THE NDP'S INHALED TOO DEEPLY ON MARC EMERY'S CAUSE

It's fitting that the brouhaha surrounding Michaelle Jean's
appointment occurred around the time we learned that the Internet is
replacing radio and television in the lives of younger Canadians. The
controversy marks the first time that a website -- that of Le
Quebecois, a sovereigntist publication -- has set the political and
media agenda in Canada.

Based on this unhappy experience, political elites should ask
themselves whether they've reached the limits of spin in managing
political crises. Media elites might want to consider whether the
perception of information suppression is eroding their credibility and
encouraging the development of ideologically homogeneous Internet
communities.

Here in B.C. and extending across Canada, a similar situation is
bubbling beneath mainstream media radar screens. According to a recent
public opinion survey, 58 per cent of Canadians oppose Marc Emery's
extradition to the United States on money laundering and drug-related
charges. Some of this sentiment is likely related to favourable media
coverage, which routinely compares the Prince of Pot to Mahatma Gandhi
and Martin Luther King.

Interestingly, the day The Globe and Mail's portrait of Mr. Emery
appeared in print, I happened across a website (Bourque.org) featuring
a doctored photo of Justice Minister Irwin Cotler in a German army
uniform. Though the Globe article had mentioned an incident 15 years
ago when Mr. Emery called a London, Ont., feminist a "jack-booted
femi-Nazi," I was ill-prepared for the commentary on his website
(reproduced here with all typos and spellings):

"NEOCON-KAPO irwin cotler," the forum moderator writes, "is signing
depotation orders for CANNABIS CULTURE people wanted in the united
states because he is secretly trying to get israeli spy Jonathan
Pollard out of jail in the united states. . . ."

The offensive photo of "Emery fans taunting Cotler" remained on Bourque.org
all day, but was quickly deleted from Mr. Emery's website by another
moderator. Though she scolded the author -- "You're bringing us VERY BAD
attention" -- another contributor reminded her of a recent posting by Mr.
Emery: "Calling Cotler or anyone a nazi disengages almost everyone. . . .
The term for Irwin Cotler might be 'capo.' These were the Jews during the
holocaust who were fated to deliver their fellow Jews to their death."

Regrettably, Mr. Emery's standing has also been boosted by
politicians, who've given him precious legitimacy. In 2003, NDP Leader
Jack Layton agreed to be interviewed by Mr. Emery on Pot TV. Two years
earlier, Mr. Emery had accused Timmins, Ont., police of being no
different from their counterparts in "Stalinist Russia or Nazi
Germany" when they requested that his magazine, Cannabis Culture, be
pulled off the shelves of distributors after a Grade 7 student came to
school with a copy.

Preceded by ads for marijuana seed sales, Messrs. Layton and Emery
spent 20 minutes during the interview chumming it up and encouraging
viewers to support the NDP. Since then, there's been close
co-operation between their respective organizations. NDP House Leader
Libby Davies -- one of two caucus members who supported Mr. Layton's
leadership bid -- has been a champion of legalizing marijuana. On Mr.
Emery's website, you'll find her letter to Chris Bennett, the manager
of Pot TV, who proposed bringing protesters to Parliament Hill wearing
a "yellow arm-band . . . maybe the leaf over the star of David, so the
symbolism is loud and clear." In acceding to her request not to, Mr.
Bennett replied: "I fail to see the difference between the persecution
of the cannabis community and the suffering of Mr. Cotler's ancestors."

Mr. Layton's other caucus supporter, former MP Svend Robinson, is one
of Mr. Emery's strongest B.C. supporters. In a recent contribution to
the Vancouver Province, Mr. Robinson writes: "It is time we recognized
that the most destructive drugs in Canada are legal: alcohol and
tobacco. But they have powerful corporate lobbyists working on their
behalf."

Mr. Emery, it turns out, is no slouch in that department. After the
Pot TV interview, he says he signed up "more than 3,000 new NDP
members and delivered about 150,000 votes . . . printed 100,000
brochures outlining Layton's position on marijuana . . . paid $5,000
to buy two tables at a Jack Layton dinner, and donated between $500
and $1,000 to eight different NDP candidates."

Though I'm a child of the '60s like Mr. Layton, I can't imagine the
NDP under David Lewis or Ed Broadbent associating with these kinds of
people and accepting this kind of money.