EDMONTON – Ernest Bothi admits he made the cutout of Rachel Notley’s head and used it as a golf target at the Big Country Oilmen’s Golf Tournament in Brooks Friday.
“I apologize if I offended anybody in any way shape or form, it was meant to be a light-hearted attempt to make a few members laugh,” Bothi said. “It was a private function held by the Big Country Oilmen’s invitational. We were at the golf course for the day and at the last minute I decided to get a cardboard cutout of her and set it up on one of the holes just for humour. Everybody had a small chuckle.”
A passerby took a photo of the cutout, sharing it on Twitter Saturday. The tweet has since been deleted.
READ MORE: NDP say photo showing Rachel Notley’s head on golf target inappropriate
The image created a firestorm online.
The president of the Big Country Oilmen’s Association says he wasn’t aware of the recent murder of British MP Jo Cox and in light of her death regrets his decision greatly calling it “bad timing.”
“If I offended anybody I apologize, that was never my goal.”
Several Twitter users shared their disgust for the photo– calling on Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrant who was mentioned in the tweet to respond.
Fildebrant represents the Brooks area.
Late Saturday afternoon Fildebrant took to Facebook where he shared a lengthy response.
Bothi did go on to share his displeasure with some of the Premier’s recent decisions including the Carbon Tax.
“Ms. Notley, I’m sure is a wonderful person to drink coffee with but I wish she’d adjust some of her policies,” Bothi said. “In southern Alberta here we’re really having a tough go of it and our industry down here is doing horribly, a lot of people are losing their homes, a lot of people are wondering how they’re going to make their next mortgage payment or put food on the table. I just wish that Ms. Notley would actually start listening to us- granted we didn’t vote for her- but she still is the leader of our province and I wish she would start helping out and not just raising taxes or implementing new forms of taxation on us when we can ill afford it.”