In March, Environment Minister Jim Prentice held a press conference at the Chateau Laurier hotel just across from Parliament Hill to announce new legislation to get tough on polluters.

CBC asked why the event was held in two hotel banquet rooms when there should have been free space on both Parliament Hill and in the nearby Environment Canada headquarters.

There was no direct answer to that query but we were told if we wanted to find out the cost of holding the press conference in the Chateau Laruier we should file an access to information request.

So we did and It has arrived. The answer: $2,625.

It is not an audacious amount of money but one can still question the value of spending almost three thousand dollars during a recession when governments are supposed to be keeping a close eye on frivolous spending.

Oh, and it turns out we were wrong on the number of rooms booked for the event. The government actually hired three banquet rooms, not two, and spent $300 on long distance charges.

— Susan Lunn