Premier Gordon Campbell Proposes A Fee Of $172,947.50 For Info That Was Once Fre

"The fundamental principle must be this: Government information belongs to the people, not to government. This means, among other things, that all citizens must have timely, effective and affordable access to the documents which governments make and keep. Governments should facilitate access, not obstruct it," he wrote. "Moreover, information rights are meaningless if disclosure timetables cannot be met because there aren't enough staff to do the job, or if fees become an obstacle to access." As somebody who's spent his newspaper career trying to pry information from often obtuse, obstinate and obfuscating governments, I agree with Campbell's assessment. Imagine my dismay to discover that the government run by this paragon of openness proposes a fee of $172,947.50 for access to information that until 2001 it made public at no charge. Randy Christensen of the non-profit Sierra Legal Defence Fund was forced to file a freedom of information request to discover which companies in B.C. are failing to comply with pollution permits -- a list published twice yearly for a decade -- then was threatened with the huge bill. http://www.haveyouhadenoughyet.com/yousaidit.php#coverup

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