The rise in virtual meetings has seen a number of embarrassing "hot mic" moments, the latest of which took place Wednesday evening during a Toronto City Council meeting over Zoom.
After nearly 11 hours of debating, around 8:15 pm speaker Frances Nunziata announced that they would continue for another 45 minutes and defer the rest of the agenda until April, according to BlogTO.
Here is the wildest moment from last night’s madcap Toronto city council, where a senior city staffer has an epic hot mic moment. Warning: unbleeped swearing pic.twitter.com/Yn8F8toUrC
— David Rider (@dmrider) March 11, 2021
Councillor Paula Fletcher asked, "Excuse me, Speaker. Why is the rest of the agenda being deferred until April?" at which point one irritated member of the Zoom call quipped "Because [you] f*cking can’t get your sh*t done."
Nunziata replied to Fletcher by saying "Because we want to finish by 9 o’clock" as other members of the call asked, "who said that?"
Suspicion was immediately cast on councillor Paul Ainslie of Scarborough-Guildwood, with Nunziata demanding "Councillor Ainslie, you owe us an apology," before the true culprit spoke up after a moment’s silence.
"It's Carleton here. It was my mistake, I apologize," confessed Carleton Grant, Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards.
An amused "oooh hooooo!" could be heard from another member, before other councillors and Mayor John Tory said they accepted the apology and requested they move on.
Following some nonsensical dialogue about "Paul Ainslie’s salad," Nunziata said "I think everybody is getting really tired and very silly at this point" in response.
Toronto council is officially off the rails. Minutes after a senior city staffer accidentally swore at councillors not realizing his mic was on, this happens pic.twitter.com/BL2vFShnMc
— David Rider (@dmrider) March 11, 2021