Collision of ideologies, technologies over Uber

Disruptive innovation is interrupting debate at Queen’s Park and city hall.

Thestar.com
Nov. 10, 2015
By Martin Regg Cohn

UberX is the killer app that is driving taxis out of business, and putting passengers in the fast lane.

It also has most politicians running for cover, and lobbyists trying to hail cab companies as clients.

Uber has long had city hall going in circles. Now, Queen’s Park is facing its own collision of ideologies and technologies, producing an unprecedented result: Former opposition leader Tim Hudak has publicly supported a Toronto Star editorial calling for the liberation of Uber from the dragnet imposed by Mayor John Tory (his predecessor as PC leader).

Can it be true? Hudak the arch-capitalist hurtling in the same direction as the Bolsheviks at the Star’s editorial board?

Now that’s a disruptive innovation.

It’s paying off for Hudak, who is getting well-deserved mileage out of it. He is attracting attention for his hard work on an issue that has resonance with riders and creates dissonance for cabbies.

His 42-page private member’s bill points to the need to grab Uber by the car horns. Drawing on broad consultations across the province, it is the first legislation of its kind in Canada.

In a bitter vote last month, Toronto councillors kicked the can - and cabs - down the road, giving themselves until next year to clean up a mess of their own making. For decades, Toronto idled as taxi permits were traded among owners for obscene prices, pushing up meter rates while service declined.

Now Hudak wants Queen’s Park to show leadership by regulating the sharing economy in a co-ordinated way, rather than leaving a legislative vacuum that forces every municipality across the province to reinvent the wheel for taxis. He has reached across party lines for support, winning votes from Liberal cabinet ministers in a recent legislative debate on regulating the so-called sharing economy.

However, Hudak made little headway with the third-place New Democrats: “I’ve never used Uber,” proclaimed Windsor-area MPP Taras Natyshak, “I’ve never used Airbnb.”

At least he’s honest. Outside the Queen’s Park bubble, however, voters are voting with their smartphones.

The trend goes well beyond Uber to include Airbnb, HomeAway, Rover, and other players who provide the bandwidth for people to rent cottages, unload unused parking spaces, or engage a car and driver.

Yes, they are disruptive - not just to existing enterprises but to governments that worry about safety regulations and, equally, tax revenues. But far from going away, they are growing exponentially.

All the more reason to revisit these sectors, re-regulate, and create a level playing field that safeguards all the players: drivers and passengers, owners and renters.

It’s utterly unfair for established hoteliers to charge hospitality taxes and HST while their online competition ducks for cover. Quebec and many American states have moved briskly to ensure Airbnb and other accommodation rental websites remit taxes. With insurance companies starting to crack down, Hudak’s bill recognizes the need for Uber drivers to have clean records, carry the required commercial coverage, provide transparent pricing and remit taxes - so that everyone is protected.

Municipalities regulate taxis, but they are not equipped to regulate the economy (let alone the sharing economy), which is why the province should exercise leadership. In a similar vein, Queen’s Park has finally stepped in to provide clarity on carding (the controversial police street stops that often discriminated against blacks and people of South Asian descent), because local police forces weren’t policing themselves.

“Unfortunately, government is not reacting,” Hudak reproached his fellow MPPs. “We’re having a debate, almost a guerrilla warfare, on a municipality-by-municipality-by-municipality basis.”

The industry has been regulated since the Hackney Carriage Act of 1635 in Britain. Nearly four centuries later, it’s time for a shared approach on ride sharing.