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Bob Mackin A second person has been charged

Mystery continues over Royal City fire chief’s retirement

Bob Mackin

Clouds of secrecy continue to swirl after last fall’s sudden retirement of New Westminster Fire and Rescue Chief Tim Armstrong.

The official story, as New Westminster city hall tells it, is that the 12-year department head notified city manager Lisa Spitale on Oct. 22 that he would retire Oct. 28. There was no public announcement, only carefully worded internal memos distributed by Spitale and Armstrong.

City hall’s freedom of information office is refusing to disclose all email between Spitale and Armstrong from mid-September to the start of November, and it has also refused to show Armstrong’s payroll data since last July.

A lawyer who is seeking to succeed retiring Mayor Jonathan Cote in October’s civic election said it is “concerning” that the city is being so secretive.

New West Progressives’ mayoral candidate Ken Armstrong (who is not related to Tim Armstrong) called freedom of information a “critical part of good governance in a democracy.”

“Like any other New Westminster residents, we would be interested in learning more about what happened,” Ken Armstrong said.

“Access by journalists and by residents should not be impeded, as long as the request is within the scope of the legislation. So, yeah, [it’s] concerning.”

The only payment that city hall has disclosed is the July 20 reimbursement for $732.65 in gas and food costs from Armstrong’s deployment to the Deka Lake wildfire near 100 Mile House.

New Westminster city hall claims information about Armstrong’s paycheques and 27 email messages between Armstrong and Spitale are private. The law, however, states it is not a breach of privacy if the information is about a third party’s position, functions or remuneration as an employee of a public body. The city also claims that disclosure of one of the messages from Sept. 21 would harm the city financially or economically.

City hall did not release censored versions of the actual email messages. Instead, it withheld them in their entirety and provided a chronological list of messages in the FOI response letter. Oct. 20 was the busiest day with five messages, including one with attachments.

According to the law, citizens have a right of access to records held by a public body, subject to certain exceptions to disclosure, “but if that information can reasonably be severed from a record, an applicant has a right of access to the remainder of the record.”

A complaint to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has been filed, seeking urgent resolution prior to the Oct. 15 election.

New Westminster chief administrative officer Lisa Spitale (New Westminster)

Armstrong departed just three days before one of the busiest nights of the year, Hallowe’en. His memo generally thanked staff and said it was “time for a change” after 40 years in the fire service and public safety. There was no explanation for the short, six-day gap between his notice and retirement.

Interim fire chief Curtis Bremner was introduced at a Nov. 1 council budget workshop without fanfare and without mention of his predecessor. Bremner later retired and Erin Williams became the new acting chief. The job vacancy has yet to be posted, pending a review of the fire department’s organizational structure.

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

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 also trained firefighters in the U.S. and Taiwan.

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April 29, 2022

Bob Mackin Clouds of secrecy continue to swirl

Auditor General found Site C went beyond halfway mark without a fraud risk assessment

Bob Mackin

The NDP cabinet-appointed board of BC Hydro did not assess the potential for fraud at the $16 billion Site C dam project until after B.C.’s auditor general began to investigate.

Site C dam under construction (BC Hydro)

The stunning revelation is from Auditor General Michael Pickup’s April 26-released report. He found the Crown utility’s overseers finally approved a fraud risk policy on Jan. 12, while the audit was underway. By then, $8.4 billion of the budget had already been spent. It is scheduled for completion in 2025.

“But because the assessment was an initial one, and the Site C team has not been conducting ongoing fraud risk assessments, there is a risk that some fraud threats were overlooked,” said Pickup’s report.

Site C is not the first mega-project by 1961-founded BC Hydro, but it is the largest in the province’s history. One of its engineering contractors is SNC-Lavalin, the troubled Quebec giant that pleaded guilty to fraud in Quebec in late 2019 and was banned from bidding on World Bank projects between 2013 and 2021 due to corruption.

Earlier this year, BC Hydro finally identified a variety of potential fraud schemes common in large infrastructure projects, including payroll, overtime and expenses fraud and procurement and contracting fraud. The Global Infrastructure Anti-Corruption Centre, cited in Pickup’s report, said infrastructure projects are uniquely prone to corruption because the larger they are, the harder it is to compare costs and detect corruption, fraud and shoddy workmanship and materials.

BC Hydro’s chief financial officer, David Wong, is now in charge of fraud risk management. While staff are required to have code of conduct training, only staff in the internal audit services department had received fraud risk management training, the report said. Likewise, BC Hydro engineers and accountants would have received some training through their professional associations.

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

During a teleconference with reporters, Pickup chose his words wisely. He declined to say he was surprised by the lack of policy, but said the report speaks for itself.

“My expectations would be that on a project of this size, you’d have all of this up and running at the beginning of the project and well in place,” Pickup said, adding that a fraud risk assessment is not a “one and done” exercise.

“You do them at the beginning of a project, and you do them as you go.”

Site C has been subject to two stalls during the life of Premier John Horgan’s government. After the 2017 election, the cabinet pondered whether to cancel construction. But Horgan announced the project would proceed with a $10.7 billion budget, $2.4 billion more than when it was announced in December 2014 by BC Liberal Premier Christy Clark. Horgan also announced a new $16 billion budget in February 2021 and blamed cost overruns on pandemic slowdowns and geotechnical challenges.

Pickup found that BC Hydro had some internal controls to defend against identified fraud, but there was no formal method to monitor and evaluate fraud on Site C. In the absence of a program, BC Hydro’s internal auditors examined procurement and contract management in 2017 and payment verification controls in fall 2021 and said they had no major findings.

By comparison, government ministries and central agencies had done more. As of January, 82.5% of staff had completed fraud awareness and prevention training.

BC Hydro employees have three ways to report misconduct: to their manager, the ethics officer or through a confidential third-party reporting system. One complaint was registered in 2021 through the third-party system and five directly to managers over a five-year period — one in 2016 and two each in 2019 and 2020. Four of the five cases reported to managers were policy violations.

“The 2016 case was deemed to be a theft of time, where an employee claimed, and received, compensation for work they didn’t perform, which is an example of fraud,” the report said.

Pickup said BC Hydro needs to do better because fraud is often discovered by employees and they need to safely report wrongdoing without fear of reprisal. Poorly managed investigations can cost more and harm reputations.

BC Hydro accepted the five recommendations, to implement the policy, train staff and management, conduct regular assessments, implement a fraud investigation procedure, and provide regular evaluations to the board of directors.

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April 28, 2022

Bob Mackin The NDP cabinet-appointed board of BC

B.C. Ombudsperson slams McCallum’s move to muzzle civic ethics commissioner

Bob Mackin

B.C.’s Ombudsperson sent a scathing, 11th hour letter to Surrey city council, urging it to not adopt controversial code of conduct amendments on April 25.

B.C. Ombudsperson Jay Chalke (Ombudsperson)

Jay Chalke said the April 11-passed bylaw amendments that stop ethics commissioner Reece Harding from investigating new complaints until after the Oct. 15 election day undermine the purpose of the code of conduct and may have breached the Community Charter’s closed meetings laws.

“Surrey demonstrated commendable leadership by being the first municipality in British Columbia to appoint an ethics commissioner. However, council’s recent decision to so broadly restrict complaints in an election year subverts [the Surrey ethics commissioner’s office] purpose and has weakened the credibility of the overall effort,” wrote Jay Chalke. “The principles of transparency, accountability, and integrity should always be promoted, not just in non-election years.”

Harding recommended last year that council enact a 90-day moratorium on new investigations and to not allow processing of new complaints between the opening of nominations and election day. Chalke called those recommendations a good faith effort to balance accountability with election integrity, and in-line with other big cities.

Coun. Allison Patton and Mayor Doug McCallum (Metanoia)

However, Mayor Doug McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition, which holds the majority on council, decided by a 5-3 vote at the April 11 meeting to begin the moratorium the next day.

Chalke wrote that he was concerned that council considered which recommendations be excluded or modified during a closed door meeting on March 28.

“The authority by which council considered these recommendations in a closed meeting is not readily apparent, and if that occurred, fails to promote transparency and accountability on the part of council. I have not, at this time, investigated this matter under the Ombudsperson Act,” Chalke said. “I am writing simply to express my concern based on public reports.”

Ultimately, Chalke wrote, the failure to give any notice of the immediate, blanket moratorium that began April 12 impacted every citizen who may have been planning to bring an ethics complaint forward.

“Furthermore, the scope, duration and timing of the modified moratorium leaves council open to the criticism that the purpose of the restriction is to preclude a report that could be investigated by SECO before voting day rather than being targeted at the lodging of complaints so close to the election that they could not reasonably be expected to be investigated before voting day.”

Coun. Brenda Locke (Surrey Connect)

Coun. Brenda Locke of Surrey Connect, who is running against McCallum in this fall’s election, said she was surprised, but very glad to receive Chalke’s letter.

“Every citizen of Surrey should be very concerned about this, what are they trying to hide?” Locke said. “Why would we stop intaking ethical conduct complaints six months prior to an election?”

Locke said she hopes that Surrey citizens tell McCallum that “this is not his playground, he can’t do whatever he wants.”

McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition majority ignored Chalke’s letter and adopted the bylaw.

McCallum is the subject of an ethics complaint due to his continued role as Surrey Police Board chair while he awaits trial on Oct. 31, two weeks after the election, on public mischief charges. He allegedly lied to a police officer after complaining about a dispute in a parking lot last September with a petitioner in favour of a referendum on switching from the RCMP to a municipal force.

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April 27, 2022

Bob Mackin B.C.’s Ombudsperson sent a scathing, 11th

Cullen Commission won’t reopen to hear about penny stock scams

Bob Mackin

The Cullen Commission on Money Laundering in B.C. won’t return to look at dirty money in capital markets, according to the attorney general.

Since last summer, U.S. authorities have charged several British Columbians in criminal and civil matters related to alleged pump-and-dump stock fraud schemes. The biggest names include Panama Papers-exposed lawyer Frederick Sharp, stock promoter David Sidoo and Hells Angel Courtney Vasseur.

German (left) and Eby on June 27 (Mackin)

During an April 21 appearance in Surrey at the opening of a social housing project near B.C. RCMP headquarters, Attorney General David Eby did not comment on the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Bureau of Investigation operations targeting B.C. residents.

“The [Cullen] commission has concluded the evidentiary stage and I understand Commissioner Cullen and his team are working hard to pull together the report for June,” Eby said. “We’ve not had a request from the Commission to expand hearings to include additional evidence related to capital market fraud. And frankly, I don’t anticipate one.”

Last November, the NDP cabinet extended the commission’s final report deadline to May 20. Eby said later that he should have said “by June.”

The commission was struck in May 2019 by the NDP cabinet to hear evidence and make findings about money laundering in gambling, real estate, financial institutions and money service, luxury goods, professional services and the use of shell companies, trusts, securities and financial instruments.

In the interim report in December 2020, Justice Austin Cullen said the commission would examine money laundering in capital markets.

“While securities dealers are reporting entities under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, an April 2013 report from the securities sector shows that these dealers filed only 20 large cash transaction reports and 1,235 suspicious transaction reports between 2007 and 2011, and that only 14% of those reports came from British Columbia,” Cullen wrote. “Moreover, it appears there are few provincial efforts to combat money laundering in the capital markets.”

The commission heard testimony from 198 witnesses over 138 days. Closing submissions from participants’ lawyers concluded last Oct. 19. The commission focused most of its attention on money laundering related to casinos. Organizations that regulate lawyers, accountants and notaries public participated. Lawyers for the B.C. Securities Commission and

Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada did not participate.

“It’s quite possible that the findings of the Commission may have implications for other types of activity without commenting on the specific allegations, and we’ll see when the report comes out,” Eby said. “[I’m] not familiar with the specific set of allegations you’re talking about, but even if I were, I’d be very reluctant to comment on them.”

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April 26, 2022

Bob Mackin The Cullen Commission on Money Laundering

Business, News, Sports

Plug pulled on electric car race

Bob Mackin

Racecars won’t be returning to the east end of False Creek this summer.

Announcements late afternoon on April 21 from Vancouver city hall and the Canadian E-Fest promoter One Stop Strategy Group Inc. that the ABB Formula E World Championship series race on July 2 has been cancelled.

(Formula E/Twitter)

City of Vancouver said that OSS “elected to exercise its rights under the host city agreement to postpone” to a future date.

“The City and OSS Group will continue to work together and hope to announce a new date in the near future. City staff will report on this to Council at a date and time yet to be determined to request Council’s approval of an updated Host City Agreement.”

OSS, through a local public relations company, said OSS “had to make the incredibly difficult decision to postpone the Canadian E-Fest until 2023.”

“Delivery of a world class event is of the utmost importance to the organization. We will be communicating with ticket holders via ATPI our ticket partner to inform their options,” said the OSS statement.

The temporary, 2.21-kilometre racecourse was supposed to use some of the same streets as the Molson Indy Vancouver, which last ran in 2004.

But the Formula E cancellation with 77 days to go came as no surprise to insiders.

Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung and Coun. Michael Wiebe spearheaded the proposal at city hall and it was approved by city council in April 2021.

“Council was aware that it was a tight timeline and that the liabilities would be on the organizers,” Wiebe said. “I look forward to continuing to work with the groups involved to see if we can make it happen.”

The February host city agreement for Vancouver called for payments of $500,000 in security deposit by April 1. OSS claimed to have sold more than 33,000 tickets and planned a two-day “E-Volve” conference and concert by Nickelback.

Deputy City Manager Karen Levitt struck a task force about two months ago to deal with OSS, while suppliers and venues were beginning to report non-payment.

Caroline Vanasse, head of event partnerships for the Globe Series, sent a message to sponsors and suppliers on April 20, distancing the Vancouver organization from OSS.

“As a values-driven organization where honesty, integrity and transparency are key to who we are, we want to let you know that we are no longer supporting OSS Group (event producers) on delivering the E-Volve conference at the Canadian E-Fest due to OSS’ breach of contract,” Vanessa wrote.

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

“Numerous issues have made our involvement in this initiative with OSS untenable, and as a result we do not believe we can produce a high-quality event nor service our partners in the current timeframe.”

Vanasse said that the Canadian E-Fest and FIA Formula E World Championship race are an enormous opportunity for the city and country and Globe would be glad to be involved in those events, should they be delayed and “new leaders are put in place.”

Patsy McMillan, past-chair of the False Creek Residents Association, said her group met several times with organizers and hopes it will happen in 2023. Their major concern was the total, two-day closure of Quebec Street, which would have affected access to the City Gate towers.

“We were successfully working through this when the race was postponed. Also changes to the temporary park were being worked through,” McMillan said.

It took two days for OSS to mention the 2022 cancellation on the website. It said it would be “communicating with ticket holders to inform their options.”

A week later, it has not answered questions from theBreaker.news about the refund process.

Montreal hosted the race in 2017. Before the end of that year, however, Mayor Valerie Plante said it would not return because it was a “financial fiasco.” Ticket sales were dismal, with 25,000 sold and 20,000 given away, and the cost of the race was $40 million.

Last year, the city reached a $3 million out-of-court settlement with organizers.

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April 25, 2022

Now on Google Podcasts!

Bob Mackin Racecars won’t be returning to the

Business, News, Opinion

theBreaker.news Podcast: Lobbying loopholes mean treats aplenty for NDP friends, insiders

For the week of April 24, 2022:

The B.C. NDP government ended the “wild west” of political campaign financing after it came to power in 2017, but left the door wide open to lobbying by party friends and insiders.

theBreaker.news revealed recent lobbying registrations by party friends and insiders like ex-president Craig Keating and the operative who ran government health communications for almost a year, Jeffrey Ferrier.

NDP lobbyists Jeffrey Ferrier (left) and Craig Keating (H&K/S360)

On this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast, hear from Daniel Gold, author of the thesis “Lobbying Regulation in Canada and the United States: Political Influence, Democratic Norms and Charter Rights.”

The University of Ottawa doctor of constitutional law and public policy explains why lobbying is both a tenet of democracy and corrosive to democracy. He also weighs-in on the much-needed reforms that John Horgan’s government delivered, but also the wide loopholes that put lobbyists and politicians at risk of conflict of interest.

Also, commentary and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

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

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

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theBreaker.news Podcast

theBreaker.news Podcast: Lobbying loopholes mean treats aplenty for NDP friends, insiders

00:00 / 00:25:23

April 24, 2022

For the week of April 24, 2022:

Judge says Hong Guo companion abused the court process to extort a settlement

Bob Mackin

A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that a close associate of Richmond real estate and immigration lawyer Hong Guo abused the court process for a baseless claim.

Hong Gun (left) and Wolfgang Richter (PSTV)

In her April 19 verdict, Justice Heather MacNaughton said that Wolfgang Richter and his company, Richter and Associates Inc., used the courts in a bid to “extort a settlement payment” over a failed real estate deal.

Beginning in March 2021, Richter sued 1075 Nelson Street Development Holdings Inc. and Henson Developments Ltd. and its CEO Xuexin “Henry” Liu and filed certificates of pending litigation against 1075 Nelson.

1075 Nelson was the registered owner of 1059 and 1075 Nelson Street, assessed last year at $16.4 million each, and formerly held the lands as agent, bare trustee and nominee for Henson.

MacNaughton’s verdict said Guo, a 2018 Richmond mayoral candidate and who once worked in the Chinese Communist government’s state council, claimed in a WeChat message on March 2, 2021 that she had a buyer lined up to offer Henson $110 million.

Henson had conditionally agreed the previous month to sell the Nelson lands to Montreal-based Brivia Group Ltd. and enter a joint venture to build a 60-storey condo tower. Brivia was to have 54% interest and Henson 46%, and retire the existing Nelson mortgages worth $77 million.

1075 and 1059 Nelson Street (Google Maps)

Henson’s lawyer advised Richter on March 19, 2021 that the Nelson lands were under an unconditional contract and it could not entertain any other offers.

“Mr. Liu’s uncontroverted evidence is that no agreement was ever reached with Richter Inc. The negotiations that were facilitated by Ms. Guo were for a back-up offer in the event that Brivia did not waive the conditions in the Brivia agreement,” MacNaughton wrote.

Liu is also director of Evervan Enterprises Group Ltd. and Vanluxu Enterprises Ltd., companies that jointly owned property on Wentworth Avenue in West Vancouver. He swore in an affidavit about a February 2021 agreement to sell that land to 1291059 BC Ltd., a numbered company controlled by Hong Xu, a friend of Guo.

Liu’s evidence said Guo brought an unnamed caucasian man to meetings, to discuss the properties. The numbered company claimed in a March 5, 2021 court filing that it had a deal to buy the lands and registered CPLs against the property. The claim was settled a week and a half later when the numbered company received $900,000 to relinquish the claim.

A division of Brivia bought 2510 and 2480 Wentworth in May 2021. The two properties were assessed at a combined $18.9 million last year.

MacNaughton wrote that Richter used the numbered company’s notice of claim as a template for his action, and that that Richter’s true purpose was not to advance a genuine claim, but register the CPLs for “collateral and improper purposes.”

“In his submissions, Mr. Richter said that he commenced the action and filed the CPLs to let Brivia know what he said was the dishonourable nature of Mr. Liu, the person they were dealing with. The amended claim pleads no facts supporting an agreement or an interest in land. Material facts within the pleading were misleading in order to present what appeared to be a legitimate claim. The only reasonable inference that can be drawn is that the action was commenced, and the CPLs registered, as leverage to obtain a settlement as had been achieved in 1291’s action, albeit in very different circumstances.”

The judge did not admit an affidavit filed by Richter because it was filed late without explanation and contained inadmissible hearsay, unidentified sources of information and argument. “Although Mr. Richter is not legally trained, he is a sophisticated business person,” she said. (Richter is a former high school teacher who founded a company promoting the Garibaldi at Squamish ski resort near Squamish now proposed by the Aquilini Investment Group and the Squamish Nation’s Nch’kay Development Corp.

Hong Guo’s 2018 mayoral campaign sign. She finished fourth.

Although Guo was not a party to the lawsuit, MacNaughton’s ruling referred to Guo’s ongoing battle to remain licensed as a lawyer in B.C.

“While the action purports to be filed by Richter Inc., acting through its authorized representative Mr. Richter, without counsel, the address for service is Ms. Guo’s law firm,” she wrote.

“Ms. Guo has an extensive disciplinary history with the Law Society of British Columbia. It includes two findings of professional misconduct, one on November 4, 2020, and the other on May 20, 2021. She is currently facing another citation for professional misconduct, dated July 23, 2021. It includes a number of allegations of: practicing while suspended, breaching Law Society orders, making misrepresentations to the Law Society, dishonesty and misrepresentations to others, and acting in a conflict of interest.”

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April 23, 2022

Bob Mackin A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled

NDP environment minister’s UN climate conference travel costs revealed

Bob Mackin

It cost taxpayers almost $3,000 in airfare to send NDP Environment Minister George Heyman to last fall’s Glasgow conference to discuss cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

George Heyman and two bureaucrats hired a car to see a hydrogen train in Scotland (Twitter/BC Gov)

Heyman and two bureaucrats represented B.C. at the 26th United Nations climate change conference, also known as COP 26. The Glasgow conference was postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic. Unlike many events, it did not pivot to a web-conference, despite business travel coming under criticism for polluting the planet.

Heyman’s Air Canada booking cost $2,889 but an additional $628 charge to cancel the London portion of his trip shows up on purchasing card statements, according to documents released under freedom of information. The reason for the cancellation was not included.

Heyman and aide Kelly Sather also charged $628 for privately administered COVID-19 tests by a Victoria company, in order to satisfy United Kingdom entry requirements. Before he left, Heyman charged taxpayers $6.13 for hand sanitizer and, before he returned, $140 for a PCR test in Glasgow.

Heyman and Sather’s airfare and accommodations were booked in July for $9,071. Their required government travel authorization forms had estimated costs at $5,910 for Heyman and $6,410 for Sather for Oct. 30 to Nov. 7. They were granted per diems for meals and other expenses at the rate of GBP104.84, or approximately $178.

The name of their hotel was kept secret, as per government security policy. Based on visible directions to a train station, the hotel was near George Square, three kilometres from the Scottish Event Campus conference venue.

The third member of the delegation, Jeremy Hewitt, the assistant deputy minister and head of the climate action secretariat, estimated costs at $7,221 because he was staying until Nov. 14.

Hewitt’s assistant, Cheryl Tromp, asked conference organizers for an urgent move to another hotel, because of “the unsafe neighbourhourhood” of the original booking.

During the conference, Heyman’s administrative coordinator, Alyssa Hrenyk, arranged for a car at the cost of $450 to take Heyman, Sather and Hewitt to a train station in the town of Bo’ness, about 75 minutes out of Glasgow, to see a ScotRail electric train converted to hydrogen-power. The train includes fuel cell modules supplied by Burnaby’s Ballard Power.

The type of car and whether it was gas or electric is not mentioned. Bo’ness has frequent scheduled rail and bus service to and from Glasgow.

The highlight of the conference, according to B.C. government announcements, was Heyman accepting the Under2 coalition award for the NDP’s CleanBC plan to grant $43 million to 32 pollution-reducing projects.

Heyman also Tweeted several photos of meetings in Glasgow with people from B.C. or elsewhere on the Pacific Coast, such as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. He also met with Chief Judy Wilson and Karissa Glendale from Alert Bay’s Namgis First Nation.

Neither Heyman nor Sather responded for comment.

B.C. NDP environment minister went all the way to Scotland to meet Washington’s governor and California’s natural resources secretary. (Twitter/Heyman)

The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions 2018 report said aviation emissions account for roughly 3.5% of total human-caused warming of the planet. A World Resources Institute working paper on business travel and climate released last October said that, based on total emissions from in 2018, air travel would have been equivalent to the sixth-largest carbon emitter in the world, between Japan and Germany.

“If we are to meet Paris Agreement targets to limit global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, organizations must find effective ways to reduce business travel,” the World Resources Institute paper said.

When a reporter asked for Heyman’s travel budget for COP 26 last October, staff in the Ministry of Environment and the Government Communications and Public Engagement department refused to comment, despite being reminded of the standard pre-trip budget estimates and travel authorization filings by politicians and their staff. The freedom of information disclosure shows that Heyman and Sather’s were filed in July.

A committee of eight bureaucrats, including Sather and Hewitt, issues manager Alissa Brandt (now executive director of the NDP caucus), and Heyman’s other aides Desmond Pollard and Reamick Lo, were on the internal email chain.

They strategized on whether to answer questions about the budget for Heyman’s travel to the conference. After 10 days, they eventually settled on the line: “The trip is funded out of the ministry budget. Final costs will be released after all expenses are tabulated.”

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April 23, 2022

Bob Mackin It cost taxpayers almost $3,000 in

Organized crime has infiltrated city halls, says national crime intelligence agency

Bob Mackin

Criminal Intelligence Service Canada logo

Two of the 14 groups considered high level national threats by Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) are involved in public sector infiltration.

In its 2021 Public Report on Organized Crime, the nation’s crime intelligence agency highlighted threats to the public sector, including transportation and construction, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, waste management, law enforcement, defence and foreign affairs.

Four national high level threat organizations have significant influence in the public sector, including decision-making functions or demonstrated corruption, according to CISC. Thirty-one of the assessed organized crime groups (OCG) have access via jobs within Canadian public sector agencies or departments. Neither the names of the agencies and departments, the locations nor the groups were named in the report.

“Of these, 26% are Mafia groups, 10% are outlaw motorcycle gangs and 6% are street gangs.

While infiltration of the public sector seems to occur mostly at the local/regional levels, (OCG) may be using the benefits for interprovincial or international criminal activities,” the report said.

CISC’s report said public sector infiltration leads to rising costs of goods and services, misallocation of public resources, weakened policymaking and damage to public confidence in government and law enforcement.

Familial or romantic relationships and monetary benefits appear to be principal factors motivating corruption and infiltration of Canada’s public sector, the report said.

source: Dirty Money by Peter German (2018)

“Some industries (e.g., construction, transportation, and warehousing), have inherent risks associated to them, such as privileged and sensitive information and monetary gains through government contracts, which could be more attractive to OCGs.”

CISC said 81 organized crime groups are associated to transportation and warehousing businesses, 20% of which are tow truck companies. Meanwhile, 71 are related to construction companies and 25 linked to professional, scientific and technical services.

The actual amount of organized crime groups targeting public sector entities could be much higher, the report said. “The involvement of almost two-thirds of assessed OCGs in this sector is unknown. Of those who are, some have ties with municipalities through associates or personal relations within Canadian cities.”

The report said there could be more than 2,600 organized crime groups operating in Canada and 469 have been assessed and assigned a threat rating. They have links to 54 countries, but the top five are U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Dominican Republic and China, because they are generally source countries for drug precursor chemicals and for moving methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin and cocaine.

The report put transnational organized crime networks at the top of the CISC national priorities list, above outlaw motorcycle gangs, Mafia, street gangs, fentanyl and methamphetamine dealers, money launderers and cybercriminals.

The 14 top threats, CISC said, maintain “multiple criminal associations to other OCGs,” including Asian-based OCGs and Mexican cartels.

“The majority use strategic violence to maintain their market shares, including extortion/intimidation, homicide, kidnapping, assault, and arson. Several use their associations to street gangs to carry out criminal activities and violence on their behalf, insulating themselves from direct involvement.”

When Chief Supt. Rob Gilchrist, the director general of CISC, testified at the Cullen Commission on Money Laundering in B.C. in June 2020, he pointed to professional money launderers being a key cog in the wheel of organized crime in Canada, flowing money to and from casinos and real estate.

“Clients of professional money launderers would be high-level threat organized crime groups that are involved in criminal markets that generate large amounts of proceeds of crime and require a diverse set of money laundering activities to avoid detection and disruption, and organized crime groups that simply do not have the resources or expertise to successfully launder a larger quantity of proceeds of crime themselves,” Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist was most-concerned with money service businesses that are owned, controlled or influenced by organized crime group members.

“As money service businesses are cash intensive, they can easily facilitate the placement of illicit funds into the financial system and economy,” he said.

A month from now, May 20, is the deadline for submission of the Cullen Commission’s final report to the NDP cabinet. Hearings wrapped up last Oct. 19.

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April 23, 2022