Lacking value

Apparently the Cons are roughly sticking to their first excuse when it comes to their refusal to disclose any report by Wajid Khan. But their reasons for doing so are only getting less plausible and more hypocritical:

The government has insisted that Mr. Khan did submit a report, but that it is based on private meetings and provides confidential advice to the Prime Minister. A spokesman for Mr. Harper, Dimitri Soudas, rebuffed Mr. Dion's call for the report to be made public.

"If this is a way for Mr. Dion to see this report in order to figure out what his policies will be, then he has a lot of work to do," Mr. Soudas said.

Remember that much of the Cons' criticism of the Libs this past election was based on a rightful concern about paying large sums of money for oral reports which would give rise to no documentation or accountability. Given that background, it's remarkable that the Cons are now eager to defend exactly the same practice without even seeming to be aware of the turnaround.

Not that the move necessarily conflicts with the Cons' values since they took office, as PMS has clearly demonstrated his view that accountability doesn't apply to him personally. But the conflict with the Cons' self-proclaimed values seems like it should be a far bigger potential problem for Harper than the contents of the report itself. Which can only lead Canadians to wonder just how little Khan delivered for the money - and what other "confidential advice" might be serving as an excuse to funnel money to the Cons' political ends.