A minor incident in Sarnia's CN Rail yard recently was greatly exaggerated by a tweet from national Green Party leader Elizabeth May over the weekend, says a miffed Mayor Mike Bradley.
He sent out a curt email response to May when it became clear that she had taken a phone call from “a source” at face value and had tweeted Saturday that Sarnia was the scene of a 20-car derailment.
“Very disappointed with your tweeting a rumour...,” Bradley's email said.
CN Rail reported that a set of wheels derailed on a single empty tank car during a slow moving yard operation in the Sarnia yard around 3 p.m. Friday. There were no injuries and no impact on operations.
However, May – who has more than 68,000 followers on her Twitter account – tweeted: “Why is no one reporting the train derailment in Sarnia yesterday? My sources say 20 cars jumped the track.”
Given the potential significance of an incident that large and the recent train tragedy in Lac Megantic Quebec, Bradley said the national media were quick to react to May's erroneous tweet and he fielded numerous reporters' calls Saturday.
“Because she is the leader of a political party, she gives it credibility,” he said. “When she sent out that tweet, it got all the media in a frenzy. There should be a correction out from her office by now.”
When contacted by The Observer Monday, May's chief of staff Deborah Eindiguer said the Green Party leader had acted on the word of a single source who she would not name.
“The source is not willing to go public,” Eindiguer said. She said May did not attempt to contact CN before she tweeted about the incident in the rail company's yard.
drama
Mayor blames Green Party for spreading rumours | Local | News | Sarnia Observer
