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Out of order

CONGRATULATIONS are in order for the three North Shore men - Yuri Fulmer, Tim Jones and James O'Rourke - recently named to the Order of B.C. Their dedication and love of their community have improved lives and saved lives.

CONGRATULATIONS are in order for the three North Shore men - Yuri Fulmer, Tim Jones and James O'Rourke - recently named to the Order of B.C. Their dedication and love of their community have improved lives and saved lives.

A commendation also for the province's honours secretariat for achieving the seemingly impossible: assembling seven people with a kind word for Gordon Campbell.

Opposition parties and a few thousand Facebook users are quibbling over the timing, arguing Campbell isn't eligible until 2012.

Whether or not they are correct, it probably would have been a good idea to leave Campbell off the list for a year, allowing tempers to cool after the HST debacle.

Certainly, the optics are terrible. Should we really be putting a man who resigned in disgrace and whose arrogance cost us billions next to the more sympathetic, selfless recipients like Jim Robson or Crystal Dunahee?

Yes we should. Public service is a gruelling, thankless occupation and those who make a career of it do so out of a sincere belief in making their communities better. Campbell spent a good portion of his life in public service, as mayor of Vancouver, leader of the Opposition and as premier.

He was good at his job: realizing policy goals and winning re-election. What you may think of those policies is beside the point. If we can put ideology aside long enough to praise a man of the left like Jack Layton then we can find the time to recognize a man of the right.