“Departing Mayor David Miller sent media pulses racing Friday when he wandered through City Hall on nomination day with a wad of cash in his hand.

But no, the two-term mayor was not changing his mind and putting down his $200 registration fee only minutes before the 2 p.m. cutoff — he just wanted to get reporters’ attention so he could underline the importance of casting a vote on Oct. 25.

“We’re having an extremely important election this fall,” Miller said.

“This city has been building over the past seven years…and we need a Toronto that succeeds for everybody.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Related: After last-minute tease, Miller is not entering the race (BlogTO)

Also: David Miller to Toronto: Psych! (Inside City Hall)

In what has to be one of the more bizarre footnotes of the almost year-long mayoral race, the “Chinese Warren Buffet” Weizhen Tang has filed to run for mayor of Toronto:

“Tang said in an interview Thursday he has registered to run for mayor and has no doubt that Torontonians will vote him into office to root out corruption, which he described as “the wasting of millions of dollars.”

“I have the best chance to be mayor,” Tang said, after circulating a manifesto subtitled: “How the Canadian government is too fat to move, but Toronto, through extreme fitness, can save the country, and itself, from corruption and a Great Crash.”

Tang was arrested and jailed in January after returning to Toronto from China. He was released on bail in April.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Related: ‘Warren Buffett’ running for mayor (Toronto Sun)

“The veteran councillor registered as a candidate for Ward 24, which he has held since 1991, on Tuesday. He is the last incumbent councillor to make a decision on his future, and will now join the 34-strong list of sitting councillors seeking to retain their seats.

Shiner served as former mayor Mel Lastman’s budget chief in the past and still sits on Mayor David Miller’s budget committee.”

Read the rest of the article here.

“I hope that Torontonians feel like they know me,” Ms. West, pictured at right, said. “I’m not someone they have to get to know. I’ve been in conversation with them for many, many years.”

Ms. West will probably need a crowbar to dislodge Paula Fletcher, the two-term councillor who captured 60 per cent of the vote in 2006. If there’s a whiff of real competition in the ward, NDP/union organizers will start popping up like gourmet cheese shops in Riverdale and Leslieville. (Ms. Fletcher, a dedicated progressive, is married to John Cartwright, head of the powerful Toronto and York Region Labour Council.)”

Read the rest of the post here.

“The Etobicoke North ward is the one vacated by his brother Rob, currently a frontrunner in the race to be Toronto’s next mayor.  “Yes I’m running,” he told the Toronto Sun on Thursday.

The 45-year-old Ford, who is also his brother’s campaign manager and president of the family-run Deco Labels, said he’s learned so much about the “culture of corruption” at City Hall and wants to be able to “voice his opinion” from the inside.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Related: A Ford on the municipal ballot in Etobicoke North ward (Toronto Community News)

Photo courtesy: Toronto Star

The National Post reports that a member of the Ford family will definitely be on the ballot as a candidate in Ward 2 to replace mayoral candidate Rob Ford:

“Rob Ford deferred comment to his spokesperson, Adrienne Batra, who said a member of the Ford family will announce their candidacy for the seat on August 6 at “Ford Fest,” a backyard barbeque being held to raise money for the Rob Ford campaign.

“The Ford family is weighing all their options in terms of who might have their name on the ballot,” Ms. Batra said. The barbeque announcement isn’t a sign that the Ford campaign will be slowing down anytime soon: “Rob will be on the ballot for mayor of Toronto,” she said.”

Read the rest of the article here.

“The e-mail exchange is the first evidence directly from Mr. Tory of his potential candidacy, and it reveals how torn he is about emerging from political retirement.

“Your message re: my plans is not lost on me in any respect,” Mr. Tory said in a July 13 e-mail to Ms. Thomson. “I wish I could say, ‘Therefore I will do this or that tomorrow,’ but I can’t.”

On July 9, Ms. Thomson e-mailed the former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader a long letter entreating him to make his intentions known.”

Read the rest of the article here.  Read the full e-mail exchange here.

“He’s getting down to the short strokes” of making a decision with help from advisers, and is keen to make up his mind very soon, said one of the many politicos to whom Tory has spoken.

“I think he’s leaning more yes than no . . . but it’s not 100 per cent. I think we’ll see a final answer within 10 days,” the source said, on background.

Tory, who ran unsuccessfully against Mayor David Miller in 2003, stunned and disappointed many in January when he said would sit out this election to “pursue a different course with my life and career,” including his chairmanship of the Toronto City Summit Alliance and hosting duties at Newstalk 1010.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Related: Speculation mounts over John Tory mayoral bid (Globe and Mail)

Also: Mayor Tory rumours heat up (Toronto Sun)

And: John Tory mulls entering mayoral race, friends say (National Post)

“I got tired of waking up every morning and yelling at my TV,” McCormick explained after filing election papers Thursday at City Hall.

McCormick, who is married to TSN anchor Jennifer Hedger, hopes to win election as a councilor for Ward 19.  The Trinity-Spadina seat was vacated by Joe Pantalone, who is running for mayor of Toronto.

McCormick, a Sportsnet anchor for the past seven years, is involved with a number of charities, including Right To Play, CNIB, and the Toronto East General Hospital Foundation.”

Read the rest of the article here.

“I’ve always been interested in public office,” said Meynell. “I am interested in how society works well for everyone and implementing (solutions).”  He also touts his business experience.

While obtaining his PhD in politics in Ottawa, he bought several homes and rented out apartments. He’s been a renter and landlord.

He was a volunteer teacher for a year in the Yukon working with Vuntut Gwitch’n First Nations which helped him gain a greater appreciation for other cultures.

“There’s a need to understand and value different cultural differences. That’s something that will come in handy…this ward is quite diverse,” said Meynell, who currently serves on a committee for that provides accessible and affordable housing for people with disabilities.”

Read the rest of the interview here.