Rob Ford says threatening email has given him 12 hours to resign or City Hall will be blown up

A bomb-sniffing black lab named Ace scoured parts of Toronto City Hall on Monday after Rob Ford publicly reported that an email had been sent to the deputy mayor and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, threatening to blow up the building unless the mayor resigns within 12 hours.

Mayor Ford read reporters the email outside of his office shortly before 2 p.m. and called the threat “very serious” but also continued on with “business as usual.”

City hall was never evacuated and by dinner time, police gave the all clear.

“We don’t believe there is any evidence to support any danger to the public or to any elected official,” said Toronto police Inspector Frank Barredo.

Earlier, he told reporters he was acting on his own advice to “keep people aware” by disclosing the threat. He showed the media the alleged email, but it did not include a header or subject line.

The email read: “What’s wrong with your f—ing brother. I sent an email to him at city hall and he has 12 hours to vacate otherwise city hall will blow,” the email that was apparently sent to Councillor Ford stated. “I have already set up an explosive around. Since you guys have been back, it’s been chaos. So here’s the message: You have 24 hours to vacatge [sic] city hall. You and your brother. No fuss, no argument, no whinning [sic] no nothing. If you walk everything is fine but if you ignore this warning, cityt [sic] hall will disappear from this map and believe me, I am not joking.”

The letter ends with the words “Bombs already set up.”

Toronto police officers were spotted arriving on the scene almost an hour after the mayor’s statement. A dog unit arrived shortly after 3 p.m.

Through it all, city hall hummed with its typical activity, as people paid their taxes and lined up for marriage licences. Even Mayor Ford found time to pose for photos with visitors. His spokesman, Amin Massoudi, said city hall security didn’t raise any concerns about the mayor’s plans to make the bomb threat public.