Doug Ford and Margaret Atwood go at it again—but nobody gets called stupid this time

Doug Ford and Margaret Atwood go at it again—but nobody gets called stupid this time

She doesn’t think Doug Ford is stupid (Image: Marco Secchi/ Getty Images Entertainment/ Getty Images)

Yesterday, at a fundraiser for the Toronto Public Library union, the ongoing hostilities between Doug Ford and Margaret Atwood reached something of a détente: Atwood said Doug and brother Rob Ford are not, in fact, stupid, and Councillor Ford, for his part, said that he appreciates her saying that.

The National Post has the story:

Ms. Atwood told reporters the “twin Ford mayors”—as she likes to refer to the mayor and his brother—miscalculated library love in Toronto and will surely “think more carefully now” about closing branches.

“These are not stupid people. Don’t make the mistake of thinking the Fords are stupid,” said Ms. Atwood. “So given that they’re not stupid, they will think this through and what we all want of course is a good city council and we all want a good mayor, and maybe this will help them become a better city council and a better mayor-s”.

Councillor Ford shrugged off Ms. Atwood’s latest comments. “This is not about closing libraries or Margaret Atwood or anything. It’s about finding 10 per cent efficiencies in every single department, and I’m hoping the management in the libraries are gong to find the 10 per cent.”

We think Atwood is probably right that the Ford’s made an unfortunate political miscalculation this summer in thinking that the city wasn’t terribly attached to its library system. But had they anticipated the firestorm they were about to set off they might have proceeded with a touch more caution, not to mention avoiding a few rookie mistakes.

Atwood on Ford fight: ‘I don’t need it’ [Toronto Star]
Ford bros not ‘stupid’ says Atwood [Toronto Sun]
• Doug Ford says he appreciates that Atwood doesn’t think he’s stupid [National Post]