MP demands Kinsella's resignation-2009

MP demands Kinsella's resignation

David Akin - January 30th, 2009

A couple of days ago I noted that the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association was upset at Warren Kinsella,the political advisor appointed by the Ignatieff team to run the war room in the next federal election. Kinsella, in a blog posting, mentioned that he was pleased to be able to visit a favourite Chinese restaurant for some BBQ “cat” and rice.

Initially, I thought the “outrage” from the CCCA was one of those low-level political brushfires that would confine itself largely to partisan blogs. Well, it has yet to surface, so far as I know, in the English- or French-language mainstream media but it has made the mainstream Chinese-language media. Indeed, it pushed the federal budget off the front pages of some Chinese language newspapers.

I'm told the it was also a topic of discussion on A1 Chinese Radio and Fairchild Radio on Wednesday night.

The attention from the Chinese-language media — a group which has been assiduously courted by the Conservatives, I should point out — was interesting. But so was this: After the initial criticism, Kinsella altered the blog posting in question, removing the phrase that offended the CCCA and, in replacement, went on the attack.

“I changed the post to emphasize Conservative hypocrisy, for anyone this angry fellow directed there,” Kinsella said when I asked him about it. “In the era of screen caps and Google cache, deletions don't happen anymore. The video is still in YouTube, too, and any reasonable person who sees it will know that the allegation being made is utterly ridiculous.”

And Kinsella, the author of a well-received book that exposed white supremacists in Canada, rejected the not-so-subtle hint from his Conservative detractors that he was some sort of closet racist. “Morality lectures from the party that came up with “Asian invasion?” That's a bit silly, isn't it? Why doesn't this fellow condemn his party for that? Or likening immigrants to criminals? Or any one of a dozen other examples of bigotry originating from Reform-Alliance-Conservative MPs/candidates?”

Moments ago, in the House of Commons, Vancouver area Conservative MP Alice Wong rose to say this:

My constituents are asking me why the Liberal leader is refusing to fire his top political aide, Warren Kinsella. Was Mr. Kinsella’s comment about tucking into a “Bowl of BBQ cat” at Yang Sheng’s here in Ottawa done in his ‘official’ role as Liberal party spokesman? His comments that Chinese restaurants serve cat meat deeply offended the Chinese community in Canada, and have already been condemned in Sing Tao Daily, Ming Pao, World Journal, and across Chinese language talk radio.

As a Chinese Canadian and someone who appreciates the freedom and opportunity that Canada provides, it hurts me and my community greatly to see racially ignorant comments coming from official spokesmen for the Liberal party.

When will the Liberal leader realise that Canada’s political system doesn't have room for someone with Warren Kinsella's offensive views? When will he fire Warren Kinsella?