Premier Notley wears cowboy hat backwards, Twitter erupts

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Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has drawn the ire of many critics on Twitter, after she was pictured wearing her white cowboy hat on backwards.

Her ill-advised fashion error has even lead to some Albertans to begin to question her credibility as a political figure.

In the photos, Notley is seen giving a handshake to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is wearing his black cowboy hat properly. She, on the other hand, is wearing it from tail to front, which is backwards.

“Face palm,” one user wrote. “And this woman runs Alberta. #fail.”

Another tweeted: “Indicates the direction the #Alberta #NDP is taking in this province.”

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Just mere hours before the official photo was snapped, Notley received her white cowboy hat as part of the Stampede tradition.

According to the National Post, the crowd reacted and “hollered instructions until she flipped it over.” Eventually, Notley turned her hat around to the proper way.

“It was absolutely unintentional,” Cheryl Oates, the premier’s spokeswoman, explained to the Calgary Herald. “I don’t think she would call herself a cowgirl (but) she’s an Albertan. She was born and raised here her whole life and respects all the intricate that go with the culture.”

However, the verdict it still out on whether Notley’s fashion error was embarrassing or just an honest mistake.

“When it comes to events like these that are specific to rural Alberta and celebrating our heritage, it’s just stunning that her or her assistants overlooked something like this,” Keean Bexte, a University of Calagry student, told the National Post.

But not everyone agrees with Bexte.

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Notley was meeting Harper in Calgary to discuss energy and climate targets. For their first formal meeting, Alberta’s premier definitely left an impression on social media.