Alejandra Bravo (politician)

Bravo was born in Chile in 1971. She lived in Santiago until 1973, when the 1973 Chilean coup d'état forced her family to Canada.^[2]

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American studies from the University of Toronto,^[3] before attending the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education to earn a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Community Development.^[4]

Prior to her election to council, Bravo worked as manager of leadership and learning for the Maytree Foundation,^[3] and as director of leadership and training at the Broadbent Institute.^[5][4]

Bravo has run in the former Ward 17 Davenport in the 2003 Toronto municipal election,^[6] the 2006 Toronto municipal election^[7] and the 2014 Toronto municipal election,^[8] finishing in second place all three times behind Cesar Palacio. She did not run in the 2010 Toronto municipal election, instead endorsing Jonah Schein as a challenger to Palacio.^[9]

She ran as a New Democratic Party candidate in Davenport in the 2021 Canadian federal election,^[10] losing to Julie Dzerowicz by a 76-vote margin so narrow that it was verified in a judicial recount.^[11]

Ward 9 Councillor Ana Bailão announced that she would not be seeking re-election after serving on council for 12 years, leaving the seat in Davenport open for the 2022 election.^[12] Bravo joined the race on July 5, 2022,^[13] and ran on a platform which included ending exclusionary zoning, building affordable housing, providing stronger tenant protections, improving transit and building more cycling infrastructure.^[14] She received endorsements from the Toronto Star,^[15] the city's largest newspaper and Progress Toronto,^[13] a left-wing advocacy group.

Following the election on October 24, Bravo won the ward with over 70 percent of the vote.^[14][16] She took office on November 15, 2022.^[17]

In November 2022, Bravo was appointed to sit on several committees including General Government Committee, Budget Committee, Board of Health, and the Toronto Preservation Board.^[18] She was elected as Vice Chair of the Board of Health.^[19]

After the 2023 mayoral by-election won by Mayor Olivia Chow, Bravo was appointed by Chow to serve as Chair of the Economic & Community Development Committee, one of the four standing committees of Toronto City Council. During the post by-election appointment shuffle, she was also appointed Vice Chair of Striking Committee,^[20] Chair of the Toronto Francophone Affairs Advisory Committee, as a member of Executive Committee and the Toronto Arts Council,^[21] and remained the Vice Chair of the Board of Health.