JOHN MACKIE
The Vancouver Sun

Angus Reid started off his professional life as a sociology professor at the University of Manitoba.

But he didn’t last long. Academia was too slow for Reid, whose entrepreneurial knack and a passion for politics led him to take a leave of absence from the university to start a polling firm in 1979.

CanWest Survey Research Group’s first headquarters were above a 7-Eleven in Winnipeg. Reid would research topics on spec, then try to sell the results to corporate clients.

He also offered the Winnipeg Tribune a free quarterly poll, which brought him instant status on the newspaper’s front page. And he worked closely with Manitoba Liberal Lloyd Axworthy, who shared his political views.

Reid didn’t always get along with everybody — he fought with Liberal pollster Martin Goldfarb, who had predicted Axworthy would lose when he decided to jump from federal to provincial politics.

After switching his company name to Angus Reid Associates, Reid was hired by the federal Liberals during the ill-fated 1984 election. But Goldfarb was still working with the party, and Reid said there was a lot of “elbow jostling” between the two.

Reid felt ignored and wound up parting with the Liberals after the election. So he focused on the media, building up his name doing national surveys for the Southam newspaper chain.

Pollsters had been doing polls through a mix of telephone and in-person interviews, which took several weeks to compile. Reid decided to do everything by phone, which meant he could turn polls around in a week.

His methodology had its detractors.

“Rival pollsters claimed that Reid’s emphasis on speed produced shallow results,” wrote The Vancouver Sun’s Tom Barrett in 2001.

“They pointed out that Reid’s political polls were often dramatically different from other published polls. Despite a good record predicting elections, Reid polls could swing wildly in nonelection years.”

Still, his company flourished, particularly after Reid moved it to Vancouver from Winnipeg. In 2000, he sold it to the Ipsos company in France for $100 million.

Reid retired from the company at the end of 2001. But he wound up joining his son’s market research company Vision Critical as CEO in 2004, holding the position until 2011, when he became executive chair.

Vision Critical has become a big success in the tech world, but not without some boardroom battles — Reid left the company in 2014, and his son left in 2016. The 69-yearold Reid now runs The Angus Reid Institute, a non-partisan, not-forprofit research organization based in downtown Vancouver.

© 2017 Financial Post

KEITH FRASER
The Vancouver Sun

A lawyer for a man accused of fatally shooting and then dismembering a West Vancouver businessman is arguing that statements his client made to police were not given voluntarily.

Ian Donaldson says a number of factors contributed to the confession of Li Zhao being involuntary, including that he was cold and hungry in the Vancouver city jail before the police interview.

“I’m not saying that freezing or starving him was deliberate,” Donaldson told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Terence Schultes. “I don’t have that burden. But I say it’s a circumstance which cannot be ignored in the delicate contextual inquiry upon which you are obliged to embark.”

Zhao, 56, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and interfering with a human body in the May 2015 death of West Vancouver millionaire Gang Yuan, 42.

In a pre-trial motion that began last month, Donaldson is seeking to have two statements to police that Zhao made in the days following his arrest ruled inadmissible.

During the police interviews, Zhao told Richmond RCMP Const. Wilson Yung that he had shot the victim outside Yuan’s British Properties home, dragged the body inside and then used a power saw to cut up the body.

On Friday, Donaldson told the judge that in addition to the conditions experienced by Zhao in the jail, the accused was not given a proper warning that he had the right to remain silent and that anything he said could be used as evidence against him in court.

He said the circumstances amounted to an inducement for his client to speak to police.

But Crown counsel Kristin Bryson earlier argued that what went on in the police interview room is what is most important and noted that there were no threats or promises made by police to the accused.

“While there’s no doubt that the conditions in the Vancouver jail that the accused in our case experienced for a number of hours on the afternoon of May 3 (2015) aren’t ideal, in the Crown’s submission they cannot be characterized as inhumane,” said Bryson.

“Certainly there’s no evidence to suggest that the conditions were in any way connected to the fact that the accused spoke to Const. Yung. Again, it’s clear that the accused wanted to speak in this case.”

Bryson told the judge that the accused had received legal advice that he shouldn’t speak to police and was given warnings about the fact that evidence could be used against him in court.

She said Zhao was clearly an intelligent man and was animated and engaged in the police interview.

The key factor on the issue of voluntariness was whether the accused wanted to speak to police and it was “abundantly clear” that he did in fact wish to do so, said the prosecutor.

The case is expected to continue Monday with further arguments on the issue, including whether the accused’s charter rights were violated in connection with his statements to police.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Darci LaRocque
other

There is no one above the law. It may sound and feel so cliché but it is the truth. With information being passed along different medium these days, most noticeably, electronic communication – social media, emails and the likes, it is easy to make a mistake and break the law!

Recent technological advancements in communication may be great but it’s important to ensure you don’t commit any violation. And I’m talking about Canada’s Anti-Spam Lawwhich are similar in the USA.

It prohibits, sending unsolicited Commercial Electronic Messages (CEMs) without the recipients consent, identification information about the sender and an unsubscribe link.

So… what does that mean for you? Did your clients consent to being on a “list” and if they don’t want to hear from you anymore (I know, sad but sometimes happens), you must give them an option to unsubscribe or you could be liable and sued.

What I would suggest?

· Get a proper system for your automated emails. No, that isn’t Outlook or Mac Mail! You can try MailChimp or Bombbomb. These services allow you to create a sign-up form where they consent they’re okay receiving future emails from you and also gives the recipients the capability to unsubscribe on every email you send.

· If you’re are communicating with your clients through Drip Campaigns (which you should be!), you may want to consider Realty Juggler or iXact. These are systems that work! And don’t forget about your signature – it matters a lot – makes it easier to bring in more clients if they know how to reach you, right?

Knowledge is power, so you’re welcome! And keep those emails coming if you have any questions. Remember, at any time, you can unsubscribe (No wait, don’t do it! LOL) but do notice the option is there!

 

Tolls on bridges to fall under joint NDP, Green government

Jennifer Saltman
The Vancouver Sun

NDP Leader John Horgan said eliminating “unfair” tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges will be part of the first budget he tables if he becomes premier.

On Tuesday, Horgan and Green party Leader Andrew Weaver signed a power-sharing agreement that will see the three Green MLAs support the NDP, which has 41 seats in the legislature, on confidence motions. The Liberals have 43 seats.

At a news conference after the agreement was ratified, Horgan said he and Weaver had “comprehensive” talks, and tolls and road pricing were among the issues discussed. During the election campaign, the NDP promised to axe bridge tolls.

“We’re going to proceed with the elimination of tolls because they’re unfair,” Horgan said.

The elimination of tolls will be part of an NDP budget, which will allow the Greens to speak against the tolls while supporting the budget. The Greens did not promise to cap or get rid of tolls, instead saying they would implement a “rational” tolling system.

“We do not support (the NDP) on the issue of tolls,” Weaver said.

Members of the TransLink Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation agree that the current tolling system is unfair and, in some cases, actually makes congestion worse.

“We support the elimination of tolls as long as the lost revenue is reimbursed,” said New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Coté, who chairs the council’s funding strategy committee.

TransLink is counting on tolls or mobility pricing to pay for up to two-thirds of the cost of replacing the 80-year-old Pattullo Bridge between Surrey and New Westminster.

Coté described it as the most urgent issue that the mayors will bring forward to the provincial government.

Weaver and Horgan did not provide details on how the current and future bridges would be financed, however during the campaign the NDP told the mayors’ council that it was “committed to…addressing the shortfall in revenues” for the Pattullo.

The proposed George Massey Tunnel replacement bridge was not mentioned in the agreement, but its future is now in question. Horgan said he and Weaver maintained during the election and in their discussions that they intend to address the issue of congestion at Deas Island, but a bridge is unlikely to be the solution.

“We have to address congestion, but that’s not necessarily the best way forward,” Horgan said.

Preconstruction work has started on the bridge, but Horgan said he plans to consult with Metro Vancouver mayors.

“That’s really good news and it’s exactly the resolution that the Metro Vancouver board passed last year,” said Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore, who chairs Metro Vancouver’s board of directors. “Maybe people in Victoria are now reading our reports instead of just assuming what they say.”

The mayors — with the exception of Delta Mayor Lois Jackson, who has consistently supported the project — expressed serious concerns about bridge as proposed because of its cumulative regional impacts and ongoing concerns about an inadequate stakeholder input process and insufficient access to technical information.

Jackson said she was confused by the decision to consult with the mayors.

“I think referring it to the mayors is not the proper way to go because they will not deal with it. They have dismissed it out of hand,” she said.

When asked whether she thought the bridge would end up being built, she said she is waiting to see how things unfold.

“I have no idea. It’s a bit of a guessing game, I think,” she said.

When it comes to transit funding, the agreement says the parties will “act immediately to improve transit and transportation infrastructure in cooperation with the Mayors’ Council and the federal government” and consult with the mayors to find a better way of funding transit in the long term.

The mayors have lobbied for months to get funding for the second phase of their 10-year transit plan for the region, which includes replacing the Pattullo Bridge, light rail for Surrey and Langley, and the Broadway subway line in Vancouver.

Although there were no details, Coté said the fact that better transit was included in the agreement at all is “a very positive signal.”

“There’s a lot of work that’s going to have to go forward to turn that commitment and accord into real projects,” Coté said.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Surprise decision targeting movie piracy ?bad news for consumers … for Canada?

EMILY JACKSON
The Vancouver Sun

Internet service providers are bracing for a flood of requests to turn over the identities of subscribers that allegedly download pirated movies after a court decision some Internet policy experts warn will increase “copyright trolling” in Canada at the expense of consumers.

Copyright holders such as film studios commonly use court orders to get alleged offenders’ identities from Internet providers, which typically charge a fee for tracking down the suspect associated with the IP address at the time of illegal downloading. This can be tricky, as IP addresses change constantly.

But in a decision that surprised many in the industry, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled earlier this month that Internet providers cannot charge such fees unless they convince the federal government to introduce regulations that explicitly allow them to do so.

It’s a win for Voltage Pictures LLC, a movie production company known for Dallas Buyers Club and The Hurt Locker. Voltage filed the appeal against Rogers Communications Inc. as part of a reverse class action lawsuit where it sought the identity of tens of thousands of suspected infringers.

It argued the fees — about $100 per request — amounted to a “multimillion-dollar barrier” that prevented Voltage from obtaining the required details to launch legal proceedings “to protect and vindicate their rights in the movies they make.” Judge David Stratas agreed, noting that “illegal conduct can continue, unchecked and unpunished” unless the cloak of anonymity is lifted.

But the industry worries the lack of a nominal fee for subscriber information will encourage copyright trolls — companies that send notices to consumers threatening litigation for alleged infringement in hopes they’ll be scared enough to pay up without a fight. If Internet providers can’t recoup the costs of identifying alleged offenders, they will be pushed onto all subscribers.

“It’s a horrific decision from a policy perspective and it’s bad news for consumers, it’s bad news for Internet service providers, it’s bad news for Canada,” said David Fewer, director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic.

“Your costs of engaging in trolling activity have just plummeted to the floor. This is the Federal Court of Appeal throwing the floodgates wide open.”

The ruling misconstrued the purpose and the function of Canada’s “notice and notice” regime, he said. The system, introduced in 2015, enables copyright owners to alert Internet providers of alleged infringement and requires providers to send notices to subscribers. While most copyright owners use these as an educational tool, some use them to demand sums around $3,500. Others, such as Voltage, take the next step to identify offenders in order to launch lawsuits.

The rules were a compromise between copyright owners, who want to be paid for their work, and Internet providers, which want to protect customers’ privacy, Fewer said. But trolling remains a “huge problem” in Canada, with some customers intimidated into paying thousands for an offence that he said should be more equivalent to a parking ticket. He expects the ruling could make it worse — and he’s not alone.

One telecom executive said they were “shocked” by the ruling, adding it will be expensive for all providers. The industry also expects increased lobbying activity, as the judge left room for providers to convince the government to add fees.

For its part, Rogers said in a statement it is reviewing the decision. It has until August to seek leave to appeal from the Supreme Court of Canada. Meantime, it expects its workload will go up. (Rogers received nearly 75,000 court orders to provide customer information in 2015, according to its transparency report, but most were from law enforcement. It doesn’t disclose how many were related to alleged copyright infringement.)

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

ALICJA SIEKIERSKA
The Vancouver Sun

A potential U.S. ban on large personal electronics on flights from Europe could have unintended benefits for Canadian airlines — if Ottawa isn’t compelled to follow suit, aviation experts say.

In March, the U.S. announced an electronics restriction on devices larger than a smartphone on inbound flights from 10 airports, including ones in Turkey, Egypt and United Arab Emirates.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that it hadn’t reached a decision on whether to extend the ban to Europe, but that U.S. and European officials held meetings to discuss the possibility this week.

While airline industry groups have raised concerns about the potential expansion of the ban, it could provide a boost for Canadian airlines should the federal government choose not to follow suit when it comes to on electronic restrictions on flights.

“This could actually be a very good — but unintended — boost to business for Canadian long-haul airlines,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and president of the Atmosphere Research Group.

“If this ban is implemented in Europe, expect Air Canada and WestJet to raise their fares from Europe via Canadian gateway (cities) to the United States. Business travellers would flock to those airlines … if they can keep their electronics. You will see these travellers forego their frequent flyer miles, if it means they can be more productive.”

Delphine Denis, press secretary for Transport Minister Marc Garneau, said Canada is not considering any new measures at this time and electronic devices such as laptops are still permitted on flights coming in and out of Canada.

Aviation consultant Robert Kokonis says while a ban elsewhere could potentially see more passengers turn to Canadian airlines, it is more likely that Garneau would be compelled to follow the U.S. lead in implementing a ban “sooner rather than later.”

“At the end of the day, the minister’s top priority is safety of the Canadian transportation system, in this case airports,” he said.

“If there is enough credible intelligence between the various agencies that have known about this threat … I feel Canada would likely feel compelled to follow suit.”

© 2017 Financial Post

Scott Brown
The Province

Raymond Burr, the New Westminster-born star of TV’s Perry Mason and Ironside, is being posthumously honoured by his hometown on what would have been his 100th birthday.

The Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society (RBPAS), Douglas College Foundation and Burr 100 committee have established a legacy endowment to provide funding to theatre arts students at Douglas College for generations to come honouring the talent and inspiration of the past with the city’s own local celebrity.

Burr, who died of cancer in 1993 at 73, was born on May 21, 1917 and would have turned 100 on Sunday.

RBPAS has committed $5,000 to the endowment and is seeking community support to raise $25,000 to endow Douglas College’s annual Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society 2nd Year Entrance Award Of Distinction. Donations can be made online. “I soundly applaud your concerted efforts on behalf of Raymond’s 100th birthday. Your connection with Douglas College is exactly what Raymond would have done were he still with us,” said Robert Benevides, Burr’s longtime partner and honorary chair of the Burr 100 Committee. Here are five things you should know about Raymond Burr:

1 He was B.C.’s first TV star

Burr was a busy film character actor in the late 1940s and early ’50s, but it was on the small screen he achieved stardom as super attorney Perry Mason and later as police consultant Robert T. Ironside. The original Mason series ran for nine seasons and 271 episodes on CBS. Burr won two Emmys (1959 and 1961) for best actor in a leading role. He reprised the role for the 1973 revival series The New Perry Mason and starred in 26 Perry Mason Returns TV movies (1985-1993) for NBC. In April, Burr was named an honorary member of the New Westminster Bar Association.

2 He was an entrepreneur

Burr and partner Robert Benevides owned an orchid and coconut plantation in the Fiji Islands and vineyard on a 40-acre ranch in the Dry Creek Valley of California. Burr and Benevides hybridized an estimated 1,500 varieties of orchids, including one named for actress Barbara Hale, who played secretary Della Street on Perry Mason. Burr, who was briefly married to actress Isabella Ward in 1952, met Benevides, a young actor, on the set of Perry Mason in 1960. They remained a couple until Burr’s death.

3 Rear Window gave him great exposure

Before his career-defining role as Perry Mason, Raymond Burr was best known as the villain in the 1964 Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window opposite Hollywood legends Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. He also played American reporter Steve Martin in 1956’s Godzilla, King of Monsters. All of Burr’s scenes were edited into the original Japanese version of Godzilla. Burr appeared in more than 90 feature films.

4 He was laid to rest in New Westminster

Raymond William Stacy Burr moved to Vallejo, Calif., at age six with his mother after his parents divorced. Despite only living B.C. for a few years, Burr retained a love of the Royal City, making one final trip to be buried in the family plot at Fraser Cemetery.

5 He was an actor right until the end

Although he battled cancer for the final three years of his life, Burr continued working and starring in his Perry Mason TV movies. Left frail from the disease, Burr would show up on set at 4 a.m. in a wheelchair and scenes would be re-written to allow the actor to perform sitting down.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Being polite and co-operative when pulled over can reduce the odds of getting a ticket

DEREK MCNAUGHTON
The Province

The Victoria Day long weekend will soon be upon us, and with it comes an increased police presence on the roads. Many drivers will, of course, be pulled over and cited for doing stupid things, from speeding to carrying too much furniture on the car roof to texting behind the wheel (the stupidest of all).

And while most of the time the tickets we receive are well deserved, some infractions might be borderline, and may well be reduced or turned into a warning if the driver does all the right things after seeing those red and blue lights in the rearview mirror.

While none of the suggested behaviours below are certain to get you out of a ticket when you are pulled over by police, based on police comments and traffic court specialists, they all contribute to the chances of getting off the hook a little easier.

1 When the lights go on …

The second you see police are behind you with lights activated, signal that you are pulling over and find a safe spot to do so as quickly as possible. Pull as far right as the road allows to give the officer ample space to approach your vehicle safely. This shows some consideration for the safety of the officer who will usually be standing dangerously close to high-speed traffic. If you’re wearing a hoodie, sunglasses or a hat, remove them so your face is visible.

2 Now what?

Apply your emergency flashers and pull out your licence, insurance and registration. Sit tight. Do not exit the car or stick your head out the window and look back or throw your arms up in astonishment. Do not honk, do not use your phone or take photos of the police vehicle behind you. Be patient. The officer will be running your licence plate to see if your car is stolen or if the registered owner has a warrant for arrest.

3 At the roadside

Ensure all your windows are down, front and back, especially if you have tinted windows. Turn on your interior lights and place your hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel when the officer approaches so he or she can get a clear view inside the car to assess whether you pose a danger. Do not flirt, which will only insult the officer’s integrity. Greet the officer in a professional fashion as sir or ma’am.

4 Licence and registration

You should know exactly where your registration and insurance papers are, and have retrieved them, not go searching through the old Subway bags in the glovebox. Be ready to reveal the documents along with your driver’s licence. Of course, those documents should be current, along with your licence plate sticker, because you dutifully updated the renewal slips. It’s a good idea to keep the papers under the armrest in a special pouch.

5 Consider every move

When the officer asks for the documents, and if you haven’t already retrieved them, ask the officer if it’s OK for you to reach for them, whether it’s in your inside pocket or the overstuffed glove box. Again, this reveals you are cognizant the officer is on guard for dangers — such as a gun or knife — and he or she will likely appreciate your awareness of the risks in their job.

6 Do you know why I pulled you over?

Do not plead ignorance, which will only frustrate the officer and demonstrate that you’re trying to be evasive and/or difficult. Do not ask for proof. Do not accuse the officer of getting something wrong, and don’t ask whether they have something better to do. Don’t say you’re married to a the chief’s sister or ask if they know who you are, even if you’re Peter Mansbridge. Don’t make excuses: the officer has heard them all. And don’t crack jokes in an attempt to diminish the severity of the situation.

7 Know what to say, what not to say

If you’ve been caught red-handed and are certain you have no plans to fight the ticket, admit what you believe you did and succinctly apologize, but be concise. Say something like: “I am really sorry, sir, I really do know better.” Or, “I should have seen that sign, I am usually excellent at obeying rules. I’m sorry.” If you think you might fight the ticket, however, avoid any admission of guilt.

8 Doesn’t hurt to ask

Police departments keep track of the number of warnings police issue, and officers can be rewarded for how many they hand out. Where the infraction is small or very close to the line, ask the officer if he or she might consider issuing you with a warning instead. The officer’s goal, ultimately, is to get you to be a safer driver, protect the community, and obey the rules, and if she can see you are contrite, the chances of a verbal or written warning increase.

9 Your best behaviour

At all times, be exceedingly polite, show respect for the officer and the dangerous work they are committed to do. Be diplomatic, courteous, professional. Show you are a good, normally law-abiding citizen who momentarily lost focus and made an error. This makes you look human, and the officer will feel better about giving a kind person a break rather than punishing them.

10 If all else fails

The easiest thing of all is to avoid getting stopped in the first place by obeying all the rules, but if you do get a stopped and receive a ticket — and the chances are good that at some time you will — either pay the fine promptly when you get home, before you lose the ticket, or sign the back of the ticket to declare that you’re going to fight the infraction and mail it in. Then wait for the court to set a date for your hearing.

Remember that your actions at the roadside can still come into play. If you’re a combative jerk, the officer will be highly motivated to show up in court to challenge your assertions. And he or she will bring evidence, experience and a Crown prosecutor. You reap what you sow.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

JOANNE LEE-YOUNG AND SAM COOPER
The Vancouver Sun

B.C. Liberal party Leader Christy Clark has defended a little-known provincial tax rebate program that was expanded in 2014 to attract international banks and investment firms to Vancouver and is possibly linked to greater amounts of overseas cash coming into the local real estate market.

“We want to re-establish British Columbia as a location for head offices around the world, and I think reaching out to Asia and getting those head offices here is a good way to do that,” Clark said on Wednesday, downplaying a New York Times report that questions the 29-year-old program’s job creation results, transparency, and benefits to B.C. residents. The report states the program has cost $140 million in tax refunds and created up to 300 jobs.

According to the Times report. there are 82 companies in the program called AdvantageBC that may be entitled to a refund of up to 100 per cent of their corporate income taxes. Their names and their claim amounts aren’t disclosed by the province’s Ministry of Finance, which oversees the program.

B.C. government documents show that, under the program, workers who earn over $100,000 a year and are hired from outside B.C. are given income tax breaks.

B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan said: “AdvantageBC seems to be advantage for those that back the B.C. Liberal party. We don’t know who these companies are, or how much they’ve been able to pocket over the past number of years.”

The program has operated under an NDP government, but was expanded during the Liberals’ reign.

“The tax rebate program goes back 30 years and was designed to build Vancouver’s reputation as an international financial centre,” said former Liberal finance minister Colin Hansen. Hansen is the CEO of AdvantageBC. He said the program focuses mostly on companies in China because “if you were to make a list of 1,000 companies that are global in size and want to reach out globally and regionally (and don’t already have established headquarters elsewhere) 90 per cent would be in China.”

The New York Times reported that “companies can receive refunds on real estate activities with foreigners, including mortgage loans on property in Canada for international buyers. Conducting the same domestic activities for Canadians would not qualify for the refunds. This has raised concerns that the tax refunds may encourage banks and other companies to prioritize foreigners over Canadians in Canada’s overheated housing markets.”

Ministry of Finance spokesman Jamie Edwardson, who defended the value of the program in comments to the New York Times, was asked by Postmedia if B.C.’s government knows of any foreign business people involved in the program who have become significant investors in residential real estate in B.C.

Edwardson said that as a government employee he could not comment on this or other questions from Postmedia during the election period.

Earlier, Edwardson told the New York Times he couldn’t identify companies that had received refunds nor provide details of refunds due to laws that protect taxpayer privacy. The New York Times reported that Edwardson referred them “to decade-old data in a consultant’s 2009 economic analysis, which estimated that between 2001 and 2007, the additional investment added anywhere from 124 million to 141 million Canadian dollars to the economy. Mr. Edwardson said these figures were the most recent available.”

Hansen said he is not aware of any company in the program that is issuing mortgages in B.C. even though “issuing loans to a nonresident” is an activity that qualifies companies to get a rebate.

Anbang Insurance, the Beijingbased insurance company that recently paid more than $1 billion to buy Vancouver-based Retirement Concepts’ chain of senior care homes and has spent more than $1 billion on commercial properties in Vancouver, is not in the rebate program, said Hansen.

Dermod Travis of IntegrityBC, however, said that as the program includes massive foreign financial companies involved in real estate development and mortgage loans, and also B.C. real estate industry-linked companies, B.C. citizens should be asking whether AdvantageBC helped to fuel Vancouver’s hot real estate market.

“Has this become a club to facilitate deals?” he said. “If you look at when Vancouver home prices really skyrocketed, it was at the time this program was expanded, along with others. I don’t think AdvantageBC exclusively contributed to (Vancouver’s housing bubble) but these programs have contributed to it.”

Last fall, Postmedia reported that the U.S. government named Vancouver-based PacNet a “significant transnational criminal organization” that allegedly has worked for 20 years with “direct mailer” scammers to launder hundreds of millions of dollars defrauded from millions of vulnerable victims.

Travis said his review of AdvantageBC’s website showed that PacNet remained a member for months after Postmedia’s reports and that the company was only recently removed.

Hansen said PacNet, which had been in the program for years, was removed after it did not pay its membership dues in January and media reports questioned its good standing , it was removed.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Anna Fifield
The Province

With the kind of fanfare that only a totalitarian state can muster, North Korea on Saturday flaunted missiles that can theoretically reach the United States and defiantly stated that it was prepared to counter any U.S. attack with “a nuclear war of our own.”

But it soon looked like a case of style over substance. North Korea somewhat ruined the impression created with the parade, which took place on the most important day of the year for Kim Jong Un’s regime, with a failed missile launch Sunday morning.

The ballistic missile was fired from the Sinpo area on the east coast shortly before 6 a.m. local time, U.S. Pacific Command said. It blew up almost immediately, complicating efforts to identify the missile’s size and range.

North Korea fired a land-based version of its medium-range, submarine-launched ballistic missile from the same area earlier this month. That exercise also failed.

The missile was fired just minutes after U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence took off from Alaska on his way to Seoul, where he is expected to issue a strong warning to North Korea to stop its provocative behaviour or face consequences.

Pence was briefed on North Korea’s failed missile launch within an hour of departing from Anchorage, where Air Force Two stopped to refuel. He was in contact with U.S. President Donald Trump, aides told reporters travelling with the vice-president.

As tensions with North Korea escalated heading into the weekend, Trump spent Friday and Saturday mornings golfing at his private club in West Palm Beach, Fla., greeting members after he returned from the green, according to someone who saw him.

The president seemed to be hoping for a calm weekend. He was joined on his trip by just three junior staffers and K.T. McFarland, a deputy national security adviser who was recently pushed out and made ambassador to Singapore as a consolation. Many of Trump’s White House aides were given the weekend off.

Trump had nothing to say about the launch, said Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. “The president and his military team are aware of North Korea’s most recent unsuccessful missile launch,” Mattis said in a statement. “The president has no further comment.”

The missile was launched into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, where a U.S. Navy strike group is patrolling. Military commanders ordered the group, led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, back to the area this month as tensions with North Korea mounted.

The group has the ability to shoot down incoming missiles and launch missiles of its own.

Although the missile in Sunday’s attempt — like others before it — exploded shortly after launch, experts warn that North Korea’s rocket scientists learn something from failures as well as successes, giving them information they can use to hone their technology.

Certainly, the military hardware paraded through Pyongyang on Saturday shows that Kim is unrelenting in his quest to develop a missile capable of reaching the United States.

Experts were stunned at the sheer number of new missiles on display during the parade — including, apparently, a new and previously unknown type of intercontinental ballistic missile.

“It’s not like not doing a nuclear test was good news — this is all part of the same program,” said Jeffrey Lewis, head of the East Asia program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California. North Korea has claimed to be able to make nuclear weapons small enough to be able to fit on a missile.

“It’s like they’re saying: ‘Hey, here’s some other bad news,’ ” Lewis said.

The two-hour-long parade took place on a day officially known as the “Day of the Sun,” the anniversary of the 1912 birth of Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founder and the current leader’s grandfather.

A relaxed Kim Jong Un stood smiling on a balcony as untold tens of thousands of soldiers marched past, planes in a formation making 105 — for the anniversary — flew overhead and missile transporters rolled through the square in front of him.

He did not look like a man worried about a strike ordered by Trump, like that in Syria earlier this month, or concerned about China’s increasing anger over his belligerence.

“We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war of our own,” Choe Ryong Hae, one of Kim’s top aides, said in a speech at the parade, as the 33-yearold leader looked on.

Kim said in his New Year’s address that North Korea was in the “final stage” of preparations to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. That prompted Trump to tweet in response: “It won’t happen!”

But Kim appeared to demonstrate Saturday that he is in the process of making it happen.

North Korea has previously shown off at these parades two kinds of ICBMs, the KN-08 and the KN-14, both with the theoretical capacity to reach the U.S. mainland.

Saturday’s parade included the same vehicles as in the past, but instead of carrying missiles they were carrying huge, previously unseen missile canisters. Those could have contained the KN-08 and KN-14, or something else — or nothing at all. But the message was clear. “This was a promise of future capabilities more than a demonstration of existing missiles,” said Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, which tries to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. “We do not know if there is actually an ICBM in that canister. But it is certainly coming.”

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