Boessenkool, Burns Lake & Booze: 3 Bombshells

What a week.

Alberta import Ken Boessenkool got pushed/jumped from his job as chief of staff to Premier Christy Clark. Boessenkool submitted his resignation on Sept. 23, the morning after the B.C. Conservatives were licking their wounds after 71% of one-third of the party voted against reviewing John Cummins's lacklustre leadership.

It turns out this was one of those "uh-oh, they noticed, now we've gotta do something" matters. 

Global TV's Jas Johal was tipped-off about Boessenkool getting in trouble at a Victoria pub on Sept. 7 after Liberal caucus members and Press Gallery members had a round of golf in Metchosin. Clark started the week with a press conference where she released Boessenkool's resignation letter, but hid behind privacy laws and would only call it an "incident of concern."

Boessenkool lost his nearly $200,000-a-year gig and, under B.C. government employment rules, he must not lobby the B.C. government for the next year. That could hurt him in the wallet, since Boessenkool was a former Hill and Knowlton executive whose client list included Enbridge, Taser and Merck. 

Boessenkool allegedly got drunk and groped a junior female staffer in the Bard and Banker pub. Clark claimed the Public Service Agency investigated Boessenkool. But in a startling lack of leadership, it was revealed that Clark did not suspend her chief of staff, but instead let him carry on as the ultimate supervisor of the woman who was the alleged victim. 

Instead of giving Boessenkool the heave-ho on Sept. 20, BC Christy heralded the poaching of star third-place Chilliwack 

by-election candidate John Martin from the Conservatives. Politics before people, that's the Clark way. 

The million-dollar question: Why didn't the police become involved in the Boessenkool incident?

Boessenkool was replaced by Dan Doyle, the BC Hydro chairman who was the executive vice-president of construction for VANOC. Doyle was CC'd on the famous March 24, 2009 John Furlong email, revealed by CBC in February 2011, that indicated there were major safety concerns at the Whistler Sliding Centre. 

On Feb. 12, 2010, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili flew off his sled near the end of his last training run, struck an unpadded pole and died. The track's construction was partly to blame. Almost $2 million more is being pumped in to correct the flaws. 

Furlong under fire for Burns Lake secrets

Vancouver 2010 Olympics chief executive John Furlong wasn't in London for the opening of the 2012 Olympics on July 27. His absence was odd, to say the least. Furlong and London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe both told me in 2010 how they struck a friendship, as Furlong advised Coe on the ups and downs of running an Olympic organizing committee. Furlong served as VANOC chief executive at the pleasure of Premier Gordon Campbell, now Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Campbell told CKNW's Philip Till in July that he hadn't spoken to Furlong for "months." 

On Sept. 27, Furlong was slammed with allegations in the Georgia Straight that he abused students at a Burns Lake, B.C. Catholic elementary school after he came to Canada as a teenager. The RCMP confirmed it is investigating. 

Furlong vehemently denied their claims, which are contained in eight affidavits obtained by Georgia Straight contributor Laura Robinson. He suggested he was the victim of a blackmail attempt. Furlong and his lawyer Marvin Storrow said they would sue for defamation. They refused to answer questions from reporters. 

Furlong, however, conceded that he had actually lived in Burns Lake. He said it was a "brief" and "uneventful" time. That was news to anyone who bought his book, Patriot Hearts, or paid to hear one of his speaking engagements. It was also news to his co-writer, Gary Mason. Furlong's memoir only indicates he arrived in Canada with his wife and two children 

in 1974 at Edmonton and settled in Prince George. 

Odd that an immigrant to Canada would omit any mention of his first impressions of his new country. Also odd that he would use the word "uneventful" to describe a period of his life in which he married his first wife who bore his first two children.

Read more from The Tyee here. 

BCGEU beats Booze Barn bid

And then the third bombshell of the week. The Liquor Distribution Branch privatization was cancelled 220 days since it was announced and 18 days before the successful bidder was scheduled to be announced. 

This one came wrapped by the government inside the new deal for the B.C. Government and Services Employees' Union. BCGEU president Darryl Walker said the prospect of thwarting the government's planned sale of warehousing and distribution came as a surprise to him earlier in the week. Read more in Business in Vancouver here.

The government appears to have made the right choice by putting a cork in the plan. It published no business plan to justify the privatization and conducted no formal industry consultation. The privatization push was driven by the persistence of BC Liberal-allied lobbyists in an environment of a cash-strapped government seeking solutions to balance the budget before the May 14, 2013 election. 

Every step of the way, I discovered more questions than answers. Freedom of Information delays, denials and censorship. And, of course, the minister responsible for liquor, who avoided all my interview requests. 

I have heard from only one bidder so far. ContainerWorld president Dennis Chrismas hired the Liberal-friendly Pace Group public relations company to send out a prepared statement. ContainerWorld opposed privatization at first, but then submitted a bid out of self-preservation. The province's largest pre-distribution warehouse in Richmond would have had an uncertain future if it didn't win the contract because the pre-distribution program was to be phased out. 

I will have more to say in the coming days and weeks. I'm confident there is a story behind this story. 

This had the appearance of another BC Rail-style scandal in the making. 

Starting with the title of the Oct. 6, 2009, internal Exel memo that flipped open the lid on this procurement plonk. 

It was called "Project Last Spike." 

Face and voice of VANOC switches off Hydro

Very quietly, BC Hydro's senior vice-president of communications quit her post in mid-March.

Renee Smith-Valade went to the most-powerful (in more ways than one) Crown corporation in British Columbia after the May 2010 hiring of Dave Cobb as chief executive. Cobb was deputy CEO to John Furlong at the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee. Cobb was also vice-president Smith-Valade's boss at VANOC, where she ran the 2010 Winter Games' communications and media relations department. She brought staffers Chris Brumwell, Greg Alexis and Jennifer Young with her.

Last fall, Cobb quit his $550,000-a-year job at BC Hydro to join the Jim Pattison Group where he works as managing director of corporate development, with president and ex-Premier Glen Clark and billionaire chairman Pattison.

Brumwell, a former Canucks and VANOC communications manager, preceded Smith-Valade out the BC Hydro door to work for Vancouver yoga wear juggernaut Lululemon.

When I broke the news of Smith-Valade's departure via Twitter on May 2, Bill Tieleman was quick to re-Tweet and then add his speculation:

@BillTieleman
Twitter math: Premier Christy Clark's office - Rebecca Scott + BC Hydro spokesperson Renee Smith-Valade quits = new Clark staffer? #bcpoli

Scott's move out of Premier Christy Clark's office and into Government Communications and Public Engagement (read: propaganda office) became public earlier in the day. Scott's position became newsworthy in recent months because her husband is the CBC's talented Legislature reporter Stephen Smart. One of their wedding guests was Premier Christy Clark. The Smart/Scott relationship was the subject of an investigation by CBC's ombudsman Kirk LaPointe. LaPointe "found a violation of CBC Journalistic Standards and Practices."

Clark has had a revolving door of press secretaries. Chris Olsen, the consumer reporter who was "On Our Side," quit CTV to be on "her side." Now he's on the outside. In January, Clark figuratively kicked Olsen on the backside, with a $67,000 severance.

She filled the job with Sara MacIntyre, who was an effective spokesperson for the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation but went on to work in the Prime Minister's Office under Stephen Harper. MacIntyre is part of Clark's bid to be a Liberal in Conservative clothing. It hasn't worked so far and MacIntyre was notorious for the poorly handled photo and interview opportunity with Clark at the Globe 2012 trade show.

At Hydro, Smith-Valade's job included leading the marketing communications, website management, media and public affairs, community relations and customer care and conservation teams. On her LinkedIn page, Smith-Valade describes herself as a "creative consultant" with her own RSV Strategic Communications firm. Her list of qualifications ends with "government/public affairs support."

Here is the email to BC Hydro staff announcing her departure:

From: News, BCH Corporate 

Sent: 2012, March 14 12:21 PM

Subject: A Message from Charles Reid: The Departure of Renee Smith-Valade, Senior Vice-President, Customer Care, Conservation and Communications

Good Afternoon:

After a year and a half leading our Communications team and, more recently, also the Customer Care and Conservation teams, Renee Smith-Valade has resigned from her position as Senior Vice-President on the Executive Team to take some time off and then pursue other opportunities in communications.

Renee joined BC Hydro shortly after finishing up five years with VANOC and jumped in with both feet into leading the Communications team. Over the last 20 months, Renee has confidently led the Communications team through many challenges including supporting the rollout of the Safety Taskforce recommendations and the Smart Metering Program, the Fraser River Towers incident, rate increases, the communication of the Government Review and its outcomes, and the rollout of seasonal Power Smart marketing communications programs, to name just a few highlights. Through all of this, she maintained dedication and passion for her team and BC Hydro. Most recently, she relished the chance to start working with the Power Smart and Customer Care teams in August to help them to continue to deliver strong conservation programs and our highly regarded customer service.

Renee has often commented on how fortunate she is to work with such a strong team and how enjoyable it has been to work with the dedicated people at BC Hydro. I am taking some time to assess how we can best ensure the continued strong performance of the Communications, Customer Care and Conservation teams, and particularly how to maximize the strong leadership of these areas that Renee has told me she values enormously. I will let you know when those decisions are made. In the meantime, I am confident that Lisa Coltart (Power Smart and Customer Care), Steve Vanagas (Corporate Communications), Cynthia Dyson (Marketing Communications and Brand Strategy) and Thoren Hudyma (Community Engagement and Capital Projects Communications) will continue to do a great job as we meet the opportunities and challenges ahead.

On behalf of the Executive Team, I would like to thank Renee for her hard work and dedication through a very challenging year. I know all of you will join me in wishing Renee the very best as she takes some well-earned time off with family and explores other opportunities.

Thank you,
Charles

Will she end up in government, helping Clark rescue her political career? Will she be reunited with Cobb at the Jim Pattison Group or Furlong with the Vancouver Whitecaps? Or somewhere else? For now, she's not talking.

Asked for an interview about leaving BC Hydro, her emailed response to me was:

"I appreciate the request and your interest however I'm going to decline for now. Can we revisit this again In a few weeks time?"

I'll wait to find out what she says and does.

Spreading the word

Red Mittens & Red Ink: The Vancouver Olympics by Bob Mackin has scored wider distribution.

The e-book about how the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics came and went is now available from the Sony Reader Store, Kobo, Diesel and Barnes & Noble.

Or you can go direct to Smashwords via the official website, RedMittensAndRedInk.com.

Wherever you buy it, the price is still just $8.99.

2010 Games live forever at B.C. Sports Hall of Fame

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics opened and closed at B.C. Place Stadium, and that’s where the tangible memories are now housed.

Almost two years after the Games, the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum doors reopen Jan. 6 at Gate A with its marquee Vancouver 2010 Gallery.

The 2,000 artifacts in the Olympic and Paralympic collection include gold, silver and bronze medals, mascots Miga, Quatchi and Sumi, a podium, torches, the late Jack Poole’s Olympic Order award, athlete uniforms and equipment and gifts brought by national Olympic committees. For Olympic pinheads, the Hall purports to have every single one of the keepsakes made for the 2010 Games.



The treasures were gathered via the tireless efforts of president Sue Griffin, curator Jason Beck, operations director Allison Mailer and trustee Joanie McMaster. Griffin reasonably feared before the Games that cash-strapped VANOC was going to put everything up for auction.

Much of the collection is organized in five display cases resembling each of the Olympic rings and representing the venues where the Games took place. You will find artifacts worn, used or signed by Canada's stars of the Games, like Alexandre Bilodeau, Joannie Rochette, Maelle Ricker, Jon Montgomery, Sidney Crosby and Hayley Wickenheiser. But there is a plethora of other nuggets that might surprise you.

There is a suit, helmet, goggles and practice snowboard that belonged to Johnny Lyall, who flew through the air on a ramp from level 4 and landed on the floor of B.C. Place to greet opening ceremony viewers from around the world. His script on a folded white piece of paper in large Helvetica type is included in the display case: "Welcome to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games! Bienvenue!"



Nancy Greene-Raine’s torch relay uniform and the torch she used to light the ceremonial cauldron was autographed by Wayne Gretzky, Steve Nash, Catriona Le May Doan and Rick Hansen.

Two dozen of the 84 nations of the Games donated a set of ceremonial uniforms.

"Azerbaijan, they've got some good pants, just as good as the Norwegian curling crew,” said the hall’s operations director Allison Mailer during a preview tour.



Hockey superfan Dave Ash, who owns Regina-based Dash Tours, donated his white hockey helmet with the red siren light and his giant Canada flag that Corey Perry borrowed for Team Canada’s victory celebration. Ash paid $3,000 for his front-row seat to the Feb. 28, 2010 gold medal hockey game.

Pakistani alpine skier Muhammad Abbas, who was 79th in the giant slalom, donated the hand-carved, wood plank skis on which he learned as a child.

"Our wish list has been completed, we're just so thrilled,” Mailer said. “The only thing we really want is a Shaun White snowboard. I think we'll still work on it. Maybe we'll send him pictures of the gallery and tell him what's missing."



The provincial sports shrine also reopens with a redesigned Hall of Champions that features a touchscreen multimedia archive of all 325 individuals and 54 teams inducted since its 1966 establishment. Nearby is a display case that include mementoes of Vancouver visits by the 20th century’s greatest athletes -- a Santos jersey worn and signed by Pele and handwraps autographed by Muhammad Ali -- plus the puck used to score the Vancouver Canucks’ first National Hockey League goal and a stopwatch that timed the famed 1954 Miracle Mile between Roger Bannister and John Landy at Empire Stadium.

Elsewhere, the hall includes jerseys, trophies and gear spanning the histories of the B.C. Lions, Canucks, Vancouver Whitecaps and Vancouver Canadians, plus galleries devoted to Hansen, late race car driver Greg Moore and national hero Terry Fox.

The grand reopening is planned for Feb. 10, two days before the second anniversary of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Cypress silver medalist dead

Jeret "Speedy" Peterson died of suicide on July 25 in Lambs Canyon, Utah, just three days after being arrested for allegedly drinking and driving. Peterson was born in 1981 in Boise, Idaho.

A report by KTVB said Peterson called police before the incident and told them where they could eventually find his body.

Peterson won silver in freestyle skiing's aerials competition at Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver on Feb. 25, 2010. Vancouver was Peterson's third Olympics. He almost never made it there after a battle with depression, drugs and drink.

On Feb. 24, 2006, four years and one day before his silver on Cypress, Peterson was sent home from the Turin Olympics after being involved in a drunken fight with his best friend in front of Italian police.

Here's what he had to say after earning second spot on the podium at the Vancouver Games:

On performing his signature move, the Hurricane, to take the silver:
"I'm ecstatic. I've had trouble landing it this year. This is the best day of my life. I can't tell you - to finally land the Hurricane in competition, especially in the Olympics. I'm not going to pick it apart."

On how much courage it took to get back to the Olympics after personal problems:
"I don't know if it takes any courage. It's knowing that there's a light at the end of the tunnel and you just have to keep trying different ways to find the light."
"I can't talk about it. It's been that bad. I'm lucky to be here."

UPDATE: More about Peterson's final days and how, no matter how much he tried, he could not overcome a series of ugly, disturbing incidents since his childhood in this story. See the Associated Press video report here.

Let the Secrecy Games continue

March 21, 2011 was the first anniversary of the end of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games festival.

On March 21, 2010, the Paralympics closed in Whistler, three weeks after the Olympics ended in Vancouver. But the game of information keepaway continues.

VANOC rapidly dismantled and is quickly fading into but a legal entity. But it cut a deal with the Canadian Olympic Committee and City of Vancouver to keep its most important secrets hidden from the eyes of the public for a decade-and-a-half!

Vancouver city manager Penny Ballem - one of two civic appointees to the VANOC board of directors and the partner of former civic-appointed director Marion Lay (a 1968 Olympic bronze medal swimmer and B.C. Sports Hall of Famer) - signed a Nov. 9, 2010 contract with VANOC and the COC regarding the transfer of 2010 Winter Games records and artifacts to the city archives. Here is the story.

The Archival Material Agreement set Sept. 30, 2010 as the start of a restricted period for certain key records. Records such as board of directors and committee meeting minutes, policies and resolutions, financial statements, legal correspondence, ledgers and journals must stay sealed from the curious public (which paid for the Games!) for 15 years.

For those keeping score at home, the restricted period ends in 2025.

While Quebec ponders a bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, British Columbians still don't know the full cost for their Games. They won't get to see any of the evidence until 2025, unless a legal challenge is mounted to the Nov. 9, 2010 contract signed by public official Ballem. The contract may contravene the Freedom of Information Act. We shall see.

We shall also see what various city councillors think of this latest development. Especially since this contract was not debated or approved in an open, public council meeting. Especially since two of the Vision Vancouver members were banging the drum for transparency almost four years ago.

On May 15, 2007, Vision Vancouver Coun. Heather Deal proposed to the majority NPA city council to compel VANOC to open up and be accountable. Her Olympic Accountability motion, supported by fellow VV Coun. Raymond Louie, was voted down. It was originally tabled the day before VANOC's board met and rejected calls to open board meetings to the media.

Deal's motion said:

"Whereas It is absolutely crucial that the 2010 Olympic Games proceed in a transparent, accountable, and sustainable manner.
"Therefore be it resolved that the City of Vancouver direct its VANOC and 2010 Legacies Now Board Members to resolve that:
a) VANOC and 2010 Legacies Now be placed under the jurisdiction of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act;
b) VANOC and 2010 Legacies Now adhere to the requirements of the Financial Information Act;
c) VANOC and 2010 Legacies Now adhere to the provisions of the Document Disposal Act;
d) VANOC and 2010 Legacies Now adhere to the Financial Disclosure Act"

This is what Louie told me at the time:

“These are everyone’s Games we need to be able to support it wholly and the way we do that is to get good information so that people can see what is happening with their money, they can see what is happening in their city."

And we can't forget that Mayor Gregor Robertson promised transparency in his swearing-in speech of Dec. 8, 2008 - the day before he paid a visit to a closed-doors VANOC board meeting.

"Accountability must extend to every aspect of city hall... Over the next three years, we will rebuild that confidence, and ensure transparency, accountability and public debate at city hall.

"Politicians do not always live up to that responsibility, I know. But I also know that there were literally thousands of people voting last November for the very first time.

"My commitment to them, on behalf of every member of my team, is that I will not let you down on making city hall more open and accountable."

Read the contract that ensures VANOC secrecy until 2025 here:

Olympic Archival Material Agreement

The contract's secrecy provisions rely on a Freedom of Information Act loophole -- known as Section 3(1)(g): "Material placed in the archives of a public body by or for a person or agency other than a public body."

VANOC was officially a private body, though it was government-backed and overseen by a board of directors appointed by federal, provincial, municipal and First Nations governments. This was reinforced by the July 10, 2009 B.C. Supreme Court verdict against allowing women to ski jump at the Games.

Justice Lauri Ann Fenton found VANOC was not government-controlled, though it was "subject to the Charter (of Rights and Freedoms) when it carries out the activity of planning, organizing, financing, and staging the 2010 Games."

I sought help from the independent body that says it is in the business of "protecting privacy" and "promoting transparency." However, the British Columbia Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner didn't agree with my position that this contract should be overturned. Below is the rejection letter I received from Jim Burrows in the information commissioner's office. Mr. Burrows is not a lawyer. A reader informed me that Mr. Burrows was Victoria's city archivist before joining OIPC and he has a Masters of Archival Studies degree from the University of B.C.

Information Commissioner rejects bid to unseal Vancouver Archives' VANOC collection

Flashback: Feb. 17, 2010

White’s golden night
Bob Mackin, QMI Agency

WEST VANCOUVER: Red skies at night, Shaun White's delight.

As the clear Wednesday afternoon sky above Cypress Mountain gave way to the most brilliant sunset since the 2010 Winter Olympics Games opened, the Turin 2006 halfpipe snowboarding champion known as “The Flying Tomato” continued to reinforce his reputation as the best in the sport with each run on the icy slope.

San Diego’s White satisfied his rock star-like following when he became the first in halfpipe to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals. White scored a 48.4 in the final run on which he executed his signature Double McTwist 1260 move to the delight of the full grandstand, which included his parents.

“I can’t even tell you or begin to describe how many times I’ve gone over this run in my mind, gone over this competition in my head, imagined what it would be like. I can finally go to sleep now,” said 23-year-old White, who won a world cup test event on the same course last year.

“On this world stage why not deliver something spectacular? I felt like I came all the way to Canada, talked about this trick so much, blood sweat and tears, to land it and there it was.”

The win was even sweeter because White described this as the most challenging season of his career. He said he has crashed more than ever and felt more frustrated than before and “pushed myself as far as I can go.”

Despite being the superior entrant, White said he had to battle the course in soggy and foggy conditions at Cypress earlier in the week.

“It’s not easy to make a halfpipe with no snow in a tough season, and they delivered,” White said.” The halfpipe the first day was one of the worst halfpipes I’ve ridden in my life and it went from there to one of the best.”

Peetu Piiroinen of Finland won silver and American Scott Lago claimed bronze. Justin Lamoureux of Squamish, B.C., was the lone Canadian among the 12 finalists. He finished seventh.

(Postscript: This was perhaps the most memorable outdoor sporting event I covered during the Games. White did numerous broadcast interviews, including one with NBC's Jenna "Daughter of Dubya" Bush, before finally reaching us print reporters. His handler warned us he'd have time for only four questions because White needed to get to doping control for the post-competition urine sampling. White stayed more than 10 minutes and answered every question. Rarely have I seen an athlete speak so passionately about his sport. Hockey players should learn from White. Sad to report that the halfpipe on which White thrilled the world was demolished.)

Flashback: Feb. 16, 2010

Ricker rides to historic gold
Bob Mackin, QMI Agency

WEST VANCOUVER: The fog lifted at Cypress Mountain Tuesday and Maelle Ricker became the first Canadian woman and first British Columbian to win Olympic gold at home.

Ricker, a 31-year-old from Squamish, B.C., beat Deborah Anthonioz of France and Olivia Nobs of Switzerland in the women’s snowboardcross final. World champion Helen Olafsen of Norway crashed midway.

"I tried to explode out of the gate, I really wanted to get out of that gate as fast as I can,” said Ricker. "It was really, really hard today to get a clean run all the way down the course, but I just held on and did my best."

The North Vancouver native who grew up near Cypress was the undisputed favourite after winning three of five world cup races this season and placing third in another.

Ricker’s win was the biggest snowboarding victory for Canada since Ross Rebagliati took the Olympic gold medal in giant slalom at Nagano 1998. Ricker also made her Olympic debut at Nagano, finishing fifth in halfpipe. Tuesday’s win was redemption for Turin 2006 where Ricker finished fourth in snowboardcross despite crashing before the finish line.

“Turin was such a motivator for me, it just made me work that much harder and just go for it for today,” Ricker said.

Ricker’s American rival Lindsey Jacobellis, the Turin silver medallist, was eliminated from contention in the semifinal. The two appeared to make contact early in the race. Jacobellis was the consolation final winner.

“I don’t think we clipped, we were definitely really close right out of the start, and I don’t know what happened to her,” Ricker said. “I don’t know where she went down, I just tried to stay on my line and focus on what I was doing.”

Turin bronze medallist Dominique Maltais of Petite-Riviere-St-Francois, Que., was eliminated after she crashed in both qualifying runs.

Cypress is Canada’s most lucrative venue of the 2010 Games. Montreal moguls skier Alexandre Bilodeau captured Canada’s historic first home-won gold medal on Sunday at Cypress. On Monday, Mike Robertson of Edmonton got silver in the men’s snowboardcross.

The West Vancouver resort has also provided the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee, known as VANOC, with its biggest weather challenges. Warm and wet El Nino-influenced weather wiped snow off the slopes in January. More than 350 truckloads of snow were brought 160 kilometres from Allison Pass in Manning Provincial Park to salvage competitions.

Allison Pass, coincidentally, is named for John Fall Allison, a B.C. gold rush pioneer in the 19th century.

Flashback: Feb. 15, 2010

French flap
Bob Mackin, QMI Agency

VANCOUVER: Monday was Quebec Day at the 2010 Winter Olympics and the day after Montreal moguls skier Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada’s historic first home Olympic gold medal.

But VANOC remained on the defensive after Quebec Premier Jean Charest and Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore’s weekend comments criticizing the lack of French language and culture in the Games’ opening ceremony.

“VANOC has worked tirelessly to represent bilingual Canada every level, every venue, every facility,” CEO John Furlong said. “We have assembled here in Vancouver thousands of volunteers from French Canada.”

Frank King, who presided over the Calgary 1988 organizing committee, said VANOC is making a good effort to recognize both official languages of Canada and the Olympics.

“You can never do it perfectly,” King said. “There is always somebody that would say it’s not quite enough. It’s the effort that counts.”

Last September, Moore made a surprise $7.2 million grant to VANOC for more French documents and signage, the same day official languages commissioner Graham Fraser slammed VANOC and the federal government. Fraser said they were running out of time to add more French signage and services to airports and Olympic venues.

VANOC spent some of the money on a bilingual sign for the Richmond Olympic Oval, which opened with an English sign. The federal government also paid $20 million for the opening ceremony, which included substantial aboriginal themes.

The chef de mission for the Canadian Olympic team told QMI that the amount of French content in the opening ceremony was adequate.

“I thought the opening ceremony was amazing and truly everything was translated also in the stadium for the people that are sitting that are sitting there that maybe didn’t understand what was happening in English,” Nathalie Lambert said. “This was a global show and we truly made an effort to make it bilingual.”

Lambert said the athletes’ and officials’ oaths are normally delivered in English “the language of choice for the Olympics.” But on Friday, short-track speedskating referee Michel Verrault of Lac-Beauport, Que., made his oath in French.
Lambert said services in both languages are available at all venues and both villages for athletes, even though not all volunteers are bilingual.

Meanwhile, Charest used the spotlight to promote a study into a potential Quebec City bid for the 2022. He called the capital “one of the best cities in the world, a city made to measure to host a Winter Games.”

Flashback: Feb. 14, 2010

Problems plague Cypress, transportation systems
Bob Mackin, QMI Agency

VANCOUVER: Millions of dollars were spent to truck and airlift snow to cover the rainsoaked slopes of Cypress Mountain, but that’s not VANOC’s only problem at the snowboarding and freestyle skiing venue.

Food service was disrupted by a power outage during Saturday night women’s moguls competition. Lineups were long and crowd control described as chaotic by fans trying to get out of the wind and rain and onto buses. At least one bus load of spectators from Burnaby Mountain missed the start of competition because they were picked-up almost 90 minutes late.

“Cypress is like your special child, your special child that’s bright and talented and good-looking and causes you all kinds of worries, but they’re still your special child,” said VANOC communications vice-president Renee Smith-Valade.

Smith-Valade downplayed troubles with the Olympic bus network. Media, spectators and athletes have reported a variety of problems, mainly with 300 public transit buses imported from California by subcontractor Edison Transportation. Buses have broken down or gotten lost because of drivers unfamiliar with the region. She said another 100 buses are being added to the fleet of 1,100 vehicles.

“We’ve spent years planning the transportation system and the geographic nature of our Games region presents some unique challenges with all of the transportation up to the mountain venues being by bus,” Smith-Valade said.

“Mechanical failures happen and sometimes it’s human failure, you can have people that don’t show up for a shift -- and that happens in any organization -- bus drivers who get sick and the odd bus driver who gets lost.”

Four Host First Nations members missed the start of the Friday opening ceremony, but Smith-Valade said they were in vehicles rerouted because of an anti-Olympic protest.

VANOC budgeted $52.3 million for bus systems in its May 2007 operations budget and hired Orlando, Fla.-based Gameday Management Group, which was involved in the much-criticized 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The Vancouver 2010 transportation plan was originally supposed to be completed by the end of 2007.

“There’s thousands of buses, there are hundreds of drivers, there are nine transportation hubs, so it’s a big beast to manage,” Smith-Valade said. “We want to get it right, we’re having some teething issues, no question.”

Flashback: Feb. 13, 2010

Olympic city streets strangled by protests
Bob Mackin, QMI Agency

VANCOUVER: Rain postponed downhill skiing on Saturday, but not freestyle protesting.

A march on the eve of Valentine’s Day dubbed 2010 Heart Attack drew 200 people who, according to a poster, wanted to “block the arteries of capitalism.” Windows were broken at the Bay store which is the site of the Olympic Superstore and Canada Olympic House. More skirmishes happened a block away from the heavily secured Westin Bayshore where International Olympic Committee members are staying.

Traffic, including public transit buses and VANOC vehicles, was blocked and then rerouted. Protesters splintered into smaller groups. More than 50 people chanting “no Olympics on stolen native land” were surrounded by an estimated 100
Vancouver Police officers in riot gear on Robson Street near hotels hosting the Slovakian and Japanese Olympic committees. Local cops were joined by at least 80 RCMP members. Together they prevented the throng from advancing eastward toward Thurlow where the infamous June 14, 1994 Stanley Cup riot started after the Vancouver Canucks lost to the New York Rangers.

Robson Street traffic returned to normal near noon. Vancouver Police later reported seven arrests.

“We are totally in support of people having peaceful demonstrations,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “Violence we will not accept."

Alissa Westergard-Thorpe of the Olympic Resistance Network claimed police agitated protesters and didn’t pay attention to the vandalism.

“The people that were arrested weren’t involved in the minor amounts of property damage,” Westergard-Thorpe said. “It serves their interest to imply that they’re powerless and to allow people to commit property damage.”

Among the protesters were Thomas Malenfant and David Cunningham of the radical Anti-Poverty Committee. Cunningham was arrested for jumping onstage at the unveiling of the Olympic countdown clock at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Feb. 12, 2007.

The protest came the morning after 2,000 people marched through downtown Vancouver and blocked a street outside the opening ceremony at B.C. Place Stadium. Two Vancouver Police officers were injured by flying objects. One man was arrested for assault.

Civil libertarian and University of B.C. Prof. Michael Byers said Vancouver Police “exercised commendable restraint” on Friday. “It was a good day for democracy,” he said.

A coalition of citizens’ groups opposes the Games because they say it has caused homelessness, poverty, environmental degradation and public debt. The annual march in memory of murdered and missing women is scheduled for Sunday afternoon in the Downtown Eastside.