Reality check: Coroner doesn't play blame game

Vancouver 2010 will forever be known for the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the 21-year-old Georgian luger who flew off the Whistler Sliding Centre track near the end of his final training run on the opening day of the Games.

The track was faster than it should have been, but it was marketed as the world's most extreme. Until the Feb. 12, 2010 tragedy.

VANOC CEO John Furlong revealed in his memoir, Patriot Hearts, that Kumaritashvili's family was to receive $150,000 from an insurance policy. Before the payment was made, Furlong traveled to the funeral in Georgia and brought with him the euro equivalent of $25,000 in cash. That was the proceeds from a VANOC podium auction.

Near the end of the book, however, Furlong makes a key error in reference to the British Columbia Coroners Service investigation. Coroner Tom Pawlowski, not Chief Coroner Diane Rothon, ruled the death accidental. Read the report here.


What does Furlong say on page 325?

"The chief coroner of B.C. has handed down his report and found no blame…"

The B.C. Coroners Service website says:

The Coroners Service is a fact-finding, not a fault-finding agency that provides an independent service to the family, community, government agencies and other organizations. The Coroners Act and Regulation governs the coroner's scope of activity.

Vancouver Mayor not favoured in Furlong book

VANOC CEO John Furlong, in his memoir Patriot Hearts, takes shots at anyone who he thinks got in the way of VANOC and the 2010 Winter Olympics. Such as ex-NDP leader Carole James and ex-Olympics critic Harry Bains.

He also criticized the mayor of the host city, Gregor Robertson. Robertson came to power in fall 2008 and exploited the Olympic Village financing scandal that was exposed by Furlong's co-writer, Gary Mason.

On page 118:

"The new mayor didn't help by trying to play politics with the situation he inherited, making the NPA look as bad as possible in the process. He suggested that taxpayers had been left with a $1-billion nightmare. I thought it was a lot of overhyped rhetoric that wasn't particularly helpful or especially fair. In fact it would come back to haunt him a bit. By the fall of 2010, the Athletes Village was back in the news for all the wrong reasons."

Furlong doesn't mention it, but Vancouver city hall pushed developer Millennium into receivership over a $740 million debt on Nov. 17 2010, just a year before the next election.

Furlong also writes that politicians agreed to be spread out for the beginning of the torch relay hoopla in October 2009. B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell would be in Ancient Olympia, Greece for the lighting of the flame in the noonday sun. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson would be in Athens to witness the handover from the Greeks to the Canadians. And Prime Minister Stephen Harper would be in Victoria for the arrival in the host country.

On page 156-157, Furlong says:

“Initially everyone seemed good with this arrangement but one day I got a call from the mayor, who was freaking out about not being part of the ceremony in Olympia. He told me that Greek friends had informed him that part of the ceremony involved the passing of something or other from a representative from Olympia to the mayor of the host city. All news to me. Gregor said it was now vital he be there. He insisted on it. I was taken aback, as this change would mean more surgery to the protocol plan. 'Gregor,' I said, 'I think I would know if that was supposed to happen.' He persisted and I gave in. (The information Gregor received never was validated in Olympia.).”

Furlong thanks various politicians on page 328, but not Robertson or any other mayor.



Did you know: the Olympic torch relay was actually a five-country affair?

The flight from Athens, Greece stopped in Prestwick, Scotland because of “a problem with the plane,” Furlong wrote. It stopped in Reykjavik, Iceland for a crew change before the Oct. 30, 2009 Victoria, B.C. arrival. It even dipped into the United States when it crossed through the Peace Arch between Surrey, B.C. and Blaine, Wash. on Feb. 9, 2010.

Reality check: don't blame CTV, blame me

From the “To err is human, to forgive is divine” department.

First the error.

VANOC CEO John Furlong’s book Patriot Hearts was written with Gary Mason, the Globe and Mail columnist who broke one of the biggest stories on the road to 2010: the Olympic Village financing scandal.

In a nutshell, Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan and the NPA-majority city council decided behind closed doors -- in a meeting format officially called “in camera” -- to bail out struggling developer Millennium when Olympic Village financier Fortress Credit Corporation stopped funding the project in September 2008.

Page 117 of Patriot Hearts says:

"It really had no choice since our deal to provide the village was with the city, not Millennium... But the decision to provide the financing was made on camera and leaked to Gary Mason." 

In camera means “in chamber” in Latin, but the meeting was not on camera.

Two vowels. Side-by-side on the keyboard. Oh lord. I. O. See?

Now for the forgiveness.

Furlong wags his finger at CTV (he does a lot of finger-wagging in the book) for putting its Chopper 9 in the sky above the Vancouver Convention Centre to get aerial footage of the mysterious structure inside a big, white box. The official Canadian broadcaster of the Games showed that a cauldron was constructed on Jack Poole Plaza!

Furlong recounts the incident on page 188

“...the local CTV affiliate had somehow discovered what was inside the big wooden box. They rented a helicopter, got a shot of it while it was briefly exposed, and put it on the air. I was livid. I couldn’t figure out why our Olympic partner would want to ruin this surprise for millions of Canadians.”

Mr. Furlong, don't be so hard on CTV. The real villain was me!

I had already been tipped by a source that the B.C. Place Stadium cauldron would be used at the opening and closing ceremonies only. There would be an outdoor burner, somewhere in the city. I saw the "white box" and the very telling camera on a pole on Jack Poole Plaza. During a tour the previous week, Olympic Broadcasting Services Vancouver chief operating officer Nancy Lee feigned ignorance when I asked her about the structure. Lee is normally a font of information and a frank-talker.

On Feb. 8, I cornered Premier Gordon Campbell at the opening of the Aboriginal Pavilion where he unveiled a wall display in tribute to Poole, the founding chairman of VANOC who died of pancreatic cancer.

Here's my story that broke the secret and gave CTV's flyboys a reason to go for a spin. This is what CTV came up with.

So Furlong wags his finger at the wrong media outlet.

I’ll forgive him, even if he begins wagging his finger at me for revealing one of the Games’ biggest secrets.

True patriot's love

Patriot Hearts: Inside the Olympics that Changed a Country is in stores now. The autobiography of VANOC CEO John Furlongwas written with Gary Mason.

Sadly, it's hardcover only. Furlong and publisher Douglas and McIntyre have missed a golden opportunity by neglecting to produce an e-book. The iPad and Kindle are changing the face of the publishing industry and VANOC claimed to be sustainable. But Furlong's memoir is constructed with dead trees, albeit Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper.

Few gold medal revelations are contained in the book. A secret deal with the Russians helped Vancouver win the 2010 Games. Late luger Nodar Kumaritashvili's family was to receive $150,000 in insurance payments. Furlong is no fan of the NDP's Carole James or Harry Bains.

But there are nuggets in every chapter.

Here are things that you probably never knew about Furlong.

Chariots of Fire is his favourite film. He’s seen it 20 times. He hasn't watched the Vancouver 2010 highlights video, which includes his speeches.

He suffers from migraine headaches. "Most days it's tolerable, some days it's terrible. But it is always there, a constant reminder of a heady time in my life when it all started" (during the 1978 Northern B.C. Winter Games).

Was Canada’s national squash champion on May 2, 1986 -- the day Expo 86 opened. Expo 86 closed Oct. 13, 1986, the day after his 36th birthday. He was born Oct. 12, 1950 in Clonmel, Ireland.

Mentor and VANOC chairman Jack Poole hosted FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2002 at his Mission ranch. Blatter came by helicopter for a steak BBQ. "We didn't ask for Sepp's vote, but we were all smiles when he told us we could count on him."

Furlong was named VANOC employee number one and paid $300,000 a year.

Cirque du Soleil was in the running to produce the opening and closing ceremonies. Founder Guy Laliberte wanted the opening ceremony’s theme to be about water and the world water crisis. Cirque eventually withdrew its bid. "We were looking for a partner, not just a contractor."

If Furlong had his way, slam poet Shane Koyczan would not have performed “We Are More” at the opening ceremony. Why? No humility and no French.

Furlong wanted Wayne Gretzky to be transported from B.C. Place Stadium to Jack Poole Plaza for the outdoor cauldron lighting in the basket on a helicopter. Security officials were not amused. Gretzky went by pickup truck.

He was raised on prison grounds: His father John was chief of the Irish jail system. Mother was Maureen. Brothers Jim, Eamonn, Brian and Terry and younger sister Rosemary, who was his closest sibling. Cousin Siobhan died in an Ulster Volunteer Force Protestant terrorist bombing on May 14, 1974 in Dublin.

His kids are Maria, John, Damien, Emma and Molly, who danced in the closing ceremony.

Patriot Hearts, however, is dedicated “To Catherine and the Canadian spirit.”

Catherine is not mentioned again until the final page of the acknowledgements.

That’s where the twice-married Furlong thanks "my dearest friend Catherine Bachand" for the "support, encouragement, compassion, love, deep loyalty and inspiration."

"Hers is a patriot heart. Thank you so much."

Bachand (below) was a VANOC employee. Furlong's executive assistant who became the head of the VANOC/Canadian Olympic Committee transition team.



Furlong appears Feb. 12 (9:30 a.m.) at the VancouverAM.ca breakfast at the Vancouver Convention Centre, Chapters bookstore at Granville and Broadway (3 p.m.), Feb. 13 at the Whistler Public Library (3:30 p.m.) and Feb. 14 at Richmond Public Library's Brighouse branch (7:30 p.m.)

Putting two and two together

Last week, this blogger broke stories on how the Vancouver Olympic committee cancelled its final instalment of bonuses for certain workers and that the Department of Canadian Heritage found discrepancies in the use of federal taxpayers' funds by VANOC.

Canadian Heritage was the ministry that oversaw federal involvement with and funding of the Olympics. The October 2010-dated audit document was itself dated Dec. 8, 2010. It appeared on the Canadian Heritage website's audits and evaluation section very quietly, after Christmas... after the Dec. 17, 2010 VANOC post-Games financial report and after the Dec. 23, 2010 Government-wide Canada's Games report. The latter report did not answer a key question: how much did the feds spend?

Canadian Heritage didn't find any improprieties and made no recommendations to VANOC. But the auditors who went over VANOC books last May and June and found $10 million in accounting discrepancies that needed adjusting. They were unable to look at how ceremonies producer David Atkins used almost $500,000 because the files were in Australia.

Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore was "not available" according to his press secretary. VANOC chief financial officer John McLaughlin did not respond directly to my queries about the cancelled bonuses or the Canadian Heritage audit. But if VANOC had to rejig its books after the audit, it may be reasonable that the first place it turned was the trust fund that contained those bonuses.

A trust fund that was reported quarterly in 2008 and 2009, but mysteriously not in the only report issued in 2010.

Here is the Canadian Heritage audit.

Canadian Heritage VANOC audit, October 2010

VANOC communication breakdown

The response from ex-VANOC employees that I have been in touch with has been common.

None expressed bitterness about the cancellation of the final instalment of the promised bonuses for fulfilling all work requirements. (Read more here about the surprise memo and the unanswered questions about the multi-million-dollar VANOC trust fund).

All, however, are a tad miffed that they didn't get the Jan. 6, 2011 bad news memo. They reasonably believe that what remains of VANOC is in possession of their current email address. For example, they received information about CEO John Furlong's upcoming memoir, Patriot Hearts.

This is what Renee Smith-Valade, who was the vice-president of communications, said in response to my question about the process of disseminating that Jan. 6, 2011 memo:

"As many employees as possible were informed of the change to the retention plan. The vast majority were aware well before the Games ended and John's memo served as confirmation. As you might imagine, not everyone left forwarding contact information so it may be that they did not get John's e-mail.

"There was a request in the memo to forward it on to colleagues as much as possible and to encourage those who wanted to leave accurate forwarding addresses to contact VANOC at a specified e-mail address."

You're welcome to comment below or email me directly bob.mackin@sunmedia.ca

Workplace safety and the Vancouver Olympics

Whenever it trotted out one of its Sustainability Reports (produced in-house, not independently), Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee boasted about its commitment to worker safety.

Its record was far from spotless. One cannot expect such a big event as an Olympic Games to be built, staged and dismantled without incident. It's just that VANOC always did a lousy job of owning up to mistakes when challenged by reporters. To err is human. To deny, delay, defer and distract is VANOC.

I learned that on Sept. 20, 2010, WorkSafeBC levied a $75,000 fine for putting workers in danger on March 24, 2010 at the Cypress Mountain temporary snowboard stadium. Workers dismantling the structure had no suitable ladders, so they had to scale poles and use the rosette connector rings as footholds. No injuries were reported, but it was enough for an inspector to recommend a category A fine. See the report below.

VANOC fined $75,000 by WorkSafeBC

VANOC distanced itself from any incidents involving other parties on projects it was not directly controlling. One of those was the Feb. 15, 2010 barrier collapse at City of Vancouver's LiveCity Yaletown in David Lam Park moments after Alexisonfire arrived on stage. One person was seriously injured.

Another happened in 2006 when a B.C. Place Stadium janitor with contractor Modern Cleaners collapsed on the job in the future Olympic stadium. She was taken to hospital where she later died. B.C. Place management did not do their duty to inform WorkSafeBC.

At least two notable deaths occurred in the lead-up to the Games on two important construction projects that were necessary to host the world.

WorkSafeBC fined Murrin Construction $216,000 after 45-year-old blaster Gary Michael Greer died during the construction of the Callaghan Valley road on June 12, 2006. Greer may have been impaired when he used improvised equipment.

Andy Slobodian, a 22-year-old apprentice, died when the overloaded mobile crane he operated toppled on the Canada Line's bridge over the Fraser River on Jan. 21, 2008. Slobodian had only 20 to 90 minutes of training. SNC-Lavalin Constructors (Pacific) and Rizzani de Eccher -- the partners in RSL Joint Venture -- were fined $233,535.58. SNC got an additional $81,808.13 fine.

Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died Feb. 12, 2010 at the Whistler Sliding Centre on a training run, but he was an athlete, not a worker.

Were you a VANOC employee or contractor who suffered a job-related injury or illness? Did you witness an incident? Contact bob.mackin@sunmedia.ca.