Grieving mother questions why Toronto licensed 40,000 ride-hail drivers without mandatory training
More than 40,000 licenses for vehicle-for-hire drivers have been issued in the City of Toronto even though those drivers haven't received the mandatory training.
The city's licensing department says it's a temporary measure that allows drivers to continue to be licenced during the pandemic, but critics say the decisions to let untrained drivers carry passengers could make the city's roads less safe.
"I really do believe there's no excuse for this," said Cheryl Hawkes, whose 28-year-old son, Nicholas Cameron, died in an Uber vehicle in March 2018.
"They've exposed all of us, everybody who hires a vehicle to transport them, rideshares, limos, taxis – there's no legal requirement for training right now," she said.
Ride-share drivers and taxi drivers must have a class G or higher provincial driver's licence, pass screening and vehicle requirements, and carry $2 million in insurance coverage.
But in 2019, amid safety concerns including those related to Cameron's death, city council introduced mandatory training as a new requirement, which was supposed to be in place by June 2020.
"It is our understanding that as of today, there is still no training program," wrote Eric K Gillespie, a lawyer representing the taxi industry, to the city. "However, the city has licensed more than 40,000 drivers without requiring the training mandated under the by-law. In our respectful view, the lack of mandatory driver training creates a significant risk to the public."
City licensing staff say the pandemic hobbled their ability to provide any in-person training.
"In March of 2020, with the pandemic hitting us, it totally changed, and we weren't able to deliver training in classrooms and training in cars," said Carleton Grant, the director of Toronto's Municipal Licensing and Standards.
But that doesn't explain why the city continued to issue those licences, says Abdul Mohamoud, the CEO of Co-op taxi. He said the number of his drivers has shrunk along with demand in the pandemic, from 1,100 to fewer than 100 at one point.
"We haven't had any new drivers because our business dropped 90 per cent, so when the order came to stay at home, it was like an emergency brake that was pulled on our business," he said.
City Councillor Krystin Wong-Tam said that without an established training protocol in place, she doesn't believe the city should be issuing any more licences to Uber or Lyft drivers.
"I do not believe that COVID-19 is a legitimate reason on why we don't have mandatory training for drivers, largely because this council direction came in 2019. We do know that this is important to city council. We did say to city staff, 'Get this done.'"
Municipal Licensing Standards says it will be bringing a report forward in November.
-With files from Janice Golding.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Maximum payout for LifeLabs class-action drops from $150 estimate to $7.86
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.