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FOI Warrior Bob Mackin on His $3.85 Million Search for Truth

Submitted by Tyee Staff, 4 Dec 2015

 

In British Columbia, there hasn't been anyone as avid as Bob Mackin when it comes to freedom of information requests. Mackin, a B.C. reporter and Tyee contributor, scored a number of hot stories thanks to his 1,913 requests between January 2009 and August 2014.

However, the B.C. provincial government recently revealed that Mackin's requests in that time did not come cheap, costing taxpayers $3.85 million. Forty per cent of the province's FOI requests came from Mackin.

That story comes on the heels of a B.C. information commissioner report criticizing the province's handling of public records. Both stories raise questions of privacy, transparency and use of tax dollars. On Shaw TV, Mackin sat down with David Berner to share his perspective on the public's right to know.

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