

Codi Wilson and Vidya Kauri, CP24.com





Toronto police say they have found no evidence to suggest that the public is in danger after a bomb threat was reported at city hall Monday.

The incident was made public by Mayor Rob Ford, who read the emailed threat aloud to reporters on Monday afternoon.

Ford said it was directed at both him and his brother Coun. Doug Ford. The email called for the pair to resign or else city hall would "disappear from the map," Ford said.

“This is very, very serious. I don’t want people to panic but we are just aware of this and police are working on this as fast as possible," the mayor told reporters Monday afternoon.

Police confirmed Monday evening that the incident posed no threat to public safetly.

Coun. Paula Fletcher told members of the media that she will be looking into whether the mayor followed proper protocol when he announced the bomb threat to the public.

"I am going to assume if something comes in like that, that you would be on the phone to the city manager, the deputy city manager immediately who would then take whatever necessary steps to see if this was real or just an unwell person making a threat to the mayor or another city official," she said.

“If he didn’t do that, then there would be a very big breach.”

However, the mayor's press secretary Amin Massoudi told reporters at city hall that Rob Ford notified the proper officials and residents about the bomb threat.

"The mayor felt that it was necessary to notify folks that this was happening. It's a serious issue and the protocol is we contact security, contact the police and the protocal is followed in that instance," said Massoudi. "It's up to the mayor to notify residents and keep residents informed."

Massoudi also said that a similar email was sent to the deputy mayor's office.

Doug Ford echoed Massoudi's comments, defending the mayor's decision.

"We’ve had threats. We’ve had dozens of threats. We’ve had threats we don’t even tell people about," the city councillor said. "But when it involves thousands of people in this building, he has the obligation to inform the people."

Toronto police Insp. Frank Barredo confirmed to reporters that the mayor did indeed follow proper protocol.