Remember Prime Minister Paul Martin's promise that "Ottawa will never be the same," that "come hell or high water," he is going to "change the way Ottawa works?" . . . . his "Never Again" speech. . . Mr. Martin's repeated pledges to "get to the bottom" of the sponsorship scandal, or his assurance that all "Cabinet documents pertinent to this matter will be released?" These same promises, or variations on them, have been uttered repeatedly by Liberal ministers . . . .Reg Alcock, the Treasury Board president, for instance, invited everyone with details on Adscam to come forward and testify. . . .

But all that rhetoric aside, on Tuesday the Liberals used their majority at the public accounts hearing to block access by the committee to Alfonso Gagliano's telephone records and briefing papers, documents that could establish how deeply the former public works minister was involved, or not, in the doling out of tens of millions in public cash to Liberal-friendly ad agencies in Quebec. Last week, Mr. Gagliano told the committee, unbelievably, that he "didn't see, didn't ask" about the scheme and had given "no political direction" on where sponsorship monies were to go during his stint at the head of the department. Even Liberal committee members appeared frustrated by Mr. Gagliano's apparent stonewalling.

Yet on Tuesday, when Conservative members of the committee made a seemingly routine motion to obtain some of Mr. Gagliano's ministerial documents and telephone logs, every Liberal -- every single one -- voted to deny access. All those Liberal promises about co-operating with investigators would appear now to have been hollow; . . . . Mr. Martin himself selected the Liberal members of the committee, including three junior members of his Cabinet, creates the impression this obstruction is being orchestrated directly by the PMO.