Taxi industry decries Quebec’s $500-million deregulation plan

QUEBEC The government of Premier François Legault said on Wednesday it will give $500 million to taxi drivers as compensation as it deregulates their industry, an announcement that immediately prompted taxi drivers to accuse the government of “betrayal.”

Transport Minister François Bonnardel announced the money as he tabled a bill that promises to shake up the taxi industry if it’s adopted.

The government will compensate holders of taxi permits, the value of which have dropped since the arrival of Uber and other ride apps.

“We’re putting money in the pockets of taxi drivers,” Bonnardel said.

The method of calculating the compensation for each driver will be decided later, he added.

The bill aims to deregulate the industry that transports people by removing costly requirements for anyone to drive a taxi and by allowing variable rates for their services, notably as a function of demand, as is the case with Uber. “It’s a bill for the customer, for the user,” Bonnardel said, adding: “Everyone will play on equal terms.”

Under the proposed legislation, all drivers, whether they work for the traditional taxi industry or work for a service provided through an app, would have to meet the same standards.

THE STANDARDS INCLUDE:

■ A Class 5 driver’s licence, instead of the Class 4C required of current taxi drivers.

■ A minimum amount of training, the duration of which remains to be determined.

■ A passing grade on a test.

■ A background criminal check.

THE GOVERNMENT’S BILL WOULD PUT AN END TO:

■ Exclusive territories and taxi quotas.

‘T’ car registration reserved for ■ taxis.

Annual inspections.

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As well, the word “taxi” would become a “protected designation” referring to the paid transportation of people by car, in which a client can request a ride by using something other than technological means.

The taxi lantern, the taxi meter and the hailed ride would remain reserved for taxis.

“We’re bringing about a certain revolution,” Bonnardel said.

The minister said that by lowering administrative charges, “the industry will gain,” notably drivers who rent their permits for hundreds of dollars a week.

However, taxi industry representatives argued the Legault government has betrayed them and is at the mercy of Uber’s lobbyists.

“It’s a declaration of war,” Abdallah Homsy, a spokesperson for taxi companies, said in Quebec City.

“I never saw a minister do so much to promote Uber.”

The Legault government is “killing the taxi industry,” said François Cyr, a spokesperson for the Montreal taxi industry.

The industry representatives said $500 million isn’t nearly enough to compensate more than 8,000 taxi permit holders, who say their permits have lost more than $1 billion in value.

Even if the “T” licence plate, which costs $1,000, is eliminated, it won’t erase being “$127,000 in debt” with the bank financing that was required to purchase a taxi permit, Homsy said.

The taxi industry doesn’t foresee going to court because it would take years to settle, he added.

“Do you really think we can wait for legal recourse if we go bankrupt? I tell my colleagues we won’t have a second chance. I invite them to stand tall and loud and say that we won’t accept this injustice.” Presse Canadienne