Sunday, May 18, 2025
Taxi News & Road Warrior News
Freedom Convoy supporters cheer on the Truckers as they pass through Langley, British Columbia on their way to Ottawa on February 24th, 2022. Photo: FB
Guest ContributionsOpinion/ColumnPropaganda WatchTrucking

Hypocritical Trudeau supports protests in China while denying the Freedom Convoy’s legitimacy

Rita Smith

The Liberals are playing an interesting game as people in China protest against draconian ‘zero-Covid’ policies, and as Canadians draw parallels with what happened in our country during the Freedom Convoy.

They can’t accept the legitimacy of the concerns of the Freedom Convoy protestors, because that would imply the government had overreached in its imposition of vaccine mandates, and would make the use of the Emergencies Act look even worse.

But they also can’t openly side with the Chinese Communist Party regarding the protests in China, since the CCP is massively unpopular in Canada.

So, they have to pretend to be fully supportive of protests against authoritarian Covid measures, while also defending their invocation of the Emergencies Act.

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Media releaseNewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Beck Taxi sues City of Toronto over lack of training, public safety

Rita Smith

In a last-ditch effort to hold the City of Toronto accountable for the safety of all road users, Beck Taxi is taking the municipal government to court.

The application maintains that the City has failed in its mandate to create and implement regulations that protect public safety by allowing thousands of untrained commercial drivers to fill our streets. Prior to 2016, taxicab drivers were required to receive extensive training as a condition to drive. The training covered safe driving, the Human Rights Code, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), geography, driver safety, and customer service.

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Delivery/Courier newsNews

Purolator firing workers over outdated COVID policies

Rita Smith

“The only thing the Purolator’s COVID policy existed to do was to stop the spread of COVID-19,” says Vincent Favreau. “Purolator now knows the shot did not, and does not stop transmission of the virus. While other employers are bringing employees back and in some cases providing back-pay, Purolator is firing people,” says Favreau, who was sent home without pay on January 10, 2022. He received a letter severing his employment on November 26th.

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Veteran cabbie Jafar Mirsalari. Image: Taxi News
NewsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

“It’s a joke” that Toronto doesn’t acknowledge its own training program, says Taxi veteran

Rita Smith

Toronto’s refusal to acknowledge any previous Taxi driver training has nothing to do with public safety, says 36-year veteran driver Jafar Mirsalari.

“It’s a formality, but it has nothing to do with public safety,” says Mirsalari. “It’s a money grab, it’s just window dressing. It’s a way for them to claim these tens of thousands of rideshare drivers now have training. Six hours of training with an online test? It’s a joke.

“This is not going to reduce the number of aggressive drivers on the road, and it is not going to professional customer service to the industry.”

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Guest ContributionsLaugh a LittleOpinion/ColumnTaxi industry news

Meat, plastic bags, road space: basic human choices now transferred to government officials

Guest Contributor

At which point, I envisioned myself arguing with the order taker at a McDonald’s restaurant, trying to explain to me that there was no way she could process my order for a quarter pounder with cheese combo, because I had already exceeded my monthly beef quota. “It’s to save the planet,” she’ll remind me cheerfully.

I’m hearing that a lot lately when I ask for a bag in the grocery checkout line.

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Opinion/ColumnTaxi industry newsTrucking

Ottawa experiences with robbery, drug dealers, murder: I’d feel safer with more Truck drivers

Rita Smith

Listening to Chrystia Freeland and her friends testifying at the recent Public Order Emergency Commission (PEOC) hearings, you might take away the impression that Ottawa was a bucolic ‘burb, a sleepy, peaceful village free of crime and danger before the horn-honking Freedom Convoy Truckers arrived on January 29th, 2022.

Actually, even some of the nicer parts of Ottawa (the Glebe, Parliament Hill, the Byward Market) can be cesspools of drug dealing, crime and violence. I have no doubt the reports that crime actually dropped after the Truckers arrived are true.

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