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Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court judge has

“March Madness,” B.C. NDP style

Bob Mackin

If you think you’re seeing more NDP government advertisements than usual, your eyes aren’t deceiving you.

There are four campaigns running via central government ministries. Four Crown corporations are also competing for attention on TV, radio and the web. It’s part of the perennial trend to exhaust budgets before the March 31 fiscal year-end, for fear of a reduced allocation in the next 12 months.

From the B.C. NDP government’s StrongerBC ad campaign (BC Gov/Now Communications)

The flagship is StrongerBC “Taking Care,” promoting the 2022 provincial budget and the related training and investment economic plan.

“Those investments include shortening surgical wait times, training people to fill high-demand jobs of the future, fighting climate change and reducing childcare fees for parents,” said a statement from the Ministry of Finance, which includes the government’s $28 million-a-year communications department.

The March 7-launched campaign is scheduled through March 31, with an approved budget of $1.8 million.

It is also spending $2.35 million on the three-phase CleanBC Better Homes campaign, $1.52 million to promote the WorkBC job listings website, and $500,000 for BC Parks licence plates.

BC Hydro’s February to April conservation and heat pump campaign is costing $1.525 million through media buyer iProspect and agency Rethink. B.C. Securities Commission is spending $1.13 million of its $1.3 million quarterly budget on ads running in February (RRSP deadline month) and March (fraud prevention month). Wasserman and Citizen Relations were picked through an advertised tender process, said BCSC spokeswoman Elise Palmer.

From the B.C. NDP government’s StrongerBC ad campaign (BC Gov/Now Communications)

Destination BC and B.C. Lottery Corporation, however, both refused to comment on their contractors and ad budgets. BCLC told a reporter to file a freedom of information request to find out about the gambling monopoly’s animated brand campaign.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says governments should only spend ad money to communicate to the public about emergencies.

“Not whatever they decide to declare an emergency for political purposes or whatnot — but an emergency like flood or a fire, obviously, immunization, all that stuff, that’s fair,” said B.C. director Kris Sims. “But if they’re pushing, like their latest fads, or promoting their own budget, which basically is like a big hug to the government, that’s it, that’s a waste of taxpayers money.”

Sims said the licence plate sales are especially wasteful, because ICBC is a monopoly.

In January, the government said it sold 300,000 of the nature scene licence plates over five years, netting $20 million for the program to benefit provincial parks. It will need to sell more than 10,000 of the $50 plates to break-even on the current ad campaign. BC Parks gets a $20 cut and the government $18. It costs $7 to manufacture, ship and handle each plate and brokers get a $5 commission.

The Ministry of Finance said Advertising Standards Canada “independently determined” that the government ad campaigns meet non-partisan criteria.

While the government’s media buyer is iProspect, part of the Japanese giant Dentsu, the creative contractors are definitely not non-partisan.

NDP finance minister Selina Robinson on Feb. 22, 2022 (BC Gov)

Now Communications and Captus Advertising are behind the StrongerBC campaign.

Now was formed by members of Mike Harcourt’s 1991 campaign team. It billed the party $1.78 million for work on Premier John Horgan’s 2020 re-election campaign. Multicultural specialist Captus received $498,787 for its work on the 2020 NDP campaign.

BC Parks licence plate ad shop Point Blank Creative billed the party $108,959.13 for 2020 campaign work.

Normally, government procurement rules require open, public tendering for contracts $75,000 and up. Agencies that work for government ministries are chosen from a preferred suppliers list created by NDP-appointed political aides.

In a November 2015 interview, then-opposition leader Horgan slammed the BC Liberals for “padding the pockets of their political pals” when the government hired party-aligned ad agencies.

“They spend countless dollars, time and energy withholding information that the public asks for, but when the public’s not looking for information they’ve got mountains of money to spend, to bury us in self-congratulatory promotion,” Horgan said at the time.

In February’s budget, the NDP forecast $13.3 billion in deficits through 2025 and a $125.7 billion debt by 2025.

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March 20, 2022

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theBreaker.news Podcast: Ripple effects of Putin’s Ukraine invasion felt far and wide

For the week of March 20, 2022:

Entering 2022, global supply chains were already struggling. Add a post-Olympic war in Eastern Europe and another wave of the pandemic in China and Hong Kong.

Never a dull day for logistics expert and newsletter publisher Glenn Ross of ACC Group in Surrey, B.C.

Ross says the longer Russia’s war against Ukraine (which involves major wheat and fertilizer exporters), the higher the price for fuel and food and the greater likelihood of unrest in poorer countries.

The sanctions and isolation of Russia haven’t stopped Vladimir Putin, so what’s NATO’s next move? Meanwhile, a new round of lockdowns in China as omicron spreads, shutting factories and delaying shipments.

“I think the posturing by the Russian government that they want to do peace talks, I think is nothing more than a false flag,” says Ross, the featured guest on this week’s theBreaker.news Podcast. “They’ve been knocked senseless by the Ukrainians.”

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and commentary.

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theBreaker.news Podcast: Ripple effects of Putin’s Ukraine invasion felt far and wide

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March 20, 2022

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For the week of March 20, 2022:

NDP spent a half-billion-dollars to make-up for its depleted PPE stockpiles

Bob Mackin

British Columbia’s second mask mandate is over, two years after provincial officials discouraged the public from wearing face masks and promoted hand-washing to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Behind the scenes, according to briefing notes obtained under freedom of information laws, they were panicking about empty shelves.

Premier John Horgan, Dr. Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix (BC Gov)

In February 2020, demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) spiked after China’s biggest factories closed. B.C. medical supplies buyers sounded the alarm about depleted regional stockpiles. Almost $3 million of emergency supplies bought since 2013 had expired, become obsolete, been donated to Africa’s anti-Ebola effort or absorbed into daily use. Just over $2 million of surgical masks, N95 respirators, gloves, goggles, gowns, hand sanitizer, syringes, needles and bandages remained.

“Should a widespread pandemic occur in B.C., the current level of pandemic supplies will likely not meet B.C.’s requirements which may lead to public safety risk,” said a Feb. 13, 2020, Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) supply chain department briefing note.

As COVID-19 spread, PHSA’s new CEO, Benoit Morin, did a $7 million, no-bid deal with a Quebec supplier. But the made-in-China items delivered by Luminarie were flawed and the costly writedown led to Morin’s early-2021 firing. Fraser Health spent $2.65 million with Burnaby’s West-Can Auto Parts, including 200,000 level-2 masks and 8,000 one-gallon jugs of hand sanitizer.

From April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, PHSA and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) went on a half-billion-dollar PPE buying spree to protect doctors, nurses, technicians and patients from the virus. A June 2021 briefing note, obtained under a freedom of information request, shows PHSA spent $465 million and VCH $41.9 million (quantities were not included). But around 20% – or $102.1 million – was deemed unfit for use and written off in end-of-year financial reports: $67.4 million for PHSA and $37.4 million for VCH.

“The inventory still exists in B.C.,” said the briefing note. “While it does not meet strict healthcare standards, much is still considered to be acceptable PPE for other, less controlled settings.”

3M N95 mask

By February 2021, according to another briefing note, B.C. had six to 12 months’ stock of key PPE. Some types exceeded 12 months on-hand. There was so much that three warehouses had to be rented. Only a year earlier, Premier John Horgan’s deputy minister, Don Wright, had ordered staff to search under their desks for N95 masks in their earthquake kits.

Wright’s March 27, 2020, memo appealed for respirators to be sent to his office for redistribution to doctors and nurses on the frontlines.

“I expect the Premier will be very interested in seeing how many masks are collected, which is why I would ask that they come here,” Wright wrote. The precise number of N95’s collected was not released, but 1,265 masks and five boxes of latex gloves were found in Ministry of Health offices.

B.C. originally built a stockpile after the Dr. Theresa Tam-led, Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan for the Health Sector report in 2006. Tam and co-authors warned provinces to be prepared because a pandemic would trigger international supply chain shortages.

A British Columbia Ministry of Health assistant deputy minister told regional officials in 2007 to build up a 10-week stockpile of emergency supplies. Michael MacDougall estimated waves would last six to eight weeks, and possibly 15 weeks in a large area.

“A survey of major suppliers’ stockpile practices indicates they also have about two weeks of inventory in Canada,” MacDougall wrote. “Many suppliers manufacture offshore and the majority of suppliers do not have pandemic business continuity plans.”

The World Health Organization officially declared the pandemic on March 11, 2020. Just over a month earlier, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu said PPE demand was 100 times greater and prices 20 times more expensive than normal.

NIOSH testing a Ryzur KN95 mask.

A scathing report by the Canadian Federation of Nurses in October 2020, called “Time of Fear: How Canada Failed Our Health Care Workers and Mismanaged COVID-19,” said Canada was woefully unprepared because it largely ignored the lessons of SARS.

“We will never know how many of the more than 21,000 Canadian health care workers infected with COVID‐19 might have been kept safe had there been sufficient stockpiles at a precautionary level,” the report said.

In the only televised leaders’ debate of the 2020 snap election, Horgan admitted his government hadn’t anticipated a pandemic.

“We didn’t think about it in 2017, 2018 or 2019,” Horgan said. “We didn’t think about it in February [2020], when we tabled our balanced budget. We only thought about it in March when it hit us right in the face.”

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Bob Mackin British Columbia’s second mask mandate is

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Canadian Olympic sliders want president, high performance coach out

Bob Mackin

Dozens of current and former Canadian bobsled and skeleton athletes are calling for the immediate resignation of the president and high performance director of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, citing toxic culture, lack of care for athlete safety and poor transparency and governance.

Canadian bobsledders at Beijing 2022 (Olympic.ca)

“In the two quadrennials leading up to the 2022 Olympics, systemic issues within BCS have adversely impacted both the sports of bobsleigh and skeleton and have become increasingly problematic over time,” said the letter, signed generically from 60+ Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton Athletes Past & Present (2014-2022). “Too many athletes have suffered physically, mentally, emotionally and financially due to the organization’s failure to address these issues, jeopardizing the future of both sports.”

President Sarah Storey is the daughter of former world bobsled federation CEO Bob Storey. The Ottawa lawyer’s resignation, the letter said, would enable BCS to become “a safe, supportive, functional, athlete-centric model from which to build future World and Olympic Champions.” High performance director Chris Le Bihan was on Canada’s bronze medal four-man bobsled team at Vancouver 2010.

The letter comes two weeks after the 21-member Team Canada left Beijing with only two bronze medals. Meanwhile, bobsledder Kaillie Humphries, who won two Olympic golds and a bronze for Canada, won gold in her first Olympics with the United States in the new monobob event. Humphries left BCS in 2019, citing a coach’s verbal and mental abuse.

The letter did not mention Humphries by name, but did emphasize a history of mishandled abuse, harassment and misconduct complaints.

“In general investigations have been undertaken to resolve these complaints, however athletes are concerned with the timeliness, priority and process by which these issues have been addressed,” the letter said.

The athletes took issue with the lack of skeleton coach at their three-week Olympic test event on the new Beijing 2022 track in October. The letter also said BCS lacks transparency and timely communication, which has created “an environment of deep mistrust.”

It said that BCS blames lack of funding for the systemic problems, but the athletes allege “gross mismanagement, poor planning, inefficiency, and cronyism.” BCS, they say, “should not be able to hide behind the lack of funding as justification for the environment and culture that it has created.”

After the Games were over, skeleton’s Mirela Rahneva Tweeted that it cost her $26,585 during the Olympic year, but only receives $14,120 in payments from Sport Canada. “How are Canadian athletes suppose (sic) to make this work?”

On the fourth point, governance, the athletes say BCS’s complicated policies and practices ignore best practices and athlete feedback.

BCS has not immediately responded for comment.

Canada won gold, silver and bronze in bobsledding and a gold in skeleton at Vancouver 2010, a gold in bobsledding at Sochi 2014, and gold and bronze in bobsledding at PyeongChang 2018.

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Bob Mackin Dozens of current and former Canadian

New Westminster city hall keeps payments to ex-fire chief secret

Bob Mackin

New Westminster city hall is refusing to say how much it paid the fire chief before and after his sudden, pre-Halloween retirement.

Tim Armstrong spent 12 years of his 40-year career in public safety as chief of New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services, until three days before one of the busiest occasions of the year. A January request under the freedom of information law for a list of all individual payments made to Armstrong from Oct. 1 onwards was rejected by the city hall FOI office.

City of New Westminster FOI and privacy coordinator Brooke Holtz replied March 4 that “the records have been withheld in their entirety,” for fear that disclosure would harm personal privacy.

Holtz refused to reconsider the decision and told a reporter to complain to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC). The law is intended to protect the public’s right to know who is paid how much, and adjudicators with the OIPC have consistently ruled in favour of requiring public bodies to disclose their spending on staff and contractors.

Chief administrative officer Lisa Spitale informed staff in an Oct. 22 memo that Armstrong had chosen to retire effective Oct. 28. She wrote that Armstrong had “brought forward many improvements” to the fire department during his time in the job.

“Kindly join me in wishing Tim Armstrong good wishes in his retirement,” Spitale wrote.

On Oct. 28, Armstrong sent a memo to staff that said he decided to retire “after some much needed holiday time and reflecting on what the next chapter in life might look like.”

For 2020, the most-recent year available, City of New Westminster paid Armstrong $194,802. He billed $3,827 in expenses.

Neither Spitale nor Mayor Jonathan Cote responded for comment on March 7.

There was no official public announcement of Armstrong’s departure, including on the city’s social media channels. There also did not appear to be any mention of Armstrong at the Nov. 1 city council budget workshop meeting where Curtis Bremner was introduced as interim fire chief without fanfare.

Bremner later retired and Erin Williams became the new acting chief. The job vacancy has yet to be posted.

“Given the ongoing pandemic and recent retirement of the former fire chief, this is an opportune time for the city to review the fire department’s organizational structure,” said New Westminster human resources director Richard Fong. “When this review is completed, the city will post the position and commence the recruitment process for a new fire chief.”

As for not publicly recognizing Armstrong when he departed, Fong said that is not normal city practice.

“Any details about retirements are personal information and the city does not discuss personnel issues publicly,” Fong said.

In early January 2011, the New Westminster Police Department announced on its website that chief Lorne Zapotichny would retire at the end of February 2011.

Cote, coincidentally, announced on Jan. 1 that he would retire from the mayoralty at the end of his term in the fall.

In early 2020, the Justice Institute of B.C. awarded Armstrong an honorary doctor of laws degree. Armstrong joined Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services at age 21 and rose the ranks over 28 years to become deputy chief. He became New Westminster’s fire chief in 2009 and also served as the Royal City’s director of emergency management. His career also included training firefighters in Canada, U.S. and Taiwan.

Coincidentally, the chief of a fire department in a suburb of Denver, Colo., with a career trajectory akin to Armstrong, announced his retirement on Jan. 10.

Chief Doug Hall said his 43 years in firefighting, including 10 years as chief of the Westminster Fire Department, will end July 3.

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Bob Mackin New Westminster city hall is refusing

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SkyTrain, WestCoast Express union joins chorus for TransLink bailout

Bob Mackin

The union representing SkyTrain and WestCoast Express employees is kicking in $22,500 to a $90,000 ad campaign in support of TransLink’s $200 million bailout request.

Selina Robinson and Premier John Horgan at a recent TransLink funding announcement. More to come. (BC Gov)

A March 3 memo to CUPE 7000 members about a special general meeting said their dues would not only fund the campaign, but members would also wear buttons on the job, appear as models in ads, share campaign messages on social media and urge the public to contact elected officials to call for more funding.

The campaign is to include digital ads, printed materials and a website. Some of the ads will appear on billboards and bus shelters at SkyTrain stations and on SkyTrain vehicles.

“The campaign will reinforce the message that a fully funded transit system is a critical component of public infrastructure in maintaining strong communities,” the memo said. “It will also inspire new confidence in the system as a safe and sustainable operation that serves the entire community and plays a key role in mitigating the effects of climate change.”

The $90,000 campaign aims to promote CUPE 7000 members’ work on a system that serves students, seniors and workers. CUPE National is paying half the cost, with CUPE locals 7000 and 4500 paying a quarter each.

TransLink expects to spend $2 billion in 2022, with $933 million in revenue from taxation and $619 million from fares and programs. In February, it forecast a $216 million operating loss this year.

Nanaimo SkyTrain Station (Google)

TransLink had expected to start 2022 at 60% of pre-COVID ridership and reach 90% by year-end, but that was before the omicron wave hit. The transit and roads agency fears it may not return to pre-pandemic levels due to the adoption of electric cars and work-from-home. Ridership plunged 83% and TransLink lost $75 million per month when the pandemic hit two years ago. It temporarily laid-off 1,500 employees and cut services. The B.C. and federal governments propped-up TransLink with a joint $644 million infusion in 2020.

Meanwhile, Unifor-represented Coast Mountain Bus Co. (CMBC) workers are getting a one-year contract extension to March 31, 2023. Almost three-quarters of members ratified the deal, which includes a 3% pay hike for bus drivers and 5% increase for maintenance and SeaBus workers starting April 1.

CMBC requested extending the contract for 5,000 Unifor workers.

BC Transit-employed members of Local 114, however, have been on strike since Jan. 29 in the Sea-to-Sky corridor.

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Bob Mackin The union representing SkyTrain and WestCoast

PCL could replace Acciona on Metro Vancouver’s troubled North Shore sewage plant project

Bob Mackin

Metro Vancouver’s ongoing rescue of the late and over-budget North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant project continues, after the award of a key contract on March 9.

Spain’s Acciona dominates B.C. megaprojects

The liquid waste committee voted to name project engineer AECOM Canada Ltd. the design consultant in a move that could lead to construction resuming in summer. Cheryl Nelms, Metro Vancouver’s general manager of project delivery, told the committee that the $15 million amendment for AECOM is the first phase of a contract that could cost as much as $60 million.

Almost a year ago, on March 12, 2021, the Metro Vancouver board admitted the budget had doubled to $1.058 billion and the plant wouldn’t be in service until 2024 – four years later than planned. Last October, the board announced firing of design, build and finance contractor Acciona for missing construction milestones and gave formal, 90-day notice in January.

Acciona is the lead main civil works contractor on the Site C dam and has joint venture contracts to build the new Pattullo Bridge and Broadway Subway.

“In AECOM’s new role as design consultant they will now hold the process guarantees and will ensure that the plant is fully operable and maintainable while meeting its federal and provincial obligations with regards to effluent performance,” said the staff report. “The transition of AECOM to assume the role of Metro Vancouver’s design consultant will enable cost savings by fast-tracking portions of the design and maintaining construction continuity.”

The project has cost $498 million so far and is expected to spend another $267 million in 2022. Design of the sewage plant project on the former BC Rail station site in North Vancouver is 80% complete, but construction only 37%. The only part finished is a pump station near the aging, 1961-opened sewage plant beside the Lions Gate Bridge.

Larina Lopez sandwiched between Metro Vancouver’s Pee and Poo mascots (Metro Vancouver)

At its Feb. 23 meeting, the committee awarded PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc. a $40 million construction management contract that positions PCL as the likely successor to Acciona.

“The ideal situation is that that contractor can then come to us and provide us with that guaranteed, maximum price to deliver the project, and we would come to [the board] in September, October to recommend an award with this contractor to implement and do the final construction of this project,” Nelms said.

Seven companies responded to the November tender call. Aecon Water Infrastructure Ltd. and Graham Infrastructure LP were also shortlisted.

Nelms said there could be further concrete work on the site in the summer. The next budget update is not expected until the fourth quarter of 2022. Nelms said the escalating costs for labour and commodities have “been on the radar.”

Meanwhile, the committee gave preliminary design approval for a new Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, estimated at $9.9 billion. The committee directed staff to continue pursuit of funding from senior governments.

Metro Vancouver won’t meet the 2030 federal deadline to upgrade secondary sewage treatment. The new plant would not be operational until mid-2035, with full completion estimated for 2038. But it will put a dent in household budgets.

Households in the Vancouver sewerage area, which includes Vancouver,Richmond, Burnaby and the University of British Columbia and endowment lands, could be paying $275 to $625 more per year during the life of the project. In other areas, the tax hit would be $15 to $75 per year.

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Bob Mackin Metro Vancouver’s ongoing rescue of the

Ex-general accused of Mexican hydrocarbon theft freed to live in Surrey

Bob Mackin

A retired Mexican general in Canadian custody since Dec. 17 will live in Surrey under bail conditions while he awaits extradition proceedings in Vancouver.

The Mexican government wants Canada to return Eduardo Leon Trauwitz, 55, to face trial on organized crime and fuel theft charges. Trauwitz is also the former head of security for state oil company Pemex.

B.C.-arrested Eduardo Leon Trauwitz

In BC Supreme Court on March 14, Justice Michael Tammen ruled Trauwitz should be freed from custody, fitted with an electronic monitoring device and live under an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew with his daughter, Maria Fernanda Leon, who agreed to put up a $20,000 cash surety. Trauwitz must also report regularly to a probation officer.

The Crown, on behalf of the Mexican government, had argued that Trauwitz is a flight risk. But Tammen said the original RCMP application for Trauwitz’s arrest was missing key facts about the accused and his case.

Trauwitz is accused of using his Pemex position from January 2015 to August 2016 to facilitate theft of at least 1.87 billion litres of hydrocarbon from clandestine taps in Pemex pipelines. A lawyer for ex-Pemex employees filed a criminal complaint in March 2017 to the office of Mexico’s Attorney General that claimed they were threatened with firing if they did not follow the scheme. In May 2019, Trauwitz fled to B.C., instead of appearing in a Mexican court, and applied for Canadian refugee status. During a Dec. 22 hearing, Trauwitz’s lawyer Tom Arbogast told the court that his client was the fall guy and subject to a politically motivated prosecution.

“Mr. Trauwitz was the one who was trying to stop hydrocarbon theft and his actions actually prohibited other corrupt individuals from engaging in carbon theft,” Arbogast said. “They are now turning that back against him because they are higher up in the political food chain.”

Tammen said the RCMP officer who made the application for Trauwitz’s arrest did not provide full details of Trauwitz’s status in Canada. The officer’s affidavit did not include facts about the RCMP’s communication with the Canada Border Services Agency or Trauwitz’s pending refugee claim. Tammen said the officer’s own notes show that on Dec. 14, two days before the arrest warrant application, he learned that Trauwitz was scheduled to report to the Immigration and Refugee Board on Dec. 27 in downtown Vancouver.

The material non-disclosure was enough to satisfy court requirements to trigger a review of Trauwitz’s detention, because, Tammen said, the officer “painted a picture that was at minimum incomplete, perhaps deliberately misleading, concerning Mr. Trauwitz’s connection to Canada and the knowledge of same.”

Law Courts Vancouver (Joe Mabel)

Additionally, Tammen said, the court was provided an incomplete picture of the sentence Trauwitz would receive if convicted in Mexico. The only information before the bail judge was that the Trauwitz could be jailed 30 to 60 years. But, Tammen said, the Canadian government lawyers are proceeding on breach of trust by a public official, which is punishable by a maximum five-year sentence in Canada. In Mexico, the range is between two and 14 years in prison.

“In short, it is not certain that Mr. Trauwitz, if returned to Mexico, would face the potential maximum sentence of 30 to 60 years that the charges on which extradition proceedings are extant, although serious are not clearly among the most serious offenses known to either Canadian or Mexican law,” he said.

Tammen said the Crown, on behalf of Mexico, will have to satisfy the court that the Mexican charges are similar to Canadian laws during the extradition case.

Trauwitz’s next court appearance is April 6.

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Bob Mackin A retired Mexican general in Canadian

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TheBreaker.news Podcast: Early warnings of Russia, Belarus belligerence

For the week of March 13, 2022:

On this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast: Four months before Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, words of warning about Russia and Belarus and ideas on how to encourage democracy in the neighbouring dictatorships.

Listen to highlights of an October 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute webinar.

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and commentary.

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

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TheBreaker.news Podcast: Early warnings of Russia, Belarus belligerence

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March 13, 2022