Dear editor,

I am writing to give praise to the excellent and compassionate Comox Valley Record editorial on homelessness.

It was a welcome and sober reflection on a very real concern for people struggling with the issues of housing and poverty.

Ironically, the opinion piece running next to it was by former Christy Clark advisor and leader of the BC Liberal astroturf and partisan organization Concerned Citizens of BC, Jim Shepard. This is the same organization who ran their own 1 million dollar attack ad campaign against the NDP in the last election.

The angle employed in this partisan propaganda piece was to drum up fear of the NDP鈥檚 opposition to the incumbent BC liberal government, ironically suggesting that the same compassion expressed in the adjacent editorial on homelessness would result in undeserved taxpayer support for 鈥渢hose who do not work.鈥�

CC4BC says it will hold a 鈥減ublic interest conversation鈥� on what the NDP stands for prior to the election. As citizens, we deserve to know who Jim Shepard is really representing when he attacks the NDP with exaggerated claims and innuendo intended to create fear among voters, and to suggest that those living in poverty are undeserving of support.

Keith Porteous

Denman Island