I understand that the purpose of letters to the editor is to provide one’s point of view, however I would have expected that The Parksville Qualicum Beach News would at least require these to have a basis in reality prior to being published.
In the Oct. 3 edition of The NEWS, there was a letter written by Brenda Hadley from Coombs (‘Where’s Our MLA?’) that could not have passed the most fundamental fact checking.
Perhaps it is because Hadley is not a resident of the Parksville-Qualicum riding that she is not aware of the presence of our MLA during the most recent sitting of the legislature. A quick internet search for “Michelle Stilwell youtube” will reveal not only the fallacy of Hadley’s misconception but also demonstrate how well our MLA represented our riding while there.
Further review of past editions of this newspaper would also help Hadley to understand how our MLA has been involved within the community.
Of course part of the job description of a politician is to receive public scrutiny and there are often many valid points of this nature to be made. Hadley’s letter does not attempt to do this and instead simply demonstrates banal partisan rhetoric of a nature that I would have hoped The NEWS would not repeat.
Allen Larsen
Parksville
