Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman urges province to pass Vehicle for Hire Act
"I want to strongly encourage all provincial legislators to pass this legislation when the legislative session resumes in early October," Bowman said.

MetroNews.ca
Sept. 20, 2017
Braeden Jones

Mayor Brian Bowman has a message for Winnipeggers he knows to be anxiously awaiting ride-sharing companies like Uber in the city.
 
“I hear you, and I’m with you,” he told television cameras and reporters Wednesday, while also calling on the provincial government to pass Bill 30, the Local Vehicles for Hire Act “as early as possible.”

Winnipeg and Manitoba are late to the ride-share game, but the Progressive Conservative government moved to catch up in March with the introduction of Bill 30, which would allow municipalities to regulate their own vehicle-for-hire industry.
 
Though it has yet to be passed, the act would dissolve the provincial taxicab board, which regulates the industry, and shift that job to municipalities like Winnipeg, making taxis and limousines their responsibility.
 
However, “it also allowed for the introduction of ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft,” Bowman explained, adding the city is preparing for that task, “in anticipation of (Bill 30) being passed.”
 
“This includes working with the province and the current taxicab board, doing jurisdictional reviews, and additional research, and undertaking targeted stakeholder engagement,” he said. “But we do need certainty; this certainty can only come from the legislation being passed, and in my view, the earlier that occurs, the better.”
 
Winnipeg Taxi Alliance spokesperson Michael Diamond said it makes no difference to the local industry who the regulator is, “but how it’s regulated” matters, and in that case, “rushing is never ideal.”
 
By trying to welcome companies like Uber quickly, “some jurisdictions in Canada have created uneven playing fields,” he said. 
 
“That has really tied the hands of one player behind their back… All we really want to see is one set of rules applying to all providers of the same service.”