Usually, Ward 2 (Etobicoke North) Councillor Rob Ford can be counted on to serve as Toronto Council’s right-wing conscience - if that conscience is an angry one prone to inappropriate outbursts.

Not so today, when council turned its eye to the idea of letting stores stay open on holidays. Ford, a dyed-in-the-wool free marketeer, was a font of sunshine and joy. However, being Rob Ford, he still managed to be an inappropriate one.

While explaining in expansive detail why he thought stores should be able to stay open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the councillor from the west end of the city turned his eyes east. East to the “Orient,” as he described it.

“Those Oriental people work like dogs,” said Ford, to a stunned-silent city hall. “They work their hearts out. They are workers non-stop. They sleep beside their machines. That’s why they’re successful in life… I tell you. Oriental people. They’re slowly taking over.”

It was Ward 33 (Don Valley East) Councillor Shelley Carroll who corrected the delighted Councillor Ford.

“If I could remind Councillor Ford - in the words of Margaret Cho, ‘carpets are oriental. People are Asian.’ Just for the record.”

And if I might make the point: dogs are nothing like Asian people, or indeed any other people. Even in flights of doubtless kindly-intended rhetoric.