Shocker of the week: council votes to demand apology for Maclean’s “Too Asian” article
The one genuine surprise from last night’s marathon session was the results of the motion, put forward by Mike Layton, to demand an apology from Maclean’s magazine and “dissociate” council from its contents. Most observers assumed that the motion a) wouldn’t get the 2/3 vote it needed to be considered, and b) would then die somewhere in the executive committee.
Well surprise, surprise. In one of the very last pieces of business that council took up late last night, not only did they vote to waive referral, councillors then voted to endorse the motion, 27-14. Not surprisingly, Rob and Doug Ford led the core of council’s conservatives in voting against the motion, but the left and middle seem to have mostly voted for it.
The reaction is about what we’d expect: Maclean’s employees like Andrew Coyne and Paul Wells are against it, while some in the Asian-Canadian community seem happy with it. As a magazine’s blog, we can’t say we’re wild about the state deciding it has business in the newsrooms of the nation, but this does open all sorts of opportunities for further apology demanding—for example, Maclean’s latest cover has clearly photoshopped Stephen Harper to look like a narcoleptic Ken doll doing a gig at the Copa Cabana. Surely parliament can gather to condemn this latest affront to the nation. It’s not possible that Harper actually looks like that, is it?
• Request for Apology for the media article “Too Asian?" [Toronto.ca]
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