methodology.

Prof. Victor Matheson, a sports economist at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., is one of the world’s leading researchers of mega-events. He cautioned that boosters tend to overstate the benefits and downplay the costs, by relying on input-output modelling in order to attract or defend public subsidies. Matheson’s research has found large sporting events like World Cups and Olympics supplant, rather than supplement, the regular tourist economy.

Premier John Horgan (BC Gov)

FIFA, Matheson said, can afford to pay the full bill on its own. At the end of its last World Cup cycle in 2018, FIFA reported US$5.35 billion revenue from the Russia-hosted tournament contributed to its record US$6.42 billion, four-year haul. It called Russia 2018 “the most-profitable edition to date.”

At the end of 2020, FIFA boasted US$3.31 billion in assets and US$1.88 billion in reserves.

“There’s no reason that again, taxpayers in Vancouver or in Boston, where I am, should be subsidizing a private entity run by millionaires generating billions of dollars,” Matheson said.

Stewart said March 15 that he wants city council to commit $5 million. In 2015, city hall gave Women’s World Cup organizers $1.2 million for a fan festival at Larwill Park. The province granted FIFA $2 million, which amounted to free rent at B.C. Place Stadium.

FIFA’s hosting requirements for 2026 also demand governments provide it a tax holiday, exemptions from labour laws and permit the import and export of foreign currency.

The next World Cup kicks-off Nov. 21 in Qatar. Canada has qualified after a 36-year absence.

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Bob Mackin Costs for City of Vancouver to

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For the week of March 27, 2022: 

Mega-event boosters in Vancouver want another Winter Olympics in 2030.

It could be closer than you think. The International Olympic Committee is replacing bidding wars with closed-door, fast-track negotiations. The lords of the rings have even awarded two Games at once. It’s all because too many cities are opting out, due to high costs and corruption risks.

NPA Coun. Collen Hardwick (Mackin)

There are no cost estimates for 2030 yet and the costs of Vancouver 2010 are not really known. The organizing committee archives are off-limits to the public until 2025, two years after the IOC wants to name the 2030 host. 

This week’s guest on theBreaker.news Podcat, Coun. Colleen Hardwick wants the under-exploration 2030 bid added to the ballot. Olympics came from Greece, the same place that invented democracy.  

“Why would we be afraid of it, why would anyone be reluctant to have this question asked? If the supporters of the Olympics bid are enthusiastic and feel that they have a strong case to be made, then they should be making it and they will be successful,” Hardwick said. “Or, if they’re not, they will hear the will of the people. I think this is a big enough question that the decision should be made by the people themselves.”

Hear the full interview with Hardwick. Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and commentary.

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For the week of March 27, 2022:  Mega-event

Business, News

Western hemlock looper moth (Mackin)

Bob Mackin

The Ministry of Forests is awaiting approval to stop the spongy moth, formerly known as the gypsy moth, in eight municipalities. 

But there will be no program to eradicate the Western Hemlock looper moth, which could ravage the North Shore and turn forests an orange hue again this summer.

“The Ministry isn’t planning to do any spraying for looper this year, nor did we last year,” said a statement from its communications office. “Most of the infestations falls in the management responsibility of Metro Vancouver and we are not aware of any treatment plans.”

According to Jesse Montgomery, Metro Vancouver water services environmental manager, dramatically fewer moths were observed in summer 2021. He said the moth cycle peaked in 2020, but forest monitoring will continue in 2022. 

The ministry is, however, planning to battle spongy moth larvae by using the biological insecticide Bk (Bacillus thuringensis variety kurstaki), the active ingredient in Foray 48B, to spray isolated areas of Burnaby, Surrey, Mission, Langley, Chilliwack, View Royal, Nanoose Bay and Cowichan Lake between mid-April and the end of June. Foray 48B is only toxic to the stomachs of caterpillars, and prevents harm to forests, fruit orchards and urban trees. 

The government’s spongy moth spraying program follows the trapping of 98 male moths in the eight specific areas.

Western hemlock loopers attack their namesake as well as Douglas fir and western red cedar trees. “When populations are high, looper caterpillars also feed on other hosts such as subalpine fir, amabilis fir, grand fir and spruce,” said a September 2021 briefing note to Minister Katrine Conroy from provincial entomologist Jeanne Robert, obtained under freedom of information.

The briefing note said localized outbreaks were observed in 2019 in the Sunshine Coast’s Rainy River and Brittain River drainages and the Capilano, Seymour and Coquitlam watersheds. Outbreaks can last three to four years, meaning 2021 may have been the last or the penultimate year of the cycle. 

“The Ministry received a number of inquiries from residents of North Vancouver and West Vancouver, municipalities (District of North Vancouver and West Vancouver), Metro Vancouver (watersheds), the Powell River Community Forest, B.C. Timber Sales in Sunshine Coast District and Western Forest Products (FL 39). They all expressed concerns about the impacts of this outbreak,” said the briefing note.

NDP Minister Katrine Conroy BC Leg)

Historically, the Ministry has not attacked loopers from the sky and, based on 2019 and 2020 defoliation, aerial application of Bk was not deemed necessary on crown lands. The provincial forest entomologist’s July 2021 detailed survey of 2019 and 2020 looper outbreaks confirmed the outbreak had not extended past Pitt Lake. 

The looper moth populations build and crash every 11 to 15 years. Trees typically survive light to moderate defoliation, but growth reduction, top kill and tree mortality are the worst-case scenarios. Patchy mortality can recharge eco systems by allowing younger trees to emerge. 

“Looper populations fluctuate based weather conditions, the level of natural parasitoids (insect larvae that feed on a host, eventually killing it), and the level of naturally occurring viruses and/or predators. No management or treatment is recommended at this time.”

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[caption id="attachment_12030" align="alignright" width="300"] Western hemlock looper

Business, News, Sports

Bob Mackin

A city councillor running for mayor in this October’s civic election wants Vancouver voters to decide whether the city should bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Coun. Colleen Hardwick plans to table a motion at the March 29 city council meeting aimed at getting a yes/no plebiscite on the ballot. Hardwick, elected in 2018 on the NPA ticket, was acclaimed March 15 as the mayoral candidate for the TEAM for a Livable Vancouver party.

NPA Coun. Collen Hardwick (Mackin)

“Why would we be afraid of it, why would anyone be reluctant to have this question asked? If the supporters of the Olympics bid are enthusiastic and feel that they have a strong case to be made, then they should be making it and they will be successful,” Hardwick said. “Or, if they’re not, they will hear the will of the people. I think this is a big enough question that the decision should be made by the people themselves.”

Last Dec. 10, Mayor Kennedy Stewart and his Whistler counterpart, Jack Crompton, announced what they called an indigenous-led bid exploration involving chiefs of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Lil’wat bands. In February, the Canadian Olympic Committee said it would help fund a feasibility study aimed at entering exclusive talks with the International Olympic Committee. 

Mayor Kennedy Stewart tweeted March 24 “I will not second this motion.”

His tweet said that support for the motion contravenes the Oct. 29, 2021-dated memorandum of understanding, which was agreed in secret and not revealed until the Dec. 10 news conference. 

The MOU, which mentions the goal of advancing reconciliation with First Nations, said that the assembly of two municipalities and four First Nations agreed to pursue discussions with senior governments to seek funding. A recommendation whether a formal bid is feasible is required “no later than March 2022 in accordance with 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games timelines.” The fifth and final clause of the MOU said it is not legally binding on any of the parties.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart on Dec. 10 (City of Vancouver)

The IOC wants to award the Games by 2023 under a new procedure to replace bidding wars with closed-door negotiations. Other potential hosts include Sapporo, Japan, Salt Lake City, Utah, and a joint French/Spanish group.

The Vancouver 2030 bid was originally hatched by ex-Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong at a Board of Trade breakfast in February 2020 to mark 10 years since the Vancouver Games. Competition venues from Vancouver 2010 remain, but would need extensive renovations or retrofitting for 2030. City council delayed a motion to support the bid exploration by a year due to the pandemic. But, when it was passed in March 2021, no public speakers were allowed.

“Other municipalities and all local governments in British Columbia are on the same election cycle,” Hardwick said. “And so maybe what Vancouver can can be is an example to other municipalities that they might add a similar question to their ballots.”

The motion is formally titled “Plebiscite to Measure Public Support for a 2030 Winter Olympic Bid Held Concurrently with the 2022 Civic Election” and mentions Vancouver won the 2010 bid in July 2003 after 64% of voters passed a February 2003 plebiscite. Since then, Games TV ratings have dipped. The controversial Beijing 2022 Winter Games had 42% fewer viewers in the key U.S. market than PyeongChang 2018. 

In 2018, more than 56% of voters in 1988 host city Calgary rejected a bid for the 2026 Games that would have cost $5.2 billion.

BC 2030 Olympic bid logo (BC Gov/FOI)

“The public shoulders significant financial costs,” Hardwick’s motion states. “The 2010 Olympics showed that unforeseen circumstances and unbudgeted items do come up.”

Those unforeseen circumstances were the Great Recession of 2008 that led to bankruptcy of sponsors General Motors and Nortel, cutbacks by others and the bailout and eventual receivership of the $1.1 billion Vancouver Olympic Village. 

When it dissolved in 2014, the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee (aka VANOC), said it balanced a $1.9 billion operating budget that included at least $188 million additional from the federal and B.C. governments. It never held a public meeting, was exempt from B.C.’s freedom of information law and B.C.’s auditor general cancelled a post-Games report.

The total cost to operate and secure the 2010 Games, and build venues and related transportation infrastructure is estimated at more than $7 billion. That includes $554 million borne by city taxpayers according to an April 2010 report to council. 

Actual costs are believed to be hidden in the board minutes and financial records at the City Archives, which are not to be opened until fall 2025 under the agreement signed in 2011 by then-city manager and VANOC director Penny Ballem.  

Hardwick said access to those files is essential in making up her mind about the 2030 Games and she hopes the agreement can be amended to allow for necessary transparency.

“I want to make an informed decision,” She said. “If I can’t see the books from 2010 until 2025, that’s still three years from now, how am I supposed to make an informed decision?”

How much would the vote cost? The 2003 standalone plebiscite was $575,000 and a by-election to fill a vacant council seat in 2017 cost $1.2 million. But the city is already going to the polls on Oct. 15 to elect council, park board and school board politicians and seek approval on three capital spending measures.

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Bob Mackin A city councillor running for mayor

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