Toronto City Mayor wants to close the Toronto Public Library

Toronto elected a right-wing mayor last year. We should have known that he lied.
He swore that there would be NO SERVICE cuts. That is a major reason why he was elected.
Toronto has a rather large deficit right now, and instead of raising taxes, the mayor wants to cut services.

He wants to cut daycare subsidies (city hall pays for daycare spaces for those parents whose jobs are minimum wage and cant afford to pay $50 per day). He wants to cut down on the number of times the grass gets cut in city parks during summer. He wants to cut down on the number of times the roads get plowed (snow removal) during the winter. He wants to cut down on Police numbers.

But the biggest shock of all is that he wants to Privatise the public libraries!!

Interior of the Toronto Reference Library - the main central branch at Yonge and Bloor

So Canada's champion for books - internationally known author Margaret Atwood - has joined the battle to keep our libraries open.

Margaret Atwood takes to Twitter to battle Toronto Mayor over Library Closures

She is asking people to sign the petition to KEEP OUR LIBRARIES OPEN

Many City Councillors see Toronto's public libraries as a financial burden rather than an important community service. As some American cities already have done, Toronto City Hall is actively considering turning over some or all of the operation of our free public library system to the private sector.

BUT WHO WILL PAY IN A FOR-PROFIT LIBRARY?

Library users, that's who, through higher user fees, fewer books, less access and fewer branches.

Would YOU as a library user want to pay to borrow books?
I would not and cant afford to do that. If this happens, I would just stop using the library.

I have heard that Toronto Public Library is one of the best library systems on the entire North American continent. Possibly also one of the biggest - there are 99 branches. Even Montreal's public library only has 50 branches. We have to all work together to KEEP it that way.

SAVE OUR LIBRARY

SIGN THE PETITION

Thank you.

Margaret Atwood Versus The Four Seasons Hotel

So I briefly blogged about the Giller awards last week when an email showed up late that night to announce the winner. But today I found out that something else of interest happened at the awards as well.

I just happened to be reading a few book-related articles in recent issues of the Star online (I dont read the actual paper) and came across this small item about the Scotiabank Giller Book Awards given out last week. In the pink column on the right of the article is an interesting item written by Martin Knelman.

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Literary couple bring own dinner

More than 400 A-list guests dined in style at last night's Giller Prize bash at the Four Seasons Hotel. The literary crowd feasted on tuna tartar and beef tenderloin.

But two of the most notable guests took a pass on that menu and instead brought their own dinner in a box.

Former Giller Prize winner Margaret Atwood and her husband, Graeme Gibson – author of The Bedside Book of Birds – quietly declined the food being passed.

The reason: They were protesting the Four Seasons' role in a massive resort development in Grenada that threatens an endangered species: the Grenada dove.

"Until there is a fair resolution of the dispute over the kind of resort being built in Grenada, we cannot accept food or drink from the Four Seasons," explained Gibson, who arrived at the event carrying what appeared to be a gym bag but in fact contained their meal.

And so Canada's most famous literary couple munched on home-made spinach and cucumber, and drank their own sake, while others at their table, including former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, ate beef and drank wine.

The proposed resort is being built on what used to be a government-protected sanctuary.

The Four Seasons claims the project is controlled by the government and a developer, not the hotel chain. Gibson doesn't buy that.

Four Seasons CEO Isadore Sharp sat at a nearby table.

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Hey I had no idea that the Atwood-Gibson Group were environmentalists.