Social media can be useful and sometimes it can distract from the message.

That乌鸦传媒檚 what Kelowna-Mission MLA Renee Merrifield said after columnist and former NDP strategist Bill Tieleman called her out for liking tweets that were deemed out-of-line.

One of the tweets was from a parent who retweeted a claim that school-aged children are being used for herd immunity against COVID-19. Merrifield said she liked that parent乌鸦传媒檚 tweet, not as an attack on Dr. Bonnie Henry and public health orders, but to encourage people to keep asking questions about health policies during the pandemic.

Why is BC Liberal MLA & Health Critic liking Tweets claiming kids are being "used" to develop "herd" immunity and "we want them infected"???

乌鸦传媒� BillTieleman (@BillTieleman)

乌鸦传媒淚t had nothing to do with me believing that what we乌鸦传媒檙e doing is herd immunity,乌鸦传媒� she said.

乌鸦传媒淏ut the way it was warped by the NDP pundit (Tieleman) was disgusting. Because for me, it was about that parent and that parent乌鸦传媒檚 heart cry.乌鸦传媒�

Merrifield added that the tweets she liked highlight that the questions she brings up at the legislature echo the concerns that parents have.

As we乌鸦传媒檝e done since the beginning of the pandemic, the BC Liberal Caucus continues to fully support the hard work of public health officials. I want to apologize to Dr. Bonnie Henry if that has in any way been called into question by my social media activity.

乌鸦传媒� Renee Merrifield (@ReneeMerrifiel3)

She has since 乌鸦传媒榰nliked乌鸦传媒� those tweets and has apologized to Dr. Bonnie Henry.

乌鸦传媒淗onestly, I don乌鸦传媒檛 want to distract from the message with social media乌鸦传媒� and I don乌鸦传媒檛 want to be misinterpreted and I certainly don乌鸦传媒檛 want (Twitter) used against the message,乌鸦传媒� she said.

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