Pubdate: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 Source: Enterprise-Bulletin, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2014, Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin Contact: http://www.theenterprisebulletin.com/letters Website: http://www.theenterprisebulletin.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2267 Author: Warren Kinsella Page: A4 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc) A GRIT? NOT ONE BIT Is Marc Emery a secret agent for the Conservative Party of Canada? It sure looks that way. It's impossible that you have not heard of the World's Most Famous Pothead. But, in the event that you have been in a coma for the past while, consider this a primer, gratis. Marc Emery is from B.C. Presently, he is a guest of the U.S. prison system, but is returning to Canada this month. He got himself in prison by selling drug stuff in the U.S. His business was called Marc Emery Direct Marijuana Seeds, which pretty accurately describes what he does for a living. Emery is also an advocate, however. Most of the time, he is an advocate only for himself. He has therefore run for mayor of Vancouver three times, and lost each time. He has run for the Libertarian Party federally and received 197 votes. He has also helped to start up no less than four political parties - the Freedom Party, the Marijuana Party of Canada, the B.C. Marijuana Party, and something called the Unparty. He's been in jail plenty of times before being imprisoned in the U.S. He's been jailed for selling obscene stuff, for drug trafficking, and even for breaking Sunday shopping laws. He's also an idiot. For instance, after he was arrested, Emery called then Justice Minister Irwin Cotler - one of the greatest parliamentarians this country has ever had - a "Nazi Jew" and a "Jewish Nazi." Those are quotes. He said that Cotler, who is indeed Jewish, is "identical intellectually" to the Nazis. Oh, and he likened marijuana prohibition to the Holocaust. He actually said that. When a reporter suggested to Emery that comparing pot laws to the Holocaust is hurtful to Jews and gays and others, Emery sniffed: "[Some] people like to think they have the monopoly on pain." So, he's a jerk. But he's a liar, too. Emery used to say he'd smoked marijuana with Justin Trudeau. Here's a quote: "[He's] smoked with me four or five times, so it really pisses me off when I see Justin Trudeau, who took big gaggers with me, is in Parliament actually voting for [a bill which would have imposed mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences, including marijuana]." Emery didn't qualify that statement, that's what he said. When Trudeau heard about it, and said that Emery was lying - and when Sun News confronted him with it - Emery finally admitted he was, in fact, a liar. Said he: "I am indeed recorded telling a falsehood that until now, I was unaware was out there. I'm totally embarrassed about it. I take my reputation very seriously, as of course, does Mr. Trudeau, and I'm really saddened that I have caused him some grief by this clear misrepresentation." Catch that first part? It was a lie, and he was prepared to let the lie stand, until someone - Trudeau, Sun News - challenged him on it. Now, as noted at the outset, the Conservative Party loves Marc Emery. He has said he wants to run for the Liberals. So has his wife - who has even claimed unnamed Liberals approached her to do so. Liberal spokesman Dave Sommer - a great guy who, full disclosure, used to work with us at Sun News - had this to say about Emerys: "The Liberal Party does not endorse the Emerys' plans in any way. They are not affiliated with the party." Personally, if I'd been Dave, I would have been a tougher. I would have said this: "Marc Emery is a confessed liar. He is also a disgrace - for what he has said about Jews, and the Holocaust, and a great, great man like Irwin Cotler. He's unfit to be in the same room as Irwin Cotler. Moreover, Marc Emery doesn't belong in the Liberal Party. "He belongs in jail in the U.S., for life, for being an loathsome creep." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom