EDMONTON -- The UCP government says it is taking "corrective action" after some Albertans who lobbed criticisms at Premier Jason Kenney on a Facebook livestream had their comments deleted and were blocked from viewing the event.
At the Manning Centre conference in Red Deer on Saturday, Kenney released details on a new Fair Deal panel that he said will help Alberta become more autonomous from Ottawa.
The speech was livestreamed to Facebook, where some people say dialogue was being restricted to pro-UCP comments only.
"I was just muted from Jason Kenney's Facebook with my comment deleted for voicing respectfully that I do not wish for him to control our CPP and police force," tweeted Allison Dakin.
Her tweet generated dozens of replies, many from others who claimed they had similarly been blocked by Kenney and other UCP politicians on Twitter.
The Premier's Office eventually released a statement singling out Dakin's comments specifically, saying they should not have been moderated and that "corrective action has been taken."
"Albertans have every right to voice their views to their elected officials, including when they disagree with the Government," the statement said.
"A review of the thousands of comments on the Premier's Facebook page show a wide swath of opinion, including from those who strongly disagree with the Government."
The Premier's office said comments with offensive or abusive language may be blocked, but not every comment would be moderated "given the high volume of comments in general."
Dakin later tweeted that she had been unblocked by Kenney and her comments were restored after she spoke with media.
The Facebook Live video was shared 669 times and viewed more than 100,000 times.
