A single source has logjammed CBC’s Access to Information office. Of the 500 ATI requests received since September 1, a whopping 450 came from a single source.
This volume means that CBC now has to bring in a consultant to enhance workflows and hire more people to work in its ATI office.
The CBC had not anticipated this kind of volume, having based its estimate on the volume of ATI requests received by organizations about its size and with a similar scope. (For instance, 500 requests are more than the number of requests typically received by the Department of Industry. For an entire year.)
But clearly, nobody could have forseen that a single person or group has filed 90% of the requests, causing this logjam.
Here’s a math question: If 500 SDA readers filed 2 requests a week, how long would it take to suck their budget dry?
Its the CBC Kate. Their budget is like the Amazon in spring, inexhaustible. You want they should tack that 1% back on to the GST?
Still, it might be fun to have a go. Irritation factor would be a beauty. ~:D
After an intense investigation the requests were traced back to a one,S.Dion in Ottawa, the query was,”What did I say in English?”.
Does it cost some substantial fee to file a request, or is it at no or little charge? If the latter, multiple filings could easily be used simply as a jamming tactic. Perhaps this is what happened in this case. It seems that there is more to this story. Keep us informed.
“If 500 SDA readers filed 2 requests a week, how long would it take to suck their budget dry”
Unfortunately, way too long. The CBC, propaganda arm of the LPC, is precious enough to the Toronto/Montreal axis of evil, they’d just increase the funding. 🙁
Me thinks they stuffed their own box to slow down the process since they fought the freedom of access bill all the way.
Posted by: dmorris at January 1, 2008 12:51 AM
‘Toronto/Montreal axis of evil’
Perceptive, looks to be popular in the coming year.
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i’m betting it’s rival talking head lloyd robertson… and
his desperate search for “the fountain of tall”.
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They have hired an ATI expert to reorganize the office and workflows. With the minimal amount of requests they normally get, how many people work in this office? Two?
450 ATI requests from one source and done over a 3 month period …. hmmm … I wonder why ..!!!
Is it somebody who hates the CBC and are trying to assemble a damning attack on Mothercorp, or ….
Is it from somebody within the CBC attempting to cover up something embarrassing by jamming up their own ATI department, or …
Is it the Conservative party working on a plan to privatize the CBC, and needs more information to make their case to the Canadian people come the next election …???
I’m with Observant
My money is on the CPC!
Observant,
Can’t figure out 450 from one source? Think 9/11 and AGW, Bush, Harper etc. The CIA have your number now boy!!!! HIDE!!! HIDE!!!
I think we should file an ATI requesting the name of the guy or org that has made the 450 requests.
Wow their entire audience wrote them a letter. All 51 of them.
I guess the only alternative is to “enrichen their lives” with our own money…..which they have a shitloads of. Sweet.
Just send me the bill.
Garth Tuna …Garth Tuna where for art thou?
Syncro
all this math stuff is weirdin me out man
I would like to wish a very happy and prosperous 2008 to all here
8 days for normal person
I will watch CBC again when they bring back John Colicos and William Hutt.
At $5 a ATIP request, who ever did those 500 requests had to have a good source of funds.
‘Something wrong here, that the CBC even allows 450 requests from one organization/individual within a three-month period. There should be some kind of mechanism to disallow this kind of abuse. (Hey, guess who’s paying for the new employee and all the other ones? You and me, the poor, benighted taxpayer who’s already taxed to the max…with very little return for our hard-earned sheckles…)
I smell a stalling tactic on the CEEB’s part, so they don’t have to respond to genuine concerns on the part of pi**ed off Canadians who’ve had it with the Communist Brawdcasting Corpse. ‘Nice work if you can get it: Put off genuine complaints because some Single-Source-Sam has logjammed the system and, best-case scenario, probably have your kid/neighbours’ kid/niece/nephew hired to help with the backlog.
Whew. When does the decrepid ineptitude of the CEEB end?
Short answer: When the CPC gets a majority. Go, PMSH, Go!
Probably someone trying to find out how much money the 5th estate spent on Airbus. My guess, they have spent well into the 8 figures, The debate is how far into 8 figures they are
Imagine that. $50,000,000 spent chasing a single Canadian citizen. Now imagine if that had been a beknighted member of the favoured in this country. What a scandal that would have been.
$50,000,000 spent chasing, say Allan Rock, or $50,000,000 spent chasing Jean Chretien……wouldnt that be a scandal.
Now that sounds like a lot but it has been 10 years….so $50,000,000/ 10 is 5 mil a year.
Hmmm…
1 field reporter at $ 50,000 year
1 senior reporter at $150,000
1 producer at $150,000 year
1 researcher at $ 50,000 year
1 camera person at $ 50,000 year
1 sound person at $ 50,000 year
1 writer at $ 25,000 year
1 editor at $ 50,000 year
Graphics use people etc $ 50,000 year
Flights 2 intl 4 dom at 3,000 return and 1,000 return respectively X 3 PEOPLE (producer, camera and reporter)
$ 30,000
Hotels 5 nights per intl $ 7,500
Hotels 3 mights dom $ 5,400
Meals at 200 intl per day x 3
$ 6,000
Meals 120 per day dom x 3
$ 4,240
Cell Phone Exp $Senior $400 month 4
$ 17,600 year
junior $150 month 4 $ 7,200 year
2 Car Rentals $150 a day 3000 intl + 1800 dom
$ 4,800
Mileage around Toronto once per week 100 km at 32 cents a km for 4 people $6,656
Long Distance $5,000 year
Camera and Equip $50,000
This conservative estimate gets pretty close to a million a year, doesnt include any other of the normal padding that happens at the CBC….everythign is an estimate. But the point is you can rack this up to $10,000,000 without even trying.
If you want to get into the airtime that is used, based on the fact that they could have run another story in its place then you will get into 9 figures pretty darn fast.
WHo knows how many consultants they used to work on the banking records, who they may have had to pay off to them to speak, costs of translators etc. Then there is the time they chewed of common CBC resources and mangament time, plus lord knows what in legal, did they go to outside counsel for opinions on the story, that would be a 5 figure number anytime they were about to run the story.
The amount of resources has spent pursuing this story over 10 years is ENORMOUS. And if they had bagged MBM and exposed the whole scheme and it led to convictions then I could be satisfied….but nothing.
I think it is safe to say that the CBC over 10 years has spent at least $10,000,000 dollars on this story and may have spent almost $100,000,000, we have no sense of how big it has been.
THAT IS WORTH AN INQUIRY, at least from the CBC board of directors and the auditor general, it being a government department.
If all the ATI requests are from someone tryign to figure out how much this story has costs them that would be wonderful. And they do have a process for dealing with frivilous requests.
My bet, that MBM’s lawyers are the ones making the requests.
“450 ATI requests from one source and done over a 3 month period …. hmmm … I wonder why ..!!!”
Probably never got an answer. Waiting for Info-bud to shake the tree can take longer than the original request. Better sometimes to hit ’em anew, again and again, until they cough up what you want…
“450 ATI requests”
Its probably one request from Sheila Copps that got caught in the Spam Filter 449 times and is endlessly cycling. Because, in the retired MP’s own words:
“The written word, condensed, fractured and often discombobulated by cyberspace, is unique.”
Very interesting!! 450 requests from one source, at $5 per request. Interesting. Figuring that it’s PMBM’s lawyers is not a bad guess.
Thanks for the break down of expenses chasing the PMBM.
You can bet your red and blue bippy that there would have been a revolt if this money was spent chasing HRD, Shawanigate, Canada Steamship Lines, Gun Registry cost over runs, Adscam, Goodale or Brison talking about proposed legislation that would affect markets or (Your Choice) of the many Liberal scandals that have been swept under the rug.
Come on, fellow SDAers, it’s some Canadian Human Rights Commission complainant trying to get the Communist Broadcasting Corporation to release all the “hate letters” we’ve been writing to Vinnie Carlin in our futile attempts to get them to stop showing so much bias or, at least to admit the bias.
Sorry guys, but I’m too scared to come right out and name the complainant.
But I can summon up enough courage to wish you all a Happy New Year.
fc.
Eureka .. I know who it is … maybe … !!!!
It’s gotta be Canwest, because we all recall how adamant the late Izzy Asper was against having to pay corporate taxes to subsidize their competitor, the CBC.
Maybe Canwest is launching a huge frontal attack on the CBC now that they have been exposed as a Liberal gobbelian propaganda organ …!!!
The CBC is on shaky ground by making it known 90 per cent of the requests come from one user. This has the obvious consequence of creating speculation about the identity of the person. Privacy of the requestor is a very important component of ATIP laws. They should be very careful.
Irecently tried leaving critical comments on DOUG FINLEYS blog @the cbc and was denied twice what a surprise
My guess is that the CBC’s “Fifth Estate” and their mega spending on the Airbus story is about to blow a valve.
What really needs to be exposed is the motive behind their obsession with the Karlheinz-Muloroney issues!! How convenient for the Liberals! It was also an excellent smokescreen to cover up gleanings of the Sponsorship Scandal.
it would appear that the CBC is trying to hide something…. like how they spend over $1.5 billion every year without putting a nickel into production…. audit the CBC now