Tom Moffatt feels the heat over 'karmic' Fort McMurray fire tweet

Former Alberta NDP candidate Tom Moffatt has received thousands of angry comments online after tweeting "karmic #climatechange fire burns CDN oilsands city," which he has since deleted and apologized for.

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Moffatt, who ran for the NDP in theLethbridge-East riding, saidthe tweet was not intended to seem like he was laughing atpeople in a crisis.

"In retrospect, not the best adjective to use, becauseit can be interpretedin different ways," hetold CBC News.

"And lots of people interpretedit as meaning that I was saying people in Fort McMurray deserved what they got... which is not the case."

He said he meant that it's unfortunate that politicians and oil executives, who had the scientific knowledge of thetrueextent anddamage that climate change can cause, havedecidednot to address it in a meaningful way.

"Even people like myself, who know and believe in climate change and have been in that situation for a long time ... have not done enough to warn people about it."

Donation made to Red Cross

Now, Moffattsays heplans to launch a citizen action group to help fight climate change, and help recovery efforts in Fort McMurrayby supporting initiatives where he lives. He has already donated to the Red Cross, he says.

Moffattis not the only one bearing the brunt of the comments his employerand thelibraryboard he sits has also come under firedespite distancing themselves from the comments, he says.

In a statement Wednesday, his employer,theTown ofTaber, said:"A recent post made by a town employee on a personal account in no way reflects the town's views on this terrible tragedy."

The Lethbridge library, where Moffatt is a volunteer board member, said in a Facebook post the tweet "unequivocally does not in any manner reflect the view of the [organization]."

Moffathopes the "ill-conceived comment"won't affect his work in the future.He also apologized online on Wednesday.