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LeClair knows he’s being messed around; he wouldn’t have gone public if he didn’t.

The latest irritant emerged Tuesday in the form of Stephen LeClair, the financial accountability officer. Truth be known, the Liberals never wanted a financial accountability officer able to study their books. They were forced to create the office by the New Democrats, in return for NDP support during Wynne’s minority government. Even after accepting the deal, the Liberals stalled as long as possible before hiring LeClair to fill the position. Now, he says, they’re doing all they can to starve him of information.

The tricks are endless, he told a news conference. Ministries refuse to release figures on the basis that they’re commercially sensitive. Of course they are: pretty much every financial issue the government touches is commercially sensitive in one form or another.

Or they pretend that the information LeClair wants is subject to cabinet confidentiality. “The ministries argue that virtually any projection concerning future provincial revenue and spending is a cabinet record because it is subject to future cabinet deliberation,” he said.

The excuse is accurate, but it’s also baloney. Checking such figures is precisely the definition of LeClair’s job. Refusing to share the numbers he needs is like refusing to provide information on farms and food to the minister of agriculture.

LeClair knows he’s being messed around; he wouldn’t have gone public if he didn’t. But, like other Ontario watchdogs, he’s up against an entrenched government that has been too long in office and no longer feels compelled to explain itself except under cases of extreme duress.