A list of NDP staffers created by a Twitter account associated with UCP Leader Jason Kenney’s office drew criticism Saturday, while comments posted with the list defended it as a way to point out partisan tweets made during government hours.

The Twitter account Unite Alberta shared the list Friday, along with the message: “Since many NDP staffers seem to spend their days (and nights) tweeting, have attempted to create a Twitter list using public data. Some openly disclose that they work for the NDP Govt, but others do not reveal (trying to look organic?).”

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The list included more than 70 people as of Saturday evening, including communications staff and constituency employees. Some Twitter users criticized the action as an “enemies list” that could invite harassment, while others made light of it and thanked the account for creating a list of NDP supporters to follow.

The Unite Alberta account posted a followup tweet to its initial post that read: “For those asking, yes, Alberta NDP Govt staff tweeting partisan tripe by day is relevant to the public. Especially true when NDP staff don’t reveal their partisan affiliation. Twitter is a public forum. It’s not like we revealed where someone’s mother lives.”

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A UCP spokesperson could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Mount Royal University policy studies professor Lori Williams said the question “can certainly be raised” about whether people are doing partisan work on government time.

“The proper expenditure of government funds might be an issue related to this,” she said.

However, she added, it could be hard to establish whether a substantial amount of work time is being devoted to partisan tweets and taking away from the obligation to do work for Albertans generally, rather than on a partisan basis.

“(Due to) devices that we carry with us everywhere, the delineation between work for your employer and other activities — those lines are very much more blurred now,” Williams said.

“I think it would be harder to establish that those folks, just because of the time at which they access social media, that they were actually taking time away from taxpayers.”

Williams said she does worry about “the potential for weaponizing Twitter.”

“For using it for piling on people or attacking people who may or may not have done anything that’s really worthy of criticism . . . just the fact that somebody might have sent out a tweet at 11:59 instead of 12:01, as if the lunch hour’s only during set hours, might not be entirely fair,” she said.

NDP cabinet minister and Calgary MLA Joe Ceci said the Twitter list is “certainly not taking the high road.”

“I’d rather see, coming from the UCP, a platform and a costed budget,” he said. “They seem to do everything possible to get away from that and to kind of muddy the waters. The other thing I’d like to see is Mr. Kenney release his donors list. If they’re into making lists, why don’t we see that one as well.”

The bio for the Unite Alberta account indicates it is the “Official Twitter account for the office of @JKenney, Leader of the United Conservatives and Alberta’s Official Opposition.”

Kenney did not post any content related to the NDP staffer list on his own account Friday or Saturday.