- Eaglecrest Residents’ Association president John Wood used fake identity online
- Oceanside News and Black Press newspaper chain share staff – merger?
- Scene around Town – sweet spooks
- COVID-19 deaths include downtown QB resident who managed Coombs retail store
- Previously announced – Town CAO Daniel Sailland resigns
Eaglecrest Residents’ Association president John Wood used fake identity online
John Wood, president of Eaglecrest Residents’ Association, appears to have been using a fake identity to send letters to the editor at Second Opinion QB, and the same to post online comments on various social media accounts and government websites.
Our technical support service confirmed that emails sent to Second Opinion QB by John Wood and by a person calling themselves Julio Hassenpfeffer (also Hasenpfeffer) originated from the same technical address. The first hint that John Wood might have been using a fake name was when we received two virtually identical letters a week apart, one from Mr. Wood and one from a Julio Hassenpfeffer [links provided below].
John Wood is a frequent speaker at QB Town Council meetings, and is regularly quoted in other local media, often receiving prominent coverage.
Some examples of John Wood and “Julio” in local media
An online search of the fake “Julio” identities used by John Wood to contact Second Opinion QB revealed that “Julio” also posted comments on the Oceanside News Facebook page in support of the defamation lawsuit filed against Councillor Teunis Westbroek by the former owners of Quality Foods, Ken Schley and John Briuolo, in which John Wood castigated Councillor Westbroek. The Oceanside News Facebook page can be viewed at the link below.
In an October 21, 2021 PQB News story about LED streetlights, Wood is quoted supporting the Town’s installation of the much-decried industrial-strength LED streetlights. The PQB News story can be viewed below:
In a story published on February 11, 2021, Oceanside News quoted John Wood and also tweeted comments Wood made during a Public Hearing regarding an application by Rick and Linda Todsen to create a subdivision on land within QB’s Estate Properties.
Oceanside News writes, “Eaglecrest resident John Wood criticized online discussions surrounding the development proposal — “a small group of about 30 people who are continually active on social media have been circulating misinformation and lies and these are no better than Trump lies,” he said. “These people do not represent our community, whether that be Eaglecrest or Qualicum Beach. It would be nice to go on social media and try to correct these mistruths and lies, but as a friend of mine once said, ‘never try to wrestle with the pigs, you’ll just get dirty and the pigs enjoy it,’ ” Wood said.” The complete Oceanside News story can be viewed below.
“Julio Hasenpfeffer” registered online comments with federal agency
On June 20, 2020 a person using the name Julio Hasenpfeffer registered a comment with the Impact Agency of Canada regarding the Tilbury Phase 2 LNG project, stating that he is a “retired Professional Engineer, having worked nearly 50 years in and for the oil & gas industry in Canada.” While this could possibly be another person, online searches reveal no record of such a person in real life.
The letters previously published in Second Opinion QB from “Julio” are found at the links below and should be attributed to John Wood. — LS
Chamber Executive Director supports candidate Sarah Duncan, in violation of by-laws
Chartwell residents singled out for encroachment violations
Regarding our article Fog obscures Todsen land lift
Oceanside News and Black Press newspaper chain share staff – merger?
Tyler Hay, a member of the editorial staff of Oceanside News, has taken on a second job. On September 3, 2021, Black Press announced that Hay became editor of the Ladysmith Chronicle.
The Ladysmith Chronicle is part of the Black Press newspaper chain which also owns the Parksville Qualicum Beach News (PQB News). Oceanside News continues to list Tyler Hay as a member of their editorial team. Is a merger in progress?
Second Opinion QB noted Mr. Hay’s career progression in a series of articles Truth in Advertising? – QB’s local media scene.
Scene around Town – sweet spooks
COVID-19 deaths include downtown QB resident who managed Coombs retail store
The Central Island has two thirds of the active, confirmed cases of COVID-19 (386 out of the 581 cases) in all of Vancouver Island, as reported by Island Health on November 1, 2021. As we reflect sadly on the recent death, attributed to COVID-19, of a favourite local Coombs retail store manager and downtown Qualicum Beach resident, we are curious: In total, how many deaths of Qualicum Beach residents have been reported in the last two years, with COVID-19 considered the most responsible cause of death?
So we asked our local Medical Health Officer. She punted to her assigned “media and government relations” (aka PR) person whose brief response is unhelpful: “I know there are many reports on the BC CDC COVID data pages that break down COVID deaths by week and by health authority. I do not believe that specific data set is broken down any more granular.”
Thanks. We already knew that. If the BC CDC (BC Centre for Disease Control) provided the aggregate data at a community level, as they should, we would not have had to ask our local MHO.
Island Health chooses to not share information with the public whom it is supposed to serve, a troubling dereliction of transparency and accountability.
The Island Health respondent to our query, Dominic Abassi, went on to suggest “It would be best to reach out to the BC Coroners Service for this. Health Authorities do not report on data related to deaths.” He provided no contact information for the Coroners Service, which is a standard courtesy expected, normally provided, and much appreciated, across the BC government.
Abassi’s attempted deflection to the Coroners Service was inappropriate. As a long-time hospital information system manager and past-president of Canada’s Health Informatics Association (now Digital Health Canada), I know that the Coroners Office is only involved in the event of unnatural, sudden and unexpected, unexplained or unattended deaths in British Columbia, as well as the death of any minor.
Under the Coroners Act, health authorities are not obliged to report any other deaths to the Coroners Office, regardless of medical cause. Nor does the Coroners Service have any responsibility for comprehensive mortality statistics.
Conversely, BC’s Vital Statistics Agency does a fine job of tabulating data reported to it, right down to the Community Health Service Area (like Qualicum Beach, CHSA #4252). For example, we know that 212 deaths of Qualicum Beach residents in 2020, from all causes, were officially reported to the BC Government; we even know the month-by-month totals — right up to and including last month.
Wear a mask. It's now mandatory for people five years of age and up in all indoor public spaces in British Columbia. Check out the BC CDC mask guidelines here.
So, who are the custodians of comprehensive mortality statistics and underlying data by individual cause? There are at least three in the public sector.
The BC Centre for Disease Control has both detailed data and aggregate statistics, sliced and diced eight ways to Sunday, for all reportable communicable diseases. BUT, as so many have criticized so often, Dr. Bonnie Henry and her BC CDC hoard this information, far away from the bothersome, prying eyes of both the media and the public, thus frustrating the public while crippling BC CDC’s own reputation.
Word in the field is that Henry’s provincial public health office set a policy of declining to meet with [BC Seniors Advocate Isobel] Mackenzie. Maybe they were too busy, but it could also involve being leery of explaining themselves to an independent watchdog.
Les Leyne, Victoria Times-Colonist newspaper, October 7, 2021
In a recent Times-Colonist newspaper article, Henry’s office dodged seniors advocate, columnist Les Leyne writes that, while invited, neither Dr. Bonnie Henry nor any of her staff participated in interviews conducted by BC Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie in her review of COVID-19 outbreaks in BC’s care homes. Leyne writes, “The seniors advocate had to make do with written responses to questions she submitted, a routine dodge that increasing numbers of governments and corporations use now.”
The second legal custodian of all collected personal health data, and generator of any and all aggregate statistics therefrom is Island Health. Note that Mr. Abassi states that “Health Authorities do not report on data related to deaths.” Clever disinformation, that. In fact, they can and do — by mandate — report detailed heath statistics including births and deaths to agencies like the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) as well as to their paymaster the BC Ministry of Health.
What Dominic Abassi failed to admit is that Island Health chooses to not share information with the public whom it is supposed to serve, a troubling dereliction of transparency and accountability. — GS
Previously announced – Town CAO Daniel Sailland resigns
On October 20, 2021, we issued a special Breaker to our subscribers that Qualicum Beach Town CAO Daniel Sailland had submitted his resignation, effective (Sunday) November 14, 2021, and attached the Town’s announcement.