Deep thought

This could easily have been avoided if the Portrait Gallery of Canada had just gone along with the Cons' plan to make Stephen Harper the focal point of every picture.

Artistic differences

Sure, the Cons may use the economic downturn as an excuse for their decision to cancel all plans for a national portrait gallery. But the real reason is obvious enough: contrary to the Cons' intentions, all of the proposals insisted on displaying more than just portraits of Stephen Harper.

Worth a thousand words

The Ottawa Sun reports on the ridiculous degree of secrecy cloaking the selection of a location for the National Portrait Gallery. As noted by NDP MP Paul Dewar, the Cons have gone so far as to refuse to publicly name the members of the committee responsible for choosing a location - making for even more extreme steps than usual to ensure that nobody is able to get a word in other than the Cons and their hand-picked cronies.

Which isn't to say there's a total lack of good news: thanks to being unburdened with any need to deal with input from the public, the committee has also had time to put together the gallery's first special exhibit. Watch for A History of Conservative Transparency wherever the gallery ends up.