Lizzie May Has a Problem

"Ottawa group of four" defying Green Party leadership

When Green Party leader Elizabeth May went to her party membership looking for permission to ignore her own party's rules -- the Green Party constitution called for fixed-date leadership contests -- it was tough to tell whether or not the move should be condemned or applauded.

There was, of course, the sheer sanctimony of it. May has been the loudest complainer whenever she felt that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was breaking the rules. Then again, she was clearly disregarding the rules of her own party.

On the other hand, however, was Sylvie Lemieux. As a member of the Green Party's Ottawa Group of Four, she clearly had some extreme views, and was prepared to give herself the power to enforce those extreme views over others.

Paul Maillet, Quais Ghannem and Akbar Massoui round out the Group of Four.

A conference -- being described as a "peace conference" -- being organized by the cabal has quickly become a case in point.

The conference claims to be discussing “just and sustainable peace”. However, a deeper look below the blanket rhetoric reveals that it's actually about anything but.

According to Maillet, considered to be the ringleader of the Group of Four, the conference's goal is to identify “an alternative approach to conflict that doesn’t lead you down the path of violence."

“We were able to get some academics from the University of Tehran, and we thought that this was a good place to start,” he added.

For the sake of posterity, this needs to be stated again: they thought the University of Tehran was a good place to start. On speakers for a conference in favour of "just and sustainable peace".

However, the real cuplrit for the attendance of Dawood Ameri and Saeid Ameli was Manoussi, who attended an Iranian government-sponsored conference in Tehran during the last year.

The Ameri's Islamic World Peace Forum features several anti-Semitic cartoons. Ameli, who will be keynote speaker, has actually praised Iran for its efforts to protect women's rights, and has falsely claimed that stoning is no longer used by the Iranian "justice" system.

And these are the people that the Ottawa Group of Four are looking to as guides toward "just and sustainable peace".

The utter shamelessness of the Group of Four is utterly astounding. Maillet actually attempts to defend the event by espousing the values of non-violence.

“One of the principal Green party values in non-violence, and this is what we’re trying to practice,” he said. “Non-violence has to mean living these values somehow.”

Of course, this begs questions: does Iran truly practice non-violence when it funds Hezbollah, who in turn launch rockets into Israeli civilian settlements?

Rationally, we already know the question: no. Of course they don't. Maillet is either wilfully ignorant to this detail, or somehow ignorant altogether.

It's hard to tell whether Maillet, a former Colonel with the Canadian Forces, errs on the side of naivete or wilful ignorance.

“A professional peacekeeper does not choose to have conferences with his friends. He chooses to have dialogue and discussion with people with whom he has differences," he insisted. "That is the place you can make gains.”

Of course, what Maillet clearly doesn't understand is that you can only make gains with adversaries who are willing to come to the table in good faith. The Iranian regime -- with whom all of Maillet's prized Iranian speakers are aligned -- never comes to the table in good faith; it comes merely to spread its own propaganda.

Elizabeth May, at least, seems to understand this much.

“You can’t have a dialogue if you don’t have balance," May said. "You can’t be naive about these things.”

“This is not a happy event,” she continued. “If they’re not aware that they’ve put together a conference which is unbalanced, then they’re not paying attention. I hope they’ll cancel.”

If they don't, May will have a serious problem within her party.

What needs to be seen is what May will do if they don't cancel. The Green Party should move to not only cancel the nominations of Maillet and Ghanem, but expel all four members from the party. However, May hasn't committed to this course of action.

At least with Elizabeth May still at the helm of the Green Party, Sylvie Lemieux won't be using it as a platform for the Ottawa Group of Four's extreme tyrant-coddling agenda.


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