May ignores optics to hang on
Re: May Stays Green Chief In Wake Of Israel Row, Aug. 23. Aside from her Green bona fides, I have always viewed Elizabeth May as an enigma. She is the leader of a party that allowed itself to be hijacked by a radical, anti-democratic, anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement at its convention. If she had any principles and regard for democratic society, she would have resigned on the spot. Of course, who said you had to have principles to be the leader of a political party in Canada? Robert Teskey, Ottawa. There was never any doubt that Elizabeth May would compromise her values to stay as leader of the Green party. After all, what would she do with her time if she wasn’t invited to all those Ottawa fetes? Obviously, she was so busy socializing she missed the fact that her party was being hijacked by antiIsrael activists. Her verbal skills in front of an audience have never been in question, however the convoluted way she had to sell this turkey required some pretzel-like manoeuvrings.
May’s belief that the convention resolution to boycott Israel will be “revisited” defies the reality that she has lost any control over policy. However, her continued role on the committee to aid and abet the Trudeau government’s determined bid to change our electoral system will accommodate a proliferation of small leftist fringe parties like the Greens to support the Liberal goal of continual power in federal politics. Still, it is sad that the lure of lifestyle indulgences has compromised her integrity. It is inevitable she will eventually be pushed out of the party. Carol Joseph, Burlington, Ont.