A4 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| WEDNESDAY,NOVEMBER6,
Major developments in Vancouv-
er normally generate tens of mil-
lions of dollars’ worth of amen-
ities for the community, includ-
ing affordable housing. But the
city will have almost no leverage
to get any of that from a massive
new project planned by the
Squamish Nation.
The 11-tower project, which
has doubled in size since it was
first proposed, will dramatically
alter a swath of Vancouver’s
downtown waterfront.
The project is to have 6,
mostly rental units and is
planned in partnership with
Vancouver developer Ian Gilles-
pie of Westbank Corp. Any other
project like it would typically
generate an automatic require-
ment for 20 per cent of the units
to be affordable, along with oth-
er amenities such as child-care
buildings, heritage and social
programs.
But Mayor Kennedy Stewart
said repeatedly Tuesday that the
city has little power to ask for
anything like that.
“The only real say we have is
on the [infrastructure] service
agreement,” said the mayor, who
stressed that he is 100-per-cent
supportive of the development
and believes it will help with the
city’s efforts at reconciliation
with First Nations groups.
“There’s a constitutional issue
here because those are reserve
lands and they are not subject to
city processes.”
When the former 1986 Expo
lands were being planned for de-
velopment in the 1990s, former
mayor Gordon Campbell intro-
duced a policy requiring devel-
opers to contribute amenities for
the whole community in ex-
change for getting significant
density and, therefore, condo
space to sell.
The current plan, reported by
The Globe and Mail on Tuesday,for the Senakw project by the
Squamish makes it potentially
the densest development in Met-
ro Vancouver, at 1,277 units per
hectare. Condo towers in the
most dense section of downtown- the 1300-block Richards, 900-
and 1000-block Seymour – come
in at 1,058 and 833 per hectare,
respectively.
But because this development
is taking place on Squamish re-
serve lands, the city’s only nego-
tiating tool is its control of the
significant new services that willbe needed in the area – water,
sewer, roads, police and fire pro-
tection. Currently, the land is lit-
tle-used, sitting next to Vanier
Park on Kitsilano Point.
In comparison, when Mr. Gil-
lespie got approval for a massive
condo project at the Oakridge
Centre mall that he is developing
with QuadReal Property
Group, the team was asked
to provide about $148.8-million
in community amenities, includ-
ing 290 units of social housing,
a nine-acre park and a
100,000-square-foot civic centre
that will include a seniors’ cen-
tre, library and child-care space.
As well, they had to provide an-
other 290 units of market rental
housing.
On Tuesday, Mr. Stewart said
the huge increase in rental sup-
ply from the Squamish project
will benefit the city.
However, the city cannot im-
pose any requirements about the
type or cost of the housing.
Mr. Stewart said he had early
discussions with Squamish
members about the possibility of
some lower-cost housing in the
project. But those speaking forthe nation have made it clear
that it’s not the responsibility of
the Squamish to provide subsi-
dies for Vancouver residents’
housing.
Khelsilem, the Squamish Na-
tion councillor who has been the
main spokesperson for the pro-
ject, said the planning team at
the council is considering how to
provide some below-market
apartments for Squamish mem-
bers.
The inability of the city to
have much control over the pro-
ject is concerning to at least one
city councillor.
While some, such as OneCity’s
Christine Boyle, say the nation
has the right to do whatever it
wants with its own land, Non-
Partisan Association Councillor
Colleen Hardwick said it’s con-
cerning there is no ability to im-
pose any rules.
“There’s no oversight. I have
big concerns about that,” said
Ms. Hardwick, who called the
project oversized, over-the-top
and “inconsistent with the val-
ues of a livable city.”Special to The Globe and MailVancouverhaslittlesayontowerproject
City’smayorsays
SquamishNation’s
housingdevelopment
isexemptfrommany
municipalrules
FRANCESBULAVANCOUVER
The only real say we
have is on the
[infrastructure] service
agreement. There’s a
constitutional issue here
because those are
reserve lands and they
are not subject to city
processes.KENNEDYSTEWART
MAYOR OF VANCOUVERA former SNC-Lavalin executive
on trial for fraud and corruption
tried to pay $10-million to have a
key Crown witness change his
story about the company’s deal-
ings in Libya, the star witness
told jurors Tuesday.
The allegation on Day 4 of the
trial of Sami Bebawi came from
the accused’s former subordi-
nate at the Montreal-based engi-
neering giant, Riadh Ben Aissa.
Mr. Ben Aissa told the court
the sizable cash offer came while
he was detained in Switzerland
in an exchange between his legal
representatives in that country
and a lawyer representing Mr.
Bebawi at the time, Constantine
Kyres.
“I was offered $10-million in
exchange for corroborating the
version of Sami Bebawi,” Mr. Ben
Aissa said, referring to an ac-
count given to Swiss authorities
by the accused.
“I refused it,” Mr. Ben Aissa
added. “And I informed the Can-
adian authorities.”
Mr. Bebawi, 73, faces eight
charges, including fraud, corrup-
tion, laundering proceeds of
crime, possession of stolen
goods and bribery of foreign offi-
cials. The Crown alleges Mr. Be-
bawi pocketed $26-million.
He has pleaded not guilty to
the charges, which involve con-
tracts tied to the Moammar Gad-
hafi dictatorship. The trial has
centred on dealings with Mr.
Gadhafi’s son, Saadi, whose ties
made doing business in that
country easier.
E-mails to and from Mr. Ben
Aissa showed the company was
closely involved in Saadi’s travels
to Canada, acting as an interme-
diary for his discussions with the
federalgovernment.
Mr. Ben Aissa testified on
Tuesday about SNC-Lavalin ac-
tions to purchase for Saadi a U.S.-
made luxury yacht – the Hokula-
ni – for $25-million after landing
a major contract in Libya. He
said the purchase was brought to
the attention of Mr. Bebawi, who
came back shortly afterward to
say it had been approved by the
then-president of SNC-Lavalin,
Jacques Lamarre.
Shortly before his Swiss arrest,
Mr. Ben Aissa said he received a
panicked phone call from Mr. Be-
bawi, who he said threatened su-
icide.
“He was saying I had to re-
solve the situation in Switzer-
land and that he can’t be impact-
ed by what was going on,” Mr.
Ben Aissa told the jury. Mr. Beba-
wi expressed concerns about two
shell companies used to deposit
kickbacks, Mr. Ben Aissa said,adding that he assured him
those companies had been
closed.
The prosecution is trying to
prove SNC-Lavalin transferred
about $113-million to shell com-
panies used to pay people who
helped the company collect
money and secure contracts.
What was left in those accounts
was split between Mr. Ben Aissa
and Mr. Bebawi, it is alleged
Mr. Ben Aissa testified that Mr.
Bebawi maintained pressure on
him to do what was needed to
keep the contracts. Mr. Ben Aissa
became an SNC-Lavalin execu-
tive himself in 2007, replacing
Mr. Bebawi, and he remained in
that role until February, 2012,
when he resigned from the com-
pany. He was arrested by author-
ities in Switzerland in April, 2012.
He spent 30 months in pre-
ventive detention in Switzerland
before pleading guilty there to
bribing foreign officials and
money laundering stemming
from the Libya dealings. He
signed an agreement to co-oper-
ate with the RCMP while in Swiss
detention and was extradited to
Canada, where he was sentenced
to one day in jail stemming from
a conviction involving SNC-Lava-
lin executives and a contract to
build a Montreal hospital.THE CANADIAN PRESSSNCexecutiveofferedCrownwitness
millionstochangetestimony,courthears
SIDHARTHABANERJEEMONTREAL
T
he Trudeau government
must soon decide whether
to allow Huawei Technolo-
gies to participate in building
Canada’s 5G network, the next
generation of the internet. That
decision will shape relations with
China, the United States and Can-
ada’s allies in Europe and the Pa-
cific. And there is no good deci-
sion available.
Thinking about China hurts
your brain. The regime in Beijing
is more thuggish than any since
former leader Mao Zedong was
alive. More than a million people
have been sent to camps for “re-
education” because of their race
and religion. Protesters in Hong
Kong fight to secure their demo-
cratic freedoms. The arbitrary de-
tention of Canadians Michael
Kovrig and Michael Spavor by
Chinese authorities is cruel and
unjust.
And yet, China remains the
world’s second-largest economy
and a lynchpin of any future
world order. Without China’s co-
operation, there can be no hope
of combatting global warming, or
eradicating extreme poverty, or
preserving a rules-based trading
system.
“Everybody who’s looking at
China has a headache,” Paul
Evans said in an interview. Prof.
Evans is a specialist in Asian-Pa-
cific affairs at University of British
Columbia. “This is a very tough
time.”
The Huawei decision is partic-
ularly fraught. The Trump admin-
istration wants the Chinese com-
pany shut out of any participa-
tion in the 5G rollout, fearing es-
pionage. Australia has complied.
But other countries, including
Germany, are resisting American
pressure.
“Huawei is arguably China’s
most successful international
company,” says Gordon Houlden,
director of the China Institute at
University of Alberta. “Shutting
them out would limit competi-
tion and increase costs.“ He fa-
vours a graduated approach,
“whereby Huawei is given some
space, but not free rein.”
But economist Duanjie Chen
disagrees. The Munk Senior Fel-low at Ottawa’s Macdonald-Lau-
rier Institute, a think tank, would
ban Huawei entirely. “We must
place our national security above
any commercial interest,” Ms.
Chen said in an e-mail. Allowing
Huawei, with its close ties to the
Chinesegovernment, any access
to such critical infrastructure
“would be a strategic mistake we
cannot afford to make.”
Pass the Aspirin, please.
Even more critical to future Si-
no-Canadian relations is the case
of Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei
executive who was detained by
Canadian authorities after an ex-tradition request from the U.s.
Wendy Dobson, co-director of
the Rotman Institute for Interna-
tional Business at the University
of Toronto, has a new book out on
Canada-Chinese relations,Living
With China.Prof. Dobson is deeply
troubled that affairs between the
two countries could hinge on the
decision of a single judge.
If that judge rules that the ex-
tradition can proceed, “that
would be very, very damaging on
a permanent basis,” she said. Re-
lations between the two coun-
tries would enter “a dark tunnel
from which we will not soonemerge.” But Prof. Evans says we
are still years away from a final
ruling in the Meng extradition
case. And he says he hopes that
the United States, China and Can-
ada will find some political solu-
tion that returns both Ms. Meng
and the two Michaels to freedom.
And then there is the question
of how to respond to alleged in-
terference by the Chinese govern-
ment, through its Canadian em-
bassy, in pro-Hong Kong demon-
strations here in Canada. Or how
to lift the existing bans on agri-
culture exports. Or how to per-
suade China to stop building coal-
fired power plants, which are a
major contributor to global
warming.
Researchers at UBC and the
University of Ottawa have been
polling Canadian attitudes to-
ward China over the past two
years. The latest, released Friday,
shows that only 29 per cent of
Canadians view China favourably,
compared with 36 per cent two
years ago. (The online panel sur-
vey of 1,503 adult Canadians was
conducted between Sept. 26 and
Oct. 3 and reports a margin of er-
ror of plus-or-minus three per-
centage points.)
About half of all Canadians
think it would be a mistake to al-
low Huawei into Canada’s 5G sys-
tem as a major player, while one
in four would be fine with it. Even
so, six Canadians in 10 would like
to see a free-trade agreement
with China (down from seven in
10 two years ago.)
There is public will to confront
Chinese bad behaviour, but also a
public desire for improved eco-
nomic relations. Resolving that
paradox must be the Liberal gov-
ernment’s highest foreign-policy
priority.
Even if it requires painkillers.ReleasedlastFriday,apollbyresearchersatUniversityofBritishColumbiaandUniversityofOttawafinds
abouthalfofCanadianssayitwouldbeamistaketoallowHuawei–whosestoreinShenzhen,China,isseen
above–intoCanada’s5Gsystemasabigplayer;oneinfourarefinewiththeidea.ALY SONG/REUTERSTrudeauhasnoclearoptionswhenitcomestoHuawei,5GinCanada
JOHN
IBBITSON
OPINIONLONDONBritain’s government refused again Tuesday to
publish a report into possible Russian interference in Brit-
ish elections, arguing that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s
government needs more time to properly scrutinize the
document.
The Intelligence and Security Committee report was sent
to the Prime Minister on Oct.17, and itneeds government
approval before it is made public. Unless the report is
released by early Wednesday when Parliament is dissolved,
it won’t be made public before the December general
election.
Lawmakers from a rangeof parties urgedthe govern-
ment to publish the report during a debate in the House of
Commons. But Minister of State Christopher Pincher ar-
gued it was “not unusual” for the review of such reports to
“take some time.”
“It’s not as if the Prime Minister has not had one or two
other things to do during the last several weeks,” he told
the House of Commons.
Opposition lawmaker Emily Thornberry accused the
government of failing to disclose the report because it
would lead to other questions about the links between
Russia and the campaign to leave the European Union,
which had been spearheaded by Mr. Johnson.
“If the Minister of State is going to dismiss all this as
conspiracy theories or smears and say it has nothing to do
with the delay of this report, then I say back to him, prove
it,” she said. “Publish this report and let us see for our-
selves, otherwise there is only one question: What have
you got to hide?”
Earlier Wednesday, the former head of the British do-
mestic spy agency urged thegovernment to publish the
report. Jonathan Evans, who was director-general of MI
from 2007-13, said part of the reason to have a committee
was to inform the public. “If the government have a reason
why this should not be published before the election, then
I think they should make it very clear what that reason is,”
he told the BBC.
Mr. Johnson’s Downing Street office says the report has
not yet gone through the clearance process necessary for
publication.ASSOCIATED PRESSBRITISH GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO RELEASE REPORT
INTO POSSIBLE RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN ELECTIONS| NEWS