Thousands of taxi drivers to hold protest in downtown Montreal on Friday

After threatening to resume pressure tactics, Quebec taxi drivers will take to the streets on Friday. Organizers say “thousands of taxis” will converge in downtown Montreal.

As part of the protest, four fleets of cars from the Greater Montreal area will arrive from north, south, east and west. They will drive to the downtown Montreal offices for Quebec’s Transport Minsitry on René-Lévesque Boulevard West.

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When they arrive in downtown Montreal, drivers will park their cabs to express their anger in response to Quebec Transport Minister François Bonnardel’s proposed deregulation of the taxi industry.

Taxi drivers on the South Shore will meet at Place Desaulniers in Longueuil, while those on the North Shore will meet at the Laval Cosmodome. The fleet of drivers coming from the western tip of Montreal will meet at Fairview Pointe-Claire. In Montreal’s east end, taxi drivers coming are at the Galéries d’Anjou near the La Baie store.

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Taxi drivers are protesting the province’s proposed Bill 17. This includes abolishing a permit quota system, thus lowering the price of permits.

Quebec is offering taxi drivers $250 million in compensation for a second consecutive year. However, taxi drivers argue the amount isn’t enough since all licences had a value totalling $1.3 billion before the arrival of Uber.

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The Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL) warns that the protest on Friday will affect service for adapted transport.

“Due to the planned taxi strike tomorrow, we wish to inform adapted transport clients that the RTL will primarily provide travel for medical appointments and work reasons,” the transit authority said in a statement. “In addition, delays are expected. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”

— With files from Global’s Kalina Laframboise