During an interview with host Bob Mackin, he recalls the Mann Cup, 25 years ago this week in 2001.

The national lacrosse championship between the Coquitlam Adanacs and Brampton Excelsiors -- decided on Sept. 13, 2001 at the Pacific Coliseum -- was the first significant sporting event in North America after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Full edition premieres Sept. 6.

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Would he obey Donald Trump, if he were to order invasion of Canada?

“I find that scenario to be absolutely and utterly preposterous,” Admiral Sam Paparo responded. “So I follow the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, but that is a needlessly emotional question. Forgive my saying it too, is that Canada is a close ally.”

Paparo was standing beside Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Jennie Carignan, at the 28th annual Indo-Pacific chiefs of defence conference.

“Would you ask me please also what my attack plans are for the Martians?” Paparo continued.

On a serious note, Paparo said there is “undeniable competition” in the Western Pacific between market democracies and the People’s Republic of China and its friends and partners.

“We’re defending freedom of navigation. We’re defending our own homelands presently,” Paparo said. “That’s the environment that we find ourselves in right now. What underlies that is peace through strength is the underlying idea that underpins that strategic stability that we’re operating under right now.”

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Around the Rim

In the Taiwan News, Taiwan’s Tourism Administration warned travel agencies to file reports about groups traveling to Mainland China or face fines of up to $1,500. The Taiwanese government advises against non-essential travel to China.

Group tourism to China is banned, but some still go under the guise of research or exchange purposes.

China abstained from the final communique of the G20 finance ministers’ summit in Asheville, N.C.

The final statement said: “We agree that countries should take steps to eliminate non-market policies and practices that exacerbate imbalances.”

Kyodo News reported that Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said at a press conference that the United States’ handling of the situation was “tactful.”

In Papua New Guinea, ABC News Australia reported that 10 armed thieves held security crews at gunpoint and stole 25 gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.

The hold up of two private security vehicles in Port Moresby is one of the country’s biggest robberies.

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Cascadia Calling

The Oregon State Fair in Salem, through Labour Day, features a table-setting competition.

One of the entries is an anti-Donald Trump table, reports Willamette Week.

Kate Greenstreet’s entry, inspired by Trump’s poorly attended Great American State Fair, includes “a green table runner for Reflecting Pool algae and a menu with cyclospora salad.”

The Oregon State Fairgrounds event also features quilting, cake decorating and photography.

Remember that recall petition aimed at unseating Seattle socialist Mayor Katie Wilson?

Melinda Jacobson and Dale Osterud accused Wilson of malfeasance, misfeasance and violating her oath of office based on five public-safety allegations, reported KING 5.

They missed a filing deadline and asked a judge to withdraw their application. But they may try again.

The annual Pacific Region Cross-Border Law Enforcement Forum came to Esquimalt on Sept. 1. CHEK News said they focused on transnational crime, extortion and the illegal drug trade.

Senior police and operational staff from Washington and B.C. also discussed the FIFA World Cup in Vancouver and Seattle.

Dominic Barton, who was Canada’s Ambassador to China from 2019 to 2021, was the global managing partner at the McKinsey consultancy when Woo led HQ Vancouver, the $6.5 million partnership between the federal Western Economic Diversification agency, B.C. Ministry of International Trade and Business Council of B.C.

Their marquee 2016 signing was a subsidiary of China Poly Group, which quietly closed its office and gallery in 2023. Also in 2016, Justin Trudeau appointed Woo to the senate.

The Sardis-raised, University of B.C.-educated economist is the new chair of Invest in Canada, which recently funded a closed-to-media trade promotion during the FIFA World Cup in Vancouver.

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Immigration influx

Barton and Mark Wiseman, Carney’s ambassador to the U.S., co-founded the Century Initiative in 2014 to lobby for 100 million population in Canada by 2100.

In 2016, the Barton-chaired Advisory Council on Economic Growth recommended the federal government raise annual immigration targets to 450,000 by 2025. The Trudeau Liberals listened and went further, quicker. They set a 485,000 target for 2024, despite warnings that Canada’s housing, hospitals and schools could not handle the influx.

“By the way, 100 million, I’m sorry to say, is not a big number,” Barton told Canadian Club luncheon in 2018, noting that Canada’s population is the same as one Chinese city, Chongqing.

Meanwhile, Putin and Xi

Elsewhere on Aug. 31, the leader of China, Carney’s January-declared “strategic partner,” met with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

“Co-operation is successfully developing on all fronts,” Putin told Xi Jinping.

In 2022, before the Beijing Olympics and invasion of Ukraine, they signed a “no limits” partnership. In 2024, NATO called China the “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

On Sept. 1 in Asheville, N.C., U.S. treasury secretary welcomed Russia’s finance minister Anton Siluanov to the G20 finance ministers’ summit.

Donald Trump promised voters in 2024 he would solve the war before he was inaugurated.

Liberal Jonathan Wilkinson won a fourth consecutive election since 2015 by defeating Curran with a 16,568-vote margin last year.

Wilkinson had stints as Justin Trudeau’s environment, fisheries and energy minister, but quit in June to become Canada’s Ambassador to the European Union. Prime Minister Mark Carney parachuted his deputy chief of staff and 2025 national campaign co-chair Braeden Caley into the riding and called the by-election on July 26. The local Liberal association was not consulted.

“On Saturday July 18, all of us as [Liberal Party of Canada] members received an email indicating the appointment of Caley as the selected candidate for the North Vancouver-Capilano riding,” said Sid Mirhashemy of North Vancouver in a letter to the North Shore News. ”I find Caley’s assertion that no other candidates came forward insulting. How could someone challenge him if there was no official nomination held?”

Caley grew up in Richmond. Except for a year in Carney’s office, he spent the last decade in Ottawa in Liberal Party headquarters and at the party’s Canada 2020 thinktank. Elections Canada records, inspected by theBreaker, show Caley now calls a rental apartment tower near North Vancouver city hall his home. He did not list a local phone number in his candidature file.

Curran, who joined a North Vancouver law firm in 2021, owns a $3.3 million-assessed house in Central Lonsdale, less than a kilometre west of Caley’s residence.

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Further west, on the other side of Mahon Park, the Green Party’s Shelley Luce owns a 1916-built house worth $1.38 million. The London, Ont.-raised environmental scientist was most recently the Sierra Club’s director of campaigns, after working for environmental groups in California.

The NDP’s Stephen Tweedale works daytimes in NDP North Vancouver-Seymour MLA Susie Chant’s office and rents a suite in a $1.7 million Westview house.

Two candidates do not live in the riding. Jeff Monds, a customer relationship manager and member of the Libertarian Party, lists a 2.37-acre vacant lot in Coquitlam as his address. Coquitlam is also home of his campaign office.

Mechanical engineer Ehsan Arjmand of the People’s Party of Canada is a resident of a Lynnmour strata tower in the neighbouring Burnaby North-Seymour riding.

Ballot box issue or not?

It is up to the voters to decide if residency matters. Parachute candidates are legal — a practice almost as old as Canada itself — and the three major national parties have taken advantage of the lack of rule.

Canada’s first Prime Minister, and first Conservative leader, John A. Macdonald originally represented Kingston, Ont. But, from 1878 to 1882, he was the MP for Victoria, which he had never visited.

The father of medicare, Tommy Douglas, was the Premier of Saskatchewan under the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation banner before becoming the federal leader. He lost in Regina City in 1962, but got into the House of Commons in Burnaby-Coquitlam.

Similarly, Ontario provincial politician and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh became an MP in a 2019 by-election in Burnaby South.

During the 2025 election in Vancouver East, Kitsilano-domiciled NDP incumbent Jenny Kwan defeated Liberal Mark Wiens of Richmond, Conservative Lita Cabal of Surrey and People’s Party of Canada’s Meghan Murphy of Mexico.

Only Green Nikida Steel and Communist Kimball Cariou called Vancouver East their home.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was elected seven times in an Ottawa riding between 2004 and 2021. He lost Carleton in 2025 to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy under unique circumstances. They were among a record 91 candidates, because of the Longest Ballot Committee protest against the first-past-the-post system.

Poilievre returned to the House of Commons four months later as a parachute candidate in the Battle River-Crowfoot by-election in his native province, Alberta.

Caley relying on star power to win

Poilievre and NDP leader Avi Lewis both made appearances to support their candidates. Poilievre’s name is not on Curran’s signs, but Lewis’s is on Tweedale’s.

Carney made a visit to the riding on day three of the by-election, July 29, and appears prominently in Caley campaign ads.

No fewer than 18 other Liberal MPs from across the country have interrupted summer holidays to rally the troops at Caley’s campaign office or join door knocking crews, including cabinet ministers Francois-Philippe Champagne (finance), Julie Dabrusin (environment), Melanie Joly (industry), Steven MacKinnon (transport) and Gregor Robertson (housing).

Former Vancouver Mayor Robertson was Caley’s mentor at Vancouver city hall from 2011-2016, where Caley was the press secretary. Robertson, who lives in a West End penthouse, made a comeback in 2025 as the Liberal MP for Vancouver-Fraserview-South Burnaby.

Ironically, Caley was part of Robertson’s inner circle when the ruling Vision Vancouver party made a mayoral challenger’s residency an issue in Robertson’s third winning campaign.

Vision Vancouver’s 2014 ads included one that attacked NPA opponent Kirk LaPointe for living on the University of B.C. campus.

Robertson’s affidavit in an unsuccessful Provincial Court challenge of his candidacy during that election said he lived in a downtown apartment after breaking up with his wife. But he continued to list her Kitsilano residence as his official address with the civic election office.

In 2026, LaPointe is now a West Vancouverite, aiming to upset incumbent Mark Sager in the Oct. 17 mayoral election.

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Lower Mainland Liberals

Not only are MPs flying from across Canada to help Caley, but he is also relying on Liberal activists from other parts of the Lower Mainland.

Volunteers include: Richmond’s Erich Harvey, the Liberal Party of Canada in B.C. director of political operations; Burnaby’s Ayesha Khaira, senior field organizer and former advisor to Dominic LeBlanc; Zachary Severyn of Vancouver, an intern for Vancouver Granville MP Taleeb Noormohamed; Richmond’s Mark Wiens, a real estate agent, 2025 Vancouver East candidate and master of ceremonies at events for business and cultural organizations connected to the Chinese consulate; and Russil Wvong of Vancouver, a 2022 candidate with Kennedy Stewart’s Forward Together party who lost a nomination for OneCity’s 2026 campaign.

The driving force behind Caley’s campaign is Michelle Johnston, vice-president since June 2025 of Vancouver’s Syntax Strategic and neighbour of the Harry Jerome Recreation Centre.

Johnston was deputy director of communications during Justin Trudeau’s last year as Prime Minister. The financial agent is Murray Campbell, the husband of former BC United MLA and CentreBC founder Karin Kirkpatrick.

One of them was Jordan Bateman, vice-president of the Independent Contractors and Busineses Association of B.C.

The former B.C. director the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is Bob Mackin’s guest, to discuss the opposition crisis and fears that Premier David Eby’s NDP could exploit Conservative infighting and the Trump trade war to call an election sooner than the scheduled 2028 vote.

Eby denies he would. Jordan Bateman, who remembers John Horgan’s 2020 snap election, doesn’t believe him.

Bateman, vice-president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association of B.C., is Bob Mackin’s guest.

Full edition premieres Aug. 30.

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More people did come to Canada, but not a million World Cup fans.

International visitors were up 3.3% in June and 5.8% in July. Some 76,000 more than the same period in 2025, according to Canada Border Services Agency.

A Statistics Canada report said arrivals from the five nations playing in the three matches in Vancouver and Toronto in July were up 18.7% — an increase of 6,700 compared withi July 2025.

“Notably, air arrivals by Colombian residents peaked on Monday, July 6, the day before their World Cup match in Vancouver, while air arrivals by residents of Switzerland peaked on Sunday, July 5, ahead of their match in Vancouver. Air arrivals by Portuguese and Croatian residents peaked on Wednesday, July 1, before their World Cup match in Toronto on July 2.”

The underwhelming results are no surprise to theBreaker’s audience.

Research by a return guest on thePodcast, sports economist Victor Matheson of the College of the Holy Cross, found mega-events “simply supplant, rather than supplement the regular tourist economy.”

“In other words, the economic impact of a mega-event may be large in a gross sense but the net impact may be small,” Matheson concluded.

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Around the Rim

Taiwan News reports that Taiwans National Security Council is taking a bigger role in countering Chinese meddling, by coordinating with various government ministries to garner diplomatic support for Taiwan.

The boundaries of security, foreign policy and domestic policy have become less clear. International trade and technology are now closely linked to foreign affairs and national security. Case in point: Japans acknowledgment that a Taiwan emergency is also a Japanese one.

Nara was Japan’s ancient capital. Now it is the shaved ice capital.

Kyodo News reports shaved ice shops in the western city and prefecture have grown more than ninefold in the last decade.

About 1,600 years ago, Nara preserved ice made during wintertime for the imperial court. A shaved ice festival was organized in 2014 in cooperation with local shrines.

Australia’s premiers are at odds over how Australia should deal with the energy demands of AI data centres.

Domestic violence, bird flu, fuel security and gun laws are also on the agenda of the premiers and chief ministers’ meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Sydney, according to ABC News Australia.

Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen shot down the idea of running AI data centres on small modular nuclear reactors.

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Cascadia Calling

Portland’s latest golden parachute goes to top public works official, Priya Dhanapal, says the Oregonian.

She will leave with $222,000 when she leaves Sept. 4.

Dhanapal oversees the city’s water, transportation, parks and environmental services agencies.

By early July, more than $1 million in severance payments for departing bureaucrats this year.

Dolly Parton’s death at the age of 80 on Aug. 25 was felt in Washington State libraries, according to KING 5.

The queen of country music donated books to nearly 40,000 youth under her Imagination Library program.

Parton visited Washington in 2023 after gaining statewide support for the initiative. Since 2005, Parton gave away 4.85 million books to children.

Fanny Bay residents are not welcoming the former Washington State ferry Rhododendron.

CHEK News reported that James Mason sold the boat to Bryan Oonk in July, but Oonk is facing charges of uttering threats and mischief. The boat is now listing in the bay.

The Canadian Coast Guard says it’s attended the MV Rhododendron on multiple occasions to conduct environmental hazard assessments and review its condition.

B.C.’s biggest late-summer tradition at Hastings Park is on through Labour Day and features the new, $183 million Freedom Mobile Arch.

On opening day of the 10,000-seat concert venue in June, Bob Mackin interviewed the CEO of its naming sponsor, Pierre Karl Peladeau, about trends in the world of telecom, media and sports and entertainment.

theBreaker was at the media preview, to capture some of the sights and sounds of Vancouver’s end-of-summer tradition.

Full edition premieres Aug. 23.

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On opening weekend, a different kind of football championship will be celebrated.

Next door to the new Freedom Mobile Arch amphitheatre, the NFL Experience. Meet Seattle Seahawks mascot Blitz and Seahawks Dancers and see the Vince Lombardi Trophy hoisted by the Seahawks after their Super Bowl LX win over the New England Patriots.

The two-day pop-up coincides with the fair’s opening weekend admission price of $7.

Aug. 22 also happens to be the 62nd anniversary of the Beatles’ famous concert at Empire Stadium, which hosted seven Grey Cup championships between 1955 and 1974.

Also for two days only, the B.C. Tattoo, featuring 150 Canadian and U.S. military musicians, pipers and drummers and Vancouver-based Ukrainian singer Makenza.

Other 2026 attractions: 50th anniversary of the SuperDogs, Wizard of Oz On Ice and the Summer Night Concerts series in the Arch, including the Guess Who (Aug. 23), “Weird Al” Yankovic (Sept. 3), Sarah McLachlan (Sept. 6) and Boy George and Culture Club (Sept. 7).

The Fair runs until Labour Day, Sept. 7 (closed Aug. 24 and 31).

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Around the Rim

Taiwan’s minister of mainland affairs, Chiu Chiu-Cheng, is warning travellers they could be stuck in China for months or even years.

“People could face exit restrictions if Chinese authorities decide their actions outside China violate national security or national interests,” reported the Taiwan News.

Restrictions could run for six months to three years, according to Chiu.

Oi! An Australian rules football scandal!

Five members of the Sydney Swans are suspended for the rest of the season and they have apologized to teammates and fans, according to ABC News Australia.

Players Riley Bice, Nick Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon and Chad Warner went out for drinks in Melbourne and brought women back to the team hotel after shutting out Essendon. Authorities are investigating an alleged sexual assault.

Japan counted a July record 3.44 million foreign tourists, up 0.1% from the same month in 2025.

Japan National Tourism Organization said there were almost 32% more visitors from South Korea (894,700) and 26% more from Taiwan.

“The number of visitors from China, meanwhile, plunged 56.1% from a year earlier to 428,200, as bilateral ties between the Asian neighbours remain soured,” Kyodo News reports.

Cascadia Calling

Prediction market Kalshi hired two lobbyists in Oregon and donated $12,500 to Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s re-election campaign, reports Willamette Week.

In Washington State, Attorney General Nick Brown successfully applied for a judge to halt Kalshi in Washington, after accusing the company of running an illegal gambling website and defrauding consumers.

Could Seattle’s socialist Mayor Katie Wilson be recalled?

Two voters accused Wilson of neglecting public safety. A hearing is scheduled before a judge at King County Courthouse on Aug. 31.

The application for a recall ballot comes after Wilson forced Police Chief Shon Barnes to resign. She is also accused of neglecting drug use and public safety in Chinatown, crime and drug use in Belltown and her stance against surveillance cameras.

KING 5 reports “the last successful recall in King County was the 2018 removal of Black Diamond Councilmember Patricia Pepper. The last recall of a Seattle mayor to reach the ballot was in 1975, when Mayor Wes Uhlman survived the election and remained in office.”

Business owners near Victoria’s Pandora Avenue are near the “breaking point,” reports CHEK News.

They say the provincial government has been too slow to deal with mental health and addictions in a neighbourhood that became a magnet for homeless people.

Last month, the NDP government turned down a proposal to transform aging Cowichan District Hospital into a facility to treat addictions and mental illness. Then health minister Josie Osborne said other options are under consideration.

Under freedom of information, theBreaker obtained situation reports from the TransLink Emergency Coordination Centre that recount isolated violence and disorder. Especially at the FIFA Fan Festival on the PNE grounds.

June 13

On the day that Australia met Turkey at B.C. Place Stadium.

One group of intoxicated, belligerent individuals denied service and accompanied out of the Pacific Coliseum loop at Fan Festival.

June 24

On the day that Switzerland met Canada at B.C. Place Stadium.

Patrons leaving Gate 14 at PNE (Hastings and Lillooet) were stepping around the R5 [Hastings RapidBus] queue and onto the roadway which led to Transit Police directing customers to load at westbound Hastings north side Kaslo instead for approximately 10 minutes. Our team will be reminded not to send customers up onto the sidewalk for the R5 until it has pulled into the stop.

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June 26

On the day that Belgium met New Zealand at B.C. Place Stadium.

Eight people were ejected from the Fan Festival.

Fans at Fan Fest engaged in fighting at bus loop (rapid de-escalation).

Metro Vancouver Transit Police requested a system hold in place for a report of a passenger with a hammer at Waterfront Station.

Compass confusion

Additionally, on the June 13 report, TransLink’s Compass card website was temporarily restricted for users from countries other than Canada, United Kingdon and India due to a BTS-led cybersecurity initiative.

“While users were expected to regain access upon arriving in Canada, some continue to experience issues.”

The host committee office said it bought $14.4 million in VIP ticket packages from FIFA hospitality contractor On Location for resale. Almost a month since the tournament ended, city hall refuses to say how much of its 7,400-ticket inventory sold.

A Jan. 27 sponsorship review, obtained by theBreaker under freedom of information, said FIFA developed the host city commercial program to allow host cities to “generate revenue to partially offset expenses associated with satisfying their obligations under the host city agreement” by selling local sponsorships.

“Initially, host cities viewed the program as a valuable opportunity, however, as more detail has come to light, every host city’s ability to leverage the commercial benefits of the FIFA World Cup has been limited due to conditions placed by FIFA on the monetization opportunities afforded under the host city commercial program,” said the heavily censored report from the Vancouver firm Blackfin Sports Group.

The 19-page report said the city looked to “assess the performance, viability and risk profile of the FIFA World Cup 2026 supporter and champions programs” delivered by B.C. Pavilion Corporation on behalf of city hall. PavCo advertised hospitality packages beginning at $195,000.

The report assumed the program faced risks from economic conditions, cautious (but not frozen) corporate spending and the persistent risk of a mild recession “but does not significantly contract hospitality budgets.”

The report came almost two months after Vancouver failed to land any European or South American powerhouses in the tournament draw.

The two competitive pressures visible in the report, authored by Blackfin principal James Douglas, were “tournament sentiment” and “FIFA brand skepticism continues but does not worsen.”

The climax, strategic recommendations, was censored.

CLICK AND READ: Consultant's Report For Vancouver FIFA Office

1.09MB ∙ PDF file

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Final score a secret for now

A prepared statement, sent by Elayne Sun of city hall communications, said the host committee and provincial government expect to reveal event costs, revenues and economic impacts in late spring 2027.

“Staff are still in the process of assessing the financial details of the event,” said the statement.

Three weeks before the tournament kicked-off, City of Vancouver announced Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh first nations, Concord Pacific, Coke Bottling Canada, Bell, TransLink, Science World and PNE as “host city supporters.”

Each one had a pre-existing relationship with city hall and/or FIFA.

theBreaker has confirmed that neither the PNE nor TransLink paid city hall to be sponsors.

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FIFA contractor’s billions

When On Location’s parent, TKO Group Holdings Ltd., reported second quarter results on Aug. 3, it said World Cup hospitality revenue broke the US$2 billion mark, with 568,000 packages sold.

“And that’s before accounting for 25 matches in July,” president Mark Shapiro said in a call with investors and analysts.

In an interview, Max Warmuth of the Association of Professional Security Agencies worried that a race to the bottom could bring comparisons to Canada’s trucking industry, where poorly trained and low-paid foreign drivers caused destruction and death on Canadian roads.

“The contract guarding industry suffers from numerous unscrupulous or bad actor guarding agencies that will seize upon every opportunity to lower their cost structure to compete for public bids,” Warmuth, a senior strategic advisor at GardaWorld, told theBreaker. “Even in circumstances where those actions are not consistent with regulatory, legislation, employment standards or other rules and regulations.”

Warmuth declined to identify the companies due to ongoing investigations.

Few barriers, many ways to exploit

Warmuth said bad actors in the security industry misclassify hires as independent contractors so they are ineligible for healthcare benefits and employment insurance. The result is workers, many from India and unaware of Canadian laws, that are paid in cash or direct deposit below B.C.’s $18.25-an-hour minimum wage. A guard working for one company, may be paid by another.

“We know that there are circumstances where some of these bad actor agencies are paying guards literally $10, $12, $15 an hour, and not giving them any entitlements and applying threats when they bring forward complaints,” Warmuth said. “The obvious question would be, well, why aren’t the regulatory entities cracking down on this?”

There are relatively few barriers of entry. As long as someone has a clean criminal record and pays an application fee, they can start up an agency.

“Then they will bring in and exploit these international work students.“

Low paid workers recruited by WhatsApp

A senior executive with a B.C. company, who asked that his name not be published for business reasons, said that foreign students are limited to working 24 hours per week under their visa.

Some are finding jobs for as low as $11-an-hour in cash via recruiters on Punjabi language WhatsApp groups. For those that provide a social insurance number, some companies use middlemen. In at least one case, payment was treated as a loan to the unsuspecting worker.

“The way that you get introduced to those groups is you typically have to know someone in there,” the executive said.

In some cases, a larger company will own shares in a smaller company or a smaller company will be run by former workers of the larger company in order to hide the status of workers from the client. On a semi-regular basis, he said smaller companies will offer quantities of guards to a bigger agency for $19 to $21 an hour.

“As soon as they say that, I know they’re doing it illegally because it’s just not viable.”

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The executive said that, during the FIFA World Cup period in Vancouver, government inspectors did site visits to ensure workers held a valid security licence (one must be carried during each shift) and were receiving pay stubs for their work.

Digital licences, which are supposed to be used only until a hard copy is received, are at risk of fraud.

“One of the other tricks that they can do is, when you put the number in [online], it’ll actually show active, but the name of the person is different. So that means someone could have easily taken a copy of someone’s licence that they know, or a friend, or wherever, get a digital copy, put their name on it and picture, essentially falsify it because it’s just a digital copy.”

A criminal record check and fingerprinting are required at the start, but not for renewals. The executive is concerned about how rigorous those checks are for workers from another country and whether exploited workers who have access to sensitive workplaces and information are ripe for recruitment by gangs.

“It’s definitely a concern, especially because a lot of the workers are, just from the fact that a lot of them are out there doing work for cash, shows that they need more money,” the executive said. “So it wouldn’t be difficult to throw some money at people in those roles to get them to participate with those organizations.”

What the NDP government said

A prepared statement from the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General said the Security Programs Division (SPD) investigates complaints under the Security Services Act. Sanctions may include licence suspension, licence cancellation and fines up to $50,000 for businesses.

“If SPD receives a complaint regarding labour practices that are within SPD’s jurisdiction, SPD will investigate in accordance with the Act and SPD’s established processes. Complainants are informed about the outcomes of these investigations.”

Asked if SPD has disciplined any security companies for exploitative labour practices and compromising public safety, the Ministry said: “Requests for information about investigations or investigative outcomes are subject to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.”

That is one of the questions on the minds of Village of Clinton residents, who were ordered to evacuate in mid-July.

On this edition of thePodcast, guest Kelly Sinoski, editor of The Clinton Lariat newspaper, sets the scene in the Cariboo, where B.C.’s biggest wildfire of the summer of 2026 is burning.

In this clip, Kelly Sinoski, editor of The Clinton Lariat newspaper, talks about the response of the authorities to the disaster.

Full edition premieres Aug. 16.

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The chart, obtained by theBreaker under freedom of information, shows a two-stage process.

On the first stage, outlets were graded high/medium/low on reach and whether the topic or audience of the outlet “benefits host city aims.”

On the second stage, response time, reporting bias and editorial standards (accuracy and professionalism).

If “balanced/positive,” then an interview would be planned. If “negative,” then a statement would be provided.

Under editorial standards, one of three responses: interview, statement or “do not respond, holding line, refer to channels or future update.”

Natasha Qereshniku, the host committee office’s communications lead, explained the rationale in a February internal email. “Media inquiry criteria: If we are aligned on this, that would mean we would not be responding to all inquiries which would be visible in the closed calls [marketing and communications] see every day. I think we would need to socialize our determined approach at that level to get ahead of questions.”

In March, Qereshniku wrote: “The idea being if stage 1 is high to media reach and a topic we want to gain coverage on, or a benefit to our aims, we move to stage 2 and then respond.”

First, in West Vancouver. A helmetless 18-year-old crashed an e-dirtbike into a boulder by Mathers Avenue and 30th Street.

The injured teen was found at 5:50 p.m. West Vancouver Police do not know when the crash happened.

“Any witnesses to, or footage of, an e-dirt bike rider in the area surrounding 30th Street and Mathers Ave between 5 p.m. and 5: 20 p.m. is asked to call 604-925-7300 and quote file #26-8462,” according to WVPD spokesperson Suzanne Birch.

An indication of the severity of the injuries: The Integrated Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service was deployed to investigate.

In North Vancouver, south of the Capilano Suspension Bridge, a video of an e-dirtbike driver vandalizing the by-election sign for Liberal by-election candidate Braeden Caley.

Facebook user Paulina Cm, under the headline, “Just happened…” posted Aug. 12 that “these kids almost ran us over while crossing the street. They blew the red light and proceeded to do this. All in bikes + 1 electric scooter. If these are your kids you might want to talk to them about safety and respect.”

Caley, parachuted into the riding by Prime Minister Mark Carney, went to X, formerly Twitter, and started by making light of the incident. “10 out of 10 for effort, a zero for style or sportsmanship.”

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“Our amazing volunteers will have the signs up again in no time, but let’s keep this by-election a contest of ideas,” said Caley’s post. “Thank you to the concerned community members who brought this to our attention and who diligently take note of actions like these for their neighbours. If you recognize these guys, we’re pretty sure the North Vancouver RCMP would like to have a word. 604-985-1311. Back to the doorsteps!”

Also in North Vancouver, the RCMP is investigating illegal, and potentially damaging, use of the Fen Burdett track on Jones Avenue.

Around 2 p.m., youths riding e-scooters and e-dirtbikes rode the track and sidewalks “at dangerous speeds and performing stunts, putting other track users at risk.”

The youths were gone by the time police arrived.

E-dirtbikes are not street legal. Users could be hit with a $598 fine for no insurance and $276 fine and three demerit points for no licence, among other violations.

Aug. 26 is the Able Auctions “Surplus landscape and outdoor supplies used in this summer’s major sporting events held at B.C. Place Stadium” sale.

Featured items:

• Two Kwik Goal soccer nets and player shelters.

• Kohler and Generac heavy duty industrial diesel-powered generators.

• Toro Multi Pro ride-on precision turf sprayer.

• Six Dennis commercial electrical walk-behind mowers.

• Irrigation systems.

The star of the show, the Bos Sod Farms-grown grass pitch, was rolled-up and returned to the Abbotsford farm where it will be separated from its synthetic base and composted.

Around the Rim

In Focus Taiwan, Texas Republican Congressman Michael McCaul said during a trip to Taiwan that he is bullish about American and Taiwanese drone production partnerships.

The 2026 U.S. National Defense Authorization Act directs U.S. authorities to co-produce drones and counter-drone systems with Taiwan.

“You don’t want your supply chain compromised by your adversary,” said McCaul the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, noting that Chinese technology was exported to Russia for its war against Ukraine.

ABC News Australia reported on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s joke that flopped in Japan.

When Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae visited Australia, she gave Albanese melons.

While a guest on the Bush Deep podcast, Albanese mentioned the melons and appeared to gesture near this chest while he said “she brought two, as you do.”

“Insulting a Japanese gift is a baffling diplomatic misstep,” said the ABC story.

Ten people were arrested in Hong Kong for dangerous driving in the first week of August.

Hong Kong Free Press reports police nabbed nine men and one woman, aged 25 to 51, during Operation Fastshield. Key to the campaign were drones and stealth cars “deployed to collect evidence and make the law enforcement operation safer.”

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Cascadia Calling

The saga of the Portland Trail Blazers and the public-owned Moda Center arena continues.

Willamette Week reported that, in exchange for $120 million in city-funded renovations, negotiators say the city should seek $2 million in annual rent from the NBA team.

The city would also retain rights to develop around the 1995-built arena. A new long-term lease must be done by end of the year.

Move over, Jimothy, Seattle’s orcas want attention. KING 5 TV reports transient orcas hunted seals near the Ballard Locks.

Bigg’s killer whales have become more common on Washington’s coast, including Puget Sound. The probability of Bigg’s increased from 4% in 1978 to 68% in 2022.

Two Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers suffered injuries in an “incident” with a humpback whale on Aug. 9, reported CHEK News,

The incident was near Calvert Island, 100 kilometres north of Port Hardy.

“The animal involved in the incident has not yet been identified,” said Fisheries and Oceans Canada in a statement to CHEK. “DFO is working with partners in the B.C. Marine Mammal Response Network to locate and identify the animal and document any injuries.”

What happened

A dispatcher with Marine Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS) patiently conversed with the sailor, who provided little information, other than he departed Nanaimo en route to Madeira Park, a distance of around 30 nautical miles.

“Tell me which way to go,” the sailor said. “Get me back home, man.”

theBreaker heard the unusual call while monitoring multiple regional emergency radio frequencies on a night when crews battled a wildfire near the Village of Anmore.

CLICK AND LISTEN to clips from Coast Guard radio.

How the sailor was found

Lt. Marion Bec, a public affairs officer with Joint Task Force Pacific, told theBreaker: “Through search coordination and communications with the U.S. Coast Guard Northwest District, the vessel’s likely location was narrowed to the southern portion of the Strait of Georgia, possibly near Nanaimo.”

The Canadian Coast Guard’s French Creek-based search and rescue lifeboat Cape Cockburn and the Coast Guard Hovercraft Siyay, from Sea Island, searched while MCTS maintained communications with the vessel. Cape Cockburn used a direction finder to locate the vessel in the vicinity of Sechelt.

“Once located, Cape Cockburn safely escorted the vessel and brought it alongside at the Halfmoon Bay Public Dock,” said Bec.

What next?

What was the vessel’s name? What became of the sailor? Bec referred theBreaker to the local authorities — the Sunshine Coast RCMP — who have yet to respond.

Krug hosts monthly Vancouver AI Community Meetups, a forum for techies, artists, activists, entrepreneurs and the curious to make sense of the opportunities and drawbacks of the technology.

The latest was July 29 at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre and featured guest speaker Dave Olson, mixed media storyteller and tech innovator now living in Japan. Krug and Olson are Bob Mackin’s guest on this edition of thePodcast.