Exclusive: Hansen wanted a run for the border

How did the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics torch relay take a detour into the United States?

On Feb. 9, 2010, Sarajevo 1984 skiing champion Phil Mahre carried the flame through the Peace Arch from Blaine, Wash., to Surrey, B.C.

A March 6, 2008 letter (obtained via Freedom of Information) from Olympics minister Colin Hansen to VANOC CEO John Furlong proposed "the spirit of the Games be spread even further" by including the State of Washington in the Olympic torch relay.

Exclusive: B.C. government wanted Olympic torch to go south

Talk of the Olympic torch going below the 49th parallel had been ongoing for more than a year between key Liberal insiders and the government of Washington. Here's a brief timeline of how it developed.

A May 29, 2007 memo by Mark Jiles of the Progressive Group to Mary Rose, director of 2010 Programs for the Washington government, said "We have had a number of conversations with the 2010 Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) around the idea of having the torch relay enter the State of Washington on its way to Vancouver… Jim Richard (sic), director of the 2010 Torch Relay is prepared to recommend that Washington State be included in the plan that he is preparing to bring to the Board of Directors in mid-2007."

A news release by B.C. and Washington after a June 8, 2007 joint cabinet meeting said: "The jurisdictions have also pursued shared economic, Olympic and tourism opportunities, seeking ways for Washington to participate in events leading up to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games."

The Progressive Group is the consultancy run by Liberal insider Patrick Kinsella. In its dealings with the Washington government, Progressive pledged to "facilitate opportunities for Washington State to develop important relationships" with Olympic decision-makers, including the arrangement of meetings with Hansen and his top staffers, plus Furlong and VANOC chairman Jack Poole. Kinsella ran the Liberals' 2005 election win. Jiles was Premier Gordon Campbell's constituency campaign manager. Kinsella also ran Christy Clark's successful Liberal leadership win in 2011.

The company's proposal to Washington said: "Progressive Group is located in the heart of downtown Vancouver, while at the same time has a presence in the Provincial capital of Victoria and a foot into the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee."

Wannabe premiers show their donation dockets

The score is Kevin Falcon $708,664.58, Christy Clark $519,040 and George Abbott $427,842.

Those are the donation tallies released Feb. 22 by three of the four candidates in the race to succeed Gordon "Red Mittens" Campbell as B.C. Liberal leader and the new premier of British Columbia. A telephone and Internet vote will be held Feb. 26. Will the winner have the biggest war chest or will it be a cost-effective victory?

Why do people donate to politicians and parties? The tax receipt is often secondary or tertiary. Sometimes the donors are friends or business associates. Often it's a way to get noticed and even, ahem, receive future considerations. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. There are even some who -- gasp -- donate money because they actually believe in the policies of the candidate.

A closer look at the lists reveal some interesting connections.

Francesco Aquilini, owner of the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena, stayed true to his word. He told me in January after a Board of Trade lunch that he'd be happy with Abbott, Clark or Falcon. The owner of the rink where the biggest hockey game in history happened Feb. 28, 2010 sent $25,000 cheques to each of them.

Concord Pacific, which hosted Molson Canadian Hockey House during the Games, gave $5,000 to Falcon and $2,500 each to Abbott and Clark. (Coincidentally, Abbott Street leads to Concord property and Clark Drive isn't far away. Falcons are few and far between on False Creek.)

Clark got $500 from former Canadian tennis pro Grant Connell, now a high-end real estate agent. Oh-so-popular and tenant-friendly landlord (oh, the sarcasm!) Hollyburn Properties donated $10,000. Does this mean Clark is beholden to the West End's notorious "renovictionists"?

Encana, the company whose northern B.C. pipelines were allegedly (and suspiciously) bombed in the months leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics, gave $1,500 to Clark but $3,000 to Abbott. (Hey, whatever happened to Wiebo Ludwig or was that RCMP raid a form of "security theatre" connected to the Olympic torch relay? Just askin'.) They both received $1,500 cheques from MDA Corporation, the Richmond-based military contractor which mysteriously became involved in the RCMP surveillance camera contract for the Olympics.

Lurking in the shadows of Clark's campaign is Patrick Kinsella, the veteran political strategist, lobbyist and racehorse owner. Kinsella's Progressive Group donated $20,000. Kinsella was behind Social Credit Premier Rita Johnston's epic 1991 election loss and Tory Prime Minister Kim Campbell's equally impressive 1993 federal loss. Johnston and Campbell were crowned by their parties, but the people voted against them because of their unfit to govern parties.

Will the K-Man use Clark to complete his trifecta of female futility? For those keeping score at home, he's the Liberal insider involved heavily in BC Railscam who figuratively boasted he had a "foot into" VANOC. Who's powerful leg it was attached to remains a mystery.

Then there's $10,000 from Pacific Customs Brokers. That's the company run by Kinsella's horse racing partner Glen Todd. PCB received a lucrative and exclusive contract by VANOC to handle customs clearance and freight forwarding for the 2010 Games. Not a small job, seeing as how PCB had its hands all over heavy and expensive things like backup power generators, bobsleds and satellite dishes that came and went across the border. At previous Olympics, global logistics giant Schenker signed sponsorship/supply deals. The Vancouver 2010 bid book in 2003 mentioned customs clearance and freight forwarding as a potential sponsorship category. For some reason, never properly explained by VANOC, PCB was given a service contract. Meanwhile, Brenda J. Kinsella kicked in $3,000.

Who else is on the Clark list? Condo king Bob Rennie's Rennie Marketing Systems ($15,000) and Peter S. Malek ($2,500) of Millennium Development. Remember Millennium, don't you? The company's division that developed the Olympic Village went into receivership on Nov. 17, 2010 over a $740 million debt to Vancouver taxpayers.

Clark's coffers were also filled by developer Peter Wall ($15,000), Bruno Wall ($10,000) and Wall Financial ($25,000).

Falcon's campaign may be brought to you by the letter K. Kebet Holdings is another name for the Beedie Group. Real estate tycoon Ryan Beedie's $30,000 was only exceeded by the $40,000 from Keg Restaurants. Kyle Washington, whose company supplied the barge on which the Olympic rings floated in Coal Harbour, gave $10,000.

Shato Holdings (the Toigo family company which owns the Vancouver Giants) gave $5,000 to Falcon and Abbott. Richmond builders and former Vancouver 86ers' owners Maureen and Milan Ilich sent $5,000 to each of the three. Falcon doesn't have a slush fund, but a Slurpee fund. He had $4,000 from 7-Eleven.

Falcon is a former highways minister, so it's no surprise that Langley Concrete Group ($5,000), Mainland Sand and Gravel ($2,000), Mainroad Home ($5,000) and Pacific Blasting ($5,000) shovelled cash his way. They all had Olympic contracts. Dueck -- the massive GM dealership owned by Moray Keith -- gave $1,000 to Falcon and Abbott.

Theresa Emerson, wife of former federal Olympics minister David Emerson, gave $1,000 to Falcon but $500 to Abbott.

Rusty Goepel, the longtime Gordon Campbell loyalist and chairman of VANOC (yes, it still exists) gave $250 to Abbott. Interesting, because Abbott's logo is a crudely drawn torch.

Patrick Kinsella: The B.C. Liberals GoodFella

Guess who's back in the news?

Just in time for a good ol' gambling scandal, none other than Patrick Kinsella.

Kinsella (top) ran the B.C. Liberals' campaigns in 2001 and 2005, donated $76,864 to the party between 2005 and 2009, and was intricately involved in the BC Rail privatization scandal, which is also known as Regina vs. Basi, Basi and Virk.

Expect Kinsella to be on the witness stand to answer questions about the appearance that he worked for both Crown corporation BC Rail and its successful suitor Canadian National Railway. Expect defence lawyer Michael Bolton to ask Kinsella about his activities over the last decade.

According to the blog of political commentator Alexis G. Tsakumis, Kinsella was spotted dining July 21 at a Keg restaurant in South Surrey with none other than Rich Coleman, B.C.'s minister of housing and social development who is also in charge of gambling and liquor. That's the same Coleman (pictured above at a podium) who skipped out of a July 15 press conference early because he apparently found something else to do to avoid the probing questions of reporters at the launch of PlayNow.com...

Yes, that's the same "North America first" government-run online casino called PlayNow that was shut down after six hours because of a privacy breach. What were the odds of that happening?

A Coleman staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "the minister has advised this was a personal dinner." As for Kinsella, he did not respond to a phone message I left with his receptionist.

Kinsella runs a "government relations" (read: lobbying) company called the Progressive Group. After years of denying he was a lobbyist (and evading a lobbying-related RCMP investigation because of a legal loophole), he finally signed-up when a new law came into effect April 1, 2010. Lo-and-behold, the Progressive registration shows that he was lobbying during those years that he said he wasn't.

Kinsella's clients include Great Canadian Gaming, Pacific Western Brewing, Mark Anthony Group and Exel Logistics. For those keeping score at home, the respective entities are in the business of gambling, drinking, drinking and industrial delivery. His Lobbyist Registry entries list Coleman as the "target contact" for three of the four companies above and the intended outcomes are either "Development, establishment, amendment or termination of any program, policy or decision" or "Awarding, amendment or termination of a contract, grant or financial benefit."

Oh, it's certainly possible that Kinsella didn't mutter a word about his clients or their goals with Coleman when they broke bread at the Keg. Maybe they spent a few hours mulling the merits of the Keg's Lobster Summer special menu, which expires Aug. 22?

So why, you ask, does Kinsella deserve to be on a blog about the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics?

Kinsella lobbied the B.C. government on behalf of the State of Washington's Olympic office. The contract documents, obtained by Public Eye's Sean Holman, show Progressive pledged to arrange meetings between government decision-makers and businesspeople in Washington and senior officials in the B.C. government and Vancouver Olympic organizing committee.

Kinsella and his sidekick Mark Jiles even told Washington that:

"Progressive Group is located in the heart of downtown Vancouver, while at the same time has a presence in the Provincial capital of Victoria and a foot into the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee (VANOC). The Progressive Group is the only public affairs, Olympic affairs and sports marketing firm in B.C." 

Progressive client Orca Creative Group of Woodinville, Wash. scored lucrative gigs through the B.C. Olympic Games Secretariat to design the B.C. Canada Pavilion in Beijing in 2008 and the B.C. Showcase at Robson Square and Four Host First Nations pavilion in 2010.

Great Canadian Gaming was the beneficiary of a controversial VANOC contract to upgrade the power supply at Hastings Park. The project was awarded Oct. 5, 2007 and Wespac got the gig.

The work was necessary for lights and TV cameras at figure skating and short-track speedskating at the Pacific Coliseum. Great Canadian had the money and a plan to overhaul the antiquated Hastings Racecourse electrical system for several years. Then an offer it couldn't refuse came along in 2007 from VANOC. The two parties split the $1.24 million bill.

The Multiparty Agreement of 2002's Annex L listed the competition, training and support facilities that would receive taxpayers' funds. Only the Pacific Coliseum and a then-envisioned temporary arena would get funding. The race track was closed at Games-time and should not have qualified for a dime from VANOC.

Kinsella is a longtime insider with Great Canadian, whose board of directors includes Sen. Larry Campbell. Campbell was Vancouver's populist left-wing mayor when city council approved a casino in 2004 for Hastings Racecourse, despite strong opposition from neighbours.

Kinsella was the co-winner of the 2009 B.C. Horse Racing Industry Top Owner award with stable partner Glen Todd, another well-known friend of the Liberal Party. Todd donated $105,052 between 2005 and 2009.

Todd has an off-track betting parlour called The Derby Bar and Grill connected to the headquarters of his Pacific Customs Brokers on the South Surrey side of the 49th parallel. PCB scored the lucrative VANOC contract for customs clearance and freight forwarding. There were 82 nations entered in the Vancouver Games and PCB was there to ensure the equipment and supplies of athletes, officials and sponsors got in and out of Canada. VANOC never published the value of the contract.

Page 93 of the 2003-published Vancouver 2010 Bid Book listed "freight forwarding and customs brokering" as a tier III category that needed filling. German giant DB Schenker was the official freight and customs sponsor of Athens 2004, Turin 2006 and Beijing 2008. Schenker clients for Vancouver 2010 included NBC and the German Olympic team. For some reason never fully or properly explained, VANOC didn't do a sponsorship deal with Schenker or any of its global competitors. It paid PCB to do the work in a contract dated July 7, 2008.

NDP takes aim at Kinsella, Jiles

B.C. NDP attorney general critic Leonard Krog and federal NDP Olympics critic Peter Julian have blown the whistle on two of Premier Gordon Campbell's closest allies. 

"When Washington State went looking for a piece of the Olympic pie, it hired none other than Gordon Campbell insiders, Patrick Kinsella and Mark Jiles, to lobby the federal minister (David Emerson)," Burnaby-New Westminster MP Peter Julian said in Question Period on June 9. "There is only one problem -- they are not registered to lobby, which means it is illegal for them to lobby." 

Kinsella masterminded B.C. Liberal election victories in 2001 and 2005. Jiles managed Campbell's successful Vancouver-Point Grey campaign in 2005. In 2006, their Progressive Group scored a gig with the State of Washington to lobby key Olympic decision-makers, including cabinet ministers and VANOC executives, and find Olympic-related contracts for Washington companies.

Jiles boasted in one document that Progressive had "an office in the heart of Vancouver, a hand in British Columbia's provincial capital of Victoria and a foot into the 2010 Organizing Committee." 

Julian asked federal lobbyists' registrar Michael Nelson to investigate. Krog did the same provincially with B.C.'s information and privacy commissioner David Loukidelis. Jiles told 24 hours Vancouver that Progressive's work was simply "sports marketing."

Read more about this, including the scandalous Washington State documents, on Victoria journalist Sean Holman's Public Eye blog.