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Wildrose MLA Rick Strankman apologizes for ‘old fashioned’ pie poster

Rick Strankman

Wildrose MLA Rick Strankman is apologizing for a poster announcing a pie auction fundraiser that was deemed much too old fashioned for many people’s palates.

The auction, dubbed a “BYWP (Bring Your Wife’s Pie)” event, was set to raise funds for Strankman’s re-election campaign.

The event’s advertisement, though — suggesting women do the baking and men do the politics — had critics up in arms, with accusations that the party is stuck in the past.

Strankman, via Twitter, said the poster was put up through his account by volunteers.

The Wildrose is — in many people’s eyes — contending with Alberta’s NDP for opposition status in the next legislative iteration. It’s also contending with perceptions that it and its candidates are not supportive of equality rights.

Leader Brian Jean has had to put out a few fires since he took the Wildrose reins in March of this year. The party dropped potential candidate Russ Kuykendall, who was planning to run in the Calgary-Varsity riding, after an anti-gay blog post that he wrote back in 2007 surfaced this week.

Jean, who represented the Conservative Party in the Fort McMurray—Athabasca riding until he left federal politics last winter, is leading a party on the mends, after a number of MLAs, including leader Danielle Smith, defected to the province’s Progressive Conservatives.

Alberta heads to the ballot box on May 5.