Apology for Notley golf target
‘My goal was just to make people laugh,’ says Oilmen’s president
CALGARY The man behind a golf target with Premier Rachel Notley’s face on it apologized Saturday after the sign drew outrage online, saying it was meant to be “lighthearted.”
“My goal was just to make people laugh,” said Ernest Bothi, president of the Big Country Oilmen’s Association in Brooks. “It was a thing of humour. I sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by it ... It was my idea, and I take sole responsibility.”
In the original, since-deleted post, Twitter user Ken Fleury, also a commentator for the Brooks Bandits junior hockey team, wrote, “Just love the #notley target at the oilmen’s golf tourney.” He later tweeted an apology. However, others had already taken screenshots and the image quickly circulated on social media.
Bothi said he put up the target for his organization’s annual golf tournament at the Brooks Golf Course on Friday.
Golf course officials said Saturday they weren’t aware of the sign and didn’t support it.
Provincial Minister for the Status of Women Stephanie McLean tweeted that the sign was “appalling,” noting that British MP Jo Cox had been killed talking to constituents only a few days earlier.
But Bothi said he hadn’t heard about Cox’s death.
“One thing I’m guilty of is poor timing,” he said.
“Had I known that, I never would have put it up.”
Bothi said it wasn’t a gender issue and was actually about his dislike for Notley’s policies.
Though he said he knows low oil prices aren’t the premier’s fault, Bothi said many in the energy sector feel frustrated with tax increases by the provincial government.
“There’s massive unemployment here and it seems like the premier doesn’t care,” Bothi said.
“I can’t help but think if we’d put Stephen Harper’s face up there, no one would be complaining about it.”
NDP MLA Marie Renaud said the target was “disappointing,” but not representative of the province as a whole. “I’ve been hearing that same excuse for many years. That’s not a joke, that’s not funny,” she said.
“I know 98 per cent of Albertans are not OK with this ... We’re so much better than this.”
You spent a whole bunch of time actually printing up the premier’s face and putting it up as a target? Somebody put a lot of effort into this ... don’t do that, people.
Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt, who was tagged in Fleury’s original tweet, joined the provincial politicians condemning the sign later Saturday afternoon.
Fildebrandt was temporarily ousted from the Wildrose caucus last month for his own social media scandal.
“It’s come to my attention that a casually misogynistic tweet was posted by a random person while I was in meetings this morning, 500 km away,” Fildebrandt said in a Facebook post.
“In light of the senseless murder of female MP Jo Cox in the U.K., this kind of activity has no place whatsoever in decent society. It feeds a growing culture of disrespect of people who chose to dedicate their lives to public service, regardless of political stripe.”
Fildebrandt said all his colleagues in the legislature, including Premier Notley, deserve respect, and denied having anything to do with the target.
“To suggest that being tagged in a post by a random member of the public equates to endorsing those views is cheap politics that feeds this growing disrespect for those of us trying to serve our communities,” he said.
Calgary MP Michelle Rempel, a Conservative who has been outspoken about the online threats female politicians often face, expressed incredulity over the sign.
“You spent a whole bunch of time actually printing up the premier’s face and putting it up as a target?” she said.
“Somebody put a lot of effort into this ... don’t do that, people.”
Rempel said she has personally often faced violent threats, and said no one should be promoting that kind of behaviour.
“It was in such poor taste, so illconceived,” she said.
“Nobody who’s entering public service should ever have to fear for their life. Don’t do anything that dehumanizes people in public service.”