Naheed Nenshi says he learned a lesson and apologized for slamming ride-share company Uber.
Back in April, Calgary’s Mayor was getting a ride with a ride-share company called Lyft in Boston. Without his knowledge, he was videotaped making unflattering remarks about Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and suggested that the city had hired sex offenders to apply to be drivers to test Uber’s background checks.
After the video was leaked, Calgary’s Integrity Commissioner looked into it and put together a report. He recommended that Nenshi apologize, and now he has.
“I screwed up, and when you screw up, you should take your lumps. The good news is that the Integrity Commissioner did highlight that there was really no lasting harm here, but none the less, one should learn from this and I think I learned a lesson from it,” said Nenshi.
The Commissioner also recommended no punishment for the incident, saying that given the context in which the Mayor understood he was speaking, in private to disinterested third parties, he could not have had any purposefully deceitful or malevolent intent.
Many Calgarians seemed to agree.
“I think he should be held to a higher standard but he's a human being, I get it,” said Christina Budnick.
“I don’t think he should be punished, I don’t think he meant any harm,” said Triona Simpson.
“I think it's hard, if you figure they're in a position like that they would be held accountable if they say one thing but it’s his job to think things like that through,” said Keough.
The Integrity Commissioner said the Mayor was simply indulging in some extravagant hyperbole.
