Quebec transport minister lukewarm on Toronto's draft bylaw on Uber

montrealgazette.com
April 8, 2016

Quebec Transport Minister Jacques Daoust reacted tepidly on Friday to a draft bylaw proposed by Toronto to regulate Uber, the car-for-hire service, saying Quebec will soon adopt its own legislation to deal with the controversial company.

Daoust said the government was hoping to table a proposed law at the end of March, but had delayed doing so as he consulted with groups across Quebec.

“Uber is an operation that is not legal, that does not pay taxes on its income,” Daoust said following a news conference to announce road repairs.

“It’s an operation that is parallel to a taxi system which has a secondary market of (taxi) licenses, and many of these licenses...are very expensive. Can we legitimately abandon taxi drivers by telling them that (these licenses) will no longer be worth anything?”

Daoust made those comments after demonstrations by cabbies were held in Montreal and Quebec City on Friday to denounce Uber’s business. Montreal taxi drivers held a demonstration in front of Premier Philippe Couillard’s downtown office.

On Thursday, Toronto city council proposed new regulations for passenger transport services. Mayor John Tory said he wanted to “put the interests of the residents first” with the new rules. Under some of those rules, Uber drivers would have to take out liability insurance, undergo background checks for a criminal record and operate vehicles that would no more than seven years old, as has been the for taxis.