Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood has always been at the cutting edge as a writer and as a celebrity. She invented a device that allowed her to sign books abroad from her Toronto based home. She did that for her novel Oryx and Crake, which is largely considered one of the finest science fiction novels published in the last couple decades. Add in the awards and near-universal respect and you have one of the best known and celebrated authors of our times. So one would think that if Margaret Atwood sent a communication asking city council to revisit their plan to close some of Toronto’s 99 libraries a councilperson would at least take pause to say something tactful in response. Not to mention maybe listening to her.

CBCNews reports that something contrary to such logic is in fact what happened when Atwood’s plea arrived in Tornto’s City Council:

Coun. Doug Ford has dismissed Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood’s attempts to save the Toronto Public Library system from future budget cuts.

“If she walked by me, I wouldn’t have a clue who she is,” Ford was quoted as saying on Tuesday, referring to one of the most celebrated literary personalities in the country.

Later on he added a bit of advice for Atwood, should she want to find her audience:

Ford said if Atwood ran for office and got elected, then he would “sit down and listen to her.”

What’s important to note in this story, besides the level of anti-intellectualism achieved by Councilman Doug Ford, is that this is exactly the kind of heedless and uninformed decision-making involved in library cuts. Never mind the famous author, who perhaps you could harness for library fundraising purposes, and instead go headlong into reducing community services that could potentially provide help to the unemployed and marginally employed in those communities.

But apparently the art of tactful response just doesn’t run in the Ford family. Seems Doug’s brother, Rob Ford, who happens to be Mayor of Toronto, has made a a gaff of his own recently. CBC reports:

In another development Tuesday, the mayor responded to accusations that he gave the finger to a woman in downtown Toronto last week, after she accosted him for allegedly talking on his cellphone while driving.

“A story published that while I was on the phone I made a rude gesture to a fellow driver is not accurate. This is a misunderstanding,” Ford tweeted.