Councillor Alejandra Bravo provides update on new proposals to make life easier for Torontonians coming to Economic & Community Development Committee

TORONTO — This morning at Toronto City Hall, Councillor Alejandra Bravo provided an update on new proposals to make life easier for Toronto residents and business owners that will be considered by the Economic & Community Development Committee on July 9, 2025. 

Business Licence and Permit Applications Action Plan

In 2024, Municipal Licensing & Standards issued nearly 33,000 business licences for everything from restaurants to plumbers to commercial parking lots. This new four-year action plan, created in response to a motion from Councillor Bravo in 2024, will improve the licensing and permitting experience for businesses in Toronto by cutting red tape and modernizing the by-law.

The action plan will also immediately reduce the number of application requirements for licences to help reduce burden for applicants and licensees, as well as removing outdated or redundant licensing requirements.

“This action plan will make it faster and easier to get a licence, bring our licensing system into the 21st century and keep the City focused on its core mandate: protecting consumers, public health, and public safety,” said Bravo when discussing the Business Licence and Permit Applications Action Plan. 

Rat Response Plan

Climate change, construction, and waste have created a perfect storm in our city when it comes to rats. Toronto’s new Rat Response Plan is a proactive approach to keep our neighbourhoods clean and safe. The plan, which responds to a 2024 motion from Councillor Bravo and Deputy Mayor Morley,  brings Toronto in line with other major North American municipalities like New York City, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Ottawa to have a coordinated approach to managing rats.

The Rat Response Plan includes several new actions, including a Rat Response Coordination Team and Rat Response Enforcement Table to lead work within the public service, rat management plans for both private and City-led construction projects, targeted inspection blitzes in areas with higher reported prevalence of rats, and initiating a review of the City’s Property Standards By-law to improve the City’s ability to manage pests.

“People have told me time and time again that they want City Hall to focus on the basics of maintaining a beautiful city. This is an important step to keep our neighbourhoods clean and ensure that we’re ready for the impacts of climate change and construction in our local communities” said Bravo.

Updated Coyote Coexistence and Response Strategy

An updated city-wide strategy for coyotes builds on recent work, including the Downtown Coyote Action Plan, to focus on the challenges of human-coyote interactions  across Toronto. Annual coyote sightings citywide have fallen from 3,729 to 2,584 between 2022 and 2024, but the City remains focused on ensuring that neighbourhoods and pets are kept safe. 

The updated strategy includes recommendations to fund a new Wildlife Response Team, initiate a communications campaign for public education on how to respond to a coyote sighting, and to create a new voluntary wildlife management plan process for privately-led construction projects. It also includes a request to the provincial government to outline detailed criteria for when wildlife/coyote studies will be required for provincially-led redevelopment projects, to review the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, and to share the costs of managing coyote populations in Toronto.

The committee will also consider Toronto’s Early Years and Child Care Service Plan (2025-2030), new proposed licensing requirements for animal-related businesses, a plan to memorialize the Yonge Street Tragedy, and an update from Toronto Shelter and Support Services on the 2024 Street Needs Assessment and advancing the City’s shelter infrastructure, among other items. 

The full agenda for the July 9, 2025 meeting of Economic & Community DevelopmentCommittee is available here: https://secure.toronto.ca/council/#/committees/2563/25828

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Alejandra Bravo was elected as the City Councillor for Ward 9, Davenport in 2022. A Ward 9 resident for over two decades, she first became active in her children’s school in 2000, becoming the Chair of the Davenport TDSB Ward Council. Alejandra has a 25-year history of leadership with civil society organizations, including extensive governance experience with boards ranging from Art Starts, a community arts organization operating in under-serviced neighbourhoods, to serving on the Toronto Board of Health. Alejandra currently serves as Chair of Economic and Community Development Committee. 

Media Contact: Spencer Julien, [email protected]