Calgary MLA Tanya Fir apologizes for swearing on leaked voicemail

Calgary-Peigan MLA Tanya Fir is apologizing after an unguarded moment on a constituent's voicemail caught her using profanity.

Calgary-Peigan MLA Tanya Fir is apologizing after swearing on a voicemail left on an Albertan’s phone.

The audio, posted online by columnist Doug Firby, is said to be from a Nov. 10 conversation.

In it, Fir can be heard using foul language when returning a constituent’s call.

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“Hi, this is MLA Tanya Fir returning your call from the voicemail you had left. There wasn’t a name left on your voicemail, so I’m sorry I’m not addressing you by your name, but I wanted to let you know I did receive your voicemail and your feedback with respect to the teachers’ strike issue and wanted you to know your feedback has been noted, and I will be sharing it accordingly at the caucus and cabinet table, so thank you for reaching out and sharing your views on the matter – I appreciate it. Bye for now.”

After the message, it sounds as though Fir has hung up, however, her voice can still be heard in the distance.

“Was that OK?” she asks.

A second voice is heard saying, “I think so.”

The pair can be heard discussing the name of the person who called – questioning if it was “Sean,” and listing out phone numbers of people called.

It then appears Fir says “who are the next m**********rs?”

In a statement sent to CTV News, Fir admits to a “moment of poor judgement” in which she “flippantly used an inappropriate word that I had been called following political disagreement over the past few weeks.”

“I have offered my sincere apologies to the individual,” she said.

‘Really mad about it’

Firby says he got access to the voicemail when called by a stranger named Sean, who shared that his phone number was listed on the voicemail left by Fir on his phone.

“My initial reaction was anger. I was just really mad about it,” he told CTV News.

Firby says he was upset to hear Fir using profanity, and also upset the voicemail included his personal information.

“My personal information should not have been anywhere. That’s confidential, obviously. And I was also angry that there was almost what sounded like a tone of contempt to me,” Firby said.

Firby said he reached out to Fir to discuss the voicemail, and she called him back within a few hours.

“I told her what was on the voicemail. She didn’t believe me, and so I said, ‘I’ll send you the voicemail.’

“She was clearly very flustered when she heard it, and she said, ‘Give me a few minutes. I need to look into this.’ And then she called me back.

“She was really tearful. She was very, very apologetic. She told me that the comment was not aimed at me or aimed at anyone in particular.”

Firby said the pair discussed the abuse Fir and other politicians have to put up with.

Firby said Fir played him a selection of rude voicemails she had received.

“They used the crudest language,” he said. “I don’t know why anybody would put up with that.”

“She told me that she didn’t mean to use [that language] back at people. She was kind of… she said she was in shell shock from all of the verbal abuse that she’s been receiving. And she was actually just trying to joke around with my fellow office person. Yeah, people can decide whether they believe that or not, right?”

Firby says that, for him, the issue is now closed.

“Yeah, yeah, she’s absolutely forgiven, yeah, absolutely.”

Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary said the United Conservative Party is facing a lot of anger because they are perceived as not listening to voters.

“The reality is that there’s a whole lot of anger, and in this polarized environment, things get very heated and inappropriate,” said Williams. “Things get said, but leaders, especially cabinet ministers, need to set a better example.”

While she said it shouldn’t go unrecognized that Fir apologized directly to Firby and acknowledged that her comment was inappropriate, it’s also “very difficult to undo this kind of damage.”

With files from Kevin Green