Former Barrie-area MP issues apology over tweet about anti-pipeline blockade and firing range in the same sentence

Former Barrie-area MP and current campaign manager for Peter MacKay has backpedaled on Twitter after creating an uproar on social media over an earlier tweet on Sunday regarding a church service he attended.

In the tweet, Alex Nuttall said that his morning at church included complaints from people about the anti-pipeline blockade, as well as an invitation to “the range.”

Nuttall later tweeted an apology and said they were two unrelated thoughts that should not have been communicated together.

Sorry for the confusion I created with my message below. There are two unrelated thoughts that shouldn’t have been communicated together. Apologies Alex https://t.co/HO7L8zuVyD

— Alex Nuttall MP (Retired) (@AlexNuttallMP) February 24, 2020

A nearly three week blockade of a rail line near Belleville was dismantled by police today and 10 people were charged.

The blockade was in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose construction of a natural gas pipeline through their traditional land in northern British Columbia.

MacKay, who is seeking the leadership of the federal Conservative Party, recently got into hot water himself over a tweet that some people thought seemed to support blockade-related vigilantism.

The tweet was later deleted.

The first tweet sent out by Nuttall was interpreted by some to imply the way to resolve the rail blockade was to use target practice.

Even the Calvary Church in Barrie, which Nuttall attended on Sunday, was forced to respond on Twitter and said as a church it does not endorse acts of violence.

As a church we have not and do not promote or endorse acts of violence. We uphold biblical values of love for all people, including indigenous people.

— Calvary Barrie (@CalvaryBarrie) February 23, 2020

McKay took his campaign for the Conservative Party leadership to Barrie last week.