Twitter users have been poking fun at Defence Minister Peter MacKay after he made an embarrassing geographic gaffe in front of former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this week.

MacKay was posing a question to Schwarzenegger during his speaking engagement in Winnipeg Tuesday about U.S.-Canadian relations when he stated that California and B.C. shared a border.

"California [and] British Columbia have a shared border, a strong relationship, and some would say that our countries are probably as close as any two nations on the planet."

B.C. actually shares its border with the state of Washington. Oregon is also situated in between Washington and California.

As news of the mistake came out, many people sent out tweets teasing MacKay.

 "Wow Peter #MacKay," tweeted @ShaneChadder. "Time for a map. Arnold's looking bright."

@maupassant7201 suggested taking "up a collection to buy Peter MacKay a new atlas."

There were more than a few tweets comparing MacKay to former U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who is no stranger to making verbal flubs in public.

"No Sarah Palin, BC does not border California," @Jymn tweeted. "Oh wait, that was Peter MacKay. Same diff."

MacKay has been in the news before after making a geography-related error. In 2007, he was booed at the East Coast Music Awards gala in Halifax after incorrectly citing the host city as Toronto.

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