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Bob Mackin

It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad decade at the Provincial Health Services Authority, B.C.’s sixth health authority. 

The latest headlines surround the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s Dec. 15-published report, called Left Untreated: Security Gaps in B.C.’s Public Health Database.

B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael McEvoy (Mackin)

Michael McEvoy found that PHSA knew since at least 2019 that the Provincial Public Health Information System, aka Panorama, was riddled with security gaps and little was done to solve the problem. 

“Every British Columbian should be troubled by these findings, because it means personal information in the system is vulnerable to misuse and attack,” McEvoy wrote. 

PHSA was incorporated under the Societies Act in 2001, early in Premier Gordon Campbell’s administration, with a board appointed by the Minister of Health. 

It boasts a $4.5 billion annual budget with a diverse roster of provincial agencies covering cancer, HIV/AIDS, kidney, cardiac, mental health and addiction and organ transplants. 

PHSA also runs B.C. Children’s Hospital, B.C. Women’s Hospital, B.C. Emergency Health Services, Health Emergency Management B.C. and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. 

A look at the history of turmoil at PHSA over the last 10 years.

CEO out 

The BC Liberals mandated a management and executive pay freeze across government in late 2012. Did the memo reach PHSA? 

CEO Lynda Cranston was forced to resign at an emergency board meeting in June 2013 after $660,115.13 in unauthorized raises for 187 managers.

“The board believes processes are now in place that will assist us and the government to ensure that this error does not happen again,” said then-chair Wynne Powell. “Our main goal for PHSA is to put patients first and provide quality care at all times.”

Naughty list

B.C. Ambulance (Mackin)

It was Christmas party season in 2013 when B.C. EHS president Michael MacDougall and B.C. Ambulance Service chief operating officer Les Fisher were suddenly and mysteriously suspended. 

PHSA told the public three months later, in March 2014, that the duo had quit after an investigation by Vancouver law firm Roper Greyell. Powell refused to say what went wrong, except that there was no fraud or corruption. 

“I can’t, underneath the privacy regulations, disclose that,” said Powell, a longtime London Drugs executive. “I’m sorry, I wish I could.”

Dutch departure

Only two years into the job of leading B.C.’s fight against cancer, Dutch import Dr. Max Coppes left the B.C. Cancer Agency in October 2014. 

After the announcement, it was revealed that his CEO salary was topped-up by the charity arm, the B.C. Cancer Foundation. The foundation and PHSA agreed to an additional $375,000 package over five years to supplement the $561,000 paid annually to Coppes.

PPE scandal, part 1

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the PHSA’s Health Care Supply Chain department was buying $2 billion a year of equipment and materials for hospitals across the province. 

But it didn’t buy enough to prepare for a pandemic entering 2020. 

The B.C. government built stockpiles, including quantities of personal protective equipment, after the SARS and H1N1 pandemics. Stocks were not replenished under the NDP, which came to power in 2017. 

A PHSA memo in February 2020, obtained under freedom of information, said low inventories “will likely not meet B.C.’s requirements which may lead to a public safety risk.”

The situation was so dire, that in late March 2020, Premier John Horgan’s deputy minister ordered government workers to hunt for N95 masks in earthquake kits under desks in government offices across the province. The masks were earmarked for delivery to frontline doctors and nurses.

PPE scandal part 2

Benoit Morin became the new CEO at PHSA in February 2020, weeks before the pandemic emergency was declared.

Ex-PHSA CEO Benoit Morin (PHSA/Facebook)

He spearheaded the $6.95 million purchase of N95 masks in March 2020 from a Montreal company, Luminarie. The China-manufactured goods arrived the next month, but failed provincial testing protocols. Many of the masks were deemed counterfeit.

The PPE purchase, spending on office renovations and staff departures prompted the Ministry to commission a report by Ernst and Young. Morin was fired, with severance, from his $352,000-a-year job the day it was released in February 2021.

Medical device madness

On the same day as the report on Morin, Auditor General Michael Pickup said he found that PHSA had not evaluated all cybersecurity threats and their potential harm to patients. Medical devices were especially lacking in standard cybersecurity protections at PHSA.

Coughing epidemiologist

Just 10 days after Morin’s firing, PHSA tried to turn the page at its first open board meeting of the year. 

Chair Tim Manning, a retired banker, and directors appeared on a webcast from three boardrooms at headquarters. Nobody wore a mask, contrary to the health authority’s own workplace health and safety rules, that said masks were required in meeting rooms, even when physical distancing is possible. 

When a reporter pointed that out, PHSA changed the website to say masks were required when moving in or out of meeting rooms.

One of the directors, Dr. Ken Bassett of the University of B.C. Therapeutics Initiative, is an epidemiologist and he occasionally coughed throughout the meeting. 

Pickup dropped another 

At the end of August 2021, Pickup zeroed in on PHSA’s $66 million write-off of masks, gloves, goggles and other pandemic gear. 

Instead of specialized inventory management software to track goods between warehouses, the auditor general found that PHSA used Google Spreadsheets. Warehouse staff did not complete inventory reconciliations on time and even had to re-count $100 million worth of inventory at one warehouse due to errors.

A June 2021 briefing note, obtained under FOI, found PHSA spent $465 million on PPE during the first fiscal year of the pandemic. 

Fake nurse

Brigitte Clorox (Ottawa Police Service)

A year ago, on Dec. 16, 2021, gynecological surgery patient Miranda Massie filed a class action lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court against PHSA, claiming that it allowed a fake nurse to administer treatments at B.C. Women’s Hospital without her consent. 

In November 2021, Vancouver Police Department announced charges of fraud over $5,000 and personation with intent against Brigitte Cleroux. Cleroux had worked at the hospital between June 2020 and June 2021 and had no certification to act as a nurse. Another 15 charges were laid in September.

Massie’s lawsuit alleges PHSA failed to do standard background and reference checks before hiring Cleroux, who is now serving a seven-year jail sentence in Ontario.

Heat dome

Two PHSA agencies failed in the 2021 heat dome disaster that led to the deaths of 619 people. 

Email obtained under freedom of information shows that Health Emergency Management B.C. officials were slow to warn the public that record, punishing heat was on the way and deaths were likely. 

B.C. EHS did not activate its emergency operations centre until June 29, five days after the heat wave arrived. By then it was too late. 

At the open EHS board meeting on June 24, 2021, Neil Lilley, the senior provincial director of patient care, communications and planning, joked that the nurses hotline would be fielding more severe sunburn calls during the heat wave. “8-1-1 might be busy, but hopefully not,” he said. 

In mid-July 2021, Health Minister Adrian Dix replaced EHS chief operating officer Darlene MacKinnon with a new chief ambulance officer, Providence Health executive Leanne Heppell. He also installed former Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu as the board chair. 

Code Orange

It only lasted a half-hour, but it was a half-hour too long. 

At 6:35 a.m. on Dec. 3, B.C. Children’s Hospital declared Code Orange, due to too many patients and not enough emergency doctors and nurses to handle them. 

The hospital has struggled throughout the fall to keep up with a surge of children suffering influenza, COVID-19 and lung infections from Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). 

Wait times as long as 12 hours had been reported during the week previous on the emergency wait times website. 

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Bob Mackin It has been a terrible, horrible,

Bob Mackin

A New Westminster city councillor said he is at a loss for words, three weeks after a snowstorm stranded motorists on bridges and highways overnight throughout the Lower Mainland. 

Another snowstorm arrived Dec. 18 morning and it forced crews in North Vancouver to temporarily shut down the bottom of the Upper Levels Highway’s Cut due to numerous spun-out vehicles.

Ministry of Transportation camera on The Cut, Dec. 18 (DriveBC)

“It’s not like we didn’t see this coming,” said Coun. Daniel Fontaine of the New West Progressives. “And we still don’t have answers as to why this keeps happening! Can we please get all the major players in a room to discuss?”

After the Nov. 29 storm, Fontaine called for a regional “snow summit” with provincial, regional and municipal officials, to determine what went wrong and find ways to improve preparation and response. That meeting hasn’t happened yet, but new Metro Vancouver Chair and Delta Mayor George Harvie has called on the government to review its highways maintenance contracts. The Nov. 29 snowstorm led to 3,600 crash and/or injury claims to ICBC, 94% more than the Tuesday of the previous week. 

“Surely the Premier [David Eby] can make something that simple happen if the Minister of Transportation [Rob Fleming] won’t respond,” Fontaine said. “After all, I think it even snows in Point Grey, too.”

Weather chaser Brad Atchison Tweeted a video that he shot around 7:45 a.m. Sunday from the bottom of The Cut, driving westbound.

“Alex Fraser, Pattullo (bridges), Massey Tunnel, all you had it really bad on that Tuesday [Nov. 29]. Now it hit the North Shore,” Atchison said on his video.

“There are so many spun-out cars, I lost count. All wheel drive and snow tires, and I am struggling.” 

New Westminster City Councillor Daniel Fontaine (Zoom)

Nearly three hours later, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure issued a statement that warned motorists of Highway 1 detours and closures through North Vancouver while highway maintenance crews and police deal with disabled cars and trucks. 

“Tow trucks are restoring access, while the ministry’s maintenance contractor continues to treat Highway 1 with abrasives. Drivers with vehicles not properly equipped with winter tires should avoid this section of Highway 1.”

The Ministry also advised drivers to assist crews by moving over safely when they see an approaching vehicle displaying an amber light. “This allows maintenance crews to clear the snow and improve road conditions to reduce hazards for drivers and help them get home safely.”

Miller Capilano Highway Services Ltd., holds the highway maintenance contract for Service Area 4, which includes North and West Vancouver. It did not immediately respond for comment. 

The Cut and surroundings were part of a $200 million upgrade finished last summer. 

The latest snowfall warning issued by Environment Canada, at 4:59 a.m. Sunday, called for five to 10 centimetres of snow in Metro Vancouver through the afternoon due to an Arctic front, with windchills as low as -10 Celsius by late Sunday afternoon.

“Due to the rapid cooling through the day due to the arctic front, wet exposed surfaces on roads and sidewalks could freeze rapidly and become hazardous. Exercise extra caution if out driving, or walking,” said the weather warning.

The change in weather was already predicted Dec. 16, when the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness urged British Columbians to prepare for colder-than-normal temperatures and snow beginning Saturday. 

“The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s maintenance contractors will be treating provincial roads with brine and winter abrasives in advance of any precipitation. They will be ready to manage any accumulations of snow,” said the statement. 

“Drivers can do their part by planning ahead. If weather conditions worsen, drivers should stay off the road, and if they have to travel, ensure their vehicle is properly equipped with snow tires.”

The Ministry also suggested drivers check forecasts before travelling, be ready with a full tank of fuel and carry a winter survival kit, including a windshield scraper, snow brush, flashlight with extra batteries, first aid supplies, blanket, drinking water and non-perishable food. 

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Bob Mackin A New Westminster city councillor said

For the week of Dec. 18, 2022:

Twas the Podcast before Christmas, plus other festive treats. Pour yourself an egg nog, put a log on the fire and join host Bob Mackin for the fifth annual holiday tradition.

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and a commentary.

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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

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For the week of Dec. 18, 2022: Twas

Bob Mackin

BC Liberal Elenore Sturko spent $142,635.40 to win the South Surrey by-election. 

In Elections BC returns published Dec. 15, Sturko used $62,170.25 during the official campaign period leading up to the Sept. 10 by-election, in which she won the seat with 5,568 votes.

Kevin Falcon campaigning with Elenore Stark (BC Liberals/Twitter)

Earlier this month, BC Liberal leader Kevin Falcon appointed Sturko the shadow minister for mental health, addiction, recovery and education.

Pauline Greaves, the NDP runner-up, had 3,221 votes in the race to replace BC Liberal Stephanie Cadieux, who quit politics in April to become the first federal accessibility commissioner. 

Former Surrey RCMP public information officer Sturko also reported $80,215.15 in expenses outside the official campaign period, a quarter of which was for advertising. 

The biggest cost was $34,830.59 in office rent. Sturko was nominated in May and began campaigning shortly afterward, but Premier John Horgan waited until Aug. 13 to call the by-election. 

Of the $42,603.61 in Sturko campaign period advertising expenses, the biggest line items were commercial canvassing ($14,901.90), social media ads ($9,246.03) and lawn signs ($8,028.89). 

Motiontide Media was the biggest advertising supplier at $11,513.53. The Vancouver Island company handled digital advertising for the Vancouver-Quilchena constituency office of former BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson.

Yorkville Strategies, a polling company run by backroom strategist Dimitri Pantazopoulos, billed $4,481.49 for work on Sturko’s campaign. 

The Greaves filing said the NDP campaign raised $82,954.97, of which the candidate spent $54,889.93 during the campaign period and sought $29,282.47 for reimbursement. 

Greaves spent $25,680.32 on salaries and benefits and $17,271.81 on advertising. Desmond Pollard, who was an aide to NDP environment minister George Heyman, billed $6,867.34 for salary and expenses. 

Third-place B.C. Conservative candidate Harman Bhangu spent $34,886.58, including $13,145.28 on ads. 

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Bob Mackin BC Liberal Elenore Sturko spent $142,635.40

Bob Mackin

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

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

Ravi Kahlon (Twitter)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bob Mackin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From B.C. CBRNE Plan (BC Gov)

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

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

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

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

From B.C. CBRNE Plan (BC Gov)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Bob Mackin A vice-president of the union that

Bob Mackin

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

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

ABC mayoral candidate Ken Sim (YouTube)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Kareem Allam/Twitter)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How much is this all costing? 

Neither Allam nor Verrall responded for comment. 

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

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

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Bob Mackin In its campaign platform, ABC Vancouver

Bob Mackin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kash Heed (Mackin)

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

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

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

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Bob Mackin A Richmond city councillor who was

For the week of Dec. 11, 2022:

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

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

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

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

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

Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and a commentary.

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

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For the week of Dec. 11, 2022: It's

Bob Mackin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Democracy Watch’s Duff Conacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Bob Mackin A government watchdog says a New