Senior Toronto manager drops the f-word in ‘hot mic’ moment during marathon council meeting

Thestar.com
March 12, 2021

In a “hot mic” moment for the ages, a senior city of Toronto manager has apologized to city councillors for swearing at them during Wednesday’s online council meeting.

The late-night outburst came as Speaker Frances Nunziata warned her fractious council colleagues they might not have time to finish an agenda composed of items they hadn’t been able to finish at February’s meeting.

Off-camera a voice boomed: “Because you can’t get your f---g s-t done!”

That provoked gasps, stunned silence and: “Whoa, who said that?” A councillor was named as a suspect and apology demanded, before it was noted that the profane speaker’s name had briefly flashed on their screens.

An off-camera voice intoned: “It’s Carleton here, it was my mistake. I apologize.”

Carleton Grant, the city’s executive director of municipal licensing and standards and a 28-year city employee, had been standing by for questions on the next item, about city regulation of Airbnb and other short-term rentals.

“Woe-hoe-hoooo!” one councillor hooted before Nunziata demanded: “So you did say it!”

Mayor John Tory interjected: “And the apology’s been accepted. Speaker, should we just move forward please?” Nunziata agreed and they returned to the last few agenda items.

That was the most dramatic of many miscues since city hall meetings moved online during the pandemic. Participants, most of them at home and unaware they were not muted, have answered phone calls and chatted loudly with others off-camera.

Tory last month told the Star that he and other participants in a virtual townhall meeting once saw a pornographic video flash on their screens.

Earlier in Wednesday’s meeting, which ended more than 12 hours after its 9:30 a.m. start, the mayor urged councillors to focus as both jokes and tempers flared --behaviour that often escalates in sessions that drag into the night.

“This is an embarrassment,” Tory fumed after council bogged down in an argument over whether Coun. Mike Layton should apologize for calling colleagues “two old men” clinging to the use of fossil fuels.

“We’ve got gas!” another councillor exclaimed after they had to reopen the vote --on urging the provincial government to phase out gas-fired electricity generation --after a councillor accidentally voted the wrong way.

When Coun. Paula Fletcher didn’t appear immediately to speak on another item, a colleague joked she might be driving. Last month, Fletcher appeared on screen to give a verbal vote while she drove, as an aide held her cellphone.

Fletcher headed off the teasing Wednesday night, saying she was in her office, thank you very much, eating a colleague’s salad.

Also during the meeting, Coun. Mike Colle said the province’s proposed Highway 413 through GTA farmland is “like Viagra” for urban sprawl.

Unlike provincial and federal caucus and cabinet meetings, where odd happenings are contained by closed doors and confidentiality, Toronto council has a long history of letting it all hang out.

The late Rob Ford’s 2010-2014 mayoral term included Ford and councillors dancing with abandon to reggae music on the council floor. Another time Ford knocked down a colleague running to help his brother --then-councillor, now Premier Doug Ford --verbally battle residents in the public gallery.

Marathon meetings in particular seem prone to gaffes. In 2017, at the 14-hour mark, council accidentally blew a $2-million hole in the city budget by voting to increase a street sweeping budget with no revenue source to pay for it.