Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Doughnuts vs books? In Ford's Etobicoke, it’s 3-1

Councillor Doug Ford’s provocative statement that there are more library branches than Tim Hortons in his area has prompted people to check his numbers.

Turns out the library is not quite as ubiquitous as Ford suggested in a recent comment in a radio interview. According to library union president Maureen O’Reilly, Etobicoke has 13 library branches and 39 Tim Hortons. Three library branches are in areas Ford represents, Ward 2, Etobicoke North, while the Tim Hortons website shows seven of their shops in the ward.

Ford didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The budget committee vice-chair and brother of Mayor Rob Ford also mistakenly said Toronto has more libraries per person than any other city in the world.

Asked to comment, the library provided some comparisons. Toronto has one library for every 28,120 citizens, fewer than Hamilton (one branch per 21,629); Ottawa (27,527); and Vancouver (27,976). But Toronto does better than Mississauga (40,555); Montreal (36,833) and Calgary (61,346).

O’Reilly said Ford is trying to create the impression Toronto is over-served with libraries to justify cutting the library budget.

A consultants review of city agencies, including the library, is due to be released soon and will be discussed next week by council’s executive committee, chaired by the mayor.

“In some ways, they’re looking for reasons to cut,” said O’Reilly, representing 2,400 library workers in Local 4948 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

“I suppose they’re attempting to look for an easy way to get at the library,” she added.

Councillor Janet Davis, a member of the library board, said Ford’s interest in cutting the library isn’t shared by the general public.

“He’s certainly suggested before that we ought to close library branches, but that sentiment is completely out of step with the opinions of the residents of Toronto,” Davis said.

Ford’s remarks sparked a backlash on Twitter under the hashtag #booksnotdonutsforford, where contributors offered revised book titles such as Love in the Time of Gravy.

Origin
Source: Toronto Star 

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