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The blog continues: “The Alberta government’s carbon tax in its current form will not and can not create incentive for anyone exporting products outside of Alberta.”

Economic Development Minister Deron Bilous, an Edmonton MLA, said Friday he was shocked by the comments referencing the Holodomor, a man-made famine that saw seven to 10 million Ukrainians starve to death in 1932 and 1933.

“Being of Ukrainian decent myself, I found their comments offensive,” said Bilous. “Comparing genocide through starvation to a policy that the (NDP) government is bringing forward is beyond bizarre — I think it’s absurd.”

Bilous said he’s already received comments from people from Alberta’s Ukrainian community expressing their concerns over the post.

“They’re quite hurt by this. This was an absolutely horrific time in history,” said Bilous. “We have a significant number of Albertans of Ukrainian decent and this goes far beyond disrespectful. It’s inexcusable.”

The post has since been deleted from Strankman’s blog and a written apology was issued by the Wildrose party.

“The Holodomor was an atrocious and intentional act that saw the deaths of millions upon millions of Ukrainians,” the statement said.

“Any interpretation of the column collaborated on by the nine Wildrose MLAs as dismissing the Holodomor as a horrendous act was completely unintentional, and we unreservedly apologize.”

Bilous described the apology as a step in the right direction, but is looking to party leader Brian Jean to publicly address the matter.

“There needs to be a recognition of the impact that the Holodomor had and continues to have on tens of thousands of Albertans,” said Bilous.

trobb@postmedia.com

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