Toronto’s proposed Uber rules to face hurdle at committee meeting

Theglobeandmail.com
April 13, 2016
By Oliver Moore and Jeff Gray

Mayor John Tory’s approach to Uber gets its first real test on Thursday: New rules that would allow the controversial transportation company to operate in Toronto have to make it through what is expected to be a raucous committee meeting.

The mayor, who has staked much political capital on the issue, has made it clear he wants the proposed regulations to get to the full council for debate early next month.

Making it through the Licensing and Standards committee meeting will require the support of at least four of the six members. According to sources on Wednesday, three members were ready at least to allow some version of the new rules, possibly heavily amended, to move on for council to consider. Clearing this hurdle would be a victory for Mr. Tory, who could then work to cobble together a council majority that could strip out any incendiary amendments.

The arrival of Uber has roiled the city’s taxi industry. Cabbies say they make far less money now, and the once-coveted taxi plates have plummeted in value, with the highest price paid for one in 2015 not quite half what it was in 2013.

The complicated new rules drafted by city staff would allow Uber to operate and reduce the regulations for taxis, which would keep a monopoly on being hailed on the street.

Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, a licensing committee member, believes the proposed rules would “wipe out the entire taxi industry” and leave passengers at risk.

However, he agreed with the mayor that the proposals should not be mothballed by the committee but debated by the full council, which he believes has enough anti-Uber politicians to defeat the plan. He wants the committee to send on the new rules with a recommendation to kill them.

But it is not a sure thing that the rules will survive the process at committee – where there are some vociferously anti-Uber city politicians.

Councillor and committee member Jim Karygiannis said he is still determined to work toward a level playing field for taxis and Uber. Asked how, he suggested a range of possibilities, including shelving the staff recommendations.

“Anything’s possible,” he said. “The committee would probably recommend certain things. There’s an option of sending it back to staff ... We can make changes, you know, gut everything from one to 99 and put our own recommendations in. Or [keep] some of the recommendations and have some more.”

In a phone interview from Hong Kong, where he is leading a city trade mission, Mr. Tory said it would be frustrating if the committee rips up the recommendations or rewrites most of them.

“Is it perfect on either side? No. Nobody’s jumping up and down and saying it’s perfect. But it’s a reasonably balanced package,” the mayor said.

In phone calls last week, Mr. Tory told Councillor Cesar Palacio, who chairs the licensing committee, and other committee members that he wanted the taxi reforms sent on to council and not killed off or delayed by anti-Uber members of the committee.

“I certainly was very strongly of the view and advocated this to them that this should get in front of the city council for a sort of a rational complete debate, and that I would be frustrated and angry if they tried to sort of completely sidetrack this by sending it away somewhere or deferring it,” he explained on Wednesday.

Some members of the committee were not speaking in the lead-up to the debate, including Mr. Palacio, who has criticized Uber and supported the cab industry. Committee member and councillor Frank Di Giorgio has also vehemently criticized Uber.