Over the past week I've spent a fair bit of time on the Justin Trudeau blackface/brownface controversy in this stupid column.
First I showed you the photos, then I interviewed the Liberal candidate in our riding about the whole thing.
After that I brought you another Trudeau mug that was painted black; a coffee mug that is.
Well another interesting federal leader story involving a cup surfaced this week, this one centering around the Green Party's Elizabeth May.
Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May speaks in Toronto prior to a fireside chat about the climate, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. The Greens say introducing universal pharmacare would cost $26.7 billion next year — the biggest new spending item in a costed platform released today. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
It came out that a photograph that May's party was distributing had been altered to make it look like she was holding a reusable cup with a metal straw.
When confronted, the party admitted they had Photoshopped it, but that the cup they Photoshopped out was a reusable cup... just like the one they Photoshopped in.
They said that they didn't have the original to share with the media.
Then the National Post did some sleuthing and found that the original photo did not contain a reusable cup.
She was holding a disposable paper cup in the original.
Where did the Post dig up the image the party claimed they couldn't provide?
ON THE GODDAMNED FRONT PAGE OF THE GREEN PARTY OF CANADA'S WEBSITE.
Retracing the steps of the offending photograph using the WayBack Machine, you'll be able to ascertain that the one with the paper cup was on their website as recent as June 19th, 2019.
It’s a magical disappearing cup. It’s powers include making people who see it three times more cynical about politicians. Screengrab from the Wayback Machine’s capture of the GreenParty.ca website
Not one month later the photo was updated (Photoshopped) to make it look like she was holding a reusable cup, with one of those metal straws that don't get stuck in turtles' noses.
It’s a magical disappearing cup. Its powers include making people who see it three times more cynical about politicians. Screengrab from the Wayback Machine’s capture of the GreenParty.ca website on July 16, 2019
May claimed she was surprised to see the Photoshopped image.
She told reporters "I’m sorry for the staff person that did it. I don’t want to call them stupid on television, but there was nothing there to hide. So why Photoshop it? I have no idea.”
Why Photoshop it? Justin Trudeau might have an idea.
Green voters lost their minds when the Prime Minister appeared in a photo in a meeting where he discussed climate change, with a pile of plastic forks.
The photo of May holding the cup was updated just days after Trudeau's plastic fork controversy erupted.
You can draw a straight line between those two things happening.
And why did the Green Party lie about it being a reusable cup swapped for another reusable cup, when it was actually a paper cup?
Probably because they think you're stupid enough to believe that.
Whether you think they're at fault for Photoshopping the image or you think it's a non-issue, we can probably all agree that they shouldn't have lied about it.
The most basic thing we can hope for in the people who lead our government is honesty.
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This is Vancouver's Stupidest Politics Column. Read the archive HERE.
