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Letter: Don't turn blind eye to 'dirty trick' by Burnaby South Conservatives

Editor: Re: Burnaby South candidates called ‘racist,’ ‘liar,’ ‘stupid’ and more at raucous debate , NOW , Feb. 20 This is the first federal election campaign which I closely follow and last Tuesday I attended the public debate in the Ismaili Centre.
smear brochure burnaby south
A brochure sent out by the Burnaby South Conservatives. SCREENSHOT

Editor:

Re: Burnaby South candidates called ‘racist,’ ‘liar,’ ‘stupid’ and more at raucous debate, NOW, Feb. 20

This is the first federal election campaign which I closely follow and last Tuesday I attended the public debate in the Ismaili Centre.

Despite various policy disagreements, I still hold respect for all of the candidates except one, and some people may be surprised to know who this one candidate is.

In fact, I refer here to Conservative Jay Shin, whose recent “smear brochure” (with images of drugs and needles) claimed that (People’s Party of Canada candidate) Laura-Lynn Thompson supported safe injection sites and marijuana legalization.
The best place to bring public attention to controversial positions of other candidates is indeed the debate stage, a place where the accused parties will have a fair chance to respond.

During the past three debates, Jay Shin had multiple opportunities to discuss with Laura-Lynn all these drug-related issues, as well as explain and defend his own views.

However, to the best of my knowledge, he preferred not to do this, probably thinking that the flyers would work better for him. It does not matter here what the exact positions of these two candidates are, and who is right and who is wrong. It is just that the things should not be done Jay Shin's way.

In comparison, Jagmeet Singh was not afraid to discuss perhaps even more controversial issues face to face with Laura-Lynn, and I respect him for that.

We all want our government to be more transparent and honest, but to achieve this goal we should start by requiring the same from the candidates in the election campaigns. Also, if today we turn a blind eye even on a relatively small dirty trick and especially if we allow it to bring success, this may provoke various parties and candidates to use such tricks much more in October.

Yury Shamraev, Burnaby