CITY COUNCIL – Councillor apologizes to mayor over erroneous fart-joke claim

“I made a mistake; it was a big one.”

Those are the words of Coun. Steven Karpuk today (Wed. June 28, 2023) as he apologized for incorrectly insisting, in yesterday’s regular City council meeting, that Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson had made an offensive fart joke at a recent meeting of the Canadian Homebuilders Association.

During the Councillors Reports section of the meeting agenda, Karpuk said the incident, which supposedly occurred during a discussion of carbon emissions, was embarrassing and disgusting.

He claimed the mayor asked, “Do you want me to fart more?” and that it was heard by the 230 people in the room.

Karpuk didn’t explain to council why he would bring up such a thing at an open council meeting. He said today he let his emotions get the better of him after the mayor reported he’d received some complaints about Community Service Officers.

Hamer-Jackson denied yesterday saying what Karpuk claimed he said but Karpuk insisted during the council meeting it was true.

Today, however, it’s a different story. Karpuk went on local radio stations this morning apologizing to the mayor, to council and to the community for getting it all wrong.

“In fact, it was not the mayor,” he said. The remark was made by someone at a table near where he was sitting, he said, not at the podium, and it wasn’t Hamer-Jackson who said it.

Karpuk said he could have avoided the gaff if he’d approached the mayor privately, where it could have been straightened out.

He said he wants to move past the incident.