世界日报/政府消息来源10日说，联邦保守党国会议员、外交部长国会秘书德克特（Bob Dechert）与中国新华社驻多伦多记者施蓉之间的电邮披露后，德克特被相关部门要求就此事做出解释，但具体是哪个部门官员负责此事尚不得而知。
来自安省密西沙加-艾林岱尔选区（Mississauga-Erindale）的国会议员德克特，虽然承认发送了含有暧昧和调情字眼的邮件，但强调他与施蓉仅是普通朋友关系。
总部设在北京的新华社，是中国共产党1930年代成立的新闻机构，旨在进行革命宣传，现在已经扩展成世界各地具有众多分支机构的媒体帝国。
国会秘书的主要职责，包括在部长缺席期间代替部长在众院回答的质询。国会秘书一般不会接触部长一级的国家资讯，因此德克特所能接触到的，仅是那些用于回答质询的资讯。
政府消息来源说，外交部长白谔德有两名国会秘书，德克特负责北美而非亚洲事务，政府也没有纪录显示他会获得涉及中国事务的敏感资讯。
当媒体10日电话接通施蓉后，她不愿对此事进行回应，而仅说：“抱歉，我现在不能说任何事情。”随即就挂掉电话。施蓉称是她丈夫侵入她的电邮帐户。
根据环球邮报披露的德克特2010年4月17日发送给施蓉的电邮，德克特说：“你是如此美丽，真的很喜欢你在水边拍的那张照片，你鼓起面腮的样子太可爱了，现在对你的思念更加绵长。”在另一封2010年4月19日发给施蓉的电邮中，德克特要求施蓉要注意观看当天的众院投票，他说：“我会笑着看着你。想念你！爱你！Bob。”众院纪录显示，德克特当天在众院投票三次。
加拿大情报局局长法登（Dick Fadden）在今年公布的一份备忘录中提醒说，外国政府正从国外和国内影响加拿大的政策和政客。
法登在给加拿大公安部长陶斯（Vic Toews）的备忘录中说：“被非友邦的外国政权相中的加拿大人，很可能成为潜在的恐吓、胁迫或敲诈目标”，丰富的自然资源、发达的科技和在国际上的影响力等，都是加拿大会成为外国政权试图影响的理由。
在2010年接受媒体采访时，法登在谈及可能涉案的外国政权时措辞谨慎，但并未否认中国属于值得令人担忧的国家之一。
联邦总理办公室发言人麦道格（Andrew MacDougall）说，没有证据显示德克特做错事。总理办公室他在10日的一封电邮中重申：“德克特否认有任何不当行为，而我们也没有资讯来反证。”
德克特在2008年当选为联邦保守党国会议员之前是一名律师，他与妻子克拉克（Ruth Clark）居住在安省密西沙加市。
据悉，施蓉今年42岁，毕业于北京大学，来加工作只有一年多，职衔为新华社驻多伦多首席记者。
德克特与施蓉间的电邮，引发了加拿大英中文媒体的广泛关注和报导。
国会议员电邮情挑新华社女记 安全部门或调查
星岛日报/政府消息来源周六披露，已要求保守党国会议员德克特(Bob Dechert)就发给《新华社》驻多伦多女记者的调情电邮内容作出解释。
德克特承认向《新华社》女记者施蓉(Shi Rong)发过电邮。虽然电邮内容具有调情性质，但该名代表代表密西沙加-艾灵岱尔(Mississauga-Erindale)选区的国会议员声称，与该名女记者的关系纯属“清白的”友谊。
目前暂不清楚德克特将向政府中哪个部门就此事作出解释。
加拿大安全情报局(CSIS)一前高级官员表示，安全部门官员有可能介入调查德克特与施蓉的关系。
男角兼任国会秘书身份特殊
政府消息来源表示，外交部长白德(John Baird)手下有两名国会秘书，德克特是其中一名，但负责北美事务，不涉及亚洲事务。
该消息来源周六说，国会秘书的主要角色是，当部长缺席时，代表其在国会回答质询。他们通常不会接触到内阁层面的保密信息，德克特所了解的唯一信息，是在国会质询期回答反对党提问的要点。
另一政府消息来源证实，德克特并不处理亚洲事务，并表示，并无记录显示其获得任何与中国有关事务的概要。
女角拒评论
记者周六电话联络施蓉时，她拒绝评论，称“对不起，我现在不能说什么，”然后挂线。
《新华社》为中国官方新闻机构。
CSIC前高级情报官员葛舒雅(Michel Juneau-Katsuya)周六在接受采访时表示：“许多例子表明，新闻从业员在这类机构掩护下作为情报人员工作。”他并表示，德克特虽然不是政府中关键人物，但并不表示对安全的影响比较小。
他说，CSIS负责人法登(Richard Fadden)过去便表达过担忧。今年公布的备忘录中，法登警告说，存在外国影响加国政策及政治人物的威胁。
总理办公室表示，并无迹象表明德克特行为不当。发言人麦杜高(Andrew MacDougal)于周六重申这一点。
保守党政府另涉两尴尬事件
葛舒雅还指出保守党政府另外两宗尴尬事件：在2008年，有消息披露，当时的外交部长卞聂尔(Maxime Bernier)将部分内阁保密文件留在女友家，他不得不引咎辞职；今年初有消息披露，哈珀前高级助手卡森(Bruce Carson)曾经将据称的前妓女的洗钱者，带至总理府的派对上，并与总理会面。
葛舒雅指出，所有这类事件令人质疑总理办公室官员的判断力。
(资料来源：加通社)
哈珀接纳“纯友谊” “挑情议员”保官职
明报综合报道/总理哈珀办公室周六说，保守党议员德克特(Bob Dechert)被要求全面交代，他和那个女子的关系，并准许他保留外交部长白谔德国会秘书的职位。
总理办公室说，德克特周五公开说，这只是纯洁的友谊，总理办接受他的说法。
总理办助理传讯总监麦克杜格尔(MacDougall)说：“德克特否认任何不当行为，我们手上没有其他资料，证明相反说法。”
德克特是密西沙加-艾林黛尔(Mississauga-Erindale)选区保守党国会议员，他承认发出调情电邮给多伦多新华社记者施榕(Shi Rong)，令执政保守党难堪。
另外，政府消息来源周六说，承认发调情电邮给新华社记者的国会秘书，被要求交代电邮内容。前情报官员说，这名国会议员可能要向保安官员解画。
德克特承认向新华社记者施榕发出电邮。虽然电邮纯属调情，但德克特形容他与女记者的友谊“纯洁”。
即时不清楚，德克特要向政府的哪个人交代他的事件。
德克特负责北美事务
1名加拿大保安情报局(CSIS)前高级情报官员说，任何讯问德克特有关他与施榕的关系，可能涉及保安官员。
现在主管1间私人保安公司的朱诺-卡苏雅(Michel Juneau-Katsuya)说：“加拿大保安情报局会即时警觉。”
外交部长白谔德(John Barid)有两个国会秘书，该政府消息来源说，德克特负责北美洲，不是亚洲。
国会秘书的主要角色，是部长不在时，在众议院回答问题。该消息来源周六说，他们通常不能接触机密的部长级信息，德克特唯一可能得到的，是在质询时间回答反对党质询的简报笔记。
另1个政府消息来源证实，德克特不是负责亚太事务，没有纪录显示，他曾获得任何涉及中国的简报。
施榕周六拒绝在电话评论，她在挂线前说：“抱歉，我现在不能说任何话。”
德克特的互联网说他已婚，5月2日大选后，担任白谔德的国会秘书职务。在那之前，他是司法部长的国会秘书。
朱诺-卡苏雅表示，德克特不是政府前座议员，但不会令此事的保安忧虑显得不重要。
朱诺-卡苏雅说，怎样套取情报，中国情报官员非常老练。他说：“中国情报人员工作时，不会以月或年的策略计划为基础，他们有时经历数个世代工作。”
新华社诡秘 加政客咸湿
据一位来自中国的新闻工作者表示，中国新华社是一个颇诡秘和复杂的新闻机构，里面的新闻编辑和记者，很多负有新闻工作以外的任务。
新华社的非新闻工作任务，最典型的见诸港英时代的香港新华社，当年的社长许家屯是省委书记，而其后的周南是外交部副部长。
新华社很多驻外记者或编辑，有些是出身国安部，工作亦非单纯的新闻编采。来自某些单位的成员，很多身边的人和事，都是由国家安排，其中包括婚姻，以配合其特殊任务。
施蓉作为多伦多分社首席记者，相当于是多伦多分社社长，只是这里规模细，故不作此职称。
除了新华社的诡秘外，这位人事也慨叹一些加拿大的所谓政治人物的行为。
他说曾亲眼见过一名目前仍活跃于政坛的人物，在一位华裔女记者上前要求做访问时，将手放到女记者的屁股上，明显在“揩油”。
他说，经过今次事件，相信施蓉很快会离开多伦多，但这不代表是处分，可能马上又会调到其他新华社海外分处。
情报局去年提警告 中国间谍渗透加政坛
加拿大情报局长去年警告，中国间谍渗透加拿大政坛。2010年6月，加拿大保安情报局局长法登(Richard Faden)在电视访问中说，两名省级厅长和若干政府官员及雇员，受外国控制，涉及间谍活动。
法登告诉加拿大广播公司(CBC)：“我们担心一些省份，因为我们得到信息，显示一些政治人物，与外国发展联系。”
一般普遍知道，中国搜集情报相当积极，加拿大保安机构过去曾将官员调职，不再接触极度机密信息，原因是他们与新华社有联系。
例如，2003年政府开除枢密院1名高级华裔加人官员，部分原因是她曾在新华社任职，加入加拿大政府后，仍然接触前同僚。
Tory MP insists relationship with Chinese journalist is innocent
Politician admits sending ‘flirtatious’ e-mails, but says woman’s account was hacked
BY GLEN MCGREGOR, OTTAWA CITIZEN SEPTEMBER 10, 2011
A Conservative MP has apologized for sending “flirtatious” e-mails to a correspondent with the Chinese state news agency, but says his relationship with her was innocent.
E-mails circulated on Friday revealed an apparently intimate correspondence between Xinhua News Agency’s chief Toronto correspondent, Shi Rong, and Mississauga-Erindale MP Bob Dechert, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s parliamentary secretary.
A private relationship between an MP with ties to the foreign ministry and an employee of the Chinese state news service could prove embarrassing, especially amid concerns in the intelligence community about Chinese espionage in Canada.
In an unusual statement issued Friday evening, Dechert, 53, said Shi’s e-mail account was hacked as part of a domestic dispute.
“The person is a journalist whom I have come to know as a friend. I met her while doing Chinese-language media communications,” he said in the statement posted on his website.
“These emails are flirtatious, but the friendship remained innocent and simply that – a friendship.
“I apologize for any harm caused to anyone by this situation.”
Friday evening, the Prime Minister’s Office released a statement saying simply, “Mr. Dechert has denied any inappropriate behaviour. We have no information to suggest otherwise.”
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.
Earlier Friday, Shi had sent out an e-mail saying her account had been hacked and that the contents of the e-mails were “untrue.”
Dechert, 53, could not be reached for comment Friday and did not respond to e-mails and calls to his offices and home.
Reached on her cellphone Friday and asked about the e-mails, Shi hung up. In a follow-up call, she explained, “It’s not my e-mail. My e-mail was hacked by someone else.”
She said she was considering legal action, but said she didn’t know who hacked her e-mail. When asked about the nature of her relationship with the married MP, Shi hung up again.
Dechert, a lawyer, was first elected MP in 2008 after two failed bids for the Mississauga seat. He is well-connected among Ontario Tories and was a leading member of the “Blue Committee,” a group that worked to bring the Reform Party and Progressive Conservatives together in 2000.
His biography says he is married to Ruth Clark, who is an executive with public relations firm Hill and Knowlton.
Xinhua is the government-owned wire service of the People’s Republic of China. It has bureaus in most countries around the world and employs many Western journalists, as well. Its credibility is debated, but at its highest levels, its news coverage is believed to be directed by the Chinese government.
Last year, Canada’s top spy warned that some Canadian politicians were under the control of foreign governments.
Richard Fadden, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told the CBC that “several municipal politicians in British Columbia and in at least two provinces there are ministers of the Crown who we think are under at least the general influence of a foreign government.”
Fadden later downplayed the remarks, but confirmed that China was among the countries believed to be courting favour with Canadian politicians.
One of the e-mails to Shi passes on information about the Genie Awards in Toronto. It is a forwarded message with background information about the Canadian film awards, prepared by Dechert’s assistant, Jonathan Dale.
At the top of the e-mail, the sender wrote, “FYI, just in case you change your mind. Bob Dechert, MP.”
Dechert was one of several MPs who attended the 2010 Genie Awards gala in Toronto in April 2010.
In another message, dated April 19, 2010, the sender says in the e-mail he was thinking of her while he drove to Ottawa. He encourages Shi to watch him voting on TV or on the CPAC website at 6: 30 p.m.
“I will smile at you. I miss you. Love, Bob.”
House of Commons records show that Dechert voted on that date at 6: 35 p.m., on a motion related to a free-trade agreement between Canada and Colombia.
There is no indication Shi ever wrote about Dechert for her news agency, but she is listed in a photo credit on a Xinhua picture of Dechert campaigning in Mississauga during the election campaign this past spring.
Dechert’s riding has a large Chinese population. He has traveled to China and Taiwan and is a member of the Canada-China Legislative Association.
Tory MP keeps foreign affairs role after ‘flirtatious’ e-mails to Chinese journalist
STEVEN CHASE AND COLIN FREEZE
Ottawa and Toronto— Globe and Mail Update
Published Saturday, Sep. 10, 2011 10:36PM EDT
Last updated Saturday, Sep. 10, 2011 10:41PM EDT
The Harper government will let a senior Conservative MP keep his foreign affairs responsibilities even though he’s acknowledged sending amorous e-mails to a journalist with China’s state-controlled news agency.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Saturday that Bob Dechert was asked to give a full accounting of his relationship with the woman and is allowing him to retain his post as a parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
The PMO said it’s taking Mr. Dechert at his word when he said, as he did publicly Friday, that this was merely an “innocent” friendship.
“Mr. Dechert has denied any inappropriate behaviour,” said Andrew MacDougall, associate director of communications for the Prime Minister’s Office.
“We have no information to suggest otherwise.”
In a revelation that embarrassed Canada’s ruling Conservatives last week, Mr. Dechert, Conservative MP for Mississauga-Erindale, admitted sending “flirtatious” e-mails to Shi Rong, a Toronto correspondent with Xinhua News Agency.
Xinhua is the official press service for the People’s Republic of China and Western counterintelligence organizations have likened it to an intelligence agency. Ottawa has previously fired a senior Chinese-Canadian bureaucrat because she had once worked for Xinhua and kept up contacts with her former colleagues after joining the government.
Opposition parties greeted Mr. Dechert’s embarrassing personal admission with a mixture of caution and scorn.
The Liberal Party declined comment on the matter while the Official Opposition New Democrats derided the Conservative MP’s behaviour.
“We want this Conservative government to be more friendly on the world stage, but this isn’t what we had in mind,” said Karl Belanger, senior press secretary for the NDP.
The matter came to light Thursday night when a mass e-mail was sent to more than 240 media, academic, political and business contacts across Canada. The missive contained the text of intimate messages written by Mr. Dechert, including ones where he professes love for Ms. Shi.
One e-mail, sent to Ms. Shi on April 17, 2010, from Mr. Dechert’s parliamentary office account, 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.”
The e-mail was signed “Bob Dechert, MP.” The sender account named was [email protected] and the recipient was [email protected], which Ms. Shi has used as an e-mail account.
Late Friday afternoon, Mr. Dechert issued a statement playing down the relationship.
“The person is a journalist whom I have come to know as a friend. I met her while doing Chinese-language media communications,” the MP said.
“These e-mails are flirtatious, but the friendship remained innocent and simply that – a friendship. I apologize for any harm caused to anyone by this situation.”
Mr. Dechert’s MP website said he’s “lived in Mississauga for many years with his wife Ruth Clark.”
Trying to explain why his amorous e-mails to the Chinese reporter were made public, Mr. Dechert said: “my understanding is that her e-mails were hacked as part of an ongoing domestic dispute.”
Ms. Shi, who spoke to The Globe and Mail Thursday night, blamed her husband for the mass e-mail that contained the personal messages from Mr. Dechert, saying he “hacked my e-mail box.”
Another e-mail, dated April 20, 2010, invites Ms. Shi to watch TV for an evening Commons vote in Ottawa. “Dearest Rong,” the note began. “How is your day? Did your interviews at Royal Bank go well? Did you get enough information for your articles?”
The MP told Ms. Shi he’d just arrived in Ottawa and “I enjoyed the drive by thinking of you.”
In this e-mail, he also encouraged her to watch televised proceedings in the Commons. “We will be voting at 6:30 p.m. If you have time, watch on TV or on your computer (on the CPAC website) and I will smile at you.”
“I miss you. Love, Bob,” the e-mail concludes.
Canada’s top spy warned last year that Chinese spies had infiltrated Canadian politics.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service head Richard Fadden suggested during a TV interview in June, 2010, that two provincial cabinet ministers and a number of other government officials and employees were under the control of foreign countries as part of espionage schemes.
“We’re in fact a bit worried in a couple of provinces that we have an indication there are some political figures who have developed quite an attachment to foreign countries,” he told CBC.
China is known to be an extremely aggressive collector of intelligence and Canadian security agencies have, in the past, cited links to Xinhua as a reason to remove bureaucrats from positions where they might have access to top secret data.
For example, the government fired a senior Chinese-Canadian bureaucrat from the Privy Council Office in 2003, partly because she had once worked for Xinhua and had kept up contacts with her former colleagues after joining the Canadian government.
MP told to explain flirty words to Chinese reporter in email flap, source reveals
Published On Sat Sep 10 2011
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA—A government source says a parliamentary secretary to a cabinet minister was told to give an accounting of what he’s said to a journalist with China’s official news agency who received some flirtatious emails from him.
Bob Dechert, a Toronto-area Conservative MP, has acknowledged sending emails to Shi Rong, a reporter with the Xinhua News Agency. Although the messages are flirtatious in nature, the MP for Mississauga — Erindale described his relationship with the female journalist as an “innocent” friendship.
It was not immediately clear who in government Dechert gave his accounting to on the matter.
A former senior intelligence official with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said it is possible security officials would be involved in any questioning of the MP about his relationship with Shi.
“CSIS would have right away saw the red flag up,” said Michel Juneau-Katsuya, who now heads a private corporate security company.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has two parliamentary secretaries. Dechert’s responsibilities are for North America, not Asia, the government source said.
The main role of parliamentary secretaries is to answer questions in the House of Commons when the minister is absent. They don’t normally have access to secret cabinet-level information, and the only information Dechert likely had were briefing notes to answer Opposition queries in Question Period, the source said Saturday.
Another government source confirmed that Dechert does not handle Asia-Pacific matters, and said there is no record of him being briefed on anything related to China.
Shi declined to comment when reached by telephone Saturday. “Sorry, I cannot say anything now,” she said before hanging up.
Xinhua, created by the Chinese Communist Party in the 1930s to handle revolutionary propaganda, has grown into a multimedia empire with offices across the world and throughout China. It is run by Chinese government in Beijing.
It is also widely known in western intelligence agencies as having links to Chinese intelligence services, Juneau-Katsuya said in an interview Saturday.
“We have tons of cases where journalists working under the cover or for this (news agency) were used as intelligence officers and agents,” he said.
Dechert, whose website says he is married, took on his parliamentary secretary role with Baird after the May 2 election. Before the election, he was parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice.
The fact that Dechert is not on the government’s front benches does not make the security implications any less significant, said Juneau-Katsuya.
“You’re not Mr. Joe Blow that has no consequences on society, you are in a position of influence … and some people will try to get access to you,” he said.
He noted general concerns that have been raised in the past by CSIS director Richard Fadden.
A memo from Fadden that was made public this year warned of the threat of foreign interference from countries out to influence policy and politicians.
Canadians singled out by unfriendly powers may be “subject to threats, coercion or potential blackmail,” warned the memo to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.
Fadden cited Canada’s natural resources, scientific and technological sectors and its influence in the international community as reasons for it being a target of foreign influence.’
In a media interview in 2010, Fadden was cagey about the countries involved, but did not deny that China was a country of concern.
Chinese intelligence officials are very skilled in how they gather information, Juneau-Katsuya said.
“The Chinese intelligence services do not work on the strategic plan based on months or years, they literally work on generations sometime,” he said.
“They plant a seed today knowing that it will maybe just harvest in 10 years if need be.”
The flirtatious emails in question reportedly dated back to 2010.
The Globe and Mail reported earlier that Shi said her husband had hacked her email account.
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.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said there is nothing to suggest Dechert acted inappropriately.
“Mr. Dechert has denied any inappropriate behaviour,” spokesman Andrew MacDougall reiterated in an email Saturday. “We have no information to suggest otherwise.”
Juneau-Katsuya pointed to two other embarrassing situations for the Conservative government.
In 2008, then foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier had to resign after it was revealed he left some secret cabinet papers at the home of his girlfriend. Earlier this year it was revealed that Bruce Carson, a former senior aide to Harper, once brought a reported ex-prostitute and money-launderer to a party at 24 Sussex Drive to meet with the prime minister.
Taken together, the incidents raise questions about the judgment of officials in the Prime Minister’s Office, Juneau-Katsuya says.
“We’ve got an issue definitely here in the Prime Minister’s Office … do people sort of have common sense to realize what is a danger for Canada and what is not.”
The story has captured the attention of the Chinese-language media in Canada. Ming Pao Daily News and the World Journal published stories about Dechert’s emails.
Dechert questioned about Chinese journalist
The Canadian Press Posted: Sep 10, 2011 9:33 PM ET Last Updated: Sep 10, 2011 11:04 PM ET
A parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird was told to account for things he said to a friend who works for China’s state-controlled news agency, a government source says.
The source didn’t elaborate on details of the accounting Bob Dechert had to give.
Dechert, a Toronto-area Conservative MP, has acknowledged sending emails to Shi Rong, a reporter with the Xinhua News Agency. Although the messages are flirtatious in nature, the MP for Mississauga-Erindale described his relationship with the female journalist as an “innocent” friendship.
It was not immediately clear who in government Dechert gave his accounting to on the matter.
A former senior intelligence official with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said it is possible security officials would be involved in any questioning of the MP about his relationship with Shi.
“CSIS would have right away saw the red flag up,” said Michel Juneau-Katsuya, who now heads a private corporate security company.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has two parliamentary secretaries. Dechert’s responsibilities are for North America, not Asia, the government source said.
Access to secrets limited
The main role of parliamentary secretaries is to answer questions in the House of Commons when the minister is absent. They don’t normally have access to secret cabinet-level information, and the only information Dechert likely had were briefing notes to answer Opposition queries in Question Period, the source said Saturday.
Another government source confirmed that Dechert does not handle Asia-Pacific matters, and said there is no record of him being briefed on anything related to China.
Shi declined comment when reached by telephone Saturday. “Sorry, I cannot say anything now,” she said before hanging up.
Xinhua, created by the Chinese Communist Party in the 1930s to handle revolutionary propaganda, has grown into a multimedia empire with offices across the world and throughout China. It is run by Chinese government in Beijing.
‘We have tons of cases where journalists working under the cover or for this [news agency] were used as intelligence officers and agents.’
— Michel Juneau-Katsuya, security expert
It is also widely known in western intelligence agencies as having links to Chinese intelligence services, Juneau-Katsuya said in an interview Saturday.
“We have tons of cases where journalists working under the cover or for this [news agency] were used as intelligence officers and agents,” he said.
Dechert, whose website says he is married, took on his parliamentary secretary role with Baird after the May 2 election. Before the election, he was parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice.
The fact that Dechert is not on the government’s front benches does not make the security implications any less significant, said Juneau-Katsuya. “You’re not Mr Joe Blow that has no consequences on society, you are in a position of influence … and some people will try to get access to you,” he said.
He noted general concerns that have been raised in the past by CSIS director Richard Fadden. A memo from Fadden that was made public this year warned of the threat of foreign interference from countries out to influence policy and politicians.
Canadians singled out by unfriendly powers may be “subject to threats, coercion or potential blackmail,” warned the memo to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.
Fadden cited Canada’s natural resources, scientific and technological sectors and its influence in the international community as reasons for it being a target of foreign influence.’ In a media interview in 2010, Fadden was cagey about the countries involved, but did not deny that China was a country of concern.
Chinese intelligence officials are very skilled in how they gather information, Juneau-Katsuya said.
“The Chinese intelligence services do not work on the strategic plan based on months or years. They literally work on generations sometime,” he said. “They plant a seed today knowing that it will maybe just harvest in 10 years if need be.”
The flirtatious emails in question reportedly dated back to 2010.
The Globe and Mail reported earlier that Shi said her husband had hacked her email account.
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.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said there is nothing to suggest Dechert acted inappropriately.
“Mr. Dechert has denied any inappropriate behaviour,” spokesman Andrew MacDougall reiterated in an email Saturday. “We have no information to suggest otherwise.”
Embarrassing situations
Juneau-Katsuya pointed to two other embarrassing situations for the Conservative government.
In 2008, Maxime Bernier, the foreign affairs minister, had to resign after it was revealed he left some secret cabinet papers at the home of his girlfriend. Earlier this year it was revealed that Bruce Carson, a former senior aide to Harper, once brought a reported ex-prostitute and money-launderer to a party at 24 Sussex Drive to meet with the prime minister.
Taken together, the incidents raise questions about the judgment of officials in the Prime Minister’s Office, Juneau-Katsuya says.
“We’ve got an issue definitely here in the Prime Minister’s Office … do people sort of have common sense to realize what is a danger for Canada and what is not.”
The story has captured the attention of the Chinese-language media in Canada. Ming Pao Daily News and the World Journal published stories about Dechert’s emails.
