The Ontario Liberals have been dodging questions about a sponsorship slush fund for at least a month. Premier McGuinty took the early position of avoiding Question period all together; so too his impugned Minister, Mike Colle. Now that they have shown up, the answer is to call the Tories racists or to avoid the question. The Star opines:

The daily ritual in the Ontario Legislature is called "question period" for a reason: for 60 minutes MPPs may ask questions of the government, but they can't count on getting answers.

However, last week's performance by the Liberal government was even worse than usual in this respect and ought not to be allowed to pass without comment.

The opposition asked a series of questions about the decision-making process that lay behind some $30 million in government grants to various and sundry ethnic groups, some with Liberal ties.

The government responded by either changing the subject or impugning the motives of the questioners.

Not once was a question on the so-called slush fund directly answered by a government minister.

The whole article is well worth the read and concludes:

By the end of last week, the Liberals were looking pretty chuffed with themselves.

They ought not to be. Their handling of this file has been the nadir of their four years in office.

The sad part is that there is an election coming up in the fall, and for all of the condemnation by The Star of the handling of this clear use of tax dollars for political purposes including lining the pockets of the government's buddies, I'm willing to bet that The Star will be endorsing McGuinty and the Liberals in October.