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The Alberta NDP is criticizing the UCP’s new candidate in Calgary-Mountain View for past comments praising an alleged conversion therapy program — an accusation the candidate denies.

In a news release issued Saturday, the NDP said Jeremy Wong “praised and promoted a conversion therapy program called Living Waters.” Conversion therapy is a controversial practice that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation to heterosexual.

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Sarah Hoffman, who is running for re-election with the NDP in Edmonton-Glenora, said there are “a number of very clear ties between work he’s done and work that they’ve done indeed that is conversion therapy and is harmful.”

”These views are harmful and hurtful, and could have really lasting negative impacts on Albertans,” Hoffman said in an interview.

But Wong says he is not affiliated with the group formerly called Living Waters Canada, now known as Journey Canada, and that he does not support conversion therapy in any form. The UCP also pointed to a statement from Journey Canada, which says the organization does not seek to change the sexual orientation of the people who participate in its programs.