Open secrets

The Cons are obviously still in the habit of operating as a Potemkin government. But at least one pollster has determined that Canadians at large would prefer to see what's behind the facade rather than taking the Harper government's self-serving PR as fact:

President Barack Obama's pledge to run accountable, transparent government clearly appeals to Canadians: Three-quarters of us want to pry open our federal government to more public scrutiny.

And the appetite for open government is consistent across the country, a Leger Marketing poll for Sun Media shows.

"In general, people don't want a government that's secretive or hiding behind the doors," said Leger vice-president Dave Scholz...

According to the Leger poll, 76% think our federal government should "open operations to public scrutiny." Just 12% think the government is already open enough and only 3% think it should spend money as it sees fit, without transparency.

The thirst for openness was high across all regions, Scholz said.

"Finally, we found something the Canadian population can all agree on."

Of course, there's a fairly glaring exception to that near-unanimity among those who currently have the ability to keep the Harper government's actions hidden away. But when the need for greater openness is apparently recognized by Canadians of all regions and political stripes, there's an obvious opportunity to turn the broad consensus into a widespread demand for more open government which any party would ignore only at its peril.