Columbia River-Revelstoke Doug Clovechok (left) and Kootenay-East MLA Tom Shypitka (right)

By Jeff Johnson / David Opinko

be nice neighbours, they urge

Kootenay MLAs call out anti-Albertan attitudes in southeastern B.C.

Jun 2, 2020 | 5:25 PM

CRANBROOK, B.C. – MLAs in southeastern BC are calling out anti-Albertan behavior in their ridings.

Kootenay-East MLA Tom Shypitka and Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok are responding to reports of notes being left in the windshields of vehicles with Alberta license plates, telling the owners to ‘GO HOME.’

There have also been reports of vandalism to these vehicles, which Clovechok believes is unacceptable.

“Quite frankly, it’s disgusting. That’s not who we are as British Columbians and the majority of British Columbians would never ever do anything like that. There is absolutely no excuse for it. Both provinces have asked people to curtail their travel, but there’s different reasons why people are here and the things and conditions from five or six weeks ago have changed.”

Clovechok says there’s no place for anti-Albertan attitudes anytime in the Columbia Valley.

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“We don’t know what everybody’s situation is and for those people who are doing that, stop doing it. If we find out who you are, we are turning you in.”

Shypitka agrees, saying there are no travel bans in place between provinces and no reason to judge out-of-province visitors.

“I see a lot of this hate stuff and man, it doesn’t look good on us. I’m not saying a lot of people do it, but there is a few bad apples out there I think that are confused and scared. I want everybody just to calm down.”

Shypitka suggests residents look at their own behavior during the pandemic first before judging Albertans who make trips into the East Kootenay.

“Some people I’ve seen are lashing out at our neighbors to the east and our neighbors to the south and we’ve got to really think about who we are during this pandemic. We’ve got to be diligent on making sure we’re safe and doing the right things, but please don’t judge other people.”

The Regional District of East Kootenay called on the province to close the provincial border to non-essential travel early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, but no action was taken by the BC Government.

Shypitka represents residents in communities like Cranbrook, Fernie, and Sparwood. Clovechok’s constituents are in Kimberly, Invermere, Revelstoke, and others in that area.