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Bob Mackin

The founder of a company that sold carbon offsets to the now-defunct Pacific Carbon Trust got a $10,000 no-bid contract from the Office of the Premier before Christy Clark’s BC Liberal government fell in June, theBreaker has learned.

One Ton Consulting Inc. was contracted from June 13 to 30 at $175 per hour, to a maximum $10,000, to “provide policy advice related to innovation and clean technologies.”

theBreaker asked under the freedom of information law for a copy of the contract, correspondence and a copy of the deliverables. The government only released a service contract checklist and email between government administrative staff, who referred to the contract as “confidential.”

Corporate registry documents show that One Ton Consulting Inc.’s only officer is its president and secretary, James Tansey. Tansey launched the company in 2008 as One Ton Merchandising Ltd.

Tansey is a University of British Columbia business professor whose Offsetters Climate Solutions sponsored the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. It aimed to sell carbon offsets at $25-a-ton to governments and Olympic sponsors. Now known as NatureBank, Offsetters sold more than $1.6 million of the controversial carbon credits to the Pacific Carbon Trust in 2011 and 2012 combined.

A leaked February 2013 letter to Justice Minister Shirley Bond included Tansey’s complaint over Auditor General John Doyle’s investigation that slammed $6 million in carbon offset spending by Pacific Carbon Trust. The Crown corporation hired the BC Liberal-friendly lobbying firm Wazuku to counter the audit by Doyle, who took a job in Australia after the BC Liberals moved to limit his second term.

Also in February 2013, Clark gave Tansey a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for environmental contributions to B.C.

In May 2016, Tansey, in his role as the executive director of the UBC University Sustainability Initiative, was in Manila for meetings with Philippines-based real estate and development giant Ayala Corporation during Clark’s trade mission. Clark was photographed with Tansey at the signing of a letter of intent for Ayala to develop research and training with UBC.

Tansey did not respond to theBreaker’s phone or email messages about One Ton’s $10,000 no-bid contract.

On June 29, the Greens and NDP ganged-up to topple Clark’s BC Liberals in a 44-43 vote of no confidence over the throne speech. Lt. Gov. Judith Guichon tapped John Horgan to become premier. Clark resigned as BC Liberal leader in late July.

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One Ton Consulting FOI by BobMackin on Scribd