Uber took its campaign to expand service in Canada to the Vancouver Board of Trade on Friday, as the company’s chief advisor David Plouffe made an address touting the benefits of ridesharing.
“We are a business, we’re eager to come to Vancouver, to help build our business, it’s the largest metro area in North America without ridesharing,” said Plouffe, the former campaign manager for Barack Obama.
It marked the end of a cross-Canada tour for Plouffe, who spoke to the Montreal Board of Trade and Toronto’s Empire Club earlier in the week.
While the company is available in cities around the world and has exploded in popularity, it has faced an uphill battle to gain acceptance in Canada, with protests in many cities where it currently operates absent new regulations.
“Almost ever transportation regulation, some of them are decades old, was written before we envisioned these GPS cellphone technologies,” said Plouffe.
“What has to happen is new regulations, new laws. That’s the debate happening all over the world. This is not a question of ‘is there a way to make ridesharing work’. There’s plenty of ways to make it work. We just have to have the debate, and that’s what we’re hungry to do, here in Vancouver and in the province.”
Uber isn’t in Vancouver, and the province and city have said they must comply with local regulations before doing so.
“The Minister of Transportation said if they want to anticipate in the B.C situation they need to go to the Passenger Transportation Board and make that application, and they haven’t done so as yet,” said Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs, who was in attendance for Plouffe’s speech.
“If they haven’t gone through the provincial process, they’re not able to provide insurance, it’s not a choice we can say yes or no to.”