The city may spend $350,000 a year on rat czars
As rodent populations boom due to construction and climate change, Toronto comes closer to hiring two white-collar rat enforcers
Things we know about rats: they carry fleas and lice and were partly responsible for history’s deadliest plagues, they giggle inaudibly when tickled, they can carry twice their body weight in pizza, and there are a horrifying number of them in Toronto.
With construction noise and vibration making rat nests inhospitable, warmer winters extending their breeding seasons and a buffet of curbside garbage available all summer long, Toronto’s rats have been breeding faster than their peers in New York, Chicago and Amsterdam. And while there isn’t an official rat census, last year the city logged 2,500 rat-related complaints, a 60 per cent increase over 2020.
Unlike Alberta, which has kept its rats in check with a no-nonsense Rat Control Program, or Ottawa, with its Rat Mitigation Working Group coordinating cross-departmental enforcement against vermin, Toronto hasn’t had a unified rat strategy. Until now—maybe. Yesterday, the city’s Economic and Community Development Committee reviewed and adopted a new Rat Response Plan, which would see the city get serious about rodents if council approves it later this month.
First unveiled by city manager Paul Johnson in June, the rat plan proposes the creation of a rat response coordination team, making way for two dedicated rat bureaucrats: one full-time associate director and one project coordinator, with a combined annual cost of $351,000 to the city. The roles will spearhead citywide education, targeted outreach to construction site managers and blitz-style inspections in high-rat-density neighbourhoods.
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In addition, the Rat Response Plan focuses on prevention by replacing broken bins, enforcing RentSafeTO inspections and maintaining tight-fitting lids for organic containers. It recommends exploring carbon monoxide and electronic traps in green spaces as well as rat birth control—yes, that’s a thing, but it’s not yet approved for use in Canada.
It’ll be up to city council to decide whether to get righteous about rats. Right now, the rodents aren’t a serious transmitter of disease in Toronto, so there’s no need to fear the plague. But they can pose risks in food establishments, and many simply find them unsettling. While they may never be fully eradicated, Toronto’s rat team could keep them from completely taking over the city—that’s what raccoons are for.
Lindsey King is a Toronto-based writer and editor whose work can be found in Toronto Life, Maclean’s, Canada’s 100 Best and more. She is interested in arts and culture, food and drink, architecture, design, and real estate stories
