In a recent article, the Vancouver Sun didn’t mention a close family connection between a senior college administrator and Premier Gordon Campbell. Catherine Vertesi, a vice president of Capilano College, is Campbell’s sister. Her photo and a quotation from her appeared in a laudatory Vancouver Sun piece by Gillian Shaw on May 3 about the Campbell government’s decision to grant university status to five postsecondary institutions, including Capilano College.

Last August, the Straight reported that Vertesi was involved in a public-relations campaign to designate Capilano as a regional university. Former attorney general Geoff Plant’s Campus 2020 report recommended that Kwantlen University College, University College of the Fraser Valley, and Malaspina University College should receive this status. The B.C. Liberal government recently granted this to those three institutions as well as to Capilano College and Emily Carr Institute.

In an unrelated development, the Straight recently filed a freedom-of-information request to find out how much the B.C. government has spent on advertisements in various newspapers, including the Vancouver Sun and Province, since 2001, when the B.C. Liberals were elected. In case you’re wondering, the Campbell regime has not bought a single advertisement in the Straight over the past two years on behalf of any government ministry.