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Comments from a notorious American political commentator that Syrian refugees are ballooning Calgary’s poverty rate were deflated by local social workers.

In response to a Postmedia story published Monday on a drive to collect clothing and halal food for the city’s needy Muslims, Ann Coulter on Tuesday tweeted “Keep it up Calgary and we may not be able to make you our 51st state,” possibly mistaking the city for a province or country.

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She goes on to say “massive jump in poverty as “underprivileged” “refugees” pour in.”

It’s an assessment divorced from reality, said Karen Young, president of the Calgary United Way.

“In 2012, there was back then a poverty rate of 10 per cent, and it’s about 10 per cent now, or 120,000 people,” said Young.

The influx of about 3,000 Mideast, mostly Syrian, refugees began in late 2015.

In the Monday news story, the Muslim Families Network Society, which organized the drive, said the number of Muslims in the city doubled since the latest refugee crisis began.