Daily Archive

“MLA Grant Hunter, the province’s associate minister of red tape reduction, wrote, “Wernher von Braun said, ‘To conquer the universe you’d have to solve two problems: gravity and red tape.’ We’ve made it clear that we are committed to reducing red tape in Alberta. Lots more to come…”

The quote came from an opinion piece linked by Hunter in his tweet.”

“Lori Williams, a political scientist with Mount Royal University, said in the age of social media, it’s important to be careful about sharing a quote unless you know the source.

“To simply repeat a quotation without naming the source might look a little bit less problematic. But to actually say the name of a Nazi officer and then quote it, highly problematic.”

Williams said the tweeted quote may be viewed against the backdrop of other comments Hunter has made.

“And it would be a little bit different had it not been that he … made comments about the superior stock about the people in his constituency, and actually used the word Aryan, misspelled it,” Williams said, referring to a 2010 letter to the editor Hunter submitted to the Cardston Temple City Star.

“He’s got to be very careful about using language associated with Nazis.”

The Taber-Warner MLA is no stranger to controversy.

In 2016 Hunter was one of eight then-Wildrose MLAs who signed a column comparing the carbon tax to the genocide of millions of Ukrainians in the 1930s. The party later apologized.

In 2018, he apologized after comparing the NDP’s 2015 election victory to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 200,000 people, the Taber Times reported.

Williams said his accumulated comments could pose a political problem.”

The very best part of this story is that it is going to probably pass away quickly, and this particular politician will remain safely in government.

Thank you again Alberta Voters for gracing our province with the exemplary batch of politicians.