Treasury Board President Tony Clement's effort to express solidarity with Ukraine went awry Thursday after he took a selfie with an upside-down flag and uploaded it to Instagram.
"I will be presenting this #Ukraine flag to Town of #Huntsville to express solidarity with the people of Ukraine," he wrote.
Oops.
The Ukrainian flag, in it's official position, has two equally-sized horizontal bars: the blue bar on top is representative of the sky and country's streams and mountains while the yellow symbolizes golden wheat fields.
Generally, upside-down flags are perceived as a sign of distress.
"It's upside down, Einstein," wrote one commenter.
"Being of Ukrainian decent, this is just offensive," wrote another.
Popular Facebook page "Meanwhile In Canada" wasted little time pointing out Clement's mistake.
Good thing Clement figured out a quick fix.
That's better.
"Very sorry. Flag was upside down behind me, unbeknownst. Now corrected!" Clement wrote.
Clement's flag gaffe comes shortly after federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was heavily criticized by Tories for a joke on Radio Canada's "Tout le Monde en Parle" in which he linked the bloody turmoil in Ukraine to Russia's Olympic hockey woes.
"Trudeau apparently thinks the situation in Ukraine is something to joke about," Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said.
Trudeau later apologized for his remarks to the president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
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