#PrenticeBlamesAlbertans has exploded to life as the premier faces a social media backlash over his recent comments, which are seen by some as blaming the people for the mistakes and errors of the government. When Prentice told Canadians to look in the mirror if they wanted to see who was responsible for the current economic problems this did not sit well with many citizens, and the social media backlash started almost immediately. The exact comment by Prentice was “In terms of who is responsible, we all need only look in the mirror, right? It’s basically all of us have had the best of everything and have not had to pay for what it costs. Collectively, we got into this as Albertans and collectively we’re going to get out of it. Everybody is going to have to shoulder some share of the responsibility.”
The social media backlash against Jim Prentice started on Twitter with the handle #PrenticeBlamesAlbertans, which was intended to be critical of the comments and shows that most Albertans blame the government for financial mismanagement. There have been many calls for Prentice to apologize for his elitist comments, with many saying that the remarks were insulting and condescending to citizens. Some do not feel this way though. Health Minister Stephen Mandel said “This is not about you versus us, this is about how we’re going to solve this as a team, as a province, I don’t think you take it as looking in the mirror because you look in the mirror and blame yourself, you look in the mirror and say ‘Gee how can I help?’ Finance Minister Robin Campbell stated “I think its blown out of proportion and I think the the Premier has made it very clear what he wants to do. I think he’s passionate about this province.”