Thoughts on Penny

Who really is running Vancouver city hall?

The twice-elected Mayor is Gregor Robertson, the tuba-playing, bike-riding, organic-farming former NDP MLA who finally sold his holdings in Happy Planet Juice Co. in late 2012. Skeptics wonder if one of his lieutenants, Coun. Geoff Meggs, is really shifting the gears on the 10-speed behind the scenes. 

Penny Ballem: unelected and uncompromising?

City manager Penny Ballem is the top-paid civic employee, at $334,002 for 2011. She was hired, without competition, to replace the fired Judy Rogers in December 2008. Rogers got a $572,000 golden parachute, because the Vision Vancouver administration felt she was an NPA-loyalist. 

It wasn’t the first time Ballem got a no-bid gig. She did 78 hours work for $30,000 from eHealth Ontario. 

Ballem’s claim to fame was as deputy minister of health for five years under then-Premier Gordon Campbell. Health is the biggest and most complex ministry in government. She quit in 2006, calling Campbell’s plans for the ministry “unsound.”

Not only did Ballem replace Rogers in the city manager’s office, but she also took her seat on the  board of directors for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics organizing committee, better known as VANOC.

Ballem was involved in city hall's $2.3 million purchase of used furniture and computers from VANOC. VANOC also got free rent in the city-owned 3585 Graveley Street “Campus 2010” after the Games. Ballem also signed-off on the transfer of VANOC files to the City Archives, mandating they be kept secret from the public until 15 years after the Games! The International Olympic Committee required the City Archives take it over, as per the host city agreement. But I couldn’t find anything from the IOC requiring the documents be kept secret until 2025. But that’s what Ballem agreed to do. So none of us who paid for the Olympics can see the financial and legal records or board correspondence, reports, agendas and minutes until after the Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and 2022 Winter Games have come and gone. 

In February 2011, Ballem excused Olympic Village developer Millennium from its mortgage, which once was worth $1 billion. She later admitted city taxpayers would lose $48 million on the Village, but downplayed the claims of those who said the loss was in the range of $200 million. 

Ballem has a reputation as an uncompromising micromanager and her influence has reached into every department at city hall. Those who have disagreed with her have retired, resigned or been fired. Ballem gagged city hall bureaucrats from talking to the media; they once were accessible and pleased to talk to reporters about the important work they do for citizens. Under her watch, it has become harder to receive records under Freedom of Information. 

Now comes the struggle over control of the city's community centres. Ballem is leading the charge to centralize control with the Park Board. The volunteer Vancouver Community Centre Associations are fighting back. Non-Partisan Association and Green Party politicians are opposed to the plan by the majority Vision Vancouver. 

Green Coun. Adriane Carr wanted to ask fellow councillors at the Feb. 12 city council meeting to order a staff report on the costs of centralizing the 23 community centres. As the Vancouver Courier’s Sandra Thomas reported, Ballem thwarted Carr’s motion. Now Carr has hired a lawyer.  

How can a public employee, no matter how senior, tell an elected official what can and cannot be debated in a democratic setting?

A source provided me a copy of the Feb. 5, 2013, 7:14 p.m. email by Ballem to Carr (copied to city clerk Janice MacKenzie and city lawyer Francie Connell), which said: 

"I apologize that I haven't had a chance to talk to you today about your motion - I just signed off the Council Agenda at about 6pm. Your motion presents a significant issue and given our last conversation about a motion which was a problem I thought I would send you a note. First, the GM of Park Board reports to the Park Board - if you wish to have a report to Council it should be directed to me to bring back.   

"The more important issue is that the Park Board instructed their GM to continue negotiations on a new contract with the CCAs. It would put both the Park Board and the City at risk if there was an airing of these issues in regard to impact  publicly. To reassure you there is work underway to ensure that the PB staff appropriately manage any risk in these negotiations. However for this reason the motion is out of order and I will not be allowing it to go out with the agenda. I have reviewed this with the City Solicitor and the Clerk. Please give me a call any time tonight if you get a break or first thing in the am. I am happy to discuss. Thanks so much pb"

Taxpayers footing bill after Cap-in-hand strategy works

The Vancouver Whitecaps will finally make their debut at the National Soccer Development Centre at the University of British Columbia on Feb. 26 -- the day before they unveil their 2013 uniform.

Will Premier Christy Clark show up for a photo op? The training centre is in her Vancouver-Point Grey riding. The Whitecaps' general partner, Greg Kerfoot, is a personal friend of hers and a BC Liberal Party donor of almost $37,000 since 2005 through a personal donation, his company Inspirit Group and the Whitecaps. Media-shy Kerfoot, who has never sat down for an interview since buying the Whitecaps in 2002, is a 1983 UBC computer science graduate.

Clark wasn't there when the training centre was announced on Sept. 6, 2012. B.C. taxpayers are subsidizing the facility through a $14.5 million grant. UBC is providing the land. The Whitecaps are supposedly paying the remaining $15 million.

The whole shebang was originally a $17.5 million gift of taxpayers' money to the Whitecaps from Premier Gordon Campbell on May 2, 2009 -- 10 days before that provincial election -- as a desperate ploy to get parachute candidate Wally Oppal elected for the Liberals. Vicki Huntington eked out a victory as an independent. Delta council eventually nixed the Whitecaps' application. Sites in Surrey and Burnaby were considered, but the Whitecaps' brass evidently grew impatient with the bureaucracies in those municipalities. Sources tell me the feeling was mutual. The Whitecaps already benefitted heavily from taxpayer subsidies as the primary tenant of B.C. Place Stadium, which was renovated for $514 million despite Kerfoot having the financing and desire to build his own stadium. 

On Jan. 30, the Whitecaps issued this progress report.

Via Freedom of Information, I tried to get the Whitecaps' application for funding, the government's business case and evaluation, and approval letter. There is supposedly a 59-page business case for taxpayers subsidizing the privately owned Whitecaps, but the government refused to disclose it to me based on "cabinet confidences."

The heavily censored documents they did send me (see below) include Treasury Board requests, Whitecaps' internal correspondence and correspondence with Liberal politicians. (The Sept. 8, 2010 Treasury Board funding request letter from then Finance Minister Colin Hansen to Sport Minister Ida Chong was, coincidentally, on the same day as the 31st anniversary of the North American Soccer League Whitecaps' winning Soccer Bowl.)

Evidently, the government wasn't going to write a cheque without a promise that amateur soccer would benefit. A July 31, 2012 letter by Whitecaps' COO Rachel Lewis to Chong said UBC would get 65% of time on the fields. On the same day, B.C. Soccer Association executive director Bjorn Osieck wrote to the government in support of the Whitecaps, pointing out the 120,000 registered players in B.C. -- making it the province's biggest team sport.

Whitecaps' chairman John Furlong wrote to Chong's deputy minister, Don Fast, on Aug. 2, 2012 to reiterate the playing time commitment. He said the artificial turf field and two new grass fields would be available for 3,920 hours of playing time each year. 

Of that, an estimated 2,019 hours of field access time has been committed for community playing time for BCSA Premier League, Vancouver United Soccer Club, school physical education or soccer teams, community clinics and tournaments, youth sports camps and a partnership with the University Neighbourhood Association. A lofty promise, but let's hope Furlong, Lewis and the Whitecaps stay true to their word. (Oddly enough, the records released don't include any endorsement from the Canadian Soccer Association, despite the complex being labelled the "National Soccer Development Centre.")

The most interesting document? The Feb. 14, 2012 letter to Lewis from Kerfoot. While it was heavily censored by the government, it does contain Mr. Kerfoot's signature. For someone who has taken overwhelming efforts to keep himself shielded from the public eye, it is rather odd that the Whitecaps didn't oppose the publication of his signature. 

(Note: the Whitecaps' unveiling of their 2013 uniform is an invite-only affair at the Rocky Mountaineer Station on Feb. 27. Furlong is chairman of both companies. Furlong was subject to new allegations in a Jan. 21 B.C. Supreme Court defence filing by journalist Laura Robinson. None of the allegations has been tested or proven in court and no trial date has been set. Furlong's official court response in the defamation lawsuit that he launched last November is overdue. A media statement attributed to his family was published Jan. 23, claiming he is innocent of the many abuse allegations that were published by the Georgia Straight on Sept. 27, 2012. "These shocking allegations are without merit and portray a character whom none of us recognizes," said the statement.)

Caps in hand: Whitecaps seek and receive subsidy by BobMackin

Last year's MILF is this year's "Premier Snake"

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Peanuts, popcorn, briefing notes... briefing notes

Pat Bell handed the reins of B.C. Pavilion Corporation to Rich Coleman in the Sept. 5 cabinet shuffle.

Bell added the labour ministry portfolio to his Jobs, Tourism and Innovation post. Deputy Premier Coleman already had energy, mines, natural gas, housing, gambling and liquor. 

Now he's also the boss of B.C. Place Stadium and the majordomo of the Vancouver Convention Centre. 

As ministers, they rely on briefing notes crafted by their staff, so they can stay in-the-know about the issues, programs and policies in their ministry and its agencies. See PavCo briefing notes from the summer and fall. 

Bell continued to have a small hand in the oversight of PavCo through fall, as he met frequently with interim CEO Dana Hayden to discuss the resurrection of the Telus Park naming rights for B.C. Place Stadium, which were flubbed in February 2012 over the aftermath of the billion-dollar, government service deal gone wrong.

So what were the spin doctors telling Bell and later Coleman to say?

Aug. 10: B.C. Place Technology Supply Agreement 
Here 'tis, confirmation that "PavCo has purchased the technology infrastructure installed in B.C. Place from Telus." (I've reported on this since November.) But, sadly, they won't tell us how much of our money was paid to Telus. "The total value of the agreement to purchase technology infrastructure installed by Telus is (censored)." Maybe Auditor-General John Doyle can extract that information in his fact-finding mission about the mysterious business plan and the escalating budget? 

Sept. 13: Coal Harbour Residents Opposed to the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre Terminal
Speaks for itself.

Oct. 2: $514M Renovation vs. B.C. Place Economic Activity 
PavCo tries to paint the lipstick on the stadium pig, claiming it came $49 million under the $563 million budget and downplaying the Jan. 9, 2009-announced $365 million all-in budget. Your humble servant is named in this one.

Oct. 4: PavCo Chair Recognition Ceremony
PavCo spent "less than" $4,000 on chairman David Podmore's farewell attended by 35 guests including Pat Bell and downtown MLA Mary McNeill. "Donations were received from Centerplate and Pace Group." That's the BC Liberal-attached public relations company that has multiple government contracts and was deeply involved in the civic NPA campaign in 2011. That's the same Podmore who refused my interview requests during his last week on the job in the end of September.

Oct. 11: Possible Roof Leaks at B.C. Place
They weren't just possible, they actually were happening and continue to happen! Much of this briefing note is censored for "policy advice or recommendations." Isn't that odd? Briefing notes, by their very nature, contain policy advice and recommendations. When it comes to B.C. Place roof leaks and all things PavCo, it's nothing to see here, move along. (Pssst., put Oct. 21 on your calendar, for the beginning of the 100-day B.C. Supreme Court trial between the stadium's steel and cable contractors. PavCo is a defendant. Getcha popcorn!)

B.C. Pavilion Corporation briefing notes by BobMackin

Regime change: T-minus 104 days?

A desperate governing party is looking at the calendar and the opinion polls and just might be realizing its stranglehold on power is running out. Better do something, anything. Quick! 

The Christy Clark BC Liberals are where the Bill Vander Zalm (and Rita Johnston) Social Credit was in 1991 and the Ujjal Dosanjh NDP was in 2001. Running out of ideas, detached from voters, hungry for just one more election win. 

Despite what the deluded pom-pom wearers and hired spinners will tell you, the Liberals could wake up on May 15 as a spent political force. 

Oh, they’re spending millions of dollars to tell you Canada Starts Here, when Cape Spear, Nfld. actually gets the first sun rays every day and Charlottetown in 1864 was where historians say the Dominion of Canada was conceived. And the B.C. Jobs Plan means B.C. is standing tall, like a big, old, white iPod that cannot be toppled by many smaller, old black iPods. Even if the jobs statistics don't stand up to scrutiny.

Then there’s the Concerned Citizens for B.C., the political action committee otherwise known as Jim Shepard’s Christy Clark Fan Club. Shepard and his flock want to remind you NDP leader Adrian Dix backdated a memo in 1999 when he was Premier Glen Clark’s stepandfetchit and that the NDP ordered the three-vessel fast ferry fleet that cost more than $200 million higher than the original budget and didn’t have a proper business plan. 

Shepard is blind to the fact the Liberals have bigger, newer skeletons in their closet. Such as the memos to file by Dave Basi which seem to implicate Clark in the leaking of confidential cabinet documents to a bidder for BC Rail. Clark is under investigation after a conflict of interest complaint by ex-Liberal MLA John van Dongen. The saga of B.C. Place Stadium is like a bookend. The Liberals were pondering a $100 million pre-Olympic spruce-up and roof replacement in January 2008. The final cost was $514 million and included a German-engineered retractable roof that is rarely opened. Taxpayers weren't consulted and they weren't even shown a business plan. Roof contractors are inching their way to a 100-day B.C. Supreme Court trial scheduled to begin Oct. 21. On Jan. 30, a lawyer for Canam disclosed before a judge that the company's claim against Freyssinet would be increased by $13 million to $39 million. 

Remember the infamous NDP fudge-it budget of 1996, when an $87 million surplus became a $350 million deficit after Glen Clark won election? The Liberals don’t want you to remember their 2009 faux pas when they promised a $495 million deficit during the election but delivered a $2 billion deficit budget just months after Gordon Campbell won his hat-trick. Lest you think dirty thoughts that the Liberals are going to fudge the numbers in their Feb. 19 pre-election budget, Finance Minister Mike de Jong has found another "independent" Maritimer for hire. 

Remember Stanley Cup riot investigator Doug Keefe, the former Nova Scotia mandarin who collaborated with ex-Olympics boss John Furlong and got paid $174,000? Meet Dr. Tim O’Neill, a Prince Edward Island economic consultant who is being paid at least $25,000 to look over de Jong's shoulder until budget time and give a passing grade. 

Message to Premier Clark: save money, call the Office of the Auditor General. 

But all is not lost. There are actually tiny rays of light showing through the fog that suggest someone in the Liberal party has realized the writing is on the wall. 

But is it too little too late? Just for show? 

On Jan. 30, BC Hydro announced it won't force smart meters on those customers who are holdouts, the thousands of people who are refusing to allow Corix crews on their property to install the iTron devices. 

On Jan. 31 at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Community, Sport and Cultural Development Minister Bill Bennett will announce the creation of a new agency for B.C.'s film, arts and creative industries -- a merger of the B.C. Film Commission, B.C. Film + Media and the B.C. Arts Council. They'll combine to form a new body similar to the Ontario Media Development Corporation. A one-stop shop for the creative industries. 

Bennett was at North Shore Studios for the #SaveBCFilm rally that drew 4,000 people on Jan. 22 and heard one of the many suggestions to revitalize an industry purposely left out of Clark's B.C. Jobs Plan.

William F. White's Vancouver general manager Garin Josey was spotted at the Canada Place Starbucks preparing for a Jan. 30 meeting in the Premier's Vancouver Office. Josey boosted the We Create B.C. social media campaign during the Jan. 22 North Shore Studios rally. He didn't tell me who he was meeting, but I confirmed independently that it was Bennett and Citizens’ Services Minister Ben Stewart.  

The Liberals are trying to looking kinder and gentler, but it’ll take more action to convince me of their sincerity. Here is my five-point, modest proposal for the Liberals to prove they're worthy of staying in office beyond May 14.

1. Notwithstanding Chief Justice Robert Bauman's Jan. 29 verdict, how about waiving the solicitor-client privilege and delivering the Basi-Virk indemnity agreement to John Doyle so he can finish his audit? 
2. Why not hire a retired judge and give him or her a one-year mandate and reasonable budget for a BC Rail public inquiry? 
3. Perhaps publish the B.C. Place renovation business plan and ask the Auditor General to launch a full-blown value-for-money audit? 
4. Possibly reveal the real reasons for the cancellation of the Liquor Distribution Branch logistics privatization? 
5. Maybe rescind all those the Freedom of Information delay letters that everyone’s getting these days? 

Mommy bloggers, but no grieving mother at summit

When Premier Christy Clark held her ERASE Bullying Summit on Nov. 13, 2012, the invite list included politicians and bureaucrats and cops and parents and students and more cops and more students and more parents. 

But no Carol Todd. 

She is the heartbroken mother of British Columbia's posthumously best-known bullying victim, Amanda Todd, and she only wanted to quietly observe the day-long, taxpayer-funded symposium. It was a symposium that took place just over a month after 14-year-old Amanda's suicide, which touched off a worldwide conversation about finding solutions for teen depression, suicide and cyberbullying. If not for this YouTube video, a cry for help, we may not have known about Amanda's story.   

Amanda Todd was the inspiration for the ERASE (Expect Respect And Safe Education) event. Clark, who was the driving force behind the annual Pink Shirt Day anti-bullying campaign, even said: "We lost Amanda and it was a tragedy but we should learn from that. She would want that from us." 

Below is the list of invitees, obtained via Freedom of Information. It includes an entry for Rissa Wilson, vice-principal of CABE Secondary School in school district 43. It says: "attending on behalf of Carol Todd."

Carol Todd, however, did not willingly give up her chair. She was shunned.  

Todd went to Twitter to publicly state her dissatisfaction. It was yet another political blunder for Clark and her beleaguered BC Liberals. If Clark is to lose in the May provincial election, her only legacy may be the worthy campaign to stamp-out bullying. But on Nov. 13, 2012, she had the minus touch. 

The government's damage control effort to explain it away claimed Carol Todd's attendance could have caused so much trauma for one of the allegedly vulnerable youths in attendance that it could have spurred a copycat suicide. I still don't buy that. 

One of the experts trotted out to support this was the well-meaning crisis counsellor Kevin Cameron, who runs a company called Canadian Center for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response. I asked him for references to any academic or scientific research on copycat suicides that would support the decision to ban Carol Todd, but he admitted there was none. 

So who else went? 

A cadre of "mommy bloggers." Clark's attempt to connect with female voters includes occasional coffee talks with mommy bloggers. I counted eight on the guest list: Alissa Hutton, Amber Strocel, Meghan Simington, Christine Pilkington, Lori McGrath, Susan Carraretto, Melissa Carr and Mary Zilba.

Yes, that is the Mary Zilba, one of the as-seen-on-reality-TV Real Housewives of Vancouver. 

Don't mistake this for a critique of who was on the guest list, because this is not. Moms are blogging and they're sharing ideas way more important than recipes. Hutton, for instance, is on the Vancouver School Board urgent behavioural intervention team.

But, after seeing the list, I still can't figure out why Carol Todd was not welcome. 

Anti-BullyingSummit-GuestList.pdf by BobMackin

Goodbye Steve, Hello Judy

Old: Point

One day, British Columbia had a chief for Lieutenant-Governor.

The next day it was a cowgirl.

The province's first aboriginal to occupy Government House, Steven Point, was given a farewell ceremony Nov. 1, 2012. Point was appointed in 2007 by Premier Gordon Campbell and served through the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Judith Guichon, the incoming representative of the Queen (number 29 in the province's history), was sworn-in a day later. Both once-every-five years happenings took place at the Legislature with the required amounts of pomp and circumstance.

In a rare show of frugality, the two events came in way under budget. The farewell was budgeted at $7,915 and the swearing-in $7,835.

New: Guichon

Point's swan-song actually cost $2,860.42, including the parting gift of an $1,114.50 guitar inscribed with his name, from Riversong Guitars in Kamloops. For those keeping score at home, the government correctly spelled his name this time (unlike the embarrassing spelling errors on the forms signed by incoming cabinet ministers at their swearing-in ceremonies).

Guichon's installation cost only $2,666.76.

Add it up and taxpayers were only dinged $5,527.18. See all the documents, including the invitations, programs and guest lists, below.

Yap's secret swearing-in

Compare that with the $3,600 closed-door ceremony held March 24, 2012 when Premier Christy Clark shuffled her cabinet. Point presided at a swearing-in ceremony for John Yap at Vancouver's Chinese Cultural Centre (right) that was a secret affair until a news release was issued after the unusual Saturday afternoon event.

Goodbye Steve, Hello Judy by BobMackin

Stadium on strike

B.C. Place workers on a one-day Jan. 28 strike.

Trying times at B.C. Place Stadium.

Not only has the Auditor General agreed to take a look at the costs of the renovation project.

And not only is a massive lawsuit inching its way toward a 100-day B.C. Supreme Court trial beginning Oct. 21.

But there is labour strife.

For the first time since February 2005, members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union local 1703 are on strike. Albeit, only for one day on Jan. 28.

Local 1703 chair Dave MacDonald was not available for an interview, according to spokeswoman Karen Tankard.

Tankard said the main issue is job security for the 38 full-timers and 460 event workers. (Food and beverage workers are represented by a separate BCGEU local).

"We're out on strike for a fair contract, we have offered the employer informal mediation," Tankard said. "We're hoping to get back to the bargaining table as quickly as possible. Our members want to be inside, doing their jobs.

"There is work that has been going on inside B.C. Place by private contractors that we believe our members should be doing. That is our work."

A strike was averted in fall 2011, when the stadium's rocky reopening occurred. All events went ahead as scheduled, but with increasing participation by contractors, such as Genesis Security, Panther Constructors, Pace Group and Riggit Services. The stadium has also become top-heavy with management.

The one-day strike has minimal impact on B.C. Place operations. The Year of the Snake Chinese New Year Expo begins on Jan. 31, and move-in isn't scheduled until the day before.

According to a statement released by the Pace Group, stadium general manager Howard Crosley said: "We are disappointed at this development in the bargaining process and remain committed to securiing a positive outcome in negotiations with the BCGEU. Our people are an important resource and we hope that ongoing discussions will allow us to reach a solution that meets the needs of both parties. We also have an ongoing commitment to our clients during this time and contingency plans are being developed to minimize disruption to scheduled events."

BCGEU local 1703 has an arm-long list of grievances with stadium management on a variety of fronts. For example, workers were furious last October when management sank their boat cruise with only one day's notice.

That week ended with a mysterious meeting among PavCo minister Rich Coleman, Telus CEO Darren Entwistle and Peter Brown, the BC Liberal Party bagman who quit the PavCo board of directors in February 2012 when the Liberals kiboshed Telus's naming rights sponsorship of the stadium.

The Telus Park sign remains in a Pattison warehouse and talks are underway about resurrecting the deal. In August 2012, Telus and the Liberal government secretly came to a supply-only deal. The government, however, won't tell us how much it paid Telus in compensation for the goods and services supplied.

There's #IdleNoMore and now #IdaKnowMore

When British Columbia Premier Christy Clark shuffled her cabinet on Sept. 5, 2012, Mary Polak was gone from Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation and into Transport and Infrastructure.

Community, Sport and Cultural Development Minister Ida Chong became the new Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Minister.

Whenever this happens, staff prepare "briefing books" to get the new minister up to speed on the people, finances and issues faced by the ministry and its agencies.

At the bottom of this post is the first phase of a Freedom of Information release of the briefing book prepared for Chong by the Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Ministry. I call the document "Ida Know More."

The document also contained a map showing the locations of British Columbia's First Nations (almost all of whom have outstanding land claims but no treaties), and a First Nations pronunciation guide, which includes such tongue-twisters as Anderson Lake (An-der-son Lake) and Peters (Pete-rs).

Know Your British Columbia First Nations by BobMackin

#IdaKnowMore (Phase 1) by BobMackin

"Copycat" Indian Oscars coming to B.C. Place

The International Indian Film Academy awards aren't coming to Vancouver in 2013, but an event that IIFA organizers deemed a "copycat" is. 

Clark and actor Anil Kapoor announcing IIFA bid in 2011.

During a November 2011 trade mission to India, Premier Christy Clark announced a bid for the 2013 edition of the IIFA awards. The event, which was referred to as the "Oscars of Indian film, was held in 2011 in Toronto at Rogers Centre. The 2013 host remains to be announced.

The Surrey Board of Trade was part of the IIFA bid. Its president, Anita Huberman, said via email on Jan. 18: "It is not going to be IIFA but something better. I am not allowed to say at this time -- but an announcement will be made on Tuesday."

UPDATE (Jan. 21): Clark will be appearing at a 10 a.m. news conference on Jan. 22 in the Vancouver Convention Centre to announce the Times of India-sponsored event in April. B.C. Place Stadium is the venue for the awards, but the news conference isn't going to be there. That's odd. Might that be so as to shield the Premier from questions about the continuing controversy over the stadium on several fronts? Such as a major lawsuit among roof contractors and the Auditor General's fact-finding exercise on the cost overruns. Meanwhile, Bollywood director Karan Johar Tweeted that he arrived in Vancouver at 7:57 p.m. 

Another source told me that B.C. Place Stadium will be the venue. With an election nearing, the government is in desperate need of propping up the taxpayer-owned stadium as a major lawsuit by roof contractors looms in October and the Office of the Auditor General examines the controversial project. 

Global TV reporter Jas Johal asked Clark about the show during a Jan. 16 news conference. Clark gave a vague answer, hinting an announcement was imminent, but she did not deny that taxpayers would be subsidizing the event. (Ontario taxpayers spent $12 million on hosting the IIFA in 2011.)

This, while the province's own film and TV industry is in decline and struggling workers are furiously calling for government action to match Ontario's generous tax credits after I revealed in Business in Vancouver that their industry was deliberately omitted from Clark's B.C. Jobs Plan. (An industry town hall meeting is planned for Jan. 22 at North Shore Studios.) 

IIFA organizer Wizcraft International issued the following news release on Jan. 21, to reiterate it's not coming to Vancouver in 2013: 

IIFA confirms not going to Vancouver in 2013~ 

IIFA fans react to copycat event; management responds to overwhelming number of inquiries from fans ~ 

Monday, January 21^st, 2013 - The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) today confirmed that the bid from the British Columbia government on behalf of Vancouver was rejected for 2013 and the world's biggest international celebration of Indian cinema would not be held in Vancouver this year. 

IIFA shared that the dates and venue for the 2013 edition of the IIFA Weekend and Awards would be formally announced soon.

The need for the clarification was necessary following thousands of fans inquiring about the IIFA celebrations following rumors of a few copycat efforts being attempted in international markets.

Recently, IIFA received a copious number of emails and enquiries from fans in Canada and around the world for tickets to the Awards. But Wizcraft International, the organisers of the extravaganza, today confirmed that the city is out of the running for June 2013. The bidding process for the Awards is currently on with a number of countries from the Middle East, South America, Europe and Africa vying for the biggest extravaganza of Indian Cinema to come to their city. 

In 2011, IIFA successfully forayed into North America, marking its premiere in Canada, in the city of Toronto. There has since been keen interest from the country to play host once more in 2013, with Christy Clark, the Premier of British Columbia formally extending an invitation to Wizcraft International Entertainment, the initiators of the unique IIFA Celebrations, to hold its 14th edition in Vancouver.

Embarking on its 14^th year, Sabbas Joseph, Director, IIFA & Wizcraft International said, “We are truly excited about the bids we have received from various countries. The decision is subject to many contributing factors that are required of a host destination in terms of support-initiatives for Hindi cinema production, funding and distribution; event-funding, support, facilitation, and infrastructure. We are committed to the film Industry and hosting an IIFA in any destination must meet the larger interests of Indian Cinema and a spectacular-staging of the annual celebration.” 

Over the years, IIFA has emerged as the most prestigious platform recognizing excellence in the Indian film industry. The biggest names of Indian cinema congregate at the IIFA Weekend and Awards to celebrate the best contribution made to the world of films in the previous year. IIFA is a global platform that gives the Indian film fraternity an opportunity to reach audiences in international territories and is among the most-watched global events with an audience of over 800 million, annually. A number of destinations have played host including London, Yorkshire, Johannesburg, Dubai, Amsterdam, Singapore, Bangkok, Colombo and Macau. 

 About IIFA 

Conceptualized and produced by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and supported by the key members of the Indian film fraternity, IIFA is the most appreciated South Asian film academy. Also, the IIFA Awards is India's biggest media event. With a viewership of almost 800 million, it is among the world's most-watched annual entertainment events. From a one night celebration in 2000 at the Millennium Dome, London, the last thirteen years have seen the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) movement grow into a packed weekend of film-festivals, workshops, exhibitions, film-showcases, a global business forum and sporting events, all of which climax into the highlight of the Weekend, the IIFA Awards. 

For more information, contact –Lizel Noronha
WizSpk Communication | PR