At the same time Finance Minister Gary Collins is busy trying to convince the media that his Ministerial Assistant had nothing to do with major policy issues, the boxes that were seized from his office are under seal. Before the police can examine their contents a special procedure must be followed so as not to violate cabinet confidentiality. How can the contents of the seized documents be so sensitive if Collins' Assistant had no involvement in confidential files?

The Campbell government could save taxpayers a lot of money by waiving the requirement for a special procedure before the boxes of documents seized from the Legislature can be examined. If what Collins said is true about Basi being so unimportant, why not let the police go through the files immediately? Or could it be that the files that were seized are part of Collins' documents, and his spin is not quite on the mark.

Collins is not the only Campbell cabinet minister feeling the heat as a result of police raids. Education Minister and Deputy Premier Christy Clark's husband and brother both turned over records to the RCMP - her brother later admitting that a search warrant was served. It is hard to believe that in the beginning of a major political crisis neither of the high level organizers for Paul Martin has any idea of what files were taken. Her brother wasn't home at the time of the raid for his documents, but her husband is reported to have handed documents over to the police. Doesn't he know what he gave them? It is also hard to believe that neither Liberal insider has shared their hunches with Christy Clark or anyone else in the Campbell government. It is reasonable to presume that the Clark family knows more than the general public and has chosen not to talk - how unusual.

Collins also told news media that he has no idea what files were taken. If that is true, there is a major security and control problem in the office of the Minister of Finance. What other files could disappear without anyone in his office knowing what went missing? Are there no file inventories, no indexes, and no controls to identify files that go missing, files that are so confidential that they require a special procedure before police can examine the sealed boxes where they now reside in the Vancouver Law Courts?

Every word that Collins and the vacationing Premier utter in the midst of a crisis is carefully examined. Contradictions add fuel to speculation that the scandal may expand to touch more Liberal insiders.