Kenney accidentally prompts pro-Notley hashtag with question on Twitter

Mar 6 2019, 3:52 am

When Jason Kenney posted a tweet on March 1, the question he posed was (likely) rhetorical in nature — especially given that he answers the question himself in the same tweet.

But that didn’t stop answers from coming in from all over Alberta, resulting in over 1,000 replies to his initial tweet over the coming days.

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The question was quite simple: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

As of March 5, the tweet garnered 222 likes, 91 retweets, and 1,000 replies, resulting in a classic case of being ratioed — a term (so far unofficially) defined by Merriam-Webster as indicating that: “Generally speaking, the more replies a tweet gets over likes or retweets, the worse it is.”

The majority of the replies to Kenney’s tweet were actually in support of Premier Rachel Notley and her time in government, explaining (in 280 characters or less) that they were, in fact, better off than they were four years ago.

The hashtag #BetterOffWithRachel was born.

By Sunday, March 3, the hashtag had made it to the top of the country, trending in Canada on Twitter and prompting more responses from Albertans.

This isn’t the first time that Albertans have rallied on Twitter in 2019, either, as local blogger and author Mike Morrison created the #NotAngryAB hashtag back in January in response to former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean.

Jean had posted a message to Facebook on January 14 painting the picture of a province filled with angry residents, a bleak future, and failing leadership.

Morrison responded with a tweet explaining why he was not an angry Albertan, and all the things that brought him joy about living in the province.

“Conservatives keep saying Albertans are furious. But I’m not,” Morrison wrote in a January 14 tweet.

“It’s never been safer for me and my boyfriend to be together. I get same-day doctors appointments. I don’t pay a sales tax. My business is successful and I’m hiring. And look at my cat. She’s so cute.”

The tweet prompted other Albertans to write about the positives that come with their lives in Alberta and why they aren’t quite as “furious” as they may be depicted to be.

By January 15 the hashtag had become the third most trending topic in Canada, with thousands of contributors in the first 24 hours.

With the Alberta provincial election on the horizon, odds are we’ll be seeing a few more politically-charged hashtags within the coming months.

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