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Bob Mackin

The Canadian Olympic Committee’s bid to bring another Winter Olympics to Vancouver is over.

Bad actors? Premier John Horgan and Lisa Beare on the Riverdale set in 2019 (BC Gov/Flickr)

The B.C. NDP government announced Oct. 27 that it was declining to support the bid, which was sold as Indigenous-led, because of the COC’s partnership with Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Lil’Wat leaders. 

Federal sport hosting policy states that Ottawa does not underwrite major event deficits, a responsibility left to the host province. Without Victoria acting as guarantor to the International Olympic Committee, the bid is over. 

“I know that the prospect of hosting these Games is exciting to athletes and sports fans. However, the Province has the responsibility to weigh the benefits with the costs and possible risks of the project,” said Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Minister Lisa Beare in a news release. “There are billions of dollars in direct costs, and potential guarantee and indemnity liability risks on this project that could jeopardize our government’s ability to address pressures facing British Columbians right now. Based on careful consideration, the Province is declining to support a bid.”

Federal Sport Minister Pascal St-Onge said the Liberal government respected the local decision, but would look for other ways to fulfill Truth and Reconciliation calls to action.

“For a bid of this kind to go forward, all levels of government need to be in favour,” St-Onge said.

Beare, who replaced Melanie Mark last month, noted the province is already supporting the 2025 Invictus Games and 2026 FIFA World Cup. Mark had demanded a mini business plan in mid-August, including details on whether all the parties in the bid would share costs and risks of such an event. Mark had told COC president Tricia Smith not to assume provincial support. A source has confirmed that what the COC delivered did not answer all of Mark’s questions. 

Smith did not immediately respond for comment, but the COC issued a statement that said the COC feasibility team had been informed earlier this week of the B.C. government decision. 

“We are taking time to process this information today,” the statement said. COC, Canadian Paralympic Committee and Four Host First Nations leaders are expected to respond Friday morning. 

At a Greater Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon, Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow said he was disappointed by the way the province told the Four Host First Nations. He said “it sets us back a couple of steps” and shows “how far we have” to go with reconciliation.

Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith (left) and Four Host First Nations executive director Tewanee Joseph (second from left) at the Dec. 10 bid exploration announcement (Twitter/Tewanee Joseph)

Vancouver International Airport Authority  CEO Tamara Vrooman was also disappointed, saying that she was looking forward to the contribution the Games would have made. 

The decision came less than two weeks after the Vancouver civic election. Both outgoing Mayor Kennedy Stewart and incoming Mayor Ken Sim supported another Games. Third-place finisher Colleen Hardwick of TEAM for a Livable Vancouver promised a plebiscite on the bid. In 2003, a majority of voters supported the 2010 concept. However, the IOC earlier this year told any bidder to avoid a public vote in 2022. Four years ago, Calgary voters rejected a bid for the 2026 Games. 

Hardwick was pleased the provincial government approached the decision in a more-reasonable fashion than her colleagues on city council.

“They did go through a balanced exercise of looking at the pros and cons, didn’t respond just to the boosterism or to the fact that it was the First Nations bid, but rather, what its impact would be overall, and the risks that would be taken and looking at the larger economy,”Hardwick said. “So that was a responsible thing for the provincial government to do. When the city did it, through staff, the electeds overruled it. So this shows to me that the provincial government has taken a much more mature and balanced approach to assessing the opportunity.”

The 2030 bid was originally hatched by former Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong at a February 2020 Greater Vancouver Board of Trade breakfast to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2010 Games. The pandemic delayed the bid exploration until fall 2021, when Stewart, Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton and leaders of the Four Host First Nations announced a memorandum of agreement to explore the bid. The COC came on board in early 2022 and acted as the de facto bid committee and liaison with the International Olympic Committee. 

Salt Lake City, the 2002 host, and Sapporo, Japan, the 1972 host, are also exploring bids. The IOC was expected to take official applications and begin closed-door negotiations later this fall, and require completed bid questionnaires in early 2023, in anticipation of a decision at the annual general meeting in late May 2023. However, that was delayed to September or October 2023. 

The COC estimated Vancouver 2030 would cost $4 billion, including at least $1 billion from taxpayers. It proposed 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.

—with files from Kirk LaPointe

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Incoming Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver party is already walking back the timing of one of the campaign promises that earned him a record number of votes and his party a majority in the Oct. 15 civic election.

ABC website, post-election: no links to platform, news releases (ABC Vancouver)

During the campaign, ABC promised that “on his first day as mayor, with an ABC majority on council, [Sim] will be requisitioning for the hire of 100 new police officers and 100 mental health nurses.” 

Nov. 7 is Sim’s first scheduled day as mayor, when he will be sworn-in along with the 10 city councillors, seven of whom ran on the ABC Vancouver ticket. Following the ceremony, city council’s inaugural meeting. 

But the first step in tackling the city’s street crime and addiction crises will not be on the agenda.

Near the end of Tuesday’s final scheduled meeting of the 2018-elected city council, the three ABC incumbent councillors took turns notifying city council of upcoming motions for the Nov. 15 meeting. 

Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said she would table motions titled “Urgent Measures to Uplift Vancouver’s Chinatown” and “Adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Anti-Semitism.” 

Coun. Rebecca Bligh followed with notice of her “Transport Pricing: Stopping the Road Tax,” motion, before Coun. Lisa Dominato with “Enabling the Requisitioning and Hiring of 100 New Police Officers and 100 Mental Health Nurses” and “Accessibility Audit of All City-Owned Assets.”

Outgoing Mayor Kennedy Stewart reminded them that the motions must be submitted in-writing to the clerk’s office before the meeting.

ABC Vancouver’s campaign ad with Ken Sim and co-star Laura Appleton (ABC Vancouver)

The hiring of police officers and mental health nurses was a cornerstone of the ABC campaign and often a cause for confusion. ABC sometimes pledged on social media and in broadcast advertising to hiring the officers and nurses on day one of a Sim-led ABC majority, even after the original news release said Sim would begin the process to requisition on day one. 

The allocation of funds and actual recruitment, training and onboarding could take considerably longer. It took the Surrey Police Service just over a year to announce the hiring of its 100th officer in September 2021. If new Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke successfully shuts down the fledgling municipal force in favour of keeping the RCMP, experienced officers could come available sooner.

That it was Bligh who mentioned the anti-road tax measure was a moment of irony. She was one of six councillors who voted for the Climate Emergency Action Plan. The plan included exploring a tax on driving in downtown and triggered $1.5 million of spending to study the measure. 

ABC used the proposed road tax as a wedge issue against Stewart, who repeatedly denied that city hall would impose such a tax if re-elected. Stewart accused ABC of U.S.-style disinformation and complained to radio stations that carried ads carrying Sim’s anti-road tax message. 

Meanwhile, the rest of ABC’s platform has disappeared from the party’s website. Its campaign promises, news releases and candidate biographies were no longer visible on Oct. 26. They had been replaced with a headline reading “Thank You, Vancouver” and buttons to donate to council/park board candidates, school board candidates and to sign-up as a party supporter. 

Neither Sim nor transition team head Kareem Allam responded for comment.

Near the end of the Oct. 25 meeting, Stewart remarked on the challenge of governing through the pandemic. Despite the political differences on council, he estimated there were more unanimous votes than not.

“I look forward to interacting with you in different ways after this is done,” he said vaguely, while looking around the chamber. “I’ve enjoyed my time, and it’s really been the honour of my life to serve here, but I look forward to serving the city in some other way.”

The city council meeting ended with city manager Paul Mochrie debuting a five-minute video montage of images and headlines about civic policy and program achievements since 2018.

“This has been a term unlike any other,” said Mochrie, who succeeded Sadhu Johnston in early 2021. “I think it’s probably fair to say that you didn’t sign up for this job in 2018 thinking you were going to be governing Vancouver through the biggest catastrophe since World War II, but those were the cards you were dealt.”

He also gave gift bags containing commemorative medals to Coun. Michael Wiebe and Stewart, the only outgoing council members remaining in the chamber.

“So the loot has been divvied up!” Stewart exclaimed, before formally adjourning the meeting.

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Bob Mackin Incoming Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC

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Bob Mackin

While John Horgan packs up and leaves the premier’s office for incoming David Eby, the NDP government is running four ad campaigns worth more than $13.5 million. 

Horgan came to power in 2017 after slamming the BC Liberal government for over-spending on politically motivated ads.

David Eby and John Horgan (BC Gov/Flickr)

The biggest is the latest wave of the Ministry of Health’s $8.8 million 2022 campaign to promote COVID-19 shots, which began Sept. 5 and is scheduled to run through Dec. 11. 

Creative contractors are Trapeze Communications of Victoria and Captus Advertising of Vancouver. The media buyer is iProspect Canada, an arm of Japan-based global giant Dentsu. 

The Government Communications and Public Engagement department refused to provide the current expenditure, claiming it sets budgets by fiscal year, not by month or season. 

The latest edition of the CleanBC campaign is budgeted at $1.67 million and began Sept. 19, running through Nov. 13. NOW Communications Group and iProspect are the contractors. 

NOW and iProspect are also contractors on the Oct. 17-Nov. 27 version of the $2.37 million anti-stigma Stop Overdose campaign. 

The fourth campaign is the $724,000, fall harvest wave of the Ministry of Agriculture’s BuyBC, by Trapeze and iProspect. It launched Oct. 3 and runs through Oct. 30.

“Sharing information with people about how to benefit from programs and services is part of good government and our commitment to working for people,” said a prepared statement from the Ministry of Finance, which oversees GCPE.

Incoming Premier David Eby (left) and chief of staff Matt Smith (BC Gov)

iProspect Canada billed $15.7 million for the fiscal year ended March 31. It billed another $3.9 million in April, according to the government’s public accounts. 

In a November 2015 interview, while in opposition, Horgan said the BC Liberals were “padding the pockets of their political pals.”

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

Two of the creative contractors for the current campaigns have strong ties to Horgan and Eby’s party.

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

Public accounts show that Trapeze received $934,910 in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, and invoiced for another $433,196 in April. NOW was second last year at $783,199. It got another $236,423 in April. 

The NDP promised in its 2017 platform that it would end partisan government advertising. While it still spends on campaigns that correspond with its strategic objectives, it has not enacted any new laws to restrict government advertising in any way. It does, however, seek advice from Advertising Standards Canada to meet a non-partisan checklist, such as preventing the use of party colours and slogans or the name, voice or image of a government politician. 

Meanwhile, Eby is replacing Horgan’s chief of staff Geoff Meggs with Matt Smith, former president of the NDP’s polling and data-mining contractor Strategic Communications. 

Shannon Salter, the deputy attorney general since February, will become Eby’s deputy minister and head of the public service, replacing Lori Wanamaker. 

Smith’s appointment signals the high likelihood of more, not less, government advertising under Eby en route to the next scheduled election in 2024. 

Smith was president of Vancouver-headquartered Stratcom for almost five years. Prior to joining Stratcom, he was director of voter engagement on Vision Vancouver’s 2011 election campaign. 

At Stratcom, Smith’s specialties included telephone town halls, micro-targeting, peer-to-peer texting and MobileReach, Stratcom’s list of likely cell phone numbers. 

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Bob Mackin While John Horgan packs up and

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Vancouver city hall’s integrity commissioner has recommended the co-chair of the Vancouver Renters Advisory Committee be reprimanded for comments made against a city councillor.

Kit Sauder of the Renters’ Advisory Committee (Twitter)

Lisa Southern’s Oct. 19 report found Kit Sauder broke the code of conduct bylaw with posts on a Facebook group that denigrated Colleen Hardwick and her political party.

“Whether a female leader is being described as a ‘bitch,’ a ‘witch,’ ‘wicked,’ a ‘nasty woman,’ or a ‘(climate) Barbie; (which was the description used by a reporter for Environment Minister Catherine McKenna during an interaction in 2017), the impact is the same – negative, discriminatory stereotypes are being applied to women who seek and/or hold political office,” Southern wrote. “In this case, it is not a member of the public making these comments: it is an advisory board member making them against a council member. The respondent’s position requires him to adhere to the code of conduct. He is in a position of leadership and responsibility for the City of Vancouver.”

Southern investigated a June 12 complaint from a member of the public against Sauder and received additional evidence provided Aug. 3. Political strategist Sauder worked in the BC Liberal government from 2013 to 2017 under Premier Christy Clark and managed the OneBurnaby party’s campaign in the Oct. 15 election. He admitted that he targeted Hardwick and that his Facebook posts on the VanPoli group were “made as a result of an emotional reaction to previous exchanges.”

Southern ruled that “the terminology used to describe Council Member Hardwick in the Facebook posts was gendered and perpetuated harmful stereotypes when addressing a colleague.” She did not find fault with Sauder’s Tweets.

Vancouver integrity commissioner Lisa Southern (SBP)

“He admitted the Facebook posts were inappropriate and described the language he used to describe Council Member Hardwick as ‘misogynistic.’ He acknowledged he should not have made the comments,” Southern wrote.

The report said both advisory board members and councillors have the right to hold and express opinions and engage in free speech consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But Southern cited human rights tribunal decisions that found “gendered, demeaning language” in the workplace has violated human rights codes. 

The city’s code of conduct requires advisory board members and council members to “treat members of the public, one another, and staff respectfully, without abuse, bullying or intimidation and ensure that the work environment is free from discrimination and harassment.” 

Southern interviewed Sauder and two witnesses, who were not named in the report. She suspended the investigation between Sept. 29 and Oct. 16 due to the election. 

The finding against Sauder is Southern’s second investigation report published in 2022. In July, Southern found Mayor Kennedy Stewart had broken the code of conduct when he published a series of misleading Tweets in March against Hardwick’s proposed plebiscite on the 2030 Winter Olympics bid.

NPA Coun. Collen Hardwick (Mackin)

Stewart wrongly stated that a plebiscite would contravene an agreement with Resort Municipality of Whistler and four First Nations. The memorandum of agreement clearly stated it was not legally binding and it did not contain any clause that would have prevented putting a question about the bid to voters. 

Prior to Southern’s appointment at the start of 2022, investigations were handled on an as and when needed basis by lawyer Henry Wood. In July 2019, Wood cleared Hardwick of conflict of interest after a complaint by Abundant Housing Vancouver activist Peter Waldkirch. Wood found no evidence that the 2018-elected councillor used her PlaceSpeak.com civic engagement company improperly.

Hardwick ran under the TEAM for a Livable Vancouver banner on Oct. 15 and finished third in the mayoral election.

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Bob Mackin Vancouver city hall’s integrity commissioner has

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Vancouver city council rubber-stamped five contracts worth almost $85 million on Oct. 25 at the first meeting since the civic election and last meeting of Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s term.

The only no-bid contract approved was $3.165 million to FCA Canada Inc., formerly Chrysler Canada Inc., to buy 54 Dodge Charger Enforcer police cruisers.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart (Mackin)

The contract is temporary because FCA notified the city that it will discontinue Dodge Charger Enforcers after the 2023 model year. The city and FCA originally entered a contract in August 2013 for three years, but the initial term was extended to six years in 2013 and included two one-year options. 

“FCA Canada Inc. will begin to receive orders for 2023 Model Year Dodge Charger Enforcers at the end of October/beginning of November 2022,” said the report to council from Alexander Ralph, the city’s chief procurement officer. “If city orders are not placed during this narrow timeframe, the City may not be able to procure sufficient supply of vehicles to meet the VPD’s annual fleet replacement requirements.”

Green Coun. Adriane Carr questioned why the city wasn’t buying any electric vehicles. 

“There are no electric options for this type of vehicle at this time,” said Albert Shamess, the city’s director of green operations. He said it could be a few more years before battery technology is suitable for police cars. 

City procedures delegate authority to a so-called bid committee comprised of the city manager, chief financial officer and head of the relevant department that seeks a contractor for goods and services (including construction) between $750,000 and $2 million. 

The bid committee meets in secret and does not publish agendas or minutes, though it does publish summaries of contract awards. City council’s nod is needed for bid committee-recommended contracts over $2 million.

The biggest contract award approved Tuesday was for $28.23 million to Pomerleau for work on the Granville Bridge to demolish the north loops and reconfigure the bridge. Pomerleau underbid three competitors,  BD Hall Constructors Corp. ($36.7 million), Jacob Bros. Construction Ltd. ($34.65 million), and NorLand Limited ($36.94 million). It went to vote during the afternoon session. Only councillors Mellissa De Genova and Colleen Hardwick voted in opposition.

Another report gave a $23.3 million contract to Microserve for computer hardware and services and $9.94 million job to CDW Canada Corp. for enterprise software and services. The city has more than 7,000 personal computers at over 100 worksites under the auspices of city hall, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, Vancouver Police Board and Vancouver Public Library Board. 

Compugen Inc. and Insight Canada Inc. were unsuccessful bidders for both contracts. CompuCom Canada Co. was the other bidder for the hardware contract and Long View sought the software contract. The request for proposals for the five-year contract, with four one-year options to extend, was originally advertised before the pandemic, in December 2019. 

City council agreed to a three-year, $17.9 million traffic control contract for Ansan Industries Ltd., plus an option for up to six one-year renewals. 

The bid committee chose Ansan over Metro Traffic Ltd., and Lanesafe Traffic Control Ltd. in part because Ansan flaggers are unionized and the company is replacing its fleet with hybrid electric vehicles. 

Vancouver city hall (Mackin)

The fifth report to council did not name the second bidder. 

Bid committee decided June 30 to recommend a $2.237 million contract for Direct Equipment West Ltd. for supply and services of shoring equipment for three years, with an option of six more one-year terms. 

The bid committee’s internal summary, however, said United Rentals of Canada Inc. was the only other bidder that responded to the tender announcement by the May 25, 2021 deadline.

Shoring equipment is used to reinforce excavations to protect workers and utilities during construction.

The 2021 annual procurement report, tabled at the March 30 city council meeting, said the city’s supply chain department awarded $107.4 million worth of contracts during the year. 

Last year, bid committee approved 35 contracts totalling $145 million. City council approved 12 contracts worth $125 million.

In 2011, the city’s bid committee picked Chevron Canada’s $17.4 million, three-year regional fuel-supply proposal the day before the civic election. Because there were no council meetings for three weeks, the committee used its authority to choose Chevron. 

During the 2014 election period, staff began to publish the contract award summaries while resisting a reporter’s efforts to seek agendas and minutes from the bid committee. 

In 2015, an adjudicator with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner allowed the city to withhold records of bid committee deliberations under an exemption to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for policy advice or recommendations.  

By comparison, City of Toronto’s bid award panel holds open meetings and publishes agendas and minutes.

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Bob Mackin  Vancouver city council rubber-stamped five contracts

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For the week of Oct. 23, 2022:

It’s the most wonderful time of year for sports fans in North America: NHL and NBA regular seasons are still young, NFL and NCAA football are nearing mid-season, the World Series is nigh and Major League Soccer’s final is coming.

What better time than now to hear from Vancouver sports radio legend Dan Russell?

Russell joins host Bob Mackin Jr. for part 1 of an interview about Pleasant Good Evening, Russell’s memoir of 30 wild and turbulent years hosting Canada’s longest running sports radio talkshow.

Plus the sounds of a week of political change in British Columbia, with new mayors of Vancouver and Surrey and the controversial end of the NDP leadership contest.

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 Oct. 23, 2022:

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Bob Mackin

A B.C. Supreme Court judge gave a Richmond real estate and immigration lawyer another chance to avoid jail for contempt of court. 

Justice Gordon Weatherill had threatened Oct. 14 to incarcerate Hong Guo for 40 days for failing to provide financial documents to a civil case in which she is a defendant. On Friday, Weatherill adjourned the case and stayed the contempt order to Nov. 7, so that he could hear from Guo and her lawyer, if she brings one to court. Guo said in court that she had contacted three lawyers without success — one in Kamloops, one occupied by a hearing underway and another who is on vacation.

Richmond 2018 Mayoral candidate Hong Guo

In May 2018, immigrant investors Qing Yan and his wife Kai Ming Yu sued Guo, Zhong Ping Xu, Xiao Hong Liu, 1032821 B.C. Ltd., Vancouver Soho Holding Ltd and Canada Sparkle Long Holdings Inc. for fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract relating to a collapsed $40 million real estate deal. 

Yu and Yan hired Guo in 2013 to assist their immigration application. Guo introduced them to Xu and Liu, the principals behind Canada Sparkle, and they entered a joint venture for the Vancouver Soho high-density commercial and residential project on Minoru and Lansdowne in Richmond. 

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Guo acted as lawyer for both Vancouver Soho and Canada Sparkle and took advantage of the plaintiffs’ poor English skills. 

Yu and Yan want Guo to disclose banking information, including about her law firm’s trust accounts. At one point, Weatherill asked Guo about not being the signing officer of those trust accounts. She explained that she has two supervisors because of theft by an ex-employee. The Law Society intervened in Guo’s practice after $7.5 million went missing in 2016, eventually leading a tribunal to find she committed professional misconduct. Guo said she complained to the Richmond RCMP about her former bookkeeper, but she said the Mounties took no action.

Justice Gordon Weatherill (LinkedIn)

Guo provided a binder of documents to the court a day earlier. But Weatherill and Glen Forrester, lawyer for Yu and Yan, agreed they were incomplete. Weatherill asked Guo what she had done over the last week to purge her contempt.

Said Guo: “You can read the affidavits, all the documents are in the affidavits.”

Weatherill said it took the prospect of jail for Guo to act at the last minute, but it still wasn’t good enough. While Forrester conceded that he recognized one document that was new, Weatherill said the 400 pages were poorly organized without tabs.

He called Guo’s submission “just a regurgitation of what you’ve already produced,” proceeded to chastise her for defying the court and challenged her to come prepared to the Nov. 7 hearing.

“You have told me in open court today that you have complied with all of the orders that have been made. So we’re going to test that and, if what you just told me isn’t true, then there will be consequences,” Weatherill said. 

The Law Society of B.C. website lists nine disciplinary actions against Guo, who faces potential disbarment. Guo, who also has a law office in Beijing, is a former lawyer in the State Council, the Chinese Communist Party government’s central cabinet office.

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A transnational drug criminal from Vancouver, who was linked by police to a notorious underground Richmond bank, was sentenced to 14-and-a-half years in a U.S. prison Oct. 20. 

Central District of California Judge John Kronstadt handed down the sentence in Los Angeles, following a jury’s March conviction of Vincent Yen Tek Chiu, 44, for conspiracy to distribute and export controlled substances, and distribution of cocaine, heroin and MDMA.

(FBI)

Chiu, who also went by nicknames “El Chino” and “Tiger of Mexico,” arranged to bring bulk cocaine to Canada in exchange for bulk exports of MDMA to the U.S. He employed a sophisticated cross-border distribution network that relied on encrypted mobile phones and 18-wheel trucks. Investigators believe the shipments were worth more than $3 million on the wholesale market.

More than a dozen defendants were involved in the scheme and police seized nearly 1,000 pounds of cocaine, nine kilograms of heroin, 46 kg of methamphetamine and 46 kg of ecstasy, as well as more than $800,000 in Canadian cash.

Five others have received jail terms, four of whom are Californians and the fifth a Vancouverite, Anthony Louis Lam. The 37-year-old is serving a four-year prison sentence.

Investigators say the operation involved members of Canadian, Mexican, Serbian, Chinese, and Sudanese gangs, some of whom used coded language and military-grade, end-to-end encrypted devices to hide their communications.

In April, two Metro Vancouver men charged in the same U.S. investigation met different fates. 

Tenny Guon Lim and Dario Antonio Baruca were indicted in May 2019 by a grand jury for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Watchuk said there was enough evidence to send Lim south, but not for Baruca. 

Chiu’s brother, Richard Yen Fat Chiu, was found dead in Colombia in June 2019. Both were investigated, but not charged, in a probe of Richmond’s Silver International. The Canadian case against Silver International and operators Caixuan Qin and Jian Jun Zhu collapsed in November 2018, when an informant’s identity was errantly revealed to defence lawyers.

Richard Charles Reed and Yuexi Lei are charged with first degree murder after Zhu was gunned down in a Richmond Japanese restaurant in September 2020. Paul King Jin, who was banned from B.C. casinos for alleged loan sharking, survived the attack. 

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Bob Mackin A transnational drug criminal from Vancouver,

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The University of British Columbia paid almost $7.4 million for a rare copy of William Shakespeare’s First Folio last year, according to the contract obtained under freedom of information. 

UBC Library announced the purchase early this year and put the 1623-printed volume on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery from January to April.

Shakespeare’s First Folio open to the Macbeth chapter, at the Vancouver Art Gallery in April 2022 (Mackin)

Why so large cost? It is one of 235 known copies remaining, published seven years after the Bard’s death, and contains 36 of his comedies, histories and tragedies. UBC said it is the only one north of California and the second in Canada. 

Documents show UBC wired $5.9 million from its U.S. currency account to Christie’s in New York via the J.P. Morgan Chase Bank on Aug. 5, 2021. According to the Bank of Canada currency exchange converter, US$5.9 million was worth $7.37 million in Canadian funds at the time.  

The sum is equal to the full course load tuition for 1,286 domestic students in arts, computer science, nursing and urban forestry. 

The documents provide no information about the previous owner or the donors that UBC said funded the acquisition. UBC has said that the Department of Canadian Heritage provided $500,000 under the Movable Cultural Grant Program, which subsidizes acquisition of “cultural property of outstanding significance and national importance to Canada.”

UBC decided to pay a great deal to be an owner, rather than a borrower nor a lender be, after Christie’s sold a copy for nearly US$10 million in October 2020. In July of this year, Sotheby’s sold one for US$6.16 million.

Shakespeare’s First Folio during the For All Time exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery (Mackin)

The Christie’s Private Sale Offer to Purchase officially called the UBC-bought First Folio the “Apsley Cherry-Garrard copy,” so named for the previous owner, a South Pole adventurer who authored The Worst Journey in the World in 1922. 

Christie’s described the one sold to UBC as a “fine, clean copy.”

“Authentic, First Folio title-page with the portrait in the extremely rare second state Handsomely bound in full red morocco gilt by Staggemeier & Welcher, circa 1800 Median folio (302 x 194 mm) 453 leaves,” reads the description. “Complete except leaf A1 [To the Reader] from a Second Folio. Title-page mounted at an early date on old leaf within manuscript rule-frame. Final leaf mounted on a stub.”

UBC also spent $4,680.31 on round-trip air fare and $437.83 for a night in the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel so that Christina Geiger, Christie’s New York head of books and manuscripts, could deliver the First Folio on Sept. 27, 2021.

UBC is digitizing its copy of the First Folio for an augmented reality application and planning another public exhibition in 2023, the 400th anniversary of the book’s publication. 

UBC originally claimed the contract prohibited it from releasing the cost. The confidentiality clause, however, states: “Both of us agree to keep the terms of this agreement (which for us includes your identity) confidential unless we are required by law to reveal them. We will not have to reveal the identity of the seller to you.” 

B.C’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has repeatedly required public bodies to disclose their contracts for goods and services.

UBC finally disclosed the documents on Sept. 28 in response to a Jan. 14 freedom of information application. 

As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, which is printed in the First Folio, the time is out of joint. 

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Bob Mackin The University of British Columbia paid

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Bob Mackin

At the start of June, a manager with the company hired to dismantle and remove the stranded barge from Sunset Beach estimated the cost of the job at $2.4 million. 

Jesse Percy, the design-build director for Carlson Construction Group, sent City of Vancouver business planning manager Harry Khella the cost estimate by email, which was obtained under freedom of information. Percy said Carlson subsidiary Vancouver Pile Driving would need two weeks to mobilize resources before beginning the job, estimated to last between 12 and 15 weeks.

Barge deconstruction on Sept. 7 (Mackin)

The bin barge ran aground in a Nov. 15, 2021 windstorm. The project entered its 11th week on Monday. Crews have removed the front and rear sections from the formerly 84-metre long vessel, known officially as STM-5000. 

Jenn Wint, spokesperson for the barge removal operation, said the cost estimate remains accurate and crews are on target to complete the job in mid-November, assuming weather and tides don’t interrupt their work. 

She did not say when the beach would reopen to the public. Documents show that a post-deconstruction habitat survey is planned for May 2023.

“Upon completion an extensive clean up of the beach and surrounding area will be done,” Wint said.

A statement provided via Krystyna Domes of the city hall communications department said additional work is required after the barge is gone, including post-deconstruction inspections.

“However, timelines for the next steps are not yet determined. We will have more to share at a later date,” said the statement from Domes.

Wint said Coast Claims Insurance is compensating the barge removal on behalf of barge owner Sentry Marine Towing Ltd. “The City of Vancouver is tracking all of their related costs and will be pursuing reimbursement from the barge owner.”

Barge deconstruction on July 13 (Mackin)

A late-April version of the contractor’s schedule estimated deconstruction and removal would be over by mid-July. Approval to use provincially owned land, negotiations for a licensing agreement between the city, Sentry and Coast Claims and discussions about the weight and type of site barriers all caused delays. 

The safety barriers were erected June 30 and deconstruction finally began July 25. 

A May 2 email from Katie Semproni, a licensing authorizations manager at the Ministry of Forests, to Percy and Ian Purvis of Carlson addressed the status of provincially owned lots.

“Having reviewed the information provided, we confirm that no additional authorizations are required under the Land Act to carry out the work as described,” Semproni wrote. “In addition, we do not object to this work occurring provided that Vancouver Pile Driving continues to engage with the [City of Vancouver] on this and that the appropriate insurance and authorizations from other agencies (for example – Transport Canada, DFO if applicable) are in place prior to commencement.”

The May 27 Vancouver Pile Driving weekly status report warned that the 48 truck trips contemplated would likely cause further damage to the upper path, which already showed signs of sub-grade failure. City hall also acknowledged it needed Metro Vancouver approval due to a force main, or pressurized sewer pipe, within the seawall. 

In a May 19 email, Guy Roberts of Metro Vancouver sewer and drainage technical services proposed an alternative to hauling concrete barriers from the far side of the Jervis Pump Station to the edge of the seawall.

Barge deconstruction on July 13 (Mackin)

“Empty barriers would be much lighter and would avoid many of the loading issues that we are dealing with,” said Roberts. “And presumably the water can be piped in from possibly a hydrant so a water truck would not be needed. “

A hazardous materials survey by Orca Health and Safety found breaches of the hull in at least three places. Testing found lead throughout the hull and bulwarks and diesel oil and hydraulic fluids. Copper and zinc were presumed in the hull underwater. No asbestos, volatile organic compounds or PCBs were found, but materials that were detected needed to be removed or contained prior to demolition.

“The presence of lead in the vessel’s paint systems is considered to pose a moderate to high risk to workers during breaking,” said the Orca report.

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Bob Mackin At the start of June, a

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