Uber\u00a0says it will stop operating in the Canadian province of Quebec if authorities push forward with plans to demand additional training of its drivers.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Quebec government announced legislation that would require Uber drivers to undergo 35 hours of mandatory training \u2013 an amount in line with taxi drivers in the province \u2013 rather than the 20 hours currently demanded of them.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The new rules in Quebec come as the company wages a high-profile battle against\u00a0the decision to strip it of its license to operate in London.\u00a0In explaining their decision, Transport for London said that \u201cUber\u2019s approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jean-Nicolas Guillemette, the general manager of Uber Quebec, said the company worried that the training requirements could deter drivers from signing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you imagine someone on Airbnb that is renting his apartment once, twice or three times month or three times a year?\u201d Guillemette asked. \u201cThat person would not be required to take 35 hours of training. And it\u2019s the same situation for these drivers, working for Uber.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unless the province scrapped the proposed legislation, he said the service would stop operating in Quebec as of 14 October. \u201cWe\u2019re not here to negotiate in public \u2013 we don\u2019t think that\u2019s the right approach,\u201d he said. \u201cThe 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\u2019ll need to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Uber began operating in Quebec last year, as a one-year pilot project that included what Guillemette described as the \u201cmost restrictive and severe regulations imposed on us in North America\u201d. Across\u00a0Canada, the company\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n