Canada's Green Party admits altering photo to remove leader's single-use cup

Canada's Green Party rolled out its 2019 election platform in recent days, but that's not why they're receiving international attention this week.

The party has admitted to doctoring a photo of their leader, Elizabeth May, holding a single-use cup — by photoshopping the image to show her using a reusable cup complete with a metal straw.

What are the details?

"All I know is that the original was photoshopped to put in a cup that had the Green Party logo," party spokeswoman Rosie Emery told the National Post.

The news caused enough of a stir that May herself released a statement Tuesday, addressing the cup issue on the party's website, saying:

I was completely shocked to find that the party had photoshopped an image of me from last year's Sidney Street Market. My personal daily practice is to avoid single use plastic items 100 percent of the time. I never drink from plastic water bottles. I always carry my own reusable coffee cup. I carry my own bamboo utensils. I walk the talk every day. I hope that despite this misstep by well-meaning party staff (who hoped to brand the image with our logo), people can believe that in the original photo there is nothing I would have hidden.

May's statement includes the original photo which she says was "clearly showing (a) compostable cup and no straw."

The Washington Times pointed out that Canada's Green Party is pushing for a ban on single-use plastics.

Anything else?

According to Fox News, the image remained on the party's website mid-day on Thursday, but had been cropped so May's hands were no longer showing. As of this writing, the photo appeared to be removed from site entirely, except for the page bearing the leader's statement on the blunder.