Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is defending his decision to send lawyers after a young blogger who owns the domain name edstelmach.ca.

Premier Ed Stelmach, making an announcement in October, says the fight over edstelmach.ca is about protecting his name.
(Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

Dave Cournoyer, a political science student who blogs about Alberta issues, bought the rights to the domain for $14 in April. Last month, he received a letter from a Calgary law firm that represents Stelmach, threatening him with a lawsuit if he did not give up the domain.

The premier said it's an ownership issue and he believes Cournoyer, who used to work for Alberta's Opposition Liberals, bought the domain for political reasons.

"I'm from the school that your name is your name," said Stelmach Thursday. "And if some people want to use it to their advantage, well then I guess you learn through the process and you have to do whatever you do to protect your name, which you know mom and dad gave it to me for free."

Although Stelmach's personal lawyers are involved, the premier's chief of staff called Cournoyer Wednesday and asked him to consider giving up the domain name.

The university student said he is considering his options.

"I still think it's bizarre and ridiculous that his first gut reaction would be to hire a lawyer and come after me and threaten me," said Cournoyer who runs a blog called daveberta.ca.

'You have to do whatever you do to protect your name, which you know mom and dad gave it to me for free.'—Ed Stelmach, Alberta premier

The tables were briefly turned on him when someone bought the domain daveberta.com and linked it to a page about weasels, but that daveberta site has been taken down.

"Well, I'm not going to sue anybody over it. That's how the internet works when you don't own a domain name and someone buys it," he said.

But Stelmach said he believes the public is on his side: "I'm sure the public, those that are really interested in this, find it upsetting. Obviously the public knows that a name is a name, it's your name, it's your property."

With files from the Canadian Press