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Bob Mackin

The chair of Hockey Canada’s British Columbia branch would not say Oct. 5 whether the organization would follow Hockey Quebec’s lead and withhold player dues from the scandal-plagued national governing body.

BC Hockey chair Stephanie White (BC Hockey)

La Presse reported that Hockey Quebec no longer has confidence in Hockey Canada’s “ability to act effectively to change the hockey culture with the structure in place.” So the organization passed a resolution Oct. 4 to stop sending the $3-per-player registration fee to Hockey Canada. There were 87,000 Quebec players registered in 2019-2020, the most-recent year available. 

“I do not comment nor do I have a comment on another member branch’s decision,” said Stephanie White, the B.C. Hockey Association’s board chair and director of athletics at the University of Windsor.

BC Hockey later issued a prepared statement that said it continues to participate in the governance review led by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Thomas Cromwell. 

“We are also closely monitoring the input and decisions of other members of Hockey Canada, including those of Hockey Quebec today. BC Hockey is committed to playing a role in accountability for positive change in hockey for our participant members.”

Hockey Canada is under fire for sexual assault scandals involving former national junior team players and for diverting player dues to funds intended for misconduct settlements. It has also hired crisis communications firm Navigator for damage control.  

Hockey Canada

Chair Michael Brind’Amour resigned in August. Interim chair Andrea Skinner told a House of Commons committee investigating Hockey Canada that the board continues to support CEO Scott Smith and management. She expressed disappointment that hockey is scapegoated because “toxic behaviour exists throughout society.”

”I can’t understand how Hockey Canada refuses to accept the reality that they no longer have the trust of parents and Canadians,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Wednesday.

In August, BC Hockey was among the 13 provincial and territorial federations that joined forces to threaten withholding dues.

Despite the Tuesday move, Hockey Quebec said it would continue paying insurance costs to Hockey Canada until it finds an alternative. “Any amount from our members’ contributions, in addition to the costs of the insurance policy, should be used to improve services and programs for them.”

Meanwhile, Tim Hortons revealed Wednesday that it has withdrawn sponsorship of Hockey Canada men’s programs for the 2022-2023 season, including the world junior championship. 

Minutes of BC Hockey’s annual congress in Penticton last June say the organization ended the 2021-2022 fiscal year with a $1.45 million surplus. It received $800,000 from the B.C. government’s amateur sport fund and $64,000 in pandemic relief wage subsidies. 

Hockey Canada did not charge BC Hockey the $3-per-player fee during the year, due to COVID-19, for a savings of $171,000. 

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Bob Mackin The chair of Hockey Canada’s British

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Bob Mackin

More than 90 athletes seeking to reform Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton don’t know what lies around the next curve after the national governing body’s annual general meeting was adjourned Sept. 29 in Calgary.

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

President and acting CEO Sarah Storey tabled the annual financial report, but refused to allow a vote on her leadership due to alleged concerns over membership eligibility. 

Under federal law, the meeting must continue by Nov. 7, and BCS bylaws require 21 to 35 days notice to members. 

Mirela Rahneva, who competed in skeleton at Beijing 2022, would rather have her mind on  training for the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation world cup season, which starts Nov. 22-27 at the Whistler Sliding Centre. But the long-term future of the two sliding sports in Canada is at stake. 

“A lot of us are hanging around just to kind of see the change happen and maybe if the change is positive, stick around for another Olympics,” Rahneva said in an interview. “I think Canada can be such a medal contender, in skeleton and bobsleigh, there’s so much potential here, we’re just severely under-resourced. That comes from the current leadership.”

In March, after a disappointing Olympics, the group of sliders called for Storey and high performance director Chris Le Bihan to resign over a combination of toxic culture, inadequate safety, lack of transparency and poor governance at BCS. Federal Sport Minister Pascal St-Onge ordered an audit in April. 

Rahneva and others thought the annual general meeting would be their chance to turn the corner and elect sport psychologist Tara McNeil to replace Storey.

Frustration with Storey’s leadership had festered since her original 2014 election. As vice-president, she helped draft a new version of BCS bylaws in 2013 and was accused of using those new rules to win the presidency. Storey is also the BCS acting chief executive, despite the Canadian Sport Governance Code stating that no board member should be chief executive during their term as a director. Father Bob Storey is the former Olympic bobsledder and IBSF president and her brother Max is an Olympic bid and organizing consultant. 

During the meeting, Storey thwarted motions for the vote because BCS said it had received “credible information” that there had been irregularities in verifying memberships through BCS’s provincial affiliates, so it was unable to determine eligibility to vote or be elected to the board. 

“It is of the utmost importance to the board of directors of BCS that the fairness and integrity of the decisions to be made at the annual general meeting of BCS is preserved,” said a statement from BCS. “BCS is now working with its provincial partners to verify its members for the purpose of the AGM and to give notice for a date and time to reconvene.”

Mirela Rahneva at Beijing 2022 (Canadian Olympic Committee)

The financial report showed Sport Canada contributed 73% of BCS’s $4.12 million revenue in the year ended March 31, 2022, which also included $412,600 from the Canadian Olympic Committee, $278,176 from sponsors, and $210,530 from IBSF.

BCS was left with almost $21,000 in surplus after spending more than $4.1 million. The biggest line item was the national bobsleigh team at $2.29 million. Skeleton cost nearly $462,000.

Rahneva said the meeting had been scheduled for just two hours after bobsledders had finished testing and training, but that didn’t stop them from attending. She said she unsuccessfully pushed for the vote, but the meeting ended up being “very much aligned with how the organization has been run for the past eight years.” 

“I would like to hold BCS accountable to the bylaws and policies and the procedure of the meeting,” Rahneva said. “And so the motion was seconded right away, when I first put it forward, by another athlete. I said you guys have to be accountable to your policies, you can’t just use the policies when it suits you.”

Jaclyn LaBerge, a former skeleton athlete, expected surprises, but is disappointed the vote was delayed. She had been working under the rules to bring proxy memberships and votes from athletes, family and alumni unable to attend the meeting in-person. But, suddenly, two days before the meeting, BCS wanted provincial affiliates to notarize their membership lists. 

The meeting started a half-hour late and lasted more than four hours, including a break that was announced for five minutes, but lasted 90. LaBerge called it a “debacle,” but was encouraged that Sport Canada and AthletesCan, the association of national team athletes, sent observers. She hopes one or both will intervene.

“I walked out of there being like, the athletes are 100% united in that room,” LaBerge said.

On Aug. 1, the newly formed federal Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner said it had no jurisdiction to investigate BCS, because BCS had not signed-on to the program. That prompted another letter to St-Onge and the heads of Own the Podium, Canadian Olympic Committee and Sport Canada, expressing frustration that the Athlete Facilitation Committee had made no headway.

“We have seen no acknowledgement, attention, or resolution by BCS leadership and administration to address the concerns athletes have raised,” said the Aug. 12 letter. 

A request for comment from St-Onge was not fulfilled before deadline.

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Bob Mackin More than 90 athletes seeking to

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Bob Mackin

If Colleen Hardwick makes it to the top of the podium on Oct. 15 with a TEAM for a Livable Vancouver majority, she vows to give Vancouverites a say on the 2030 Winter Olympics bid. 

“We did this in the lead-up to the 2010 Olympics, so why should the 2030 Olympics be any different?” mayoral candidate Hardwick said Oct. 4, in front of the Olympic cauldron at Jack Poole Plaza. “Why would we exclude Vancouverites from such a big decision, one where there’s absolutely no federal or provincial commitment at this point?”

Mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick and her TEAM team at the 2010 Olympic cauldron on Jack Poole Plaza Oct. 4. (Mackin)

Vancouver is exploring a bid against Salt Lake City, the 2002 host, and Sapporo, Japan, the 1972 host. The IOC plans to name the host next September or October during its annual meeting, which has been delayed from May 2023. 

The last time there was a plebiscite on a Canadian Olympic bid, Calgary voters in 2018 rejected a proposal for the 1988 host to bid on the 2026 Games. Those are going to Milano Cortina, Italy instead. 

Hardwick, however, looks to Vancouver’s 2003 precedent. After Larry Campbell led COPE to a majority in 2002, the new mayor fulfilled a promise to hold a plebiscite. In February 2003, 64% of voters supported Vancouver 2010 in principle and the IOC eventually named Vancouver the 2010 host in July 2003. 

Hardwick isn’t the first politician on the 2018-elected city council to propose putting the 2030 bid to a public vote. It was actually Mayor Kennedy Stewart in February 2020, after former Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong hatched the idea of another Vancouver Olympics. 

At the time, Stewart told reporters: “The very first thing that would need to happen, however, is that residents of Vancouver get to express their support through a referendum much like the first bid.”

Since then, Stewart made a 180-degree turn. He combined with Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton, leaders of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Lil’wat nations and the Canadian Olympic Committee to explore the bid.

When Hardwick proposed a plebiscite at city council meetings in April and July, Stewart was the biggest opponent. At the latter meeting, three Olympic-boosting members of Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver party and 2010 opponents Adriane Carr (Green) and Jean Swanson (COPE) were among those who teamed-up with Stewart to reject Hardwick’s motion, which sought a plebiscite on the civic election ballot.

“Kennedy Stewart, as mayor, has completely sidelined the citizens of Vancouver, as he’s tried to push this through without consulting with the public in any meaningful way,” Hardwick said. 

Not only that, but he published a series of Tweets on March 24 that accused Hardwick of undermining the bid exploration memorandum of understanding. Hardwick complained about the disinformation city hall integrity commissioner Lisa Southern, who ruled that Stewart broke the code of conduct because the agreement is not legally binding. 

During Business in Vancouver’s Sept. 26 mayoral debate, Stewart reiterated his support for the bid, but indicated there remains some uncertainty. 

“The nations have not yet decided whether or not they’re going to submit a bid,” Stewart said. “This is an ongoing process that I’m completely supporting because the three host nations, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, are, in my view, some of the most-important people that I talk to in the city, they’re the largest landholders in the city, and it is their territory after all.”

They are also business partners with one of the biggest fundraisers for Stewart’s Forward Together party: Rogers Arena and Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini. 

Emilio Rivero, who heads an independent Vancouver 2030 bid booster group, supports Hardwick. He said a plebiscite would demonstrate the new fourth element of the IOC’s motto: stronger, faster, higher and together.

“We find it completely incompatible that the leadership of a city would refuse to ask the taxpayers of the city, the people that live here, if they do want the Olympics back,” said Rivero, who believes a majority of Vancouverites would vote yes again.

“We believe that the economic model makes sense, that infrastructure model makes sense. But, above everything else, I think that getting the Olympics back and that spirit into Canada in  this moment would just help us to be more united.”

Hardwick said the IOC’s recent decision to delay next May’s annual meeting to September or October 2023 offers a can’t-miss opportunity to ask voters. 

The delay comes amid turmoil in Japan and B.C. The host country of last year’s Summer Olympics is wrestling with a corruption scandal involving former Tokyo organizing committee executives.

Coun. Collen Hardwick (left) and Mayor Kennedy Stewart at the April 12 city council meeting (City of Vancouver)

In B.C., new municipal councils are to be elected in Vancouver, Whistler, Richmond and Sun Peaks on Oct. 15. The COC awaits a decision later this fall from the B.C. NDP government whether it will fund another Games and cover any deficits. That government began to change at the end of September, when Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Melanie Mark quit cabinet for personal health reasons and handed the portfolio to her predecessor, Lisa Beare. John Horgan is in his final months as premier, awaiting either David Eby or Anjali Appadurai to take over as late as December.

The COC estimated Vancouver 2030 would cost $4 billion, including at least $1 billion from taxpayers. It proposes reusing most of the Vancouver 2010 venues in Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler, with the exception of the Agrodome for curling, Hastings Racecourse for big air skiing and snowboard jumping and Sun Peaks resort near Kamloops for snowboarding and freestyle skiing. 

The 2010 Games are believed to have cost $8 billion, all-in. The true costs are unknown, because the Auditor General never did a post-Games study, the organizing committee was not subject to the freedom of information law and its board minutes and financial files won’t be open to the public at the City Archives until fall 2025.

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Bob Mackin If Colleen Hardwick makes it to

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For the week of Oct. 2, 2022:

It’s MMA time again: Mackin-Mario-Andy.

theBreaker.news Podcast host Bob Mackin, ResearchCo pollster Mario Canseco and Simon Fraser University city program director Andy Yan, that is.

They look at the week that was on the road to the Vancouver civic election:

Is Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s $10 billion Vancouver Loop SkyTrain plan just plain loopy? 

Does Coun. Colleen Hardwick have a winning co-op housing platform? 

Who did worse last week, OneCity’s digital dirty tricksters or NPA city council candidate Morning Lee? 

Plus Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim headlines and a virtual Nanaimo bar for a difference maker.

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

Now on Google Podcasts!

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For the week of Oct. 2, 2022:

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Bob Mackin

Vancouver joined Victoria and Richmond on Sept. 30 by renaming a street named for the province’s first Lieutenant-Governor. 

Design for the signs replacing Trutch Street in Vancouver (Pete Fry/City of Vancouver)

At an on-reserve, public ceremony, the Musqueam Indian Band bestowed City of Vancouver a new name for Trutch Street in Kitsilano on the second annual Truth and Reconciliation orange shirt day. New signs will read Musqueamview Street in English and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (pronounced “ShMusqueam-awsum”) in the Halkomelem language.

City council voted unanimously July 8 to support Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s name change motion. Stewart, whose re-election campaign team wears Forward Together-branded orange shirts, called Sir Joseph William Trutch, a “racist and chief architect of policies causing immense and long-standing harm to First Nations people.” 

English-born Trutch came north. from California for the Fraser River Gold Rush in 1858. He eventually negotiated British Columbia’s 1871 entry to Confederation and was appointed lieutenant governor. But he was also known for disregarding aboriginal title and reducing the size of reserves. 

In a 2017 B.C. Studies essay, former BC Liberal aboriginal relations and reconciliation minister George Abbott noted the 2003 rebuke of Trutch by Iona Campagnolo, B.C.’s 27th lieutenant governor. Campagnolo called Trutch her “least illustrious” predecessor and blamed him for “prejudices and injustices that stain our provincial history.”

In April, without any fanfare, Richmond renamed Trutch Street in the Terra Nova neighbourhood to Point Avenue, in honour of B.C.’s first Indigenous lieutenant governor, Steven Point. Point chaired the Sto:lo Nation and sat as a provincial court judge before his 2007 to 2012 term at Government House.

On July 10, Victoria hosted an Esquimalt and Songhees ceremony to rename its Trutch Street as “Su’it Street.” In the Lekwungen language, Su’it, pronounced “say-EET,” means truth.

Documents released under freedom of information show Victoria city hall spent $3,124 to change the name.

Trutch Street in Vancouver (Mackin)

The cost of three new cut vinyl-on-aluminum signs was just $225. With labour and design costs added, the total was $1,465.35. It spent $235.29 for three posts from Flocor in Stoney Creek, Ont. Nine city workers billed time for the project. 

The Hungry Bubbas food truck from Duncan catered strawberry bannock and coffee for $750 and city hall paid $900 in stipends to three local First Nations members: Margaret Charlie and Michelle Sam ($400 each) and Diane Sam ($100).

The Victoria renaming ceremony came a month before the fourth anniversary of Mayor Lisa Helps unofficially launching her last re-election campaign with the removal of the 1982-erected Sir John A. Macdonald statue outside city hall. 

Canada’s first Prime Minister and Victoria member of parliament helped unite the country by railway, but also approved creation of the Indian residential school system. Helps said in 2018 that the statue removal was conceived in meetings of the so-called “city family” committee with local Indigenous leaders. 

Minutes were not kept of the meetings and Victoria’s FOI office originally issued a $1,185 invoice to find email to city council from citizens about whether the statue should stay or go. It eventually disclosed 13 pages containing letters of support, plus a letter from the Sir John A. Macdonald Historical Society’s chair, Michael Francis. 

Francis wrote that Macdonald worked to reform laws to enable Indigenous people to vote, but it was important to learn from mistakes made by leaders of the past. 

“Sometimes an appropriate location of a statute with a suitable plaque to reflect the strengths and weaknesses on the individual may be far more instructive for all of us than its simple obliteration from the landscape,” said Francis’s letter. 

Removal of the statue cost taxpayers $30,126, including $12,446 for policing and $9,303 for city staff. It was placed in city storage. 

On Sept. 22, outgoing mayor Helps led the unanimous vote to return the statue to the society for storage in Ladner. 

Early last year, vandals beheaded the Queen Elizabeth II statue in the capital city’s Beacon Hill Park. On Canada Day in 2021, a mob tore down the Capt. James Cook statue across from the Empress Hotel and heaved it into the Inner Harbour. 

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Bob Mackin Vancouver joined Victoria and Richmond on

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A sports ticketing and travel company is suing the promoter of the cancelled Vancouver electric car race and its four principals for more than $3.4 million. 

ATPI Travel and Events Canada Inc. filed a claim Sept. 20 in the Quebec Superior Court against One Stop Stategy Group Inc., and its executives, Matthew Carter, Eric Kerb, Anne Roy and Philip Smirnow.

OSS Group’s Matthew Carter (LinkedIn)

ATPI claims the majority of OSS directors have departed and it fears OSS will go bankrupt instead of paying what it owes the company and ticket holders: $2,789,539 to reimburse ticket buyers and $656,224.46 for ATPI’s service fees and customer refunds. 

A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 20 in Montreal.

“The defendants have absolutely no intention to refund customers and comply with their obligations,” the ATPI claim said. 

The first of five annual Canadian E-Fests was scheduled for June 30-July 2, including a Nickelback concert, environmental conference, e-sports tournament and ABB Formula E World Championship race around East False Creek streets. In April, the event was postponed to 2023 due to the OSS failure to obtain permits from public and private landowners. Vancouver wasn’t included on the 2023 race schedule in June when Formula E terminated its contract with OSS.

ATPI’s court filing said it agreed Sept. 29, 2021 to be the ticket seller with a contract that required OSS to fully refund ATPI and ticket buyers within 30 days of any cancellation. 

ATPI’s claim states trouble appeared April 15 when it was informed that the event “would allegedly be postponed” and that Carter was to meet with City of Vancouver, Formula E and key suppliers. 

Map of the proposed route for the Vancouver Formula E race.

“ATPI was not aware nor was it informed by defendants that at that time, OSS had already

been notified by the City of Vancouver that the latter had terminated its agreement with OSS regarding the event, given OSS’ failure to comply with their obligations,” said the lawsuit. 

ATPI said it discovered June 17 through a Formula E media statement that the race was not postponed, but cancelled and that OSS’s contract with Formula E had been terminated. 

On June 27, ATPI demanded all ticket sale proceeds from OSS and eligible costs so that it could refund customers. But, it claimed, OSS refused. 

“Consequently, many consumers have been addressing their reimbursement requests

directly to ATPI, by proceeding to ‘chargebacks’ through their credit card companies which have been debiting the refunds from ATPI’s account.”

ATPI alleged the chargebacks have cost it $560,000 so far and that OSS ignored its Aug. 2 demand letter. 

“[OSS and its executives] clearly tried to elude their obligations towards ATPI and consumers, by refusing and/or neglecting without any valid reason to see to the reimbursement of ticket holders.”

None of the allegations has been proven in court and OSS has not responded. 

At the end of July, city council decided behind closed-doors to direct staff to refund the $500,000 deposit to OSS, even though the city’s contract allowed it to keep the sum. Talks between the city and OSS broke down in mid-August when OSS balked at the city’s insistence that a mutually agreed lawyer be retained to ensure the funds were properly disbursed to ticket holders and suppliers. 

“It’s impossible for us to accept it, and they knew that,” Carter, the OSS CEO, said in a brief phone interview Aug. 22. “I will give you an update when I’m allowed to. All I can confirm is we have not received any of the funds.”

Coun. Michael Wiebe (left) and Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung in 2018 (Mackin)

The Jan. 26 contract between city hall and OSS, obtained under freedom of information, said OSS was responsible for all costs of producing the event, including city engineering and police services. It also agreed to pay overtime costs due to holding a downtown core event on Canada Day weekend — a date typically blacked-out for new major events. 

Carter said 33,000 tickets were sold to the event, but did not say how many were full price to the public versus freebies for sponsors. 

Green Party Coun. Mike Wiebe and ABC Vancouver Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung co-sponsored the April 2021 city council motion to bring Formula E to Vancouver.

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Bob Mackin A sports ticketing and travel company

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The biggest backer of Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s re-election campaign has been accused in court of abusing his children.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart (Twitter)

But Stewart’s Forward Together party has not responded to requests for comment about the party’s relationship with its most-important fundraiser. 

In B.C. Supreme Court on Sept. 27, a judge heard allegations from Francesco Aquilini’s estranged wife Tali’ah that the owner of the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena had a history of physically and mentally abusing his children.

Tali’ah alleges that her former husband, with whom she reached a divorce settlement in 2013, stopped making child support payments a year ago. She also claimed that the three children, now in their 20s and studying in university, want no contact with their father. 

The case prompted the National Hockey League to issue a statement, saying that it had contacted Aquilini and his lawyers. “Mr. Aquilini has advised us that he categorically denies the allegations. We plan to continue to monitor the situation and, if necessary, will respond as we learn more as events unfold.”

A statement on Francesco Aquilini’s behalf said that he has and will continue to meet legal obligations, “but he has concerns about the veracity of the information provided in support of financial demands. 

“It is unfortunate that allegations without merit are brought forward for a collateral purpose. He will have nothing further to say at this time as the matter is before the courts.”

Francesco Aquilini between MP Taleeb Noormohamed (left) and Premier John Horgan (BC Gov/Flickr)

Evidence of the rift in the public domain includes a 2019 profile on an American university website for one of the couple’s children, who identified the first names of her siblings and mother, but omitted her father’s name.

The Forward Together spreadsheet of fundraising “captains” found by Stanley Q. Woodvine of the Georgia Straight says Aquilini helped raise $64,350 in 2022 donations for Stewart’s re-election, with a goal of $110,000. The amount raised and the goal are far and away higher than any of the other prominent names from the city’s real estate industry in the document. 

In Forward Together’s Aug. 8-released fundraising list, Stewart reported receiving almost $14,000 in donations from Aquilini family members in the last two years. 

The list shows 2021 donations from brothers Francesco ($1,238.07) and Roberto Aquilini ($1,239). Francesco, Roberto and father Luigi each gave $1,250 in 2022.

Jim Chu, the former Vancouver Police chief now working as a vice-president of Aquilini Investment Group, is on the list for $1,239 in 2021 and $1,250 in 2022. Former AIG president David Negrin, now the top executive at MST Development, donated $1,239 to Stewart in 2021.

Francesco Aquilini publicly threw his support behind Stewart’s re-election campaign, when he hosted an April 25 fundraiser at the Captain’s Room in Rogers Arena. The event was officially called the Mayor’s Engagement Lunch. Stewart advertised tickets for the event at $600, $900 and $1,250. 

AIG and MST Development Corp., the Musqueam-Squamish-Tsleil-Waututh real estate company, plan to redevelop the former B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch site on East Broadway. AIG, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh co-own the Willingdon Lands in Burnaby. Negrin advised MST on its purchase of the province’s Jericho Lands, after MST combined with Canada Lands Co. to acquire the federal parcel and two other federal properties. 

Squamish Nation spokesman Marc Riddell has not responded for comment about the allegations against Aquilini.

The three First Nations have proposed an athletes’ village be built at the Jericho Lands if the Canadian Olympic Committee’s bid for to bring the Olympics back to Vancouver wins next year. The proposed venues include Rogers Arena, site of the 2010 men’s and women’s hockey gold medal games. 

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Bob Mackin The biggest backer of Vancouver Mayor

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A SkyTrain derailed near Scott Road station last May because of what TransLink has called “almost simultaneous failure of two bolts” at one of the mainline’s 124 turnout switches.

On May 30 at 7:40 p.m., two cars of a four-car Mark II train derailed: both trucks of the third car and the rear truck of the fourth car went off the rail, disrupting rapid transit service to and from Surrey for 24 hours.

Photo of the derailed SkyTrain car on May 30, 2022 near Scott Road Station (TransLink)

TransLink originally downplayed the severity, calling it a “track issue” and “stalled train” before saying the train had been “partially dislodged.” No injuries were reported, though passengers stuck on the train for a half-hour needed attendants to walk them back to the station.

Email released under freedom of information indicates that the switch, which enables a train to move from one set of tracks to another, should have received a thorough annual inspection earlier in May, but received a bi-weekly inspection on the morning of May 29. A bi-weekly inspection generally involves a track-level visual and condition assessment and lubrication of movable components. A work order log shows that technicians dealt with faults at the same turnout switch, known as DC47, from early 2021 all the way to April of this year.

Guideway supervisor Nick Micelotta’s May 31 handover report said that two “K-plate bolts sheared at the head.” The switch was not movable and that a burning smell was coming from the train. Micelotta’s report said the derailment caused extensive damage. 

“LIM [linear induction motor] cap was scraped for about two track sections, concrete wall was hit by collector shoe assembly that was ripped off the train, handrail right above it was hit by the train and walkway cover inserts/bolts were torn off on one side,” Micelotta wrote.

TransLink’s rail division, B.C. Rapid Transit Co., waited for Technical Safety BC’s approval for rerail and repair. Revenue service resumed after 7:47 p.m. on May 31. 

“We have never had this incident or similar incident occur before,” TransLink spokesperson Tina Lovegreen said by email.

Photo of the derailed SkyTrain car on May 30, 2022 near Scott Road Station (TransLink)

Lovegreen said the impact of trains on rail causes wear and tear and loosening of components over time. 

“Immediately after this incident, we inspected all frogs [common crossings] and bolts across the system, none showed the same problem as DC47,” Lovegreen said.

A report to the Sept. 28 TransLink board meeting said the incident was a major reason why Expo and Millennium lines did not meet service delivery and on-time performance targets in the second quarter. 

Operations vice-president Mike Richard said SkyTrain was 95.7% on-time, below the 96.5% target. There were 12 delays over 30 minutes, including the derailment, three switch issues, two power issues, two extended medical emergencies, two objects falling into the track, one extended trespasser in the track area and one train door problem.

TransLink has six levels of switch inspection, ranging from a daily visual inspection using a sweep train to the hands-on yearly inspection, which includes lubrication of movable components, a complete hardware condition assessment and cleaning of all components throughout the switch.

The completed inspections log for DC47 showed there had been 11 biweekly switch inspections in 2022 before the derailment, plus a hands-on quarterly in February. The work order for a May 18 annual inspection was not completed. 

Three work orders in 2021 focused on problems with the fastening systems. 

“Both heads on the K-plate bolts sheared off. Bolts were stuck inside the plate,” said the entry for Jan. 9, 2021. 

The “K-plate bolt [was] found with its head sheared off and the bolt shank drifting out of the hole,” on July 7, 2021.

Photo of the derailed SkyTrain car on May 30, 2022 near Scott Road Station (TransLink)

The K-plate bolt appeared to be loose during Oct. 18, 2021 work, “So I went to tightened it and it was snapped already. There is history on this frog (Siemens) for adapter plate and K-plate & bolts snapping.”

Lovegreen said the bolts used were recommended and authorized by the original equipment manufacturer and there was no indication that bolt failures were specific to Siemens machines. She also said there was no “go slow zone” in place at the time of the incident at the DC47 switch. 

While the incident was called a derailment by SkyTrain managers throughout the email disclosed, TransLink’s communications department refers to the incident as a “dislodgement.” Richard repeated the same word during his Sept. 28 presentation to the TransLink board.

“Given only one part of the train was dislodged from the track, it was more appropriate to refer to the incident as a partial dislodgment,” Lovegreen said. 

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Bob Mackin A SkyTrain derailed near Scott Road

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Bob Mackin

An outspoken advocate for affordable housing calls an apology by a OneCity Vancouver supporter a “non-pology” after a leaked chat log showed party supporters discussing potential dirty tricks against opponents who aren’t on the Oct. 15 ballot.

Rohana Rezel (ProVancouver/YouTube)

Rohana Rezel, who ran for city council in 2018 with ProVancouver, published excerpts on his ThinkPol website from online discussions between activists involved with the party behind Coun. Christine Boyle and School Board Trustee Jennifer Reddy. 

Several of those named are also associated with Abundant Housing Vancouver (AHV). The group of activists, aligned with the B.C. NDP and federal Liberals, frequently lobbies Vancouver city council to fast-track the replacement of single-family housing with high-density projects. 

One of those on the chat, Tim Ell, proposed “we give [Rezel] a taste of his own medicine and openly wonder why he’s associating on Twitter with possible pedophiles.”

Another person, whose identity was redacted on Rezel’s website, suggested “someone should just create anon (account) that spews nonstop racist misogynist stuff and then pin it on Rezel.” 

“They tried to destroy my life and they spread some horrendous, malicious rumours about other people,” Rezel said in an interview. “They need to beg everyone involved for an apology. But no one’s taking accountability.”

Neither Boyle, the de facto leader of the party, nor campaign manager Alex McGowan responded for comment.

In a series of Tweets on Tuesday attributed to McGowan, the party said it became aware of private Twitter chat logs including comments from a OneCity door-to-door campaigner. 

“OneCity was founded on a commitment to do politics differently. The statements in question are clearly inconsistent with our founding values,” read the party’s Tweets. “We are glad to see that the individual understands that his language was inappropriate and has apologized and committed to do better. Elections are contests of ideas that should be approached in good faith. This is not how we address the crises that are facing our city.”

Tim Ell (left) and Christine Boyle (Twitter)

Tim Ell Tweeted an apology, claiming the screenshots were taken “wildly out of context,” but admitted he got caught-up in “toxic, bad faith politics.”

“I have never, and would never, accuse someone of anything without evidence,” wrote Ell, who works as a branch manager at BMO. “Regardless of their political views, no one deserves to be the target of slanders or misinformation.”

Rezel said he had received nothing directly from OneCity or Ell.

“It feels like they tried to downplay the severity of what was discussed, to slander people,” Rezel said.

Nobody from AHV responded for comment. The 2016-founded, pro-development group’s board includes Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal lawyer Danny Oleksiuk. During his appearance at the Seattle-based Sightline Institute’s YIMBYTown 2022 conference, Oleksiuk revealed how AHV had become allied with OneCity by the 2018 election. 

He described the party as a “left, left NIMBY kind of thing” during the 2014 election cycle. 

“Abundant Housing actually spent a lot of time talking to OneCity people, because we’re like, look, these aren’t really your values if you really think about what you’re doing,” Oleksiuk said on April 12. 

“OneCity had a really incredible change of heart” and it replaced some organizers and members along the way with people like Dustin Rivers, aka Khelsilem, now the Squamish Nation’s council chair. Rivers also spoke on the April 12 event and said he had led the development of OneCity’s 2022 campaign platform.

Dustin Rivers (aka Khelsilem), Mayor Kennedy Stewart and Coun. Christine Boyle (Twitter)

Rezel has been a thorn in the side of Vancouver followers of the so-called YIMBY movement, who aggressively lobby for rapid housing deregulation and fast-tracked density to bring down prices, despite evidence to the contrary. For instance, a 2019 study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Urban Affairs Review found upzoning resulted in Chicago price increases.

Rezel has also exposed abuses by Airbnb operators and professional housing speculators. He originally revealed that Liberal Vancouver-Granville candidate Taleeb Noormohamed had five properties to his name. Noormohamed narrowly won the riding in the 2021 federal election. 

Rezel received 6,336 votes in 2018 when he ran unsuccessfully for city council. He decided not to run this time around, despite gaining a higher-profile over the last four years. 

“I have a three-year-old and, he’s not going to be three again,” Rezel said. “So I thought he needs me more than the city does.”

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Bob Mackin An outspoken advocate for affordable housing

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Bob Mackin

Numerous British Columbia government websites were out of service for almost 12 hours on the last weekend of September.

The Ministry of Citizens’ Services said that between 1:26 p.m. Sept. 25 and 12:30 a.m. Sept. 26, an undetermined number of websites were inaccessible due to maintenance gone awry.

DriveBC couldn’t show traffic cameras while government websites were down. (Twitter)

“This was caused by an issue with scheduled firmware update from one of our service providers and there continues to be no indication of malicious intent,” said a statement from the ministry. 

On Sept. 26, the ministry said it would take too much time to confirm the number of websites impacted, “but this was a widespread, intermittent outage.”

“We are currently working with our service delivery partners Advanced Solutions and Hewlett Packard Enterprise to investigate root cause of the outage.”

The first major public notification of trouble came on the DriveBC Twitter account at 2:15 p.m. Sept. 25, when it announced a network outage. The entire highways information website was down, so none of the highway traffic cameras across B.C. was accessible. The Lions Gate Bridge was also affected by a service outage, which meant less-frequent lane changes and additional southbound congestion.

Citizens’ Services Minister Lisa Beare (NDP)

Other inaccessible websites included Premier John Horgan’s page, Government Communications and Public Engagement and the public-facing government employees’ directory.

The NDP government budgeted $173.4 million for enterprise services this year, up from $146.1 million last year, including information technology infrastructure, and network and data services.

The outage came almost two years after a cyber incident at the Legislative Assembly.

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. Then-BC Liberal house leader Peter Milobar expressed frustration at a July 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. 

The $5.8 million allotted for IT is the biggest line item in the Legislative Operations budget for the current fiscal year. 

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Bob Mackin Numerous British Columbia government websites were

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