‘Run his mouth before engaging his brain’: More backlash from Justice Minister’s comments

Nenshi has called out Madu for his comments on tackling COVID-19 in Alberta, saying this is certainly not the first time that particular minister has run his mouth before engaging his brain.

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — After a lengthy Facebook comment written by Alberta Justice Minister Kaycee Madu drew backlash this week, more disappointment was expressed from City Hall on Wednesday.

In the comment, Madu, in part, accused the media, the Alberta NDP and the federal government of hoping there would be a pandemic disaster in provincial hospitals. Madu was writing in support of additional restrictions put in place recently, but Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said it didn’t quite come off that way.

“Weird, weird comments,” Nenshi said to reporters in a virtual news conference. “He was trying to defend the restrictions, it just came off very, very strange.”

When Madu’s press secretary was contacted by numerous news outlets for reaction to the comments, he said there was no regret and the minister stands by what he wrote.

But during the COVID-19 update on Tuesday afternoon, Premier Jason Kenney was asked about the comments and while he said divisive political rhetoric is not helpful at this moment he asserted that he had not seen the comments in question.

Then only a couple of hours later, Madu issued an apology on Twitter.

While Nenshi acknowledged the apology, he added he hopes this doesn’t continue to be a distraction.

“This is certainly not the first time that particular minister has run his mouth before engaging his brain, and his press secretary who doubled down on it doesn’t seem to be helping in any way,” he said. “We’re all dedicated now to getting out of this pandemic and to post-pandemic economic growth, and we just need to be focused on that. This is not the time for ridiculous partisan snipes, because as we’ve seen with Minister Madu they tend to backfire so why even bother?”

Ward 5 Councillor George Chahal also sounded off on these comments and the recent actions of other UCP MLAs during the pandemic, and said he is “disgusted and embarrassed.”

“I have disagreed with (Madu’s) use of language in the past, specifically how he has mischaracterized his political opponents,” Chahal wrote. “McCarthyism was repudiated in the 1950s, but its tendencies linger.”

Chahal said Albertans are working hard to progress past the pandemic, and they are “pleading for their leaders to be better.”

The mayor and Chahal both pointed out in their statements that these comments and actions are not providing any help during a tough time.

“I certainly think the premier has enough to worry about, without having to worry about members of his cabinet going so terribly off script,” Nenshi said.

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