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Comedic timing lacking in Premier's Kitimat joke, says Skeena MLA

A joke about the north from the Premier hit a sour note with Skeena MLA Robin Austin.

How many Premiers does it take to tick off the Skeena MLA?

Just one.

At a dinner event in Victoria two weeks ago Premier Christy Clark reportedly cracked a joke about Kitimat, around the time Kitimat was getting over its major snowfall.

“Premier Clark tells 860 people at Victoria leader’s dinner it’s so cold in Kitimat she saw a New Democrat with his hands in his own pockets,” reads a Tweet from Times Colonist reporter Les Leyne.

Robin Austin caught wind of the joke through Leyne’s account and tells the Sentinel that it’s fair game to crack jokes about the opposition but dragging Kitimat in to the picture while it was dealing with snow-related emergencies was not right.

“I don’t think she should be making a joke at a time when people were in a catastrophic state. We had 146 centimetres of snow, people couldn’t get out of their driveways, we were in a real state up in the northwest. Meanwhile in the Lower Mainland she was making a joke,” said Austin. “It’s inappropriate to be making a joke about a community or referencing a community when they are in a state of absolute emergency and catastrophe. That’s what I think is wrong.”

A call to the Premier’s communications department did confirm the joke was made however the office had no further comment to make on the matter.