{"id":181086,"date":"2025-09-30T22:46:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T22:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/181086\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T22:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T22:46:15","slug":"moderator-sorry-for-saying-teen-should-be-spanked-at-smiths-alberta-next-panel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/181086\/","title":{"rendered":"Moderator sorry for saying teen should be spanked at Smith\u2019s Alberta Next panel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Bruce McAllister, the moderator of Premier Danielle Smith’s Alberta Next panel, is apologizing after he told a teen at a town hall that his parents should spank him.HO\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The moderator of Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s<\/a> Alberta Next panel apologized Tuesday for telling a teen at a town hall that his parents should spank him.<\/p>\n

Bruce McAllister, executive director of the premier\u2019s office, said the comment was \u201cinappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI regret saying it and I apologize,\u201d McAllister wrote in a social media post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m committed to ensuring these conversations remain respectful and constructive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The apology came after the 16-year-old boy tried to ask the panel during Monday\u2019s town hall in Calgary about the pending provincewide teachers\u2019 strike. McAllister cut off the microphone.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The boy could still be heard trying to ask his question, but McAllister interrupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI applaud you coming here to speak. I don\u2019t applaud how you\u2019re trying to speak,\u201d McAllister said. \u201cIt\u2019s not making any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you\u2019d love some chaos, but your parents should turn you over your knee.\u201d<\/p>\n

The quip was met with some boos from the crowd, and a woman behind the boy in line yelled that it was a \u201crude\u201d thing for McAllister to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is disgraceful,\u201d said the woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re dismissing a teenager!\u201d yelled another person in the crowd.<\/p>\n

Premier Smith\u2019s Alberta Next panel closes out cross-province tour as tempers flare in Calgary town hall<\/a><\/p>\n

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said an apology isn\u2019t enough from McAllister.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a one-off \u2013 all summer he\u2019s been silencing, belittling and insulting Albertans he disagrees with,\u201d said Nenshi.<\/p>\n

\u201cDanielle Smith must make things right with the young student, starting with an apology of her own, and she needs to fire her second most senior official for his reprehensible conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

McAllister is a former broadcaster and legislature member of the Wildrose Party. In 2014, he and Smith crossed the floor to join the governing Progressive Conservatives. He lost his seat the following year.<\/p>\n

Clips of his spanking comment have been shared widely on social media, drawing criticism and condemnation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Bruce McAllister, the moderator of Premier Danielle Smith’s Alberta Next panel, is apologizing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-181086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}