Conservative MP Bob Dechert, who has served as parliamentary secretary to Foreign Minister John Baird since May, admitted to sending flirtatious emails to Shi Rong, a Toronto-based correspondent with Chinese Communist party state-run news agency Xinhua. Both are married.
One message that appears to have been sent from Dechert’s Parliament Hill account reads: “You are so beautiful. I really like that picture of you by the water with your cheeks puffed. That look is so cute. I love it when you do that. Now, I miss you even more.” It is signed, “Bob Dechert, MP” and dated April 17, 2010, when Dechert was parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Justice, Rob Nicholson. But the really shocking thing about this is the fact that the minister, John Baird, is completely unconcerned about the situation and dismisses it as irrelevant.
The Foreign Minister’s reaction is disturbing, said David Harris, who worked as chief of strategic planning at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. “It suggests that this type of matter is not taken with adequate seriousness,” he said.
The government has an obligation to conduct an in-depth investigation to ensure there really was no wrongdoing, he added, and that national security wasn’t compromised. Simply taking Mr. Dechert’s word for it, Mr. Harris argued, is unacceptable, as the MP’s judgment and credibility are already in question.
One issue that has emerged from this story is the role Xinhua plays in Canada and abroad. The Chinese news agency was created in 1931 and for years served as a mouthpiece for the country’s communist government. While it has since opened bureaus in about 120 countries, including three in Canada, it continues to be state run and a major propaganda arm for the Chinese government.
Former Canadian diplomat Charles Burton, who served in China and has since become an expert on the country, alleges the agency is also a vital source of intelligence gathering.
Xinhua agents won’t find any intelligence within the Conservative Party of Canada so that’s safe but the rest of the country has been compromised due to MP Dechert’s treason.
