Ahem. A little mood music, maestro David:
And now, the sordid story:
In his short political career, Bob Dechert has risen through the ranks of the Harper government to assume a role in brokering Canada’s relationship with the rest of the world, including China.
That’s why it was all the more embarrassing when it was revealed last Friday that Mr. Dechert, who is privy to state confidences, had sent amorous e-mails to an employee of Xinhua, China’s state-controlled news agency. Western counterintelligence organizations have likened Xinhua to an intelligence agency.
The Mississauga-Erindale MP, first elected in 2008, is today one of two parliamentary secretaries to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and a vice-president of the Canada-China Legislative Association, which brings together lawmakers from both countries. A member of the Commons foreign affairs committee, he accompanied Prime Minister Stephen Harper to China in 2009.
Senator Jim Munson, a former journalist who worked in China for five years and sits on the executive of the Canada-China Legislative Association with Mr. Dechert, said elected officials must approach Xinhua with caution.
“Any politician in Canada who has any relations with Xinhua should be aware that Xinhua is the voice of the government of China and that one should be very, very careful in his or her dealings,” said Mr. Munson, a Liberal.
“You have to recognize that Xinhua is the communications arm, the propaganda arm, the voice of the government of China.”
Um, actually, Xinhua is a very reliable and straight-up news agency. There is no evidence to suggest that it IS in fact an intelligence agency, much less the propaganda arm of one. It takes a “just the facts” approach that I quite like; it’s nothing like the “toss red meat to the peasants” propaganda of western capitalist media (who only pretend to be independent, but are really attached to right-wing partisan and business interests).
Oh well. I can see how western capitalists might make that sort of mistake. To them, anything is communist propaganda if it diverges from the “Big Business good, People Power bad” party line. A commercial newspaper, even though it supports the Tory party all the way (as the Grope and Flail does) still gets to pretend to be “independent”, while state-run media are all the “propaganda arm of the XYZ government”. One shudders to think what these people must be dying to say about our own CBC.
But what’s really funny about all this is how Xinhua is being blamed for the zipper problems of a Tory with an apparent hankering for a “little China Girl”. Here’s a sampling of Bob Dechert, in his own words:
According to the Globe, an April 17, 2010 email from Dechert says: “You are so beautiful. I really like the 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.”
Another email sent April 19, 2010 urged Shi to watch a vote in the House of Commons. “I will smile at you. I miss you. Love, Bob.”
And yet, this is “nothing improper”, according to the Harper SupposiTories. One can only gather that they think extramarital flirtations and/or liaisons, even with accused foreign agents, are okay as long as you don’t get caught.
Meanwhile, as I said before, there is not a shred of evidence that Ms. Shi, or anyone else at Xinhua, is a spy, much less an infiltrator exercising undue influence upon our government (which is, it must be noted, under plenty of influence from crooked capitalists who’ve never set foot in China). But there is plenty of evidence that Torydom has a hypocrisy problem, and it has sunk to the level of their own pants zippers. Shame on the Grope & Flail for blaming the Chinese and ignoring our glaring home-grown problem.