OTTAWA - Conservative MP Bob Dechert may have shown poor judgment, but two of his political opponents say the parliamentary secretary shouldn't lose his job over an embarrassing email exchange with a Chinese journalist.

New Democrat justice critic Joe Comartin told The Canadian Press that there is no need for Dechert to step down from an all-party committee that is currently working on a short list of candidates for two vacant seats on the Supreme Court of Canada.

Comartin is one of two opposition MPs on the five-member panel that will present a list of six possible candidates for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to consider for the high court vacancies.

"I don't see where it really gives me any pause for concern with regards to the role he plays on the committee for the review of the appointments of the Supreme Court justices. I'm certainly not going to call on him to step aside," Comartin said in an interview Tuesday.

Comartin said he was surprised by Dechert's "lack of judgment," which he said was out of character. But he said the panel that is vetting the candidates for the high court vacancies is bound by "a rigid process," one that Dechert should have no problem following.

"It's pretty clear what we have to take into account," said Comartin. "The judgements that you make are within those parameters."

Liberal MP John McCallum said CSIS should investigate Dechert's conduct -- but he stopped short of calling for the parliamentary secretary's resignation.

"It's clear that he exhibited poor judgment, especially given that he was in Foreign Affairs," McCallum told reporters.

"As to whether Mr. Dechert should be relieved of his position, that's really a decision for the man who appointed him."

Last week, Dechert acknowledged sending amorous notes to journalist Shi Rong of the Xinhua news agency, linked to China's intelligence agencies. He insisted the relationship was "innocent."

"The person is a journalist whom I have come to know as a friend. I met her while doing Chinese-language media communications," Dechert said in a statement posted on his website.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird continued to defend Dechert, his parliamentary secretary, saying his confidence has not been shaken in him.

Baird said he's worked with the Toronto-area MP for a long time and he still trusts him.

"Listen, I think the government has spoken to this, Mr. Dechert has spoken to this, I have spoken to this," Baird said Tuesday. "I have nothing really additional."

Baird refused further comment on the matter.

Comartin said Dechert should have been more circumspect in his dealings with a representative of a news agency that many MPs recognized for its espionage links.

"We all knew that particular paper was basically a front for the Chinese government, both as a propaganda tool but also as an espionage tool they use periodically," he said. "That was pretty well known."

Dechert, in his previous post as parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice, passed a fresh round of cabinet security checks in March, a newly disclosed document indicates.

The briefing note for Harper outlines the results of a renewed security review of all cabinet ministers, ministers of state and parliamentary secretaries.

Harper ordered cabinet-security clearances every two years in the wake of the Maxime Bernier affair in 2008, in which the foreign affairs minister forgot a secret briefing binder at the home of his girlfriend, who had links to Quebec biker gangs.

The March 24 document from the Privy Council Office, marked "Secret," was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

"The renewal of background checks on members of the ministry and parliamentary secretaries has been finalized," says the note, signed by Wayne Wouters, clerk of the Privy Council.

"In 2008, the Prime Minister requested that security background checks on Ministers, Ministers of State and Parliamentary Secretaries, and their spouses or partners, be renewed every two years while the appointee occupies a position as Minister, Minister of State or Parliamentary Secretary."

Further details in the note are censored. But Dechert retained his position as parliamentary secretary immediately after the March security check -- and became parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs in the cabinet shuffle soon after the May 2 election campaign.

Dechert had been parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice since March 2010.

"These emails are flirtatious, but the friendship remained innocent and simply that -- a friendship," Dechert said last week.

The Globe and Mail reported that Shi said her husband had hacked her email account, which Dechert appeared to reiterate. "My understanding is that her emails were hacked as part of an ongoing domestic dispute," he said in the statement.

The flirtatious emails, distributed anonymously to almost 250 recipients last week, date to 2010.

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 the Chinese government in Beijing.

It is also widely known by western intelligence agencies to have links to China's intelligence services, a former senior intelligence official with CSIS told The Canadian Press.

Baird has two parliamentary secretaries. Dechert's responsibilities are for North America, not Asia, a government source told The Canadian Press.

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.