Dumb as dirt: Bethune, Mao, Anders and the new McCarthyism

Last week the Canadian government opened a new $2.5 million visitor's centre at Bethune Memorial House in Gravenhurst, Ontario where physician Dr. Norman Bethune was born. A Parks Canada National Historic Site, it commemorates the life and achievements of this outstanding Canadian surgeon who pioneered techniques in thoracic surgery and provided care to wounded combatants in World War I, the Spanish Civil War, and during the second Sino-Japanese War, where he perished in the course of his service. However, that's not the view of Conservative Member of Parliament for Calgary West, Rob Anders, who criticized the move in print, radio, and television interviews:

"The idea that taxpayer money is being used to glorify somebody who was a propagandist for Mao - there's a lot of taxpayers out there who would say that was an inappropriate use of resources." -- Victoria Times Colonist

Tony Clement joins Ezra Levant in attack on Twitter against former Globe editor for moving to Cuba

Uber-tweeter (and president of the Treasury Board) Tony Clement typed his way into the ring Wednesday to join a media throwdown between former Globe and Mail editor Stephen Wicary and Sun TV’s Ezra Levant.

The war of words began after Levant launched a three–minute tirade on his TV show against Wicary earlier this month, after the former Globe online editor left the newspaper to join his wife for a new life in communist Cuba.

PMO backs expensive tribute to Maoist apologist

OTTAWA - The Prime Minister's Office is standing behind a $2.5 million taxpayer-funded tourist trap dedicated to Canadian Maoist supporter Norman Bethune.

Andrew MacDougall, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's spokesman, said Wednesday that Parks Canada locations - like where the new visitors centre at the Bethune Memorial House National Historic Site is located - "cover the full spectrum of political actors (and) political thought from Canada's past."

Tories tweak Bethune brand to build bridges with China

The man Tony Clement will celebrate on Wednesday was a restless surgeon, a rowdy womanizer, a stubborn renegade and a passionate communist.

Norman Bethune, who died while tending Mao Zedong’s troops in 1939, is an unlikely Conservative hero. But Bethune’s ideological impurity is offset by his value to Ottawa’s strategy in China – where the colourful Canadian expatriate is a national hero, memorialized by Mao himself for his “spirit of absolute selflessness.”