Brian Hauff
For anyone who knows me, they know I don’t hide behind anything. I’m happy to discuss any subject openly with critical thinking and healthy debate. It is with that spirit that I chose to post ALL of the articles I could find that have been written about me and they all involve one project that I worked on for years on Saltspring Island.
Here, you will read the truth about why David Baines and the Vancouver Sun has attempted to slander and discredit me in an effort to sell papers and promote sensationalism. Below are the facts and my own explanation of why Baines decided to pick on me.
I have posted links to all the articles and my own response that was posted online back in 2008. Before you read the articles, read on and learn the story behind the articles. This may explain WHY I was the target of a David Baines smear campaign.
IN 1997, an employee of the Vancouver Sun newspaper, Mr. David Baines, chose to write an article about a real estate project I owned and was developing on Salt Spring Island, BC. Before the article appeared, a man walked into my office as I was about to head out for a meeting. He said he was David Baines and was about to run an article and if I didn’t talk to him, he would run with what he had. I’d never heard of David Baines at that point, he wasn’t anyone of interest to me nor did I have any dealings with him. I said “by all means, make an appointment with my secretary and I’ll talk to you, I don’t have the time right now.” As I learned, this style or bully-reporting was a classic way of operating for Mr. Baines. He repeated “if you don’t talk with me now, I’ll print what I have.” Of course, I had no idea what he “had”. I took a few minutes and realised his content was way off and factually incorrect. There was no way a few minutes of conversation would resolve how horribly inaccurate his reporting was.
Two days later, the first article from Baines regarding the Salt Spring Project ran in the Vancouver Sun. I consulted with my lawyer about the false reporting and in the end, was told “You’ll win a law suite but what will you win? A small retraction will be printed on the 32nd page next to some lifestyle piece and you might get $25,000 of which your legal fees will more than eat it up.” And so I learned how David Baines and the media can bully anyone they chose.
Baines has proudly stated “he has never lost a law suit.” But that again is false. The late Senator Ed Lawson filed suite against Baines and the Vancouver Sun and Lawson won the case. The smear campaign Baines did against Lawson was disgraceful and Lawson’s family had to deal with the false press for years. Of course, this was no penalty to Baines as the Vancouver Sun paid the judgement and considered it a cost of doing business. Let’s face it, the truth is just not that sensational and so lies must be spread to sell papers.
Here’s the BC courts decision on the Lawson vs. Bains trial:
https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/CA/12/01/2012BCCA0117.htm
In short, Lawson’s claim that the article was defamatory held up twice, first in BC court then again in the BC Court of Appeals. In other words, Baines style of writing was considered harmful to Ed Lawson. What was the penalty?: A $30,000 judgement in favour of Ed Lawson and against The Vancouver Sun, a small retraction article that was less than noticeable and a public victory for Lawson. This exercise clearly demonstrated that even if you win against the bully Baines, you don’t really win. He carried on with his outrageous and slanderous reporting.
Now let me fully disclose, I knew Senator Ed Lawson. When I heard he was suing Baines I even suggested to the senator that it would be a waste of time and money and cost him way more that he’d ever be awarded. Turns out I was right about the costs, but maybe not so right about the waste of time. A victory in writing and on the record from a BC Appeals Court is a powerful thing and it helped clear the Senator’s name.
In 2013, Baines retired at the age of 64 when the Vancouver Sun offered an early buy-out to employees.
Baines’ writing about Ed Lawson is just one example of the style of reporting Baines practiced regularly. My question was why did Baines target me? Baines typically targeted stock exchange deals which included stock promoters, mining companies, and companies on the public markets like ColdFX (a very successful company and product). When I spoke with the principals of ColdFX at the time, they also considered a lawsuit against Baines and the Vancouver Sun, a waste of time. Since that time, ColdFX has become one of the most successful cold remedy products on the market and an Olympic sponsor. The false press from Baines and his fabricated, sensational style or reporting was considered immaterial to the company’s success.
So again, I had to ask, why was Baines so interested in me? Since I had never been a subject of the press, nor did I seek any attention from the press, what was the interest in me? The clues came clear to me once I started digging into who Baines associated with and who his supporters and “promoters” were.
IN 2013, Bains was awarded the Jack Webster Foundation – Bruce Hutchison Award of Lifetime Achievement. As I looked deeper at the Webster family and their interests, I learned they own property on Saltsping Island. This is the very same gulf island I was developing a world class resort on. No big deal, I thought. Saltspring is an amazing place and why wouldn’t you want to have property there, right? But then I noticed the Webster family has a long history with Baines. More on that later.
Although the resort, once complete, would bring additional tourism to the island and bring tourist dollars to the island during the winter months when restaurants and local shops often close for the season, some of the long-time residents did not like the idea of more people coming to “their” island. I get it, you enjoy the quiet serenity of the island. But even at that time, over 1,000,000 visitors were coming to the island each year and there was no stopping the demand for tourism and the demand for recreational property on the island. What about the families that live there that are looking for a way to support themselves sustainably on the island? Tourism is one of few options they have. The business community was fully supportive of the project and the resort was looking to support as many local growers and producers as possible making it a sustainable proposition for the community.
The restaurant of the resort development would serve local lamb, pork, chicken, vegetables, eggs and much more. Many were very excited about the proposal. The resort spa, named “Indigenous” would use local herbs and other plants and foods as part of a wholistic approach to health and healing. Many world health leaders were looking to book health retreats in the resort and respected the sustainable approach we chose. We built a conference facility so that the resort could operate year-round hosting business and health conferences in the off season (Sept – May). We had overwhelming interest from Fortune 500 companies all over the world who wanted to use the facilities.
Despite all that, it is my belief that a few influential Salt Spring locals who knew Baines very well, looked to Baines to stop us by discrediting the owner of the project and scare off potential buyers. This effort would hopefully slow down or even halt the project from being completed. This belief was confirmed when I got an anonymous phone call from an honest Saltpring citizen (who had nothing to gain by contacting me) who just came out of a meeting with a few of the Saltspring “elitest” who engaged Baines in and effort to stop the project. He disclosed to me all the names of the elites who were behind the attack on me and the project. Suddenly, it all started to make sense. The connection between the Jack Webster Family, Mr. Baines’ top investigator Mr. Adrian du Plessis, the elites on Saltspring Island, and David Baines all came together.
Of course, I’m not a reporter with the resources of a multi-million dollar press agency like the Vancouver Sun. Nor am I interested in interviewing people to dig deeper, but it looks like a friend called Bains and got him on the case and gave the reader some local gossip to chew on. My opinion of course, I just can’t see any other explanation.
Now, for the whole story, I have posted the links to all of Baines sensational articles about me and I also posted my response.
Why am I putting any effort into explaining this all to you? Since a day in court will likely be a waste of time and money, I feel I owe a responsibility to the public to know the truth.
Here are some material facts that point out the sloppy writing style of Bains:
1) Baines refers to me as a “former bankrupt lawyer”. I have never been disbarred, nor have I even been cited by the BC Law Society.
2) Bains also called me a “failed real estate developer”. I have successfully completed dozens and dozens of real estate projects in Canada and the USA.
3) I am the only person who successfully won a Canadian Supreme Court case against the City of Vancouver when the City of Vancouver attempted to expropriate the riparian rights for property owners on Pt. Grey Road to build a 4 lane highway to UBC for a proposed ferry terminal to Vancouver Island. I lived on Pt. Grey Road at the time and the idea of being expropriated out of my own home was too much for me to bare. I personally funded the court case and all owners on Pt. Grey Road benefited from this case.
4) I have never filed for Bankruptcy. I had filed for voluntary liquidation under the Bankruptcy Act. I did this as recommended by my lawyer as a result of a personal divorce
I could go on, but it seems mute.