Barnes explains intent behind deleted social media posts
By GILLIAN SLADE on May 15, 2019.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade Local MLA Drew Barnes is under scrutiny after he posted a photo on social media featuring a real-estate sign for a company he and his wife have a financial interest in. “In no way did we ask or promote any of mine or my wife’s businesses,” said the MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat. “Our intent was to raise the profile of how good it is to do business in Cypress-Medicine Hat and of course to increase my profile as a politician at the same time.” Together with the photo of Barnes standing next to a Belcore Homes sign with a “sold” sticker there was a text message. “Despite a housing market that hasn’t been the greatest in the past couple years, people are still looking to buy homes in #MedHat,” the post stated. “Why? The community is amazing, the people are amazing, and there’s no better place to call home. Let’s keep our population growing, Hatters!” Barnes says he fully realizes now that the post was perceived differently than intended. “We immediately and voluntarily pulled them down,” said Barnes. A spokesperson at the Office of the Ethics Commissioner for Alberta told the News on Tuesday morning that the Act prohibits them from commenting on whether any ethical boundaries were crossed with these social media posts. Barnes say he contacted the Ethics Commissioner himself on Monday. “The ethics commissioner said it’s 100 per cent fine. I have always, seven years in a row now, I have put my disclosure out there so people know what I’m involved in,” said Barnes. Before the Belcore Homes photograph was posted there had been another featuring a storage business just off Third Street NE. This photo has also been removed by Barnes. “It was in front of a storage building that I do own and again all the words didn’t say anything about the business. It just talked about what a great place Cypress-Medicine Hat was to do business,” said Barnes. The plan for this new social media campaign over a period of time, said Barnes, was to feature many aspects of the constituency in this manner and the quality of life for the people who live here. “We are back to the drawing board,” said Barnes. He admits to being surprised by the reaction to the most recent posting because the previous one (by the storage business) had not attracted any negative response. “On Sunday we saw the reaction and thought we maybe should have done this different so we immediately and voluntarily stopped everything,” said Barnes. “We absolutely should have thought it through more. We should have come at it in a different way. I apologize for that.” 17-16
