Premier’s office sorry for remark

Aide apologizes for calling man ‘disgusting’

The Alberta premier’s official communications Twitter account was forced to send out an apology Friday for a “poorly worded tweet” that called a critic a “truly disgusting human being.”

The insult was sent Thursday evening in response to a tweet critical of Alison Redford’s tributes to Nelson Mandela following the passage of two controversial labour bills that have been widely criticized as an attack on unions. Mandela died Thursday at the age of 95.

“For @Premier_Redford to be speaking of the wonder that was Nelson Mandela while her gov’t is taking away the rights of AB unionists hurts,” reads the tweet sent by Michael Connolly, a New Democrat and University of Ottawa student who goes by the handle @NDPmc33.

“@NDPmc33 you are a truly disgusting human being,” read the reply sent from the premier’s office communications account, @ABPremierComms.

It was quickly deleted, but was archived by other Twitter users, many of whom expressed outrage. An apology was sent shortly after 11 a.m. Friday.

“That’s simply apologizing for sending a tweet, not for calling me a ‘disgusting human being’,” Connolly replied. Warren Mitchell, the manager of direct engagement in Redford’s communications office, identified himself Friday as the person responsible for the “inappropriate” message. “I want to sincerely apologize for message I mistakenly tweeted from @ABPremierComms last night,” he wrote in a series of contrite tweets.