Calgary MLA apologizes for using ‘inappropriate word’ in voicemail to constituent

Calgary-Peigan MLA Tanya Fir has apologized to a constituent after leaving a voicemail punctuated with profanity, which was shared online.

In the voicemail, which was posted to Substack by columnist Doug Firby, a voice that sounds like the MLA’s can be heard referring to somebody as the “next motherf—-r” toward the end of the message.

The message appeared to be one of multiple calls and voicemails Fir was making to constituents.

Firby told CBC News the voicemail was left on another constituent’s phone on Nov. 10. He said the message mentioned Firby’s name and phone number, which prompted that person to forward the recording to him.

“My MLA had left a voice message with this other person … and didn’t realize that she hadn’t hung up the phone when she finished,” he said.

The message she left was in response to the caller’s complaints about the province’s management of the Alberta teachers’ strike.

“Your feedback has been noted, and I will be sharing it accordingly at the caucus and cabinet tables, so thank you for reaching out and sharing your views on the matter. I appreciate it,” she said in her voicemail, prior to the use of profanity.

Firby said he had previously left Fir a message in which he expressed his opposition to the province’s use of the notwithstanding clause to end the teachers’ strike.

“So you hear her, you know, using an obscenity. She’s preparing to talk to me, so she provided my number, my name,” Firby said. “It was unmistakably Tanya Fir, so I was quite upset, you know, a little bit angry.”

The two-term MLA was first elected to represent Calgary-Peigan in 2019. She has served as the province’s minister of arts, culture and status of women since 2023.

Incident was ‘a moment of poor judgement’: MLA

In a statement sent to CBC News, Fir acknowledged the incident.

“In a moment of poor judgement, I flippantly used an inappropriate word that I had been called following political disagreement over the past few weeks,” she said.

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

Firby said he spoke with Fir following the incident and forgave her.

“I was moved by her contriteness,” he said. “She was very, very apologetic, and I thought, ‘OK, she made a mistake. She’s owning up to it. I have to forgive her.'”

According to Firby, the MLA said “she had cracked a joke” in light of “the threats and the swearing and hostility” she faces from critics.

Foul language is ‘politically destructive’: prof

Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams said public figures should set a better example with their word choices, and that foul language and verbal abuse should not be acceptable from politicians or their critics.

“It’s politically destructive and actually undermines the character and quality of our democracy,” she said.

Firby said during his conversation with Fir, she had played him voicemails in which she was referred to as a “motherf—-r” and subjected to other profanity.

Williams said “politicians come under fire in this way all too often, and particularly female politicians.”

“The unfortunate thing is the recording is going to be what most people hear, and not the apology or the provocation behind it,” she said. “And worst of all, in an environment where people are angry because they feel unheard by the government, this feeds that impression.”