Green Party in Canada admits editing photo to show leader holding reusable cup

Canada’s Green Party admitted it doctored a photo of its leader to show her holding a reusable cup instead of a paper one.

Elizabeth May, the longtime head of the party, said in a statement on Tuesday that her staff altered the photo, which had been taken last year during the Sidney Street Market in Victoria, British Columbia.

In the original photo, May held a paper cup without a straw. But in the doctored photo, she holds a reusable cup with a Green Party of Canada logo on it, as well as a metal straw. 

Green Party used Photoshop to add reusable cup and metal straw to photo of Elizabeth May https://t.co/sKhTVefm5v pic.twitter.com/RO3Qrd359o

— Ottawa Citizen (@OttawaCitizen) September 25, 2019

“I was completely shocked to find that the party had photoshopped an image of me from last year’s Sidney Street Market,” May wrote in the statement. “My personal daily practice is to avoid single use plastic items 100% 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.{mosads}

“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,” she wrote.

May told reporters she had “no idea” why someone would doctor the image, The Guardian notes, adding jokingly that “if they’re going to Photoshop, couldn’t they do something with my face and make it look a little younger?”

The incident comes after the party released its 2019 platform, vowing to ban all single-use plastic products in the country by 2022, The Washington Post reports.

May is among five candidates competing to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Canada’s general election on Oct. 21.