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A furious Calgary MP says Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s retort that “math is challenging” after she criticized city council’s business property tax increases is one of the “most arrogant, out of touch, sexist statements” she has heard in public life.

On social media Sunday, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel blasted Calgary’s property tax system, which has many business owners outside the core bracing for major tax hikes this year, amid a vacancy rate never before seen in the city’s downtown.

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“This sort of action will further cripple Calgary’s jobs market,” Rempel tweeted, adding Calgary’s city council “needs to have a rethink about this policy.”

After dismissing Rempel’s assertions on Twitter, Calgary’s mayor said Tuesday the MP was “trying to make hay out of something she doesn’t understand.”

“I’m happy to have her wade in; I’m happy to have her help, if she wants to help, but it’s sort of helpful if she actually knows what she’s talking about first,” Nenshi told reporters.

Asked what Rempel was confused about, Nenshi said the MP simply “didn’t understand what was going on.”

“Apparently, math is challenging, but hopefully, she’ll figure that out,” the mayor said.

Rempel, who has a degree in economics, said she’s fully aware of how math works and called Nenshi’s remarks condescending.

“That’s probably one of the most arrogant, out of touch, sexist statements I’ve heard in the entirety of my political career,” she told Postmedia Tuesday.

The former cabinet minister who represents Calgary Nose Hill said her office has been inundated with emails and phone calls from Calgary families and businesses forced to make tough choices.

“I have thousands of people out of work in my riding,” she said. “They’re struggling to make ends meet, and what does that mean in terms of ‘math is challenging’? It means they’re making hard choices on what the family is spending money on.

“This isn’t, ‘Are we going on vacation or not this year?’ It’s, ‘Can I afford Kraft Dinner or can I afford to make my mortgage payments?'”