The reviews are in

Lawrence Martin doesn't think the Cons will ultimately be able to avoid paying the price for their compulsive secrecy:

NDP Leader Jack Layton rose in the Commons, the storm known as Hurricane Helena on his mind. “Now, here is the so-called tough-on-crime Prime Minister,” he bellowed, “who will not even tell Canadians why he has called the cops on one of his own!”

The line by Mr. Layton, who displays more consistency and integrity than the other party leaders, was one of the better ones in a week that, on the subject of secrecy and censorship, has featured many. Secrecy has become a culture in Ottawa. It is the issue that keeps on growing – and for the opposition, keeps on giving.

The Helena Guergis controversy could very well turn out to be a tempest in a teapot. But by not revealing the reason for calling in the police to look into her activities, the government makes it bigger than it need be. It opens up another line of attack: stonewalling. Here we go again – more bricklayers in the Harper government than any other in the G20...

In the report by interim information commissioner Suzanne Legault, it was instructive to see which departments received the most abysmal grades. The Foreign Affairs department didn’t even qualify for an F. Such has been this department’s record on candour that Ms. Legault had to create a special off-the-charts “red alert” category for it. Foreign Affairs, of course, has been the department at the centre of the Afghan detainees storm for three years running.

Another department of considerable interest is the Privy Council Office, the bureaucratic arm of the Prime Minister’s Office. It is the department that should be setting the example for all the others. It received a D.

It should be noted that previous Liberal governments received dismal grades as well. But under this government, Ms. Legault warned, the right of Canadians to obtain federal documents is at risk of being “totally obliterated.”