Moe criticized for appearing to ignore social distance

Premier Scott Moe is facing criticism after a photo was posted online showing him and his wife standing close to three women outside of an ice cream shop.

Many on social media are calling him out for ignoring physical distancing and not wearing a mask.

NDP Leader Ryan Meili also weighed in.

“It’s a single incident, not something I’m going to light my hair on fire over, but I do feel like we have a premier who has not modelled taking (the pandemic) seriously on multiple occasions …,” Meili said.

“He has given mixed messages from the early days, when he was too busy planning a snap election to be planning a pandemic … To his big reluctance to promote mask use, now we have an event like this. That’s concerning to me.”

He also thinks it shows Moe doesn’t correctly prioritize the issues.

“He refuses to walk across the street and meet with Tristen Durocher, a premier who doesn’t contact Justin Nyee, (but) he’s willing to show up and do photo ops at ice cream shops,” Meili said. “Where is he on the issues that are really important?”

Moe responded in an emailed statement that he was simply trying to help support the local business owners.

The women who run Lil Bean Ice Cream in Rosthern deleted their social media post after receiving backlash.

“The owners of the ice cream shop wanted to take a picture with us, which we were happy to do as a show of support for a local business,” Moe wrote in the statement.

“While we were outside and together only briefly to take the picture, I recognize that we should have stood further apart in order to practise proper physical distancing. I regret that my error in judgment has caused difficulty for a small business started by two young entrepreneurs.”