Uber says it will stop operating in the Canadian province of Quebec if authorities push forward with plans to demand additional training of its drivers.
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Last week, the Quebec government announced legislation that would require Uber drivers to undergo 35 hours of mandatory training – an amount in line with taxi drivers in the province – rather than the 20 hours currently demanded of them.
The legislation, which would also force Uber drivers to have a criminal background check carried out by police rather than private security companies and have their cars inspected every 12 months, is expected to be tabled next week.
The new rules in Quebec come as the company wages a high-profile battle against the decision to strip it of its license to operate in London. In explaining their decision, Transport for London said that “Uber’s approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility”.
Jean-Nicolas Guillemette, the general manager of Uber Quebec, said the company worried that the training requirements could deter drivers from signing up.
“Can you imagine someone on Airbnb that is renting his apartment once, twice or three times month or three times a year?” Guillemette asked. “That person would not be required to take 35 hours of training. And it’s the same situation for these drivers, working for Uber.”
Unless the province scrapped the proposed legislation, he said the service would stop operating in Quebec as of 14 October. “We’re not here to negotiate in public – we don’t think that’s the right approach,” he said. “The goal here is for us to sit down with the government and find ways that you can continue to operate. But what we know for sure is that if they impose 35 hours of training on us, we’ll need to leave.”
Uber began operating in Quebec last year, as a one-year pilot project that included what Guillemette described as the “most restrictive and severe regulations imposed on us in North America”. Across Canada, the company’s entry into the market has been met with a patchwork of rules and regulations, with a lack of provincial legislation barring it from operating in Vancouver and Winnipeg. But Quebec is the only province that requires Uber drivers to undergo training, said Guillemette.
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The service has racked up nearly a million users in Quebec and counts more than 50 full-time employees in the provincial office, said Guillemette. “Every week we have about 5,000 drivers that drive on the platform – it’s the equivalent of 3,000 full-time jobs.”
Uber’s platform – which allows drivers to be assessed after every ride – enables the company to target its driver training, said Guillemette. “What we’ve developed is an ongoing training program, depending on the needs of the driver,” he said. “We fully agree that training is something that is important … but by trying to impose the same thing that is currently done in the old taxi industry, I don’t think it helps us to move forward and serve the population.”
London’s decision to strip Uber of its license has prompted scrutiny of jurisdictions around the world for insight of what happens after Uber. One of the most vibrant examples comes from Austin, Texas, where Uber’s departure last year paved the way for several other ride-share systems to emerge.
In Quebec, Uber’s threat to leave the province was met with derision by some. “I don’t care,” Denis Coderre, the mayor of Montreal, told BNN news channel. “Frankly we need to have some regulation, and if they threaten to leave I don’t care.”
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