Taxi drivers and owners went to court Thursday to get an injunction against the provincial government and Uber. Lawyer Marc-Antoine Cloutier, representing the common front of taxi companies, deposited the request for the injunction at 2 p.m. He also sent a cease and desist letter to Transportation Minister Laurent Lessard, demanding the provincial government enforce its own laws regulating transportation. The letter calls Uber an illegal transportation service and accuses the Quebec government of "ceding control to a multinational company with no respect for the laws of Quebec." Cloutier represents the Montreal Taxi owners association, the Steelworkers union, the taxi development industry group, the Haitian Association of taxi workers, the Quebec Taxi group, and the Montreal Taxi collective. The taxi industry is opposed to the pilot project announced last week that would allow Uber to operate in Quebec on a temporary basis. They argue the government has not followed its own regulations by failing to hold public hearings and giving the public adequate notice of regulatory changes. Under the provisions of the agreement, Uber drivers will be allowed to operate for a maximum of 50,000 hours per week in Quebec, while the company will pay the provincial government less than one dollar per ride in taxes and fees, with a portion of that going toward a fund to modernize the taxi industry. Benoit Jugand, spokesperson for the Steelworkers union which represents many taxi drivers in Montreal, said he believes Uber has already violated its end of the agreement. Meanwhile Revenue Quebec released the details of its agreement with Uber, wherein Uber will collect and transfer the GST and QST collected from fares. Uber will also be responsible for ensuring that its drivers are registered to collect and pay sales taxes, and the company will remind drivers they have to declare their income to the provincial government. Revenue Quebec will get details of the income stream from each rider directly from Uber for later verification.
