A day after drawing fire on social media for saying Albertans need to “look in the mirror” if they want to know who is responsible for the province’s fiscal crisis, Premier Jim Prentice has addressed the controversy.

“I take responsibility for my own comments.” Prentice told CTV’s Power Play on Friday afternoon, calling the response on social media a “Twitter Tempest”. “Everyone needs to be aware that it’s a shared responsibility – that’s the point that I made, obviously not articulately,” Prentice continued.

Prentice initially made the comment during a radio interview, saying Albertans have had the “best of everything” for too long.

"In terms of who is responsible, we all need only look in the mirror," Prentice told the radio show. "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, and everybody is going to have to shoulder some share of the responsibility."

The hashtag #PrenticeBlamesAlbertans was trending across Canada on Thursday, with social media users commenting and posting memes of the Premier.

Opposition party members also weighed in on the comments.

“These guys are the ones that have been at the controls. These guys are the ones that have made the decisions. It is their decisions that put us here. How dare they blame the families that are struggling to make ends meet under the circumstances that these guys have created?” NDP leader Rachel Notley said Thursday.

“If this is what the premier will say to Albertans now, six weeks before an election, heaven forbid what he is going to say to Albertans after the election if they give them a four year mandate. I would be troubled and worried about where we are going.”

“Quite frankly, at a time where many Albertans are hearing of job losses, are seeing the value of their homes go down, and are just worried about making ends meet, Mr. Prentice’s comments of blaming Albertans for being at fault for the PC government's gross fiscal mismanagements shows how deeply this PC government is out of touch,” Wildrose leader Heather Forsyth said.

The Premier is expected to release a long-term plan to address Alberta’s financial crisis. The budget will be released on March 26.