Uber hires high-profile Conservative as lobbyist

OTTAWA— Uber Canada has hired a high-profile Conservative to lobby the federal government as the company continues to fight the planned application of sales tax to ride-share services.

Richard Ciano, who was president of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party from 2012 to 2016, signed on as a lobbyist for Uber in Ottawa on April 10, according to the government’s online registry.

The ride-share provider has attacked Ottawa’s sales-tax plan as a “tax on innovation” and warned in April that the move could drive up the price of users’ Uber trips. The company also put out a call for Canadians to contact their MPs to tell them “that affordable transportation is important to you.”

The Liberal government’s 2017 budget included a plan to change the definition of a “taxi business” to extend the GST and HST to cover Uber and similar “commercial ride-sharing services” that use web applications to hail rides. Traditional taxi drivers already have to register to pay sales tax on their fares. The new rule is set to kick in July 1. Uber Canada’s public policy manager, Chris Schafer, did not respond to requests for comment from the Star on Monday.

According to the lobbyist registry, the sharing economy leader has hired Ciano to discuss this change with parliamentarians.

Ciano runs Campaign Support Ltd., a strategy firm that is co-directed by Nick Kouvalis, according to the firm’s corporate registry. Kouvalis is a well-known and controversial Conservative operative who helped Toronto mayors Rob Ford and John Tory get elected.

More recently, he resigned as campaign manager for Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch.

Ciano declined to comment when contacted by the Star on Monday.