Copyright Southam Publications Inc. Aug 15, 2008

There's nothing edifying about what's going on in the House of Commons ethics committee these days. In fact, the hearings into the way the Conservative Party financed its election victory in 2006 will probably only strengthen Canadians' unfortunate cynicism about politics and politicians in general.

Parliamentary committees play an essential role in Ottawa, but sometimes they devolve into savagely partisan witch hunts, especially when frustrated opposition MPs get a sniff of government blood in the water.

And that's clearly part of what has been happening here. The proceedings hit a new low Monday when opposition MPs called Commons security guards to eject Conservative national campaign director Doug Finley from the committee room. Liberal MPs accused him of trying to intimidate Conservative candidates who'd been called to explain their party's Byzantine "in-and-out" shuffling of campaign money between national and local levels.

And things didn't get any better on Wednesday when 11 Tory officials failed to show up for their scheduled appearances. This is particularly puzzling, as it would seem to have been an ideal opportunity for them to argue their case, something they've barely done so far.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has always maintained that there was nothing illegal about his party's money-shuffling tactics. And he might well be right. The election financing rules are so opaque, it's difficult to tell. In fact, the most sensible thing to come out of the committee hearings so far has been an appeal to simplify the rules and make sure party officials get proper training in how to apply them. Although the plea came from the official agent of a Conservative candidate, it got multi-party support at the committee hearing.

What Harper and his top party executives should do is stick to the facts and give Parliament and Canadians a forthright explanation of their actions. Instead, they seem to have gone out of their way to avoid that, instead scurrilously attacking the integrity of Elections Canada and its commissioner, Marc Mayrand, and with a peevish display of non-co-operation in Parliament.

Stonewalling, heel-dragging and ad-hominem attacks might play well to some parts of the Conservatives' constituency, but most Canadians, we suspect, have no patience with Tory truculence on this issue.

What makes all this particularly galling, and disappointing, is that the Conservatives won the last election largely because they promised a cleaner, more transparent government. The time has come for them to live up to those promises.

Credit: The Gazette