FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2013 THE VANCOUVER COURIER
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photo Dan Toulgoet
In their financial disclosure statements, Mayor Gregor Robertson (right) included his shares in Treedom Ventures Ltd. while Coun. George Affleck again listed shares in Building-A-Bear-Workshops.
Disclosure deadline passes for mayor and councillors 12TH & CAMBIE with Mike Howell
Spot quiz time, again. Tuesday, Jan. 15 was a significant day at city hall because: a) Vision Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang announced that he broke most of his New Year’s resolutions. b) It was the first council meeting of 2013. c) NPA Coun. George Affleck mistakenly pointed out that Mayor Gregor Robertson had been a guest DJ at the Waldorf Hotel. d) It was the first council meeting for city hall manager Penny Ballem since her skiing accident. Answer: sadly, none of the above. The significance of Jan. 15 was that it was deadline day for the mayor and his 10 councillors to file their annual financial disclosure statements. To be clear, these are not the same statements that show how much money developers/unions/ individuals gave to your elected officials to get them elected in 2011. No, these are the disclosures they must file every January, pursuant to the provincial Financial Disclosure Act, that give us a little bit more information about such things as assets and liabilities, if any. And it’s a good thing they all met the deadline because the Act states very clearly that failing to file a disclosure is an offence and liable on conviction of a fine of up to $10,000. So let’s take a look at what they disclosed. Let’s start with Robertson. Under assets, he lists shares in Treedom Ventures Ltd., Ohana Partners Ltd. and Glen Valley Organic Farm Co-op. In last year’s statement, he also listed shares in Happy Planet Ventures but didn’t this year. Happy Planet, of course, is the juice company he co-founded before getting into politics. The shares in the farm co-op are related to Robertson’s days when he and his wife owned a farm in the valley. Ohana, which
he also lists under corporate assets, is the landholding company that owns Robertson’s house in Vancouver. As I mentioned last year, he pays a residential tax on the property, not a cheaper business tax. Treedom — as you’ve read here before — is a company that holds a piece of property on Cortes Island, home to the Hollyhock retreat overseen by the mayor’s pal/moneyman/adviser Joel Solomon. Now to the councillors. Vision councillors Andrea Reimer, Heather Deal, Geoff Meggs, Kerry Jang and Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr had no assets or liabilities to declare. Vision Coun. Tim Stevenson lists “Vancity rsvp’s.” Vision Coun. Tony Tang holds one or more shares in his own company, Annex Management Ltd., and lists himself as a director and shareholder of K. Tang Enterprises. He also owns property on Passage Island. Vision Coun. Raymond Louie lists shares in the Bank of Montreal, Crescent Point Energy Corp., CGI Group Inc., High Yield and Mortgage Plus Trust, Manitoba Telecom, Marret, Nortel, Rainmaker Mining, Royal Bank, Nokia and Warrior Energy. NPA Coun. Elizabeth Ball disclosed shares in Ball Welch Holdings Ltd., Lightscene Ventures Inc. and Eos Lightmedia Corp., of which she is a part owner. NPA Coun. George Affleck, owner of Curve Communications Group Ltd., lists shares in his company, Optima Minerals Inc., Yaletown Capital Corp., Citigroup, Finavera Wind Energy Inc. and the kids’ favourite, Build-A-Bear Workshops. Affleck lists no shares in research firms. Such an affiliation maybe could have saved him the embarrassment Tuesday of falsely stating the mayor spun discs at the Waldorf. For the record, Robertson actually gave the vinyl a workout at the Biltmore. He played some Rush, Talking Heads — even some Earth, Wind & Fire, which are reportedly nicknames given to three members of council. Speculating on who they might be would only get me in trouble. mhowell@vancourier.com twitter.com/Howellings
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