Ontario business lobby wants regulatory changes for 'sharing economy'

Ottawacitizen.com
Aug. 25, 2015
By Vito Pilieci

Ontario will miss out on the benefits of the emerging sharing economy unless federal, provincial and municipal governments act quickly to update legislation to accommodate companies such as Uber Technologies Inc., the Ontario Chamber of Commerce says.

“We took a look at it and realized that global revenue from the sharing economy is going to be about $15 billion,” said Karl Baldauf, vice-president of policy and government relations at the chamber. “In 10 years that will grow to $300 billion.

“So the question we have to ask ourselves is what share of the sharing economy will Ontario be able to realize, and do we really have a strong foundation from which to grow the sharing economy here in Ontario?”

On Tuesday, the chamber will release the results of a study, Harnessing the power of the sharing economy: Next steps for Ontario, written by the chamber’s sharing economy working group. The group included representatives from the ride-sharing firm Uber, online rental service Airbnb, Inc., and Intact Insurance Company.

The report, to be released at the Toronto office of PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that more than two thirds of Ontarians surveyed said they believe that expanding companies in the sharing economy is good for Ontario’s overall economy.

The study says 50 per cent of residents surveyed in the Greater Toronto Area said they use Uber, and that only one in five Ontarians believed Uber should be banned.

The report argues for a new tier of insurance that would be a hybrid of the current private and commercial policies available for drivers who participate in Uber, which now operates in a legal grey area, and for homeowners concerned about opening their homes as a bed-and-breakfast while they are away.

The chamber also suggests tax legislation and polices, which are often difficult to apply to new digital services, should be updated.

“The growth of the sharing economy should be used as a catalyst to create new ways of looking at regulatory regimes as a whole,” reads the report. “The government should consider an ’empty the box’ approach where possible, in which a big picture lens is applied and only provisions that are necessary and relevant today are kept intact.”

The study drew its data from an online survey conducted by researcher Leger between Aug. 3 and Aug. 6. The chamber said the results are considered accurate to within plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.