EDMONTON—Sometimes a good tweet takes work.

Alberta’s conservative opposition leader Jason Kenney learned that the hard way this week, after a university group called him out for using one of their photos in his Labour Day Twitter post without their permission.

On Monday, Kenney posted a thank you to the working men and women who have “made our province great,” and added he is thinking about the unemployed Albertans who are unable to find a job. “Hoping they will soon enjoy the dignity of work,” it continued.

The tweet included a collage of four photos that ostensibly show working people, but one is a still from a TV show featuring CBC host Rick Mercer on a farm, and one was a photo of nursing students at Mount Royal University taken from their website.

The university’s faculty association snapped back, with a tweet questioning why Kenney thought it was acceptable to use the image, adding “Our photos should not be used without consent, and we do not support this.”

The faculty association’s president Melanie Peacock said in a phone interview Thursday that she was surprised and taken aback by the tweet, which she called a breach of copyright.

“We don’t want a photograph to be attached with any one particular person or entity without our permission, because rightly or wrongly, it implies endorsement and support. And that is not correct,” she said.

Mercer, who has been critical of Kenney’s comments around Bill 24 and Gay-Straight Alliances, also commented on Kenney’s post, tweeting “I’m not a farmer I just played one on TV.”

One of the other two photos appeared to be taken from the South Carolina Foothills Steel Foundry website, and the other of two Turner Valley workers in 1883 from the Provincial Archives of Alberta website.

Kenney responded to the faculty association’s tweet, saying the photo was used for a “respectful Labour Day post.”

“Obviously no offence was intended — quite the opposite, in fact. Apologies if this has offended,” he wrote.

A spokesperson for Kenney’s United Conservative Party said the party has no further response.

Peacock said she accepts Kenney’s Twitter apology but hopes he learns from it and does not use photos without permission in the future.

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