Image Credit: CFJC Today

By James Peters

Kamloops Council

Kamloops councillor says she won’t apologize for profane tweets

Jun 12, 2019 | 3:06 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops Councillor Dale Bass says she has nothing to apologize for after lashing out with profanities in a pair of posts made to Twitter Tuesday night.

Bass says she draws a distinct line between her personal beliefs and her city council role when it comes to her social media presence.

One post replies to an individual questioning radio host Charles Adler about his stance on abortion. Bass relates her own experiences, and insults the man with a four-letter profanity.

The second post is in response to a video of Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange struggling for words when referring to LGBTQ2S+ youth. Bass’s tweet simply says, “Bitch”.

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(The tweets are embedded below. Warning: strong language)

Questioned Wednesday about the lack of decorum displayed in the posts, Bass said people who know her can differentiate between her council views and her personal views.

“I think it’s just who I am and how I deal with some things,” the first-term councillor told CFJC Today. “Some things thoroughly frustrate me and I react that way. I’m not a city councillor 24-7; I’m also a human being and I also have opinions and viewpoints that are deeply personal.”

“I’m just me. I’m like that at council meetings; I am just me. They joke sometimes that ‘Reporter Dale’ is in the meeting room because sometimes I do express my opinion in a way that other councillors would not,” said Bass. “But that’s just who I am.”

In 2017, Councillor Donovan Cavers was roundly criticized for a Facebook post showing him raising his middle finger to a shelf full of KGHM binders. At the time, the Polish mining company was proposing to build a copper-gold mine on the southern border of Kamloops city limits.

Bass says that situation differs from hers, because Cavers was dealing with KGHM directly in his council role.

“I wouldn’t do that,” she said. “That was a city issue. He’s linked to that as a city councillor. From my viewpoint, had he not been on city council, that would have been okay. But that was obviously a city issue, and he should not have done that.”

“I tend to not [tweet] on anything city-related. I haven’t mentioned anything about how I feel about biosolids or any of that stuff because those are city issues. I don’t like Trump. Mental health issues make me crazy, and the way they’re treated. But I work very hard at not saying or replying to anything that is a city issue.”

As part of their orientation, councillors were encouraged to separate their online personas as councillors from their personal views. Bass says she has done that on Facebook, but won’t with Twitter.

She says she has no plans to withdraw the profane tweets or offer any apologies.

“No, because that’s not me. And if people don’t like it, that’s okay. They can tell me they don’t like it. I’m fine with that. I ran for council as me and all that that entails,” she said.

“So far, no one has said anything to me at all, complaining about anything, pointing out anything, objecting to anything, saying, ‘Oh, don’t do that.’ In fact, you’re probably the first person who’s even mentioned it.”