Liberal big shots skip historic news conference

The March 21 announcement that FIFA chose Vancouver’s B.C. Place Stadium as the site of the 2015 Women’s World Cup final was both historic and underwhelming.

Vancouver's nine games, including the championship final, will make this the biggest international sporting event in the city since the 2010 Winter Olympics climaxed with the men’s Olympic gold medal hockey game at Rogers Arena. 

The July 5, 2015 final will likely have a bigger international TV audience, in more countries, than the biggest hockey game in history. FIFA estimated 62.8 million people tuned-in for Japan's upset of the United States in 2011 at Commerzbank Arena, the Frankfurt, Germany stadium that inspired B.C. Place's retractable roof. 

The 2015 Women’s World Cup final broadcast will also draw 10 times more pairs of eyeballs than the anticipated audience of the 2014 Grey Cup. 

The Grey Cup was announced March 8 with much fanfare in a B.C. Place news conference starring Premier Christy Clark (who didn’t mention Vancouver once during her speech). Nobody from Vancouver city hall was invited, not even Mayor Gregor Robertson. That was the end of a hell week for Clark, who was hammered with the Quick Wins Multicultural Outreach scandal and the Prince George plyscraper procurement scandal. Her handlers wanted a quick win before the weekend.

The March 21 Women’s World Cup news conference was a low-key affair, held at the Hampton Inn hotel across from B.C. Place. National Organizing Committee spokesman Richard Scott said top officials from all three levels of government were invited at the start of the week for the announcements in Vancouver and Edmonton, once it was confirmed that the Canada 2015 schedule would be on the FIFA executive committee agenda's March 21 meeting in Zurich. (It was not on the agenda released March 13.)

Federal Conservatives were unavailable, because of the federal budget in Ottawa. 

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel hosted Alberta Tourism Minister Richard Starke at city hall in Edmonton, where the City of Champions was told it would host the opening match on June 6, 2015.

Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs subbed for Robertson, who was apparently out-of-town. Small Business Minister Naomi Yamamoto attended on behalf of the provincial government. Clark, Sport Minister Bill Bennett, Tourism Minister Pat Bell and Deputy Premier/B.C. Pavilion Corporation Minister Rich Coleman were all unavailable. 

Normally, politicians would rearrange their agendas and flock, like moths to light, to a photo opportunity at a good news announcement about a global event coming to their jurisdiction. Evidently, Canada 2015 is not top of mind for the Liberals, because they may have no future after May 14, 2013. 

Polling suggests the Liberals are en route to defeat and they are focusing on clinging to power in ridings that are in jeopardy of falling to the NDP. Additionally, too many big city reporters still have too many questions about the lingering Liberal scandals, whether it be public employees breaking rules by doing party work on government time, the Prince George plyscraper procurement or a new investigation by the Information and Privacy Commissioner into public employees using personal email accounts to elude the Freedom of Information act. 

While Clark was campaigning in the interior, the Liberals quietly tweaked their website to remove the link to their MLAs and replace it with content all about candidates for the May 14 election. Make no mistake, the Liberals are in full campaign mode. The website now implores Liberal supporters to "push back" against "misinformation and bias" on radio and "misinformation and spin" in newspapers. 

The 2013 Liberals would be foolish to neglect history. Demonization of the media was also a feature of the 1991 Social Credit Party and 2001 NDP. Those drunk-on-power parties went into election campaigns desperate and emerged decimated after voting day. The Socreds fell from 47 to seven seats, the NDP collapsed from 39 to just two. 

Today's BC Liberals have 45. For now.

Morning Interviews, Liberally Fixed

More information is emerging on how Clark got into the MILF mess last year. That infamous interview with Justin "Drex" Wilcomes on 98.9 Jet FM was part of a nine interview blitz on FM morning drive shows over three December mornings, according to entries in her agenda that I obtained via Freedom of Information. 

The last interview was with a Victoria station. The preceding eight were all with small market outlets where the Liberals could suffer defeat in the election. 

Dec. 14: 7:30 a.m.-7:40 a.m. Dawn Tyndall, KISS FM Vernon, 7:50 a.m.-8 a.m. Brian Martin and Vicki Proulx, Sun FM Vernon, 8:30 a.m.-8:35 a.m. Kevin and Sonia, Sun FM Mornings, Kelowna; Dec. 18: 6:35 a.m.-6:45 a.m. Darren McPeak and John Helm, Mountain FM Kootenays, 6:45 a.m.-6:50 a.m. Bob Johnston and Bill Nation, The Eagle, Courtenay, 6:50 a.m.-6:55 a.m. Kyle Wightman, The Wolf FM Prince George; Dec. 19: 6:45 a.m.-6:50 a.m. Uncle Scotty, The River, Campbell River, 6:50 a.m.-6:55 a.m. Drex of Jet FM Comox Valley and 8:40 a.m.-8:50 a.m. Robin and Brian, Kool FM Victoria. 

These interviews were part of a coordinated strategy, perhaps inspired by the Swing Teams playbook revealed by reporter Cassidy Olivier in The Province. 

Bell, Bond, de-BID

PCL Constructors Westcoast was chosen to design and build the Wood Innovation and Design Centre "plyscraper" in Prince George. The announcement came March 22 in Prince George. The company is a major donor to the BC Liberals that expanded the Vancouver Convention Centre and renovated B.C. Place Stadium. The Auditor General investigated the $883.2 million convention centre expansion and is conducting a fact-finding mission on the $514 million B.C. Place project. PCL was named a defendant (along with B.C. Pavilion Corporation) in cable installer Freyssinet's B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit. 

Serious questions remain about the integrity of the procurement for this plyscraper. A representative of the BID Group responded on behalf of CEO Brian Fehr, turning down my request for an interview to learn more about the situation and his quotes that appear on Alex Tsakumis’s blog. 

Fehr claimed Minister Pat Bell reneged on a pledge that his company would be shortlisted for the plyscraper job. On Tsakumis's blog, Fehr is quoted as saying he met with the Premier, who apparently called, texted and emailed him about the project. Clark was quoted by the Vancouver Sun as saying "the issue has been handled by civil servants. It hasn't been handled by politicians at all." The NDP has called for an independent inquiry.

These are very serious allegations that deserve to be confirmed or denied, but my queries to Bell and to the Premier’s press secretary Mike Morton were met with silence. 

Lawyer Jane Shackell was the government-hired fairness monitor on the WIDC tendering, but her terms of reference were too narrow to do anything about Fehr's claims of unfairness. Here is her final report, dated March 18. Elections BC records show Shackell donated $700 to the BC Liberals in 2009.

Shackell was also the fairness monitor on the Evergreen Line Project. The main $889 million contract was awarded to SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal-based engineering giant that is accused of widespread corruption on a number of fronts. 

SNC-Lavalin donated $27,647 to the Liberals from 2005 to 2010. SNC-Lavalin board chairman Gwyn Morgan was on Clark's transition team when she won the Liberal leadership in 2011 and donated $117,510 from 2009 to 2012, including $10,000 to Clark's leadership bid. Director Claude Mongeau is the CEO of CN, which privatized BC Rail amid controversy in 2003 while Clark was deputy premier. Clark is under investigation by the Conflict of Interest office after MLA John van Dongen's fall 2012 complaint. 

According to meeting minutes that I received from the Evergreen Line Project board, Shackell's final fairness report was received by the board on Sept. 21, 2012. That was six months ago. It has still not been published. 

The Partnerships BC and the Ministry of Transportation media offices play an Alphonse and Gaston routine whenever I ask for the Shackell report on SNC-Lavalin. 

I'm not amused.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! (& Monday update)

Three items, for your reading pleasure on Daytona 500 Sunday. 

First, the battle for control of Vancouver’s community centres continues. 

City manager Penny Ballem quashed Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr’s motion on notice for the Feb. 12 city council meeting. Carr wanted city hall to slow-down and think twice about seizing control from the 23 community associations and centralizing power with the Board of Parks and Recreation.  

Carr called the actions of the unelected Ballem undemocratic and “bullying.” Vision Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs claimed Carr violated the code of conduct section that prohibits councillors from making public statements attacking staff or invoking staff matters for political purposes. The complaint was withdrawn after a meeting with Mayor Gregor Robertson. 

NPA Parks Board commissioner Melissa de Genova is asking Parks Board to conduct public meetings on the proposal. Her motion is on the agenda for the Feb. 25 meeting. 

At the Feb. 25 meeting, the new president of the Kensington Community Centre Association is registered to speak. But will he be allowed?  

Milan Kljajic, a parks board outside worker, member of CUPE Local 1004 and a disaffected Vancouver-Kingsway B.C. Conservative who endorsed NDP's Adrian Dix, replaced the resigned Stephen Elliott-Buckley. 

Kljajic claims he was called Feb. 22 by Parks Board Human Resources Consultant Vicki Gannon and advised not to speak at the meeting because he would violate the code of conduct. 

Kljajic refused to do an interview, but told me via email: 

“I feel that my rights have been violated and my employee future at COV has been threatened. I am a volunteer community leader that was elected President of Kensington to serve the best interest of the grassroots of my community. I am planning on finishing my term and reaching a fair joint operating agreement that I can bring to the membership.”

Section 5 allows staff members to be politically active, to support parties and candidates and even seek public office. 

“An employee may engage in any Political Activity so long as it does not impair, or is not perceived as impairing, the employee’s ability to perform his or her duties in a politically impartial manner. This precludes employees from displaying slogans or symbols supporting a particular party or candidate while at work where their duties may reasonably require them to interact in person with the public or where their duties require them to supervise, schedule or assign work to others.”

The Parks Board also falls under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which includes Section 2(b) that upholds freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression. 

Why -- if centralizing community centre operations is really a wise move, for the sake of efficiency -- doesn’t the ruling Vision Vancouver just submit to public hearings in the affected communities? These are, after all, public assets. As for that Feb. 4 "emergency" meeting that ended in a 5-2 vote for the centralization of power, that was really a box-ticking exercise. The board approved a vague "city-wide consultation," but that is not to be confused with public hearings. Informal public information meetings, where minutes are not kept, are the favoured tool for governments that want to impose a program or policy.    

UPDATE (Feb. 25): Kljajic did not speak to Parks Board, but Kensington's past-president Mary Sutherland delivered his remarks:

Good evening. I’m here tonight to speak on behalf of our current President Milan Kljajic. Milan sends his regrets as he is dealing with some issues with the City of Vancouver.  His statement is as follows: 

Our Association fully supports this motion. It is time for the Commissioners to take control of this situation and listen to the public. 

Commissioners, we are extremely disappointed by the continued lack of leadership you have demonstrated and the apparent lack of respect for public opinion. Until recently, our association had agreed to continue participating in ongoing JOA negotiations with the Park Board. As a centre that serves many people with lower incomes, we have always fully support programs that will allow greater access to community centres. 

Unfortunately, through your recent actions, it became clear that the Park Board is intent on implementing its plans and that negotiations will neither be transparent nor appropriate to the magnitude of the issue. It is for that reason that our board of directors met last week and decided that we could no longer participate in what we feel is a disrespectful process that doesn’t address the real issues. 

Despite modest revenues and years of financial and administrative neglect by the Park Board, our association has been able to retain a modest amount of revenue. We’ve been flexible with our money over the years, funding popular community programs and services and even investing $600,000 towards the capital cost of constructing the most recent addition to the Kensington Community Centre, which now houses a seniors’ lounge, dance studio and administrative space. That investment was nowhere to be seen on the report from staff that you accepted in the wee hours on February 5. As a ‘have not’ – or more appropriately Park Board neglected – centre, we did not ask for such radical changes to the financial arrangement between the CCAs and Park Board. 

We do not feel that the funding scheme that you support will benefit anything more than Park Board’s general revenues, which is a matter that commissioners should be taking up with the City Manager, Mayor and City Councilors. What is more distressing is that there has been no commitment by the Park Board to truly solicit public input on the matter. Your current approach is to make the decision and then attempt to bring the public onside when they do not have any say in the matter. 

As a result, you do not have the support of the people who voted for you. Public opposition to your current plan outweighs support 2:1. What is even more telling is that residents of the west and east sides of Vancouver have the same opinion. The public does not support your attempt to make radical, ill-informed changes without any public consultation. This is a matter of public policy and is your responsibility. It should not be delegated to staff. 

Commissioners, I strongly encourage you to step up and demonstrate leadership and support this motion. Introduce true public consultation into the process and re-instill faith in those people who you will be calling on to vote for you in the coming months. Thank you.

Meanwhile, from B.C.'s "second city," item number two. An update about Surrey Shirts' and its Chief Shirt Disturber, Don Pitcairn.

Business in Vancouver was first to tell you that the City of Surrey was threatening Pitcairn with a trademark violation lawsuit. City hall sent a cease and desist letter over the shirts that parody Surrey’s logo and slogan. Pitcairn was using his freedom of speech to comment on Surrey’s gangs and guns problem. In 2012, the federal Conservatives amended the Canada Copyright Act to protect parody in the Fair Dealing section. 

Pitcairn said he met Feb. 19 with city manager Murray Dinwoodie and city lawyer Craig MacFarlane for a "cordial" meeting.

“I informed them that Surrey Shirts had made changes to five of our shirt designs to further distance them from City of Surrey trademark logos, including removing the City Signature design completely from our anti-gun violence 'Better Safe Than Surrey' shirt that was never printed or released in its original form,” Pitcairn said.

Pitcairn, who flogs the shirts online, said Phat Fixx in Surrey Central City Mall pulled stock from the racks after only 10 days. Phat Fixx outfits the mixed martial arts and hip-hip crowds.

"We are hoping to locate a store where the landlord or management supports clothing tailored to the proud residents of Surrey and who will not be intimidated by those who appear to be more worried about Surrey's image on a simple T-shirt that doing something about the real problems that are giving the City of Surrey a bad reputation across Canada," Pitcairn said via email. 

Within the announcement on the Surrey Shirts website, Pitcairn gives a nod to the Feb. 27 Pink Shirt Day anti-bullying campaign. As for the lightning-bolt letter S font in the Surrey Shirts logo, Pitcairn denies he's a sympathizer of the Nazis' evil SchutzStaffel. 

“It’s a rock and roll kinda website. I do like KISS and most people that see it, get it right away,” Pitcairn said after the original story broke. “We won’t be selling Nazi paraphernalia on the Surrey Shirts website.”

Someone who knows Surrey very well, but lives many postal codes and tax brackets to the west, is the subject of item number three: Patrick Kinsella. 

Progressive Group lobbyist Kinsella is the province’s best-known political power broker. Nobody else comes close. His influence was felt in the headquarters of BC Rail, BC Hydro and VANOC. He was a key architect of Gordon Campbell’s hat-trick election victories and Christy Clark’s leadership win. (Kinsella's "midas touch" didn't work for Rita Johnston, Kim Campbell or Belinda Stronach.)

He was among Clark's guests in the deluxe B.C. Place Suite when B.C. Place Stadium reopened on Sept. 30, 2011 and he was registered as a lobbyist for Exel, the company that wanted to privatize liquor distribution. 

Since July 2011, he has sought to sell his Shaughnessy mansion. 

First listed for $7.28 million via Rennie Realty, the price for Kinsella's mansion at 3839 Selkirk in Vancouver was slashed to $6.75 million. 

Last fall, Kinsella switched to Macdonald Realty and the property was listed at $6.198 million. Still no takers. It was pulled from the market. 

Kinsella's real estate agent Monique Badun is trying again, with a lower asking price: $5.998 million.

Kinsella turns 72 on May 26. He has consistently declined my requests for interviews about his house, horse racing, his lobbying business and provincial politics.

Ex-union boss linked to Exel wins NDP nomination

George Heyman

Former B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union president George Heyman won the race to become the B.C. NDP candidate in Vancouver-Fraserview on Oct. 21 against Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs.

But what kind of MLA might Heyman be, if he can unseat B.C. Liberal incumbent Margaret MacDiarmid in the May 2013 provincial election?

MacDiarmid was the Citizens' Services minister who was the titular lead for the privatization of the Liquor Distribution Branch's warehousing and distribution, before she was shuffled to the Health Ministry in September.

MacDiarmid, to her credit, agreed to an interview with me. Liquor minister Rich Coleman, whose hands were all over the file, behind-the-scenes, did not.

Heyman was a key player in the years-long saga during his 1999 to 2008 tenure as BCEGU president. Under his watch, the BCGEU successfully thwarted the Liberals' 2003 bid to privatize LDB's retail and logistics. But, from 2005 to 2008, Heyman and BCGEU organizing director Jeff Fox held closed-door meetings with Exel Logistics' lobbyists Mark Jiles and Rob Madore. Exel expressed confidence it had support from the BCGEU in its Oct. 6, 2009 "Project Last Spike" internal memo. In a nutshell, the memo said the BCGEU was willing to sacrifice the warehouse workers in Vancouver and Kamloops warehouses in order to keep the workers who are employed across the province in the LDB retail chain. Current president Darryl Walker, who succeeded Heyman, denied that was the case.

Heyman, now executive director of the Sierra Club B.C., didn't want to answer any questions from me about BCGEU, Exel and LDB when I contacted him in June for this story in Business in Vancouver. 

“I prefer not to comment on BCGEU issues,” Heyman told me. “I've been gone a long time and am doing other work these days.” 

Now that Mr. Heyman has his sights set on a seat in the Legislature, he will have to comment on BCGEU issues. It is his claim to fame and his constituents have a right to know about what he did while the democratically elected head of one of B.C.'s most-powerful unions. 

Meanwhile, the latest #LiquorLeaks release (below, via Freedom of Information) offers a glimpse into how the bureaucrats managing the file were planning their summer and fall. Oct. 9-12 was supposed to be the evaluation committee's Phase three climax. A proponent was supposed to be recommended and approved by Treasury Board on or around Oct. 16. 

Of course, the government and BCGEU reached a surprise tentative agreement for a two-year contract on Sept. 27 that scuttled the tendering process. Even NDP critic Maurine Karagianis was in disbelief, speculating that something else drove the Liberals to end the privatization and that the BCGEU settlement was a convenient cover to hide behind.

Response - CTZ-2012-00133