Opinion/Column Archives

"If you're one of the venture capitalists who floated the loans to Uber to come up to Toronto, you've been reaping a pretty handsome reward, but that money has come out of the pockets of the people who provide the service, and it's come in out of the quality of life in the city of Toronto," said Gord Perks on December 10th. Photo: Taxi News

Uber to pick up unaccompanied teens

May 26, 2023 Rita Smith

At its May 17th “Go-Get Family Style” launch event, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stressed the company’s safety features which include dialling 911 in case of emergency (although, Uber’s Terms explain “In the event that you need to place a 911 emergency call on behalf of your teen, the dispatcher you’re connected with will see your location, not your teen’s.” How would that help?)

As a parent and a consumer, the sheer number of sexual assaults by Uber drivers in Canada and around the globe set alarm bells ringing.

As the publisher of Taxi News, I cringe recalling comments from an Uber driver who laughed that he didn’t drive for the money: “It’s to meet chicks, man, the chicks you meet at closing time!”

Marianne Klowak testifies at the National Citizens Inquiry, 18 May 2023.

Guest Contributions News Trucking

Canada’s COVID Media Disaster

May 26, 2023 Guest Contributor

On Thursday, May 18th 2023, an earthquake occurred. On that day three senior journalists described under oath how Canada’s mainstream media broke the rules and failed every ethics test during the COVID era.

Media coverage of the Freedom Convoy was so obviously dishonest because journalists had, by then, gotten used to torquing the news outrageously. After two years of mindlessly parroting every official COVID talking point, they’d ceded their independence so thoroughly they no longer cared about the audience to whom they were meant to be delivering a public service. Taking orders from above, they were playing follow-the-leader.

Last Thursday, at a National Citizens Inquiry hearing, Marianne Klowak talked about resigning from CBC Winnipeg. In disgust and despair. After 34 years on the job. In her words, “I had witnessed in a very short time the collapse of journalism, news gathering, investigative reporting. And the way I saw it is that we were, in fact, pushing propaganda.”

Feature/Profile Guest Contributions Ride Hailing news Taxi industry news

Uber rescued municipalities from their own failure to understand supply and demand principles; Taxi paid the price

May 21, 2023 Guest Contributor

The city had opened a Pandora’s Box when it initiated the restricted entry, equity licensing regime. By the time I entered the business, the city was trying to find a way of extricating itself from this system.

The main problem with extrication was that too many industry participants had invested their lives in the system the city had created. Thus, any move to eliminate the equity plate system was met with strong opposition from those who stood to lose everything they had worked for.
The city opted for a stealth approach.

Protests in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963 Photo: NPR

Guest Contributions Opinion/Column

1963 Birmingham, 2022 Ottawa

May 20, 2023 Guest Contributor

ivil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr would have instantly identified with the truckers’ cry for freedom. He himself talked about the “struggle for freedom,” the “freedom movement,” and “the gospel of freedom.”

Screen capture from the Enclyclopedia of Alabama. Source here.

Screen capture from the Encyclopedia of Alabama. Source here.

Like some Ottawa residents, certain Birmingham residents were hostile to the civil rights movement. They didn’t care about desegregating society. They resented the inconvenience. They wanted the protests to end.

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley with supporters. Photo: Twitter

Guest Contributions Opinion/Column

Notley’s carbon tax largest tax hike in Alberta history

May 19, 2023 Guest Contributor

The Alberta election is officially underway, and early polls indicate the results will be close. Though there are several parties contesting this election, only two parties can win: the United Conservative Party (UCP), led by Premier Danielle Smith, and the Alberta NDP, led by former premier Rachel Notley.

Rachel Notley served as Premier of Alberta from 2015 – 2019. The NDP election victory in 2015 came as a shock not only to Alberta, but to the country.
What did Notley and her NDP government accomplish during her time in office?

Twenty years after I first shared by cabbie's no-nonsense advice, I was relieved and surprised when my daughter said, "That was good advice, by the way." Photo: Paul J. Lawrence

Opinion/Column Taxi industry news

Lessons from Cab Drivers

May 14, 2023 Rita Smith

Given my early-and-often positive experiences with Toronto cab drivers,
it’s probably not surprising I ended up working with the industry for much of my adult life.
The drivers, brokerage owners, and fleet managers are truly the salt of the Earth.

Michael Alexander addresses the Great Canadian Awakening conference in Whitby, Ontario, May 6 2023. Photo: Donna Lafromboise

Feature/Profile Guest Contributions Opinion/Column

“We are losing and we are losing badly”

May 12, 2023 Guest Contributor

by Donna Laframboise Yesterday I described a remarkable incident in which a person delivering a speech was suddenly inundated with cash by members of the audience. That person was Michael Alexander, a Toronto lawyer. He represents doctors who are battling the Ontario

U.S. States That Have Adopted California's Vehicle Standards under Section 177 of the Federal Clean Air Act. Source: California Air Resources Board, "States that have Adopted California's Vehicle Standards under Section 177 of the Federal Clean Air Act" May 13, 2022. Delaware and Pennsylvania were not included as adopters of ZEV policies. Image: Lexology

Feature/Profile Guest Contributions Opinion/Column Trucking

The effect of zero-emission vehicle policies on dedicated highway infrastructure funding in Maine

May 11, 2023 Guest Contributor

Berkeley Research Group, LLC “When zero emission vehicles replace vehicles with internal combustion engines, the demand for gasoline and, hence, federal and state fuel tax revenues –goes away. Thus, the adoption of ZEV policies likely will have a profound impact

Freedom Convoy Trucks in Ottawa, February 2022. Photo: Donna Laframboise

Guest Contributions Opinion/Column Trucking

Your Canada today: pastors arrested for preaching

May 9, 2023 Rita Smith

Last year, several witnesses testified under oath that Coutts and Ottawa were separate and distinct protests. There was no coordination, no grand plan. The leaders were different, and they weren’t in contact with each other. The freedom movement was organic. Lots of people, across the country, were concerned about the erosion of our freedoms. Some traveled to the nation’s capital. Other protested closer to home.