Elizabeth May swears up and down that her decision to present a petition to the House of Commons demanding a "parliamentary review of the omissions and inconsistencies in the official United States of America 9/11 Commission Report" was simply about respecting the wishes of constituents and doesn't reflect her personal views on this apparently subjective matter.
Though her ostensible defense has been the popular urban myth that MPs "have to" read into the public record any petition they're given (not true, says the House website), it's hard to avoid viewing her actions as anything but a dog whistle endorsement to a certain faction of her partisan base.
As the preferred party of the fringe and alienated, the Green Party of Canada has had a long and complicated relationship with the Truther community.
On the one hand, among the deranged subcultures of the extreme left, Truthers represent a constituency who are organized, energetic, and (in their own way) politically informed - precisely the sort of highly-motivated go-getters any self-respecting kook party would want onside.
On the other hand, their preferred cause is undeniably toxic from a PR perspective, championing, as it does, stomping on the graves of the nearly 3,000 souls slaughtered in New York and Washington by absolving guilt from the fundamentalist sadists who have repeatedly claimed responsibility.
The Green's preferred solution to this dilemma, it seems, is to utilize the gifts of Truthers so long as they remain quiet and unseen, while simultaneously engaging in high-profile purges of those whose prominence crosses that thin line separating asset from liability.
In 2007, Vancouver-area Green candidate Kevin Potvin was fired by May following revelations that he not only rejected the "official story" of 9/11 ("I have no idea what happened on that day, but it's certainly not the story that Washington propagates") but somewhat confusingly also supported the attacks themselves.
In an editorial published in some far-left rag shortly after the day in question, he described the sight of the towers and Pentagon in smoke as "beautiful," and having provoked "an urge to pump my fist in the air."
Potvin's ouster was followed a few months later by the purging of another Green candidate, John Shavluk of Newton-North Delta, for even more odious remarks.
Arguing online with a DC cop, Shavluk had taunted the officer with what he no doubt imagined to be a withering burn, noting that "i [sic] heard some guy in Australia knows someone who says he had something to do with your governments [sic] complicate [sic] attack on your shoddily built Jewish world bank headquarters."
Then there was Qais Ghanem, prospective 2011 Green Party candidate for Ottawa South. He quit on his own accord following Elizabeth May's expression of concern over his involvement in a "peace conference" that hosted, amongst other anti-Semites and Iranian regime proxies, a speaker positing that 9/11 was an elaborate Zionist conspiracy.
Ghanem himself was no stranger to such theories, having previously written on Truther websites that the carnage of September 11 was clearly an "inside job" that "could not possibly be the work of a dozen amateur Saudis."
Three other Green Party candidates were associated with the conference, too. I'm not sure what became of them.
Whether or not Elizabeth May is a Truther herself is fairly irrelevant at this point. Her party is clearly attractive to them, and it doesn't appear difficult for a sufficiently motivated Truther to climb to significant heights within it.
May's willingness to dignify a Truther petition before a parliamentary audience, when, by all accounts she would have been completely legally and morally justified dismissing their concerns as frivolous nonsense (as it is exceedingly easy to imagine her doing, with, say, a petition claiming global warming is a load of baloney) can be easily interpreted as a kind of proper care and feeding of this valuable constituency.
After all, even if May does not endorse the Truther subculture personally, the practical consequences of her stunt - which she certainly knew would make national headlines - are hardly unfavorable to their interests.
Their message has been heard, their crankish conspiracy theory has been legitimized as a perfectly valid "voice" in our national dialogue, and, most importantly, their perception of the Greens as a party that's sympathetic to their existence (even if only to a point) has been reconfirmed.
What perceptions of the Green Party have been reconfirmed in the minds of the 96 percent of Canadians who don't vote for them is a matter Ms. May might want to pause and consider.
Sun News : Elizabeth May's 9/11 'truther' petition reveals Green Party cranks
Though her ostensible defense has been the popular urban myth that MPs "have to" read into the public record any petition they're given (not true, says the House website), it's hard to avoid viewing her actions as anything but a dog whistle endorsement to a certain faction of her partisan base.
As the preferred party of the fringe and alienated, the Green Party of Canada has had a long and complicated relationship with the Truther community.
On the one hand, among the deranged subcultures of the extreme left, Truthers represent a constituency who are organized, energetic, and (in their own way) politically informed - precisely the sort of highly-motivated go-getters any self-respecting kook party would want onside.
On the other hand, their preferred cause is undeniably toxic from a PR perspective, championing, as it does, stomping on the graves of the nearly 3,000 souls slaughtered in New York and Washington by absolving guilt from the fundamentalist sadists who have repeatedly claimed responsibility.
The Green's preferred solution to this dilemma, it seems, is to utilize the gifts of Truthers so long as they remain quiet and unseen, while simultaneously engaging in high-profile purges of those whose prominence crosses that thin line separating asset from liability.
In 2007, Vancouver-area Green candidate Kevin Potvin was fired by May following revelations that he not only rejected the "official story" of 9/11 ("I have no idea what happened on that day, but it's certainly not the story that Washington propagates") but somewhat confusingly also supported the attacks themselves.
In an editorial published in some far-left rag shortly after the day in question, he described the sight of the towers and Pentagon in smoke as "beautiful," and having provoked "an urge to pump my fist in the air."
Potvin's ouster was followed a few months later by the purging of another Green candidate, John Shavluk of Newton-North Delta, for even more odious remarks.
Arguing online with a DC cop, Shavluk had taunted the officer with what he no doubt imagined to be a withering burn, noting that "i [sic] heard some guy in Australia knows someone who says he had something to do with your governments [sic] complicate [sic] attack on your shoddily built Jewish world bank headquarters."
Then there was Qais Ghanem, prospective 2011 Green Party candidate for Ottawa South. He quit on his own accord following Elizabeth May's expression of concern over his involvement in a "peace conference" that hosted, amongst other anti-Semites and Iranian regime proxies, a speaker positing that 9/11 was an elaborate Zionist conspiracy.
Ghanem himself was no stranger to such theories, having previously written on Truther websites that the carnage of September 11 was clearly an "inside job" that "could not possibly be the work of a dozen amateur Saudis."
Three other Green Party candidates were associated with the conference, too. I'm not sure what became of them.
Whether or not Elizabeth May is a Truther herself is fairly irrelevant at this point. Her party is clearly attractive to them, and it doesn't appear difficult for a sufficiently motivated Truther to climb to significant heights within it.
May's willingness to dignify a Truther petition before a parliamentary audience, when, by all accounts she would have been completely legally and morally justified dismissing their concerns as frivolous nonsense (as it is exceedingly easy to imagine her doing, with, say, a petition claiming global warming is a load of baloney) can be easily interpreted as a kind of proper care and feeding of this valuable constituency.
After all, even if May does not endorse the Truther subculture personally, the practical consequences of her stunt - which she certainly knew would make national headlines - are hardly unfavorable to their interests.
Their message has been heard, their crankish conspiracy theory has been legitimized as a perfectly valid "voice" in our national dialogue, and, most importantly, their perception of the Greens as a party that's sympathetic to their existence (even if only to a point) has been reconfirmed.
What perceptions of the Green Party have been reconfirmed in the minds of the 96 percent of Canadians who don't vote for them is a matter Ms. May might want to pause and consider.
Sun News : Elizabeth May's 9/11 'truther' petition reveals Green Party cranks