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Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt says he was “surprised” by his suspension over a reply he made to a homophobic comment about Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne on his Facebook page.

“I receive an average of 800 comments on my public Facebook page daily and I do my best to respond personally. As I’ve already stated publicly, I did not read a comment posted to my page by a constituent as carefully as I should have. If anyone felt that I shared those sentiments, I do not, and I apologize,” Fildebrandt wrote Saturday.

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The post in question referred to Ontario’s openly gay premier as ‘Mr. Wynne or whatever the hell she identifies as,’ as it praised Fildebrandt for opposing Wynne’s economic policies during her visit to Alberta Legislature on Thursday. Fildebrandt replied to the original post commending the man’s comments, saying he was “proud to have constituents like you.”

Fildebrandt was promptly suspended by Wildrose leader Brian Jean, who has been known to take a hard stance on hateful speech in Wildrose ranks, including firing candidate Bill Jarvis after he was caught on tape saying that “brown people” should be stood up front during a photo op in last year’s provincial election.