An environmental consultant and his firm have been heavily penalized for the serious offence of giving false information to the Ministry of the Environment. The consultant, Ron Carter, was hired to sample the notorious Bakelite site for PCBs. While some of his samples did detect PCBs, he told the MOE that all the samples had been non-detect. Perhaps hoping to help his client, he submitted all certificates of analysis to the MOE except the ones that had shown PCBs. He was caught when the MOE checked directly with his lab.
Carter’s consulting firm, Quinte-Eco Consultants Inc., was fined $70,000 plus Victim Fine Surcharge. Mr. Carter was personally fined $14,000. In addition, the court took the unprecedented step of barring him from providing any environmental consulting or advice for two years. His client, Jim Fisher, is now facing his own serious charges.
