Coquitlam leadership involved in legal battle between Metro Vancouver and wastewater contractor

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart and the city's top bureaucrat have found themselves at the centre of the newest chapter of a multi-million dollar legal battle between Metro Vancouver and an international construction company. 

Metro Vancouver has filed a notice of application in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against Acciona — a company it fired from the building of a $500 million wastewater treatment plant. 

In the filing, it demands Acciona provide more information about how it came into possession of the regional government's confidential legal advice outlining the case for terminating the contract before it informed Acciona about the termination.

In the application, Metro Vancouver alleges Acciona received the information from Anika Calder, the daughter of Coquitlam city manager Peter Steblin, who was working for Acciona at the time of the project's termination.

The legal filing claims Steblin accessed the confidential information using Stewart's password, and Calder proceeded to take photographs of the Metro Vancouver report on her phone and then gave the photos to multiple Acciona employees. 

None of the allegations have been proven in court, where Acciona and Metro Vancouver have been engaged in a legal battle for several months. 

Acciona has not yet filed a response but, in a statement to CBC News, said it conducted an investigation after finding out that confidential information had been shared, and subsequently fired Calder.

"Once the internal investigation was fully completed and verified, it was Acciona who brought the incident to Metro Vancouver's attention, advising it to launch an investigation of its own," the statement said.

"Seven months later, Metro Vancouver has not shared information about how municipal policies govern management of confidential information, whether those policies were followed, and what kind of corrective steps have been taken to address disclosure by civil servants."

The City of Coquitlam said it would not be commenting on the situation as it is before the courts, though it said Steblin had announced his intention to retire in the new year. 

Complex timeline

The legal action by Metro Vancouver concerns both the alleged leak of confidential information and how it relates to the timeline of the ongoing disputes with Acciona.

Metro Vancouver terminated Acciona's contract for the treatment plant in January 2022, arguing that a project that was supposed to cost $700 million and be done by 2020 was years behind schedule and facing a budget of over a billion dollars. 

Prior to terminating the contract, the Metro Vancouver Board received information about the impending decision and the legal advice it had received through a staff report that was only accessible through a confidential ID and password available to board members. 

Between the Metro Vancouver board meeting and the notice of termination, the filing alleges Steblin accessed the report using Stewart's password and ID and that his daughter subsequently took photos of the report.  

"Under no circumstances was Mr. Steblin authorized by or on behalf of [Metro Vancouver]  to disclose the Confidential Closed Meeting Report to any person whatsoever, let alone his daughter as an employee of Acciona," wrote Metro Vancouver chief administrative officer Jerry Dobrovolny in an affidavit. 

Metro Vancouver further alleges that Acciona only told it of having the leaked report in May 2022, two months after it filed a $250 million lawsuit in May against the regional government for wrongful termination. 

Metro Vancouver subsequently filed a $500 million countersuit. 

City manager said he didn't know

The petition asks that an order be issued forcing Acciona to disclose the names and contacts of everyone who received the alleged leak, information on how and when they received it and to allow a forensic expert to investigate whether other information has been leaked. 

"To date, Acciona has not provided [Metro Vancouver] with details of any internal investigation it undertook, if any, to determine the extent of the breach or the scope of other Confidential Information taken by Ms. Calder," reads the petition. 

Despite being re-elected as Coquitlam's mayor in October, Stewart is not sitting on the Metro Vancouver board.    

Included in Metro Vancouver's legal filing were documents from a third-party investigation into the matter, where Steblin allegedly said he did not know his daughter took the photographs. 

It is unclear how long Coquitlam council has known about the alleged leak of information, nor the nature of any confidential meetings to determine future steps.