The reviews are in

Once again, the Star Phoenix editorial board:

At a time when the Conservatives are about to plunge into murky waters of fast and loose spending, citing a national emergency -- Gee, remind us again just what Mr. Harper's gang had to say about the Liberals, Sponsorgate and accountability -- Canadians need Mr. Page's office to be on full alert, not facing the prospect of laying off veteran economists and analysts because the government has sheared his promised budget by more than one-third...

Just as Mr. Page did when he raised serious doubts about Mr. Flaherty's rosy projections in November's economic update that Canada wouldn't join the recession, and alerted Canadians to the fact that the Conservative government's poorly considered GST cut already had put the books in the red before the global recession hit us, his office serves a useful function in exposing the political malarkey citizens are fed.

If Mr. Flaherty is conceding already that "mistakes will be made" in spending $40 billion in stimulus money, freeing up less than a million dollars more to keep the budget office functioning as intended is money well spent.

It's not as if looking at a few more photos of the prime minister on the action plan website provides us with any useful insight.