Toronto City Hall not evacuated after Rob Ford reports bomb threat

An email that threatened to blow up Toronto City Hall if Rob Ford didn't resign as mayor is being investigated by police, though it has not been determined to be a legitimate enough threat to as yet warrant an evacuation.

Toronto police say that officers are on scene to investigate the letter, which was reportedly emailed to the mayor's brother, Coun. Doug Ford, and the deputy mayor late last night.

Toronto police Const. David Hopkinson confirmed that city hall security reported the letter late Monday morning and officers have since been sent to investigate the veracity of the threat.

"Toronto police treat these calls quite seriously and we are investigating. The decision whether to evacuate or not evacuate will be made by the officers that are on scene. They have chosen not to evacuate at this time," Hopkinson told Yahoo Canada News.

The letter came to the public's attention Monday afternoon when Ford and his brother, who also acts as his re-election campaign manager, announced the threat to the media.

"This is very, very serious. I don't want people to panic," Ford told reporters. He added that he was acting on his "own advice" when he decided to publicize the letter.

In the letter, copies of which were distributed to media at city hall, the unidentified writer says they have set explosives around city hall and that Rob Ford must resign or else.

"I sent an email to him at city hall and he has 12 hours to vacate otherwise city hall will blow," the note reads.

Portions of the letter feature grammatical mistakes and were written in all capitals. It blamed Ford for the resignation of another good councillor, thought it wasn't immediately clear to whom it was referring.

The letter gives deadlines of both 12 hours and 24 hours for when the facility should be evacuated. Based on reports that the letter was emailed late Sunday evening, one of those deadlines has already passed.

Hopkinson said the Toronto Police Service has bomb-sniffing dogs, but that he did not believe they had been dispatched to city hall. Officers, however, remain at the scene as the investigation continues.