Dear Editor:
In my opinion the B.C. NDP is taking the voters of Burnaby-Lougheed for granted. The evidence for this is anecdotal, but …
Jane Shin was our MLA for the last four years. By all accounts Ms. Shin is a very nice person – it’s just that she was invisible. For that reason, when a flyer arrived in her last week as an MLA I read it with interest. I was surprised at the many events and functions she had attended. However, under the heading of ISSUES ADVOCATED FOR was Kinder Morgan. A careless typo? If you really cared, if it was really an issue for you, wouldn’t you notice?
The B.C. NDP lawn signs went up a couple of days before the writ dropped. I guess the assumption was no one would care.
Yesterday evening I was canvassing for the B.C. Green Party’s candidate, Joe Keithley. There’s a house on the corner of my block that has an NDP sign up. The former co-owner was a big NDP supporter. I met his widow and she asked what I was doing. When I told her, she appeared confused and asked if I’d put up the NDP lawn sign. I assured her I had not and asked if people from the NDP hadn’t called to ask her permission. She just shook her head “no.”
The people of Burnaby have a choice this election, and if they are unhappy with the B.C. Liberals they don’t have to vote NDP or spoil their ballots. The B.C. Greens aren’t “splitting” the vote. I’m meeting plenty of people who tell me they voted Liberal in 2013 but won’t this time. In my opinion, nobody “owns” the votes of Burnaby voters. If you want real change, vote Green in 2017.
David W.G. Macdonald, Burnaby
