Two weeks ago, before the Auditor General tore apart the Pacific Carbon Trust carbon neutrality scam in his report, I filed a Freedom of Information request for the expense receipts of the PCT’s two top executives – CEO Scott MacDonald and Managing Director – Business Development David Moffat.

This is a standard request done by many people in many different government organizations. I was curious how these top executives were stewarding our money.

Today, this response came back from the PCT, and they want to charge us $940.60 for that information.

This is utter nonsense. I have replied to the PCT with the following:

Thank you for this letter, but I find the fee estimate absolutely absurd and out of line with how every other public sector organization handles these types of requests.

Other BC government organizations regularly and fully waive these fees – and the PCT should follow suit – because this information is clearly in the public interest. Taxpayers have a right to know where their money is going, and as the PCT's latest disclosure indicates 99.7 per cent of carbon credits sold were funded by B.C. taxpayers, this is taxpayer money being spent. The PCT, given the Auditor General's recent report, should be looking to improve public confidence by releasing as much information as possible, including these receipts.

That said, I'd be happy to discuss reducing the scope. I'm away from my main computer right now, but I believe I requested the expense receipts of the CEO and Managing Director-Business Development (I can't recall if there was a time limit). If limiting it to the last complete fiscal year would be helpful, I would be willing to consider that.

Please advise.

I’ll let you know what happens next.