Ontario review must include driver pay, single transferrable licence: Wedge
Provincial involvement is “long overdue,” RDAO says
Ontario’s review of ground transportation regulations must include discussion of both driver earnings and a single transferrable license, says George Wedge, president of the Rideshare Drivers of Ontario.
Wedge says Ontario’s involvement in all aspecs of services like Uber and Lyft is “long overdue.”
“We have to really look at surveillance pricing, and surveillance pay. No one knows how the algorithms being used work; Silicon Valley is so far ahead of us at all times,” notes Wedge, who was invited to appear before Canada’s federal Ethics Committee last December to attempt to explain to committee members how Uber’s algorithmic pay works.
Wedge suggests that Ontario, in including the commitment to review its “rideshare framework” in the November 6th Fall Economic Statement, was not aware of the magnitude of the work that needs to be done.
“We think it was an intense lobbying effort, focused like a laser beam on one particular issue. We will not let this review pass without bringing important issues like driver compensation, a single transferrable license for drivers, insurance rates, and driver and passenger safety to the table.”
In fact, Daniel Pascucci of Rubicon Strategy was registered to lobby the Ontario government for Uber Canada on August 21, 2025 on topics including municipal affairs, northern development, tourism and transportation. Rubicon was founded by Premier Doug Ford’s campaign manager Kory Teneycke.
“I think that it is the wrong that if the province is going to accept that these corporations are part of an industry, exempts them from the Employment Standards Act. Ontario will have to tie it into the Employment Standards Act and not create some kind of ad hoc niche for them. You can’t allow specific corporations to ignore the Act for the benefit of their industry, and to exploit the workers.”
In the November 6th Fall Economic Statement, in a Chapter 1 section entitled “Building Transit,” one paragraphs reads:
“Ontario is working to engage with rideshare operators, the taxi sector, and municipalities to explore the standardization of rideshare guidelines across the province. Rules for rideshare programs, such as application fees and driver screening requirements, are currently managed by individual municipalities, resulting in differing standards across the province. By consulting on potential approaches for a provincial rideshare framework, the government continues to support an integrated and efficient transportation network that will improve access for everyone, including rural and remote communities such as those along the Northlander route.”
