Uber to leave Quebec if stricter rules are put in place

September 25th, 2017  |  Canadian Business

Uber warned the province of Quebec days ago that they were threatening to pull out their operations, and on Tuesday morning Jean-Nicolas Guillemette, director general of Uber Quebec, stated that they would indeed be leaving Quebec next month.

Guillemette stated that unless negotiations regarding the province’s stricter rules change, Uber will be leaving Quebec October 14^th, 2017. Uber and Quebec made an agreement on that date last year, to launch a pilot project that would keep the ride-sharing company running under new regulations.

Quebec agreed to renew the agreements with Uber, however are calling for stricter guidelines than those proposed last year, including 35 hours of training and police background checks for all drivers, as well as car inspections every 12 months. Uber disagrees with the amount of training, claiming that it is too much for their part-time drivers, who are already required to do 20 hours of training. Quebec is the only Canadian province that requires Uber drivers to undergo mandated training such as this.

Guillemette is still willing to continue doing business within the province, but only if the agreement is renewed under the original guidelines. If they cannot come to an agreement by October 14^th, Uber will be pulling out of Quebec.