Angry in the Great White North

The Green Party has issued a statement:

The Green Party wishes to reiterate that leader Elizabeth May has never advocated strategic voting. In an interview with the Toronto Star and in response to NDP leader Jack Layton suggesting he was open to a potential Liberal—NDP coalition, Ms. May suggested that all opposition leaders might consider some larger coalition effort before the vote. In the course of a two-hour interview, it was one of many ideas discussed in quite hypothetical terms. Honesty about the perverse and anti-democratic outcomes of the first-past-the-post voting system takes nothing away from the reality that Canada needs Green MPs in the House of Commons.

Read it again.  Carefully.

The Green Party wishes to make things clear.  Not Elizabeth May.

It is the position of the Green Party that Green MPs need to be elected.  Period.

It is the position of the Green Party that Elizabeth May sometimes speaks hypothetically.  Period.

Hypothetically?  As in not to be taken literally?  Or even seriously?

Hey, how about a hypothetical statement from Elizabeth May?  Oh yeah we got one of those:

May urged Canadians to do all they can to throw Prime Minister Stephen Harper out of office, including strongly suggesting they shouldn't vote Green if another candidate has a better chance at defeating a Conservative.

"We are too close to the edge of a global apocalypse," May said in an interview. "We have got to grab the opportunities we have. And, clearly, the contribution Canadians can make to a global solution is to get rid of Stephen Harper."

May insists she's not calling for strategic voting because that leads people to simply vote Liberal. She wants Canadians to examine their riding and figure out how best to keep the Tories from winning.

"I won't say, `You've got to vote Green if you believe in our policies.' I'll say, `Here's our policies, figure out what you need to do because, frankly, the Green party has to put progress (on climate change) and principle above short-term power.'"

According to the Green Party, we can safely ignore Elizabeth May on this one.  Perhaps the Green Party can issue regular bulletins on when Elizabeth May is speaking seriously, and when she's just musing and so should be ignored.