Library cuts will happen 'in a heartbeat,' Doug Ford says
Doug Ford, the blunt-talking Toronto councillor and brother to the mayor, is ratcheting up the cost-cutting rhetoric at city hall, vowing to support library closings and dismissing the efforts of a CanLit legend to spare branches from the chopping block.
Mr. Ford, a rookie councillor who has quickly gained a reputation for headline-grabbing statements, said Tuesday he would close a library in his ward "in a heartbeat," characterizing a growing movement to save branches backed by Margaret Atwood as an "over-reaction," led by "library groups."
"Good luck to Margaret Atwood. I don't even know her. She could walk right by me, I wouldn't have a clue who she is," said Mr. Ford, responding to the celebrated author's remarks on Twitter opposing the proposed library cuts.
"She's not down here. She's not dealing with the problem," he went on to say. "Tell her to go run in the next election and get democratically elected."
The councillor's remarks came on the same day that people packed a meeting of the Toronto Library Board to discuss the proposed cuts to the city's 98 branches, with the overflow crowd following the debate on closed-circuit television in a room next door.
Toronto is hunting for savings to close an estimated $774-million gap in next year's budget – part of a pledge made by Mayor Rob Ford to find the "gravy" at city hall. Consultants KPMG have looked at more than 150 city services, producing a long list of possible money-saving cuts that include the suggestion of "rationalizing the footprint of libraries" by closing an unspecified number of branches.
Mr. Ford figures there are five or six library branches within a two-mile area near his ward, which includes what he described as a little-used location in an industrial area.
Asked if he would vote to close that branch he said, "Absolutely I would. In a heartbeat.
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