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Uber lobbies every Toronto Councillor as uber-late training Motion delayed again

Photo/Image: toronto.ca

On October 1st, Toronto City Council voted to delay again progress toward implementing the driver testing and training program which is already more than two years overdue.

On September 28th, Uberโ€™s Public Policy person Jake Brockman sent a letter to Torontoโ€™s Clerkโ€™s office stating:

โ€œWe believe that this matter should be referred to the November 30, 2021 (sic) when Municipal Licensing and Standards will bring a fulsome update report on the Vehicle-for-Hire bylaw.โ€

At the October 1st  Council meeting, Council voted the item be referred to the November 30 meeting of General Government and Licensing Committee.

Councillor Kristyn-Wong Tam had filed a Motion, Item MM36.14, suggesting Toronto suspend the issuance of new vehicle-for-hire licenses until the driver training program ordered by Council in July 2019 launched. However, the Motion failed to receive the two-thirds majority vote required, and instead was referred to the November 30 committee meeting.

As noted in the City Hall Watcher newsletter, โ€œUber lobbyists were back with a vengeance in September, with the ride share company logging 53 communications and winning the month. Uber Canadaโ€™s Manager for Public Policy Jake Brockman logged emails to every member of Council. Lobbyist-for-hire Kim Wright was also working on Uberโ€™s behalf in Septemberโ€ฆMandatory training for Toronto Uber drivers and other vehicle-for-hire drivers was supposed to start in 2020, but was delayed because of COVID-19.โ€

Cheryl Hawkes, whose son Nicholas Cameron died in an Uber with an untrained driver in 2018, spoke to Road Warrior News in April and noted: โ€œCity Council was unanimous in calling for driver training for rideshare drivers. There was wide public support. Studies were done. A bylaw was passed and bureaucrats charged with design and implementation. Failure to bring this to fruition, a full three years after Nickโ€™s death, speaks to the mysterious power of Uber at City Hall and Uberโ€™s ability to pervert the course of its own regulation.โ€