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Morning Brew: City council seeks new budget chief, Del Grande hints at return, Scarborough subway resurfaces, del Toro wants to stay, and Leafs give away free tickets

City council is seeking a replacement for budget chief Mike Del Grande a day after the councillor decided to step down from his position as chair of the budget committee. Shortly after announcing his departure, which was seemingly provoked by councillors adding spending to the budget, Del Grande said he would consider returning if he was voted back unanimously. "If you're going to leave, leave," said councillor Paul Ainslie. Should council call Del Grande back or find someone else?

The subway debate is never dead in Toronto, it just sleeps occasionally. Waking the monster this time is councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, who believes replacing the Scarborough RT with an extension of the Bloor-Danforth line is possible in the next decade. Should replacing the obsolete RT be a priority like the Yonge relief line?

Movie director Guillermo del Toro likes filming in Toronto so much he's hoping to shoot here for the next couple of years, according to the Toronto Star. Del Toro is hoping to follow up the sci-fi Pacific Rim with vampire TV series The Strain.

The Maple Leafs are giving 1,000 fans the chance to attend the team's opening home match against Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. 15,000 season ticket holders, who saw their time at the rink cut in half by the lockout, will also get a free night at the ACC. Tickets will be assigned randomly over the next few days to passionate fans, the team says. Will this win back angry fans?

Finally, cellphone thieves beware: apps that automatically upload photos to the Internet like Dropbox keep running, even if you don't realize. One Reddit user found that out when pictures of a stranger bleaching her moustache started appearing online [via Reddit.]

IN BRIEF:

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Photo: "Winter Activities 12" by Sarah M Jordan/blogTO Flickr pool.


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