A political adviser, who apologized last week for an online comment that mocked Alberta's premier, has quit his job with the Wildrose Alliance.

Shawn Howard, a party spokesman, confirmed Tuesday that Stephen Carter no longer holds a strategist post with Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith.

But Howard said the departure had nothing to do with the incident last week. After Premier Ed Stelmach's speech to the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties on Thursday night, Carter posted a message from his Twitter account that made fun of Stelmach's Ukrainian-Canadian accent.

"Just saw da premier making a speech," Carter wrote on the social media website that lets users post 140-character messages. "Dat was quite a speech. Dem media better report it right."

The message has been removed, and Carter apologized to the premier, calling it a "lapse in judgment."

"I simply wanted to point out the premier's tendency to blame the media and, unfortunately, I did it poorly," Carter told CBC News last week.

Howard said on Tuesday that Carter quit for personal reasons, adding the party considered the controversy to be closed after Carter's apology.

"Obviously, we've had feedback from some of our members wondering why and what had happened, but these are two events that have happened close to each other, but are completely separated," Howard said.