Poilievre to meet with caucus Sunday ahead of return of Parliament this week

VANCOUVER – Family members say Annie Kong wanted nothing more than to gather with all her extended family under one roof at her West Vancouver home for Christmas 2022.

“She was talking about that all year,” said Nigel Kong, Annie’s son from Denmark, adding his sister, Joanna Moy, was also planning to bring her family from Chicago for the celebration.

“We can all be together, at what would have been our home that we grew up in in Vancouver, where there was the four of us (there) would now be the extended family, the entire brood.”

Annie Kong would never get that wish.

She was one of two people killed when a vehicle crashed into a wedding from a shared driveway between two homes in West Vancouver on Aug. 20, 2022, with many others badly injured.

The family says their anguish has been exacerbated by B.C.’s no-fault insurance system, which not only limited the Kongs’ lump-sum compensation in Annie’s death but also restricted the family’s rights to seek additional recourse through lawsuits.

The issue of no-fault insurance has drawn debate from the major parties ahead of this fall’s provincial election, with the B.C. Conservatives promising exemptions to the rule that prevents families from suing for compensation in most cases, while the BC New Democrats say the change to no-faultbrought B.C.’s public auto insurer “back into the black” after years of deficits that were costing residents in higher premiums.

No-fault insurance at the Crown-owned Insurance Corporation of B.C. was introduced in May 2021 as a way to reduce rates, lower debt, limit legal costs and improve care for accident victims.

The NDP government said the move has worked, announcing in May that the financial improvement at ICBC means drivers will get an insurance rebate of $110 this year, while basic renewal rates will remain frozen until at least March 2026.

“Under this model, a catastrophically injured person has access to care and recovery benefits, and doesn’t have to wait years for a court settlement that may fall short of their care needs,” a written statement from ICBC said.

The insurance provider also said “drivers who cause crashes or drive dangerously are still held accountable” as “they will continue to pay more for their insurance.”

“In the event that criminal charges are laid and a driver is convicted, victims and their families have the right to sue that driver in a civil claim for certain compensation,” ICBC said.

But lawyers say the system also prevents victims of auto accidents from suing the at-fault driver unless the case involves a criminal offence, and people disputing compensation can only go through the Civil Resolution Tribunal, an ombudsperson or a fairness officer within ICBC.

Trial Lawyers Association of B.C. president Michael Elliott said while insurance officials promised “potentially serious consequences” for drivers convicted criminally in a case, it is “misleading” to present that as a proper opportunity for victims seeking recourse beyond no-fault insurance.

“What people didn’t understand and now understand is that criminal convictions for driving offences are exceedingly rare,” Elliott said. “Most offences (plead) down … (and) are categorized under the Motor Vehicle Act, not as a criminal offence, and so there are very few criminal convictions for driving offences in our province.”

That was the case with the death of Kong, where Hong Xu of West Vancouver, B.C., is facing sentencing at North Vancouver Provincial court on Monday for driving a motor vehicle without due care and attention, a provincial Motor Vehicle Act offence that carries a minimum fine of $100.

Liong Kong, Annie Kong’s husband, was at the wedding where his wife died and witnessed the crash.

“I held her in my arms,” he said. “She bled to death while I was holding her.

“So, one message that I would like the public to know is, when you get the refund of $100 a year (from ICBC), it is at the expense of the victims and victims’ families,” he said.

The Kongs said ICBC took almost no input from family members in determining a lump-sum compensation, described by Moy as barely covering what they had to deal with over the loss of a matriarch.

“We get placed under this no-fault legislation, which essentially means that there is no accountability for this accident,” Moy said. “And with that, we had to sit with an ICBC claims adjuster. They look up my mother’s ‘life’s worth’ on a graph on a table, and because she is a homemaker with no financial trappings, no big CEO title to her name, it is then calculated out at a very nominal cost.

“We are not seeking millions of dollars. Our story is, the families’ rights and recourse — due to this no-fault legislation — has been completely stripped away from us. We are at the mercy of the Crown and the laws and ICBC for justice for our mother.”

West Vancouver police said in August 2023 that “Crown counsel made a determination on the appropriate charge given the evidence and circumstances of the incident.”

The BC Prosecution Service said in a statement that Crown counsel “exercise their professional judgment and prosecutorial discretion” to determine what offences they can prove, as well as the public’s interest in deciding whether a case is processed under the Motor Vehicle Act or as a criminal offence.

Nigel Kong said the explanation doesn’t give his family comfort.

“My mother was not the only one that died,” he said. “She and another died. Seven people were injured, some critically. It was at a wedding. And for some reason — where I can’t even begin to comprehend or equate — is that it came down to a charge of careless driving.

“Again, two dead, seven critically injured, this mass devastation, hysteria and chaos, and we came to essentially a ticket.”

B.C. Conservatives Leader John Rustad said in a policy statement in December that “victims who suffer life-altering injuries in motor vehicle accidents” should be exempt from the no-fault regime and be allowed to “pursue fair and reasonable compensation in the British Columbia court system.”

In May, the BC New Democrats issued a release criticizing Rustad’s stance, noting changes, including no-fault insurance, allowed ICBC to reduce rates by 20 per cent in 2021 and then to freeze them for six years.

“Imagine being against a rate freeze and a rebate for drivers at a time like this, when people need help with costs,” Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said in a tweet responding to Rustad on May 8.

Elliott, with the trial lawyers group, said his association is non-partisan but is strongly against the no-fault regime since it was brought in.

He said his group is seeing more cases from people injured in accidents seeking compensation but running into an ICBC system he called “incredibly complex” without the help of lawyers.

“The experience has been a disaster for any British Columbian injured in a motor vehicle accident in this province,” Elliott said. “Our organization fields dozens, if not hundreds of calls every month from people who are being mistreated by ICBC, only now under no-fault insurance they have no recourse to find fair justice or fair compensation for their injuries.”

Liong Kong said his wife’s death has drained the colour from his life.

“When I talk to friends or other people who have reached out to me from other countries, they said, ‘What country are you living in, to have this kind of law that you have no legal redress, you can’t voice out anything at all, and your life is fixed according to a schedule? What kind of law is that?'”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

MONTREAL – In the final stretch of a Montreal byelection campaign widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership, the Liberal candidate wants people to focus on her — not her leader.

The byelection in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun should have been Laura Palestini’s to lose. The area has been a Liberal bastion, by and large, for decades. A diverse riding in Montreal’s southwest, it has a large anglophone population with strong Italian roots in some neighbourhoods.

But this time, it’s hard to predict what will happen when polls close on Monday. After nine years in power, surveys show the Liberals trailing the Conservatives in every part of the country except Quebec. And even here in Montreal, a riding that should have been a given is now up for grabs.

What little polling there is suggests a three-way race between the Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Québécois. A Mainstreet Research poll this week put the Bloc in the lead.

Palestini seems to be trying not to dwell on all of that. In an interview while door-knocking in LaSalle on Thursday, she repeated several times that it’s her name on the ballot — in other words, not Trudeau’s.

“It’s about me. It’s not about the PM,” she said. “I will let myself be the … prime focus of this election.”

LaSalle is friendly turf for Palestini, and it showed when she went door to door. She spoke to an elderly woman in Italian, pointing out where to find her name on a scaled-down version of the nearly metre-long ballot voters will have to navigate on Monday.

A record 91 candidates are on the ballot for this byelection, most affiliated with a group protesting Canada’s first-past-the-post voting system. Palestini wants to be sure no one has trouble finding her in the sea of names.

A couple out for a walk — Pat Goill and Harold Layer — told Palestini she can count on them. Give him a chance, they told The Canadian Press afterward, when asked about Trudeau’s declining popularity. They’ve always voted Liberal.

Palestini is well known in LaSalle. A lifelong resident, she has been a municipal councillor for 19 years. Élisabeth and Yannick, a couple with young children, said they’re happy with the services in the neighbourhood, including a new library and skate park. They cast their ballots for Palestini in the advance polls.

Of the riding’s disparate neighbourhoods, LaSalle is the most staunchly Liberal. Getting out the vote here is a key part of Palestini’s strategy. “The reception is extremely positive,” she said. “I’ve had five mandates at the municipal level, so definitely I’m already at an advantage because when I do knock on a door, many people will recognize me.”

Elsewhere, though, it’s a different picture. In nearby Ville-Émard, Sylvie Sagala said she’ll likely vote Bloc — maybe NDP. “Trudeau doesn’t have good ratings these days,” she said. “A little change wouldn’t hurt.”

The NDP and Bloc are pulling out all the stops to take the seat from the Liberals. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has visited several times to support his candidate, city Coun. Craig Sauvé, who told The Canadian Press last week that his party has the biggest army of volunteers in the riding.

Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet was in the riding Wednesday with a delegation of MPs, urging supporters not to get complacent. “It’s certain that if the Bloc Québécois wins in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, it will send a very strong message to Ottawa,” said Bloc candidate Louis-Philippe Sauvé.

In contrast, Palestini has given few interviews through the campaign, and Trudeau has kept a relatively low profile. His face is not on campaign posters, and some mailers don’t mention his name at all. He visited the riding in August, and stopped by again on Friday to visit a seniors home in LaSalle. The event was closed to media.

Asked about the byelection at a press conference in the Montreal area on Friday, Trudeau took aim at the NDP for deciding last week to end the supply-and-confidence agreement that had helped keep the Liberal minority government afloat. He accused Singh of “caving to the political pressures” from the Conservatives.

“That’s not what Montrealers expect and deserve,” he said.

Trudeau aside, a steady stream of Liberal ministers has visited the riding in recent weeks. On Thursday, Palestini’s entourage included Liberal Party campaign co-chair and Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada.

In an interview, Ferrada downplayed the stakes of Monday’s results. “I would remind people that we have lost byelections and won general elections,” she said. “We’re doing everything humanly possible to make sure that we are winning this riding. We don’t take anything for granted. But the main focus is getting ready for the general election.”

Nevertheless, a loss in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun would sound a dire warning for the Liberals, especially after they lost another former stronghold to the Conservatives in a Toronto byelection in June. That surprise defeat prompted calls for Trudeau to step aside, though he has insisted he will lead the party into the next election, which could happen anytime in the coming year.

The Conservatives are not likely to be competitive this time around. Candidate Louis Ialenti, who describes himself on LinkedIn as a “sartorial, legal and entrepreneurial enthusiast,” recently told The Canadian Press he’s knocked on 15,000 doors.

The Tories’ Quebec lieutenant, Pierre Paul-Hus, said doubling the party’s vote share from the last election would be a success. In 2021, the Conservatives took home a little less than eight per cent of the vote.

But Philippe J. Fournier, creator of poll aggregator 338Canada, said it’s impossible to know whether the Liberals, NDP or Bloc will win on Monday.

“This is one of the rare times that I publicly say that I truly have no idea,” he said. “Anybody who tells you with certainty, ‘Oh this person is going to win,’ they are fooling themselves.”

If the Liberals lose, Fournier said, they could be looking at winning just 50 to 65 seats across the country in the next election, out of 343. “We’re in blowout territory,” he said.

Palestini insisted she’s not focusing on “anything negative” in the last days before the vote. “This election remains my campaign. It’s my name that’s on the ballot,” she said. “And I have no reason to think of this election in any other way.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

— With files from Stéphane Blais and Morgan Lowrie

MONTREAL – Julia Dougall-Picard swings into action when customers settle in for lunch at Frite Alors in Montreal’s downtown Quartier Latin neighbourhood.

The 20-year-old works as a server at the popular restaurant chain, dishing out burgers and beers several times a week.

She takes home a low hourly wage, making up the difference through tips left by the restaurant’s customers. But the amount of money she’ll make on each sale is about to change.

Quebec tabled a bill on Thursday that would regulate how merchants determine suggested tips, forcing businesses to calculate them based on the price before tax.

On a restaurant bill of $100, for instance, suggested tips would be calculated as a percentage of $100, not the after-tax total of $114.98.

Quebec’s minister responsible for consumer protection, Simon Jolin-Barrette, said Thursday that there is a “growing pressure around tips,” and people often end up paying more than they intend. But workers in the province’s restaurants and bars are divided about the effect the legislation will have on the industry and the people it employs.

For Dougall-Picard’s part, the change is welcome.

“I don’t really mind the change. Honestly, to me it’s just a few dollars or cents and it doesn’t change much to my life, and as a customer, I’d rather be paying tips on what I ordered and not on the taxes,” she said in an interview.

Even though Dougall-Picard makes the bulk of her earnings from tips, she thinks the province’s proposed calculation system may actually prod patrons to be more generous.

“We really rely on tips as waiters and waitresses because our salary is lower than minimum wage, so I think that maybe if people … don’t have to tip on top of the taxes that … it might encourage people to tip more,” she said.

But Jaskaran Singh, manager at restaurant Arriba Burrito located a bit further down the bustling neighbourhood strip, is disappointed.

“It’s never been actually a law to tip to a server, and I’ve been a server for a while, … serving in a lot of restaurants before this one too, and it’s always been hard that our minimum wage is very low,” he said.

Singh says the restaurant regularly deals with customers, usually tourists, who refuse to tip.

Further down the street, Marc-Antoine Bourdages, who manages the resto-bar Brasseurs du Monde, says he is okay with the change.

“I don’t mind it at all,” he said, adding that he does not think most clients are aware that suggested tips are calculated on after-tax totals.

But Bourdages admits the bartenders and waiters he manages – who rely on tips for a large part of their income – likely do not share his view. “I’m pretty sure I stand alone with that idea. My staff’s not going to be happy with that,” he said.

Martin Vézina, vice-president of public affairs at the Quebec Restaurant Association, says the change will leave dining room staff with fewer dollars in their pockets but won’t have a significant impact on the industry at large.

Although restaurants choose the percentages for suggested tips, Vézina says the payment processing companies that provide point of sale terminals are in fact the ones who program the tip suggestions on top of the amount after tax.

“It doesn’t cause that much trouble for the industry,” he said, explaining that restaurant owners may even end up paying less in credit card fees on tips as well as less income tax on declared tips.

But he also sees the bill as a missed opportunity to implement measures regarding “no-show” reservations, when customers book a restaurant table but never turn up. He says no-shows cost Quebec restaurants an average of $47,000 per year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.