Canada's Green Party has been caught 'greenwashing' a picture of its leader by photoshopping in a plastic reusable cup... complete with metal straw.
The picture of Elizabeth May originally showed her holding a disposable paper cup, only for a new version to appear on the party's website of her holding a plastic reusable cup with Green Party logo and the metal straw.
However, the Green Party leader issued a statement on Tuesday saying she was "completely shocked" that the image, taken in Sidney, British Columbia, had been edited without her consent.
She denied the manipulated image was meant to bolster her environmental credentials and argued that paper cups are compostable.
Ms May added: "My personal daily practice is to avoid single-use plastic items 100 per cent 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."
When asked about the issue by reporters, she added: “I’m sorry for the staff person that did it. I don’t want to call them stupid on television, but there was nothing there to hide. So why Photoshop it? I have no idea.”
"It won’t surprise you to know I never take a plastic drinking water bottle, I carry my own mug, I carry my own utensils on aeroplanes so I never take a single-use plastic item.
“So it’s bizarre that the notion of fakery should stretch to someone who doesn’t fake anything.”
She then quipped: "If they’re going to Photoshop, couldn’t they do something with my face and make it look a little younger?”
Ms May launched the party's 2019 election platform last Monday.
One of the party's main objectives is reducing plastic, which has become a big issue in Canadian politics after Justin Trudeau promised to ban all single-use plastics by 2021.
Mr Trudeau was shortly afterwards photographed in a meeting with single-use items scattered on the table, leaving a lot of MPs wary of their image in case it undercuts their environmental credentials.
