11 October 2010

That secretive, controlling Stephen Harp...

...wait a minute...
-- OTTAWA -- The CBC is refusing to release information about a senior television director’s travel and duty entertainment expenses — a move critics decry as unlawful and the latest effort by the public broadcaster to avoid accountability to taxpayers.

CBC blanked out 110 full pages of expense reports filed by Louise Lantagne in fiscal 2008-09 and 2009-10 relating to meals, hotel, travel and duty entertainment after a request by QMI Agency.

The public broadcaster is also refusing to hand over documents to the information commissioner so the watchdog can check whether the CBC is fairly excluding documents or simply trying to avoid embarrassing information from leaking out, he said.

The Federal Court recently ruled CBC has no right to deny the information commissioner access, but CBC plans to appeal the court’s decision.