There was yet another mayoral debate last night, of the CP24 kind no less. Noteworthy amongst the repetition is that George Smitherman put in a more solid performance than usual, which is perhaps cause for cautious optimism from the pool of voters who just can't stomach the idea of a Ford win.

In other election news, big Rob finally revealed where he's going to get the money to get rid of the land-transfer and vehicle-registration taxes: staff attrition. City Hall loses about 6% of its staff a year, and a Ford-run Toronto would only replace 3%, which would account for $130-million of the $200-million he would need to make good on this promise.

Also Rob Ford related is the news that Giorgio Mammoliti appears to be on the verge of throwing his support behind the mayoral front-runner. Ford, you will recall, once referred to the York West councillor as a "gino-boy," but what's a little name-calling in politics? An announcement is expected at 11:00 a.m. today according to the Globe.

That kind of secret but actually not-so-secret G20 law that gave police additional powers during the summit is to undergo an independent review. Passed in 1939, the Public Works Protection Act is a leftover from the Second World War and critics say in desperate need of modernization. The key issue is the nature of the so-called five-metre rule, which the police led the public to believe gave them the power to detain anyone within that distance from security fence.

Speaking of the cops, the Canada Revenue Agency determined yesterday that having the option to park at police stations is a taxable benefit. As such, the CRA will be looking for three years of back taxes from the Toronto force.

In Brief:

TTC employees were evacuated yesterday due to a bomb threat at 1138 Bathurst St., though ultimately no explosive devices were found.

The Star's headline says it all on this one - as the Hazel McCallion continues to be cross-examined at a conflict of interest inquiry, her strategy is simply to "deny, deny, deny."

And the Leafs got the (pre)season started out right last night, suffering a 5-0 shellacking to the Ottawa Senators. Nice.

Photo by scott3eh in the blogTO Flickr pool.