The Liberals are raising questions about the professional credentials of Jane Shin, the NDP candidate for Burnaby-Lougheed.
The B.C. Liberal Party has been keeping a close eye on Shin, monitoring how her online biographies have been changing and inquiring about her background as a physician.
"Over the past several days, a number of biographies of NDP candidate Jane Shin have been significantly altered, calling into question whether or not she has been truthful about her education and work experience," reads a post on the B.C. Liberal Party website.
The Liberals started monitoring Shin's online information and biographies after the party received an anonymous suggestion to look into her background.
According to an information package the Liberals put together, Shin's biography has been changing recently. On April 18, her online NDP bio stated that she received her medical doctorate in 2007, but it doesn't state where the degree came from, only that she trained at a U.S. hospital, the University of Edinburgh and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Her BCIT bio also appears to have changed, originally stating that she had diverse skills from her "work as a physician," which was later changed to "her medical training." The Liberals are also raising questions about which credential or title she's using: MD or Dr.?
When Shin's candidacy was announced in October 2012, the NDP press release stated she was a "physician by training" and an instructor at Vancouver Community College. Shin has told the NOW that she did not practice as a physician, but she worked at BCIT and was the former department head for the health care management program.
In a profile that ran in the Indo-Canadian Voice, another example the Liberals cited, Shin describes herself as a "trained medical doctor."
The NOW emailed and phoned Shin for comment but received a call from an NDP communications staffer instead, who wished to speak only on background and forwarded an email to the NOW.
According to the NDP, Shin received her doctor of medicine at Spartan Health Sciences University (in St. Lucia, in the Caribbean), an institution recognized by the Medical Council of Canada. Shin never completed her residency, but she did her clinical rotations at a variety of hospitals in the United Kingdom and in Chicago. She moved to Vancouver and worked as an instructor at Vancouver Community College and BCIT.
According to the unnamed spokesperson, once media calls started coming in asking about Shin's bio, the party looked into her online information and made some minor edits to make sure everything was consistent.
Shin's campaign manager, Sage Aaron, sent an emailed statement to the NOW on Shin's behalf.
"I try not to pay attention to these attacks, but obviously it doesn't feel good to have your background unfairly questioned," the statement reads. "I worked very hard to earn my doctor of medicine degree, and I'm proud of my medical education and my decision to follow my passion for teaching."
When asked to comment, Liberal candidate Ken Kramer, Shin's competition in the Burnaby-Lougheed riding, said he's more interested in reaching out to voters than raising questions about other candidates.
"I'm trying to stay away from what others are doing," Kramer said. "My number 1 responsibility is to make sure I'm out there and meeting people right now and telling them about the positives I've accomplished in my career and how I'm going to take that positive and translate that in Victoria."
