Item - 2019.GL1.8

The General Government and Licensing Committee received the report (December 31, 2018) from the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, for information.

In 2015, Municipal Licensing and Standards (MLS) began modernizing business licensing to better reflect the current and evolving business environment to provide tools that promote compliance, to develop efficiencies, and to reduce regulatory burden. This transition is rooted in the City’s regulatory purpose of public safety and consumer protection and moves the City to a risk-based licensing framework.

Due to the changing nature of businesses and the number of existing business licence categories, the review of business licensing is being conducted in stages. Work completed to date includes the removal of obsolete definitions in Chapter 545, Licensing (2015), the creation of Chapter 546, Licensing of Vehicles-for-Hire (2016), the review of Tow Truck regulations (2017), and the creation of Chapter 547, Licensing and Registration of Short-term Rentals (2017). It also includes the business transformation of licensing, such as the modernization of operational processes and technology.

Next phases include: update and review of the Vehicles-for-Hire By-law; review of Payday Lending; review of licensing requirements for Bars, Restaurants, and Nightclubs; and review of Body Rub Parlours and Holistic Centres, expected throughout 2019. MLS will also review Chapter 545, Licensing, to streamline and simplify processes, reduce duplication, modernize licence categories and requirements, and improve overall readability, with a report expected in the fourth quarter of 2019.

This report provides an overview of work completed to date as well as next steps for the planned reviews. The work plan continues to:

-  Streamline, simplify, and modernize operational processes to reduce red tape and regulatory burden, while ensuring consumer protection and public health and safety objectives are met;

-  Modernize business licensing requirements and processes to better meet and adapt to today’s evolving and emerging businesses; and

-  Move to a risk-based approach to business licensing.
 

Staff have consulted with Legal Services in the preparation of this report.