Cllr. Norm Kelly will become Rob Ford's deputy mayor if Doug Holyday is successful in his run for a seat in the provincial parliament. Ford made the announcement at this weekend's "Ford Fest," his annual summer public get-together, in Scarborough. Holyday is running against fellow councillor Peter Milczyn for a seat in Queen's Park.

In the event one of the two wins the seat, Rob Ford says the city should hold a byelection to fill the potentially vacant seat on council. "You cannot put a price on democracy," he said on Sunday. An election will cost around $150,000 but council has the option of appointing someone to the seat. Is Ford making the right call?

Speaking of appointments, Sarah Thomson, for former mayoral candidate who alleged Ford made inappropriate advances at a military gala, is lobbying to fill the potentially vacant Etobicoke seat, according to the Toronto Star. Thomson is promising not to run for the ward at the next election if she's appointed. How do you rate her chances?

Meanwhile, former TTC chair Adam Giambrone is going to be the NDP candidate in the Scarborough-Guildwood provincial by-election.

Get ready for chaos - the TTC is planning to close part of the Yonge-University line between Osgoode and King for nine consecutive days in October. The line will also be closed between St. George and Bloor - the entire downtown portion of the subway - on the weekends either side of the Osgoode-King outage. The unprecedented move will allow workers to replace decades-old signal infrastructure. Can downtown keep moving without its subway?

Good news, silence lovers. GO says its expanding its Quiet Zones to all rush-hour trains starting 15 July. The special areas have proved popular during a pilot project on the Barrie line this year. Riders are asked to mute cellphones, keep calls brief, and ensure music on headphones is kept low.

Toronto Zoo is working on a device to convert animal poo into electricity. The power plant is capable of turning 3,000 tonnes of dung and 14,000 tonnes of supermarket waste into power, fertilizer, and heat. Just don't complain about crappy electricity in the event of an blackout.

Finally, the Ford Nation anthem we heard about last week now has a video. Titled "Mayor Ford (The World Will Remember)," the tune by singer-songwriter Jenny James features soaring vocals, big drums, and crunching guitar riffs that wouldn't be out of place in the theme song of a particularly epic 1990s Saturday morning cartoon. Enjoy.

FROM THE WEEKEND:

• This Week in Comedy: Sowunmi & Friends, Classy Drunk, and West End Girls
• Toronto artists want to catch fire at 2013 Burning Man
• New spa gets you pampered at King and Parliament
• Daily Dose of Imagery posts last photo after 10 year run
• That time Australian Rules football came to Toronto
• Where to spin and gravity train near Trinity Bellwoods
• 10 shots of art from the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition
• The Corso Italia street festival stays Italian, for now

IN BRIEF:

• Toronto crash claims barbershop convention-goer [Toronto Star]
• Families find closure as GTA crash site memorial unveiled [CBC]
• Midnight Aria wins Queen's Plate [CBC]
• Blue Jays beat up on Scott Diamond, Twins [CBC]

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

Image: Ben Roffelsen/blogTO Flickr pool.