Doug Ford angry at Margaret Atwood for calling him a liar

On July 19th Maureen O'Reilly proved he lied about libraries in Etobicoke. See Doug Ford Vs Etobicoke Libraries.

Margaret Atwood, the famous Canadian author, then criticized Doug Ford on Twitter and his inaccurate view of local libraries and his goal of cutting libraries.

Councillor Doug Ford has now fired back at Margaret Atwood for her criticism of suggested library cuts, telling reporters: “I don’t even know her. If she walked by me, I wouldn’t have a clue who she is.”

(Why does he not know what Margaret Atwood looks like? Because Doug Ford is a moron who likes to stick his foot in his mouth. I know what she looks like and I haven't read a single one of her books.)

Ford also says Margaret Atwood should get herself elected to office or pipe down. (In other words he is telling her to censor herself. Evidently Doug Ford doesn't get the idea of Twitter...)

“Well good luck to Margaret Atwood. I don’t even know her. If she walked by me, I wouldn’t have a clue who she is,” says Doug Ford, the "brains" behind Mayor Rob Ford.

“She’s not down here, she’s not dealing with the problem. Tell her to go run in the next election and get democratically elected. And we’d be more than happy to sit down and listen to Margaret Atwood.”

Margaret Atwood, an activist on literary and human rights causes, only briefly mentioned Doug Ford on a Twitter message. (See how things get blown out of scale?)

Initially it wasn't even Margaret Atwood's Tweet. She retweeted a Twitter message asking people to sign an online petition, started by the library workers’ union, telling city hall to ignore consultant KPMG’s suggestion to “rationalize the footprint of libraries to reduce service levels, closing some branches.”

Many of Atwood’s more than 250,000 Twitter followers complied and told their friends about the petition, promptly crashing the server hosting the petition.

Margaret Atwood then started tweeting about the library fight, mocking Doug Ford’s Tim Hortons comment on talk radio, and saying that Toronto’s libraries are “astonishing. I’ve done research in them.”

She tweeted Friday: “Twin Fordmayor seems to think those who eat Timbits (like me) don’t read, can’t count, & are stupid eh?” and later asked her followers to check out library books, hold a book club meeting in Tim Hortons and submit their names to win a visit from her and possibly other authors.

Doug Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) says that some of Toronto’s 99 libraries should close, adding he would shut down one of the three in his Ward 2, Etobicoke North ward “in a heartbeat.”

Here are some statistics about one particular library branch Etobicoke Councillor Doug Ford said is unnecessary. Evidently its a lot more popular than he thinks. Doug Ford says nobody uses it at all.

Annual circulation: 96,328
In library use: 16,550
Information requests: 17,825
Holds placed: 15,557
Programs: 129
Program attendance: 1,692
Visitors: 39,775
Active users: 2,746
New users: 533

(Source: Toronto Public Library, 2010)