It reports that the federal government gave the venture $3.1 million, but that the government won't let the public know what happened to that money.
“There are confidentiality stipulations around the agreements we have in place with third parties,” said Gabriela Klimes, spokesperson for Western Economic Diversification which gave the money to the failed hemp-processing venture, told a reporter for Manitoba Co-operator.
The government has stone-walled on a request filed under the Access to Information system.
“When we settled with the government, we were told that we weren’t to say anything about it, and that was the agreement,” said Farm Genesis president Keith Hannah.
In fact, says the newspaper, the government won't reveal much about any of the many projects it has backed to the tune of $289 million.
But the government sought all the news media coverage it could garner when it was handing out the money, starting in 2009 under its Community Adjustment Fund.
I'm not surprised. It's part of a long-standing government policy, which is to treat the public like mushrooms - keep them in the dark and feed them horse manure.
