Anti-illegal cab bill would give Ottawa new power Steph Willems and Erin McCracken Steph.willems@metroland.com
The City of Ottawa would gain greater powers to crack down on illegal taxi cabs if legislation tabled by two Ottawa-area MPPs is passed. Bill 53, the Protecting Passenger Safety Act, was tabled on Dec. 3 by Ottawa South MPP John Fraser, and would serve to amend the province’s Highway Traffic Act. If passed, it would allow Ontario municipalities to levy heavy fines, license suspensions and vehicle impoundment on those caught operating an unlicensed taxi cab. It would also give the city new ammunition in its highlypublicised battle with ridesharing company Uber, which entered the Ottawa market in October despite warnings and fines from city bylaw services. Fraser consulted with city officials before tabling the bill, which appeared a day before a similar bill tabled by NepeanCarleton MPP Lisa MacLeod. “Imagine you have a university aged daughter. She goes down to the (ByWard) Market with her friends. They’re having a few drinks and they take a car home. What’s the first thing you think about that person who you love getting into the car? Is the car safe?” Fraser said. “What about the driver?” The proposed amendments to the Highway Traffic Act would carry fines of between $500 and $30,000 each time a driver is caught operating an illegal cab – up from the
coun. mark taylor
current fines ranging between $300 and $20,000. It would also mean a penalty of three demerit points and, after a first conviction, allow for a 30-day licence suspension and vehicle impoundment for subsequent offences. Unlike Fraser’s bill, MacLeod is not asking for a demerit point penalty, and is proposing a seven-day vehicle impoundment on a first offence. But she too is asking for a 30-day vehicle impoundment on a second offence. “I am in favour of increasing consumer choice, but having unlicensed and uninsured drivers without a dispatch poses safety concerns for my constituents,” MacLeod said in a statement. “This initiative will move Ontario forward by allowing law enforcement to penalize illegal operators.” Bay Coun. Mark Taylor, who chaired the city’s community and protective services committee in the last term of council, said that two years
of dialogue with Ottawa-area provincial officials led to the creation of the two bills. “(Fraser’s) proposed bill yesterday, and Lisa MacLeod’s, (which) is very much along the same lines, are really aimed at giving the City of Ottawa, giving municipalities, the tools we need to go after people who are operating outside of our taxi bylaws,” said Taylor. “It has nothing to do with reforming our bylaws, or whether this company or that company should not be allowed to operate, or what technology they’re using – that’s a separate debate.” Taylor said that Uber falls under the designation of a “bandit taxi,” adding that “folks who drive for Uber might want to give it a second thought, given the financial penalties that can be brought to bear.” Late last month, Toronto’s mayor-elect John Tory stated he felt Uber fulfilled a need in his city, and expressed a hope to see the service continue its operations, while addressing the safety and legal concerns raised by critics. Taylor said he’s on the same page as Tory when it comes to the possibility of legitimate competition in Ottawa. “This is not about competition – I am all for fair and free competition in the marketplace,” he said. “New technologies? Great, wonderful – you can’t hold those back, either. But you have to have an even playing field, where everyone operates within the same set of laws.”
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