Has West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country federal Conservative candidate John Weston got a bit too much spit and polish on his campaign resume? You be the judge. According to the biography posted on his Website, "in the 1980's John served as a Canadian diplomat." But, speaking with Public Eye, Mr. Weston confirmed he hasn't been a member of the government's diplomatic corp. - although he did take the foreign service exam and pass. Instead, between 1986 and 1987, Mr. Weston was the assistant to Bob Kelly, the first director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei. That office was established by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce under an arrangement with the federal government.

In interviews with your humble organ, then senior chamber vice-president Lorne Seitz and external affairs assistant deputy minister Earl Drake said they would have identified themselves - as well, director-general Jean McCloskey - as being principally responsible for founding that office. But, according to a translation of the Chinese version of Mr. Weston's biography conducted by Ming Pao Daily News on December 8, the Website lists him as being "the person who established the Canada Taipei Trade Office."

In an email, Mr. Weston who speaks Mandarin and can read the language slightly, disputed that translation. According to Mr. Weston, a Chinese colleague says the biography identifies him "a member of those who established the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei." And, in a later interview, senior Tory campaigner Colin Metcalfe said, "John stands firmly behind his biography online and feels that it fully represents the time he spent in Taiwan and other aspects of his career." According to Statistics Canada, there are 4,595 Chinese voters in the riding. The following is a copy of Mr. Weston's email.

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-----Original Message-----
From: John D. Weston
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 3:11 PM
To: Gilda Philps
Cc: Ann Gibbon
Subject: For Sean Holman

Dear Sean,

Thanks for your interest in the "Come Run With Me!" Campaign.

Concerning the Chinese bio, on my website, I read over the Chinese (I do read Chinese characters, but not well) with my Chinese colleague, who translates the entry as "A member of those who established the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei". There are no singulars or plurals or articles ("a", "the") in much of Chinese, which might explain the translation you were given.

John Weston

John D. Weston
Federal Conservative Party Candidate
West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country
P.O. Box 92076
West Vancouver Post Office
1427 Bellevue Avenue
West Vancouver, B.C.
V7V 4X4
Phone: 604 913 8828
Fax: 604 913 8807
Email: john@johnweston.ca
Website: www.johnweston.ca
"COME RUN WITH ME!"