No further comment

Once upon a time, there was a Health Minister who released some information late on a Friday, even though that’s a Very Bad Thing when Other People do it. They should be shot:

"This is about people's lives … They have a right to be told," Williams said. "They have a right to be told in a proper manner. There has to be proper disclosure; there has to be someone there to answer questions. It's not something you do at the tail end of a Friday afternoon."

The Minister’s people told the handful of late-working reporters who called that “would have no further comment to make on the matter”, which, again, is a Very Bad Thing when Other People do it.

Stung by the comparison with those Other People (Who Should Be Shot), the Minister used the excuses that he was asked to release the information, and wanted to get it out right away, and besides, it was all so self-explanatory.

The Minister also pledged to release further information, presumably not on a Friday afternoon. And sure enough, it wasn’t.

Newfoundland and Labrador's government has yet to deliver on a promise to release documents about health-care spending to the media.

Earlier this week, Health Minister Paul Oram told CBC News he would have his department release a letter it sent the Central Health regional authority last February asking for ways to reduce health-care spending.

"I've asked my officials to put that information together and we'll release that without any issue at all," said Oram on Monday, Sept. 14.

CBC News hasn't received it.

Eventually, openness reigned. And not late on a Friday afternoon:

“Today, I am releasing the letters provided by the three other health authorities and the email from the department in which the info was requested,” said the Honourable Paul Oram, Minister of Health and Community Services. “Each year the regional health authorities submit information for consideration by the department. I would like to reassure the general public that government is not considering the other cost saving options at this time.”

The end? Not quite. The Information Machine is a hungry, hungry hippo. And hippo wants to be fed, again. But the information hogs are not inclined to feed the hippo:

Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister is refusing to release a list of communities affected by a freeze on the purchase or installation of new X-ray equipment until a review is complete.

The reign of openness was brief, and, just like late on a Friday afternoon, the Minister will have nothing more to say:

"Once the review is complete, we will release the list of equipment and the associated decisions for each one," wrote a Health Department official in an email to CBC News Sept. 30.

The official also wrote that Oram had no further comment.

Openness, it seems, moves in a circular motion. A very tight circle.