Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach said he was disappointed in a Tory backbencher whose comments on a blog seemed to mock women's rights and were deemed "sexist" by the opposition.

But he stopped short of formally sanctioning Doug Elniski. "I asked him to apologize," Stelmach told reporters on Tuesday after meeting with Elniski.

The MLA raised hackles with a blog posting that advised women to smile more and forget about that "equal stuff."

"I expressed to him how disappointed I was with his comments," Stelmach said, "how distracting it is to the good work that the government is doing in preparing this province for the future."

"They don't reflect my values, they don't reflect the values of our government, they don't reflect the values of the caucus nor of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party."

Stelmach won't relieve Elniski of committee duties, saying the apology and the public embarrassment he has to endure are enough.

"There is a huge consequence to the member, obviously emotionally," said Stelmach.

"I'm sure Mr. Elniski, after living through this, has learned from it."

Meanwhile, an NDP representative is sending out the message that Albertans are "progressive, forward thinking" people -- and the controversial advice for girls posted in Elniski's blog doesn't reflect a widely-held view in the province.

NDP MLA Rachel Notley said Tuesday the comments were out of line and unacceptable to people across the province.

"Albertans are very progressive, forward-thinking people so I don't think Mr. Elniski represents the primary views of Albertans," she told CTV News Channel, one day after holding a news conference during which she slammed the blog posting.

"Most people are quite upset he would say such a thing so I don't think it's about it being acceptable in Alberta, I don't think it's acceptable anywhere."

The comments were posted on Elniski's personal blog, called "conservativeMLA." The blog and all its postings have since been taken down.

Notley took issue with a segment of a post Elniski wrote Saturday entitled "Grad speeches."

The blog posting was framed as advice for girls, and read: "Ladies, always smile when you walk into a room, there is nothing a man wants less than a woman scowling because he thinks he is going to get shit for something and has no idea what.

"Men are attracted to smiles, so smile, don't give me that 'treated equal' stuff, if you want equal it comes in little packages at Starbucks," the post read, referring to the artificial sweetener available at coffee shops.

Notley said the comments fly in the face of the struggle for women's rights.

"It's a traditional way to undercut them and say 'oh you're just so angry, just be nice,' and particularly women are undercut that way. So he may not even realize how his comments contribute to sexism, but they do," she said.

Elniski said he didn't mean any offence. He said the comments were his own versions of material he heard somewhere once in a standup comedy routine.

"I apologize. There was no malice intended by this. I have three very successful independent adult daughters and I, more than anyone, understand the issues that they deal with and the challenges they have," he said.

"If it was considered hurtful or if it was deemed inappropriate -- and when I look at it in black and white, I can see why it would be -- that's why I took the blog down today and I apologize for it. It shouldn't be there."

"In hindsight, it was a stupid, inappropriate thing to put on the blog," he said.

The MLA, who was elected to the legislature just last year, insisted he was not sexist.

"If I were sexist, I think I would certainly know about it by now."

Stelmach's office also announced Tuesday it was sending out reminder notes to members on the pitfalls of blogging and other social-networking sites.

"It's a new social media and, as evidenced by Mr. Elniski, these matters can really get away on you," said Stelmach.