Last month, federal Green leader Elizabeth May compared Prime Minister Stephen Harper's stance on climate change to "a grievance worse than Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of the Nazis." That comparison became a source of controversy for Ms. May. And she subsequently issued a statement of regret saying she was "dismayed that members of the Harper government have chosen to distort my comments to create a firestorm of controversy designed to distract attention from their failure to live up to Canada's Kyoto commitments" - noting a similar comparison had recently been made by best-selling author George Monbiot. But, on Friday morning, the Green leader elaborated on that statement.

Posting on a Green discussion group, Ms. May wrote, "the Canadian Jewish congress told me Holocaust survivors had been disturbed. No idea if this is true, but if they were it was by Harper and sensationalist headline writers. I think part of the problem is that 'Chamberlain' is too long for headline writers and 'Nazi' (being shorter) works well.....What an outrageous bit of irresponsibility from media and bullying from Harper."

In her earlier statement, Ms. May assured, "the Canadian Jewish Congress and all Canadians that I did not compare Nazi Germany and the Holocaust to any current issue. The evil of the Nazi regime is without parallel and stands alone for its deliberate, systematic and inhuman genocide." The Green leader then added she deeply regreted that, "the inflamed rhetoric around this issue has caused pain or offence." Ms. May was unavailable for comment yesterday. That following is a complete copy of the aforementioned posting.

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TO clarify, I refused to apologize or retract. I did express regret if the media firestorm caused anyone grief. The Canadian Jewish congress told me Holocaust survivors had been disturbed. No idea if this is true, but if they were it was by Harper and sensationalist headline writers.

I think part of the problem is that "Chamberlain" is too long for headline writers and "Nazi" (being shorter) works well.....What an outrageous bit of irresponsibility from media and bullying from Harper. I am trying to fight back to every article and editorial. So if you are aware of something, please write your own response and/or send it to me.

Elizabeth