08.04.2014 04:03 PM

In Tuesday’s Sun: Prince Pothead

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. He got himself there 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 help 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 Sommers – 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 proven 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 asshole.”

.

31 Comments

  1. TrueNorthist says:

    You’re right Warren, Marc Emery has a long and scandalous history here in BC. But the CPC is clearly taking advantage of a situation that the Liberals carelessly created themselves by courting the Emerys in the first place. There is no question that the Tories are losing significant numbers of libertarian minded voters as a result of their cannabis policy and are simply stealing a little back on a losing issue. I don’t think it will hurt the Liberals much really, in the long run. Just a little more embarrassment for yet another early mistake.

    This might actually wind up being a net plus for the Liberals as it will remind certain folks that libertarians are no longer welcome in the CPC.

    • Matt says:

      CPC losing Libertarian minded people because of their stance on weed?

      Marijuana is an important issue to about 0.1% of voters.

      • Tiger says:

        The CPC isn’t losing libertarian voters with the pot issue whom they hadn’t already lost (probably ca. the 2009 stimulus budget).

        But they _are_ making their current libertarian members (like me) a little cranky with the messaging. “Why should I do that extra canvass, or write that extra cheque, or urge that extra friend to vote, if we’re running on Reefer Madness ads in the suburbs?” (Answer: because there are a lot of other policies that are more salient. But I have to tell myself this more and more.)

        • doconnor says:

          So, what Conservative policies still appear to Libertarians that make them better then the other major parties?

          They are supposedly more fiscally conservative then the Liberals, but their cuts seem to be more driven by the desire then punish enemies then a desire to save money and let the free market take its course and they are as socially conservative as they think they can get away with.

          • Tiger says:

            They can’t get away with much social conservatism, and the part they do exercise (don’t subsidize X) generally isn’t awful.

            It’s more what they don’t do — no overarching new national shared-cost programs. The Liberals believe that creating more of those programs are “building Canada”, etc., and the Dippers are unabashed socialists.

            If one is a Keynesian, the CPC actually executed on what Lord Keynes initially pitched — emergency spending in a crisis, to be wound down after the crisis passes. (Assuming the 2015 budget actually shows a surplus.) If one is not, well, there really isn’t a party for the non-Keynesians anymore, in practice…

  2. Matt says:

    Yeah, when I read about Emory’s plan, I nearly fell off my chair I was laughing so hard. He certainly does have a rather inflated opinion of himself.

    Then all I could picture was Stephen Harper reading Emory’s comments, leaning back in his desk chair, tenting his fingers a la Mr. Burns – “EXXXXXXXCELLENT!”

  3. Swervin' Merv says:

    Speaking of lies, this week’s posting by Chris Hedges about the Gaza conflict is worth reading: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_israel_lies_20140803.

  4. Frank the tank says:

    RE: http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2014/08/20140805-071904.html

    Mr. Kinsella assumes three things.

    1 – Mr. Emery is a conservative, and attributes all of Mr. Emery’s… umm… “distinctive attributes” to those of Conservative values. Why? Because they’re not Liberal values. I would ask Mr. Kinsella “Which party did Mr. Emery try to run with? Liberals, not Conservatives, meaning that in Mr. Emery’s mind at least, he considers himself a Liberal, not a Conservative.

    2 – Mr. Kinsella assumes that because Mr. Emery has particular views that Mr. Kinsella does not agree with, Mr. Emery, therefore, must be in reality a “Conservative agent”. Again, re #1 above. Which party did Mr. Emery try to run with?

    3 – Finally, Mr. Kinsella assumes that Conservatives love this guy, because he really isn’t a Liberal. Good grief, Mr. Kinsella! News flash! Conservative values are not Libertarian values. Conservatives don’t like him either! On that front, at least, we agree!

    Do you get the implication? Mr. Kinsella is trying to portray Mr. Emery as a Conservative, because Mr. Emery is an idiot, and a liar. Attributes he equates with Conservative values. In other words, Mr. Kinsella is inferring indirectly that Conservatives are idiots and liars.

    Once again, we have a case of a Liberal trying to demonize conservatives by portraying an individual that he does not like “as a conservative!” That’s in the neighbourhood of bigotry, Mr. Kinsella. Give your head a shake! It’s like if I said I don’t like Mr. Kinsella, because Mr. Kinsella is a liberal, then I tried to compare liberal values with that of the KKK. It’s outrageous, and unacceptable, and SNN should have punted this column.

    • smelter rat says:

      Wow. What are you smoking?

    • Kaspar Juul says:

      Someone’s bitter

    • doconnor says:

      You entirely missed the point. He isn’t saying Emery is a Conservative. He is saying the Conservative like him because he makes the Liberals look bad because he supports the same issue they do.

      Of course, having a bad person believe in something doesn’t make that belief bad, but a lot of people don’t think it through enough to realize that.

    • sezme says:

      I think you need to reread the column. You are making a lot of really bad guesses about what Warren meant. Specifically, the three assumptions you’ve enumerated above: wrong, wrong, and wrong.

      Taking deep calming breaths before typing your outrage is important.

  5. Joe says:

    Emery is a bit of an unforced error on Trudeau’s part. When Trudeau came out in favour of decriminalizing marijuana the Liberals became the party of the marijuana crusaders including nutbars like Emery. If Trudeau were wiser and less inclined to grandstand on silly issues he would have used the tried and true method of Chretien, Martin and Harper which is basically passing up on enforcement rather than trying to re-write the law.

    • Kaspar Juul says:

      Because what the voter wants is smoke and mirrors. Thank you Professor Joe for that pithy lecture

      • Joe says:

        Good to see your lack of education hasn’t helped you find wisdom there Kaspar. The question is whether you want to decriminalize marijuana or grandstand to attract would be voters. If your desire is to decriminalize then you would do it in ways that the prohibitionists wouldn’t notice. You start by not enforcing the law as it is written then at some point in the future you pass some sort of omnibus criminal code re-write including the removal of the use or marijuana as a criminal offense. Now if you want to grandstand and make silly statements then expect to get nutbars like Emery flocking to your side and making you look like a fool through their foolish acts and statements.

        Wise leaders choose the former route – foolish wannabes take the later.

        • Kaspar Juul says:

          Again with the lack of education.

          Remember when conbots used to claim to be grassroots and decry the leftist elite with their snobby education. Guess the mantle of arrogant elitists is back to its natural role.

          My how times have changed. Hope your elitism helps you in the wilderness.

  6. davie says:

    Oh…I don’t know:

    The party that in government refused entry into Canada of the refugees on the good ship St Louis;
    The party that in government knew the October oil sanctions on Japan would invite retaliation yet sent a brigade of guys for Quebec and Manitoba to Hong Kong to certain sacrifice;
    The party that enabled the gangsters of the USA’s Seaman’s International use violence to displace the Canadian Seaman’s because a couple of CSU exec were card carriers;
    The party that bleats about its Nobel Peace when the guy was given the prize was actually helping Great Britain save face;
    The party that said one thing to us about nukes on Canadian soil while doing the opposite;
    The party that ran against wage a price controls and then instituted wage controls…okay, and the odd price control;
    The party that ran on getting rid of GST, visited US, then sat on the promise;
    The party that said we were not in Iraq, oh, but maybe we are, oh, just some exchange people, oh, we can have it both ways…

    Yeah, Marc Emory might be a fit.

  7. debs says:

    JT is probably hoping Emory gets jailed before he can campaign in earnest.

  8. Philippe says:

    Last weekend, I was at a cottage with a few friends & a good debate ensued on who everyone would vote for in the next election. Several of the guys, who are non-political types, were incredibly pro-Trudeau. When I dug a little, it became clear they were one-issues voters (these were middle class, family guys). It came down to Marijuana legalization. These guys didn’t even like or know much about politics, but they knew who they’d support.

    Pot legalization is a VOTE GETTER.

    I disagree with totally throwing Emery under the bus, there are an incredible amount of voters out there who will support Trudeau based on his legalization stance & Emery speaks for a lot of these folks even if he much more radical than the average pot smoker. Keep your distance, but don’t throw a passionate ally under the bus.

  9. JH says:

    I don’t care about JT’s stony pony routine, but I’m a little more concerned about his visit to an Al Queada mosque cited as a recruitment center WK. That’s a little bit beyond the pale.

  10. Malcom Tucker says:

    Warren —

    It’s not “unnamed Liberals” approaching Jodie Emery. It’s two misguided EDA executives from Van-East: Russ Miller and Mark Elyas.

  11. Tim says:

    Marc Emery is indeed an idiot. I once saw him in the flesh at a rally of his where he proclaimed that airline pilots and fork lift operators ought to be high to improve their performance. However, despite his personal faults, the man should have never been extradited to the US and marijuana shouldn’t be illegal. It is no more harmful than alcohol and there is no benefit to criminalizing it and pushing it underground. You’re behind the times in not supporting legalization, Warren.

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