Calgary councillor calls for city to consider cap on ride-share drivers
Social Sharing
A Calgary city councillor is calling for a limit on the number of ride-share drivers operating around the city to be considered.
Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal is bringing a notice of motion to the city's executive committee on Tuesday that calls for administration to analyze a possible fixed or population-based cap on ride-share drivers.
While the city's Vehicle-for-Hire bylaw maintains a fixed limit on taxi licences, Calgary does not have a similar cap on ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft.
Dhaliwal's notice of motion says city records show there were more than 16,581 active ride-share driver licences last year.
Dhaliwal said he's heard concerns about the taxi industry's future ever since he was elected to council four years ago. And he added that ride-share drivers have also said they believe having so many drivers in Calgary is having a negative effect on wages.
"This is not at all taxi against ride-sharing," Dhaliwal said, adding that his goal is for drivers in both industries to earn a decent wage.
"Some [ride-sharing drivers] are also telling me that with these kinds of licences out in the market, it's hard. It's hard to make a living."
Some Calgary Uber drivers joined a strike across Canada last year over dropping wages and working conditions, with an uptick in drivers flooding the market cited as a reason for declining wages.
In an emailed statement on Saturday, an Uber spokesperson argued a ride-share cap would make it harder for its workers to earn money, and for Calgarians to get around the city affordably and reliably.
"The City of Calgary currently has a 120-page bylaw that regulates ride-sharing. Another study is not an effective use of time or money, especially when the city has larger issues to resolve," Uber spokesperson Keerthana Rang said via email.
The motion would direct city administration to prepare a report examining the feasibility, benefits and risks of tools, including a cap, to manage the growth in ride-share drivers.
The report would also be expected to analyze the potential effect of a cap on wheelchair-accessible service, market competition, existing contracts with the airport and major event venues, and any risk of unlicenced operations or litigation.
The report would be presented to council by the third quarter of 2023.
The rules ride-share drivers face in Calgary have been debated since Uber entered the market a decade ago. Associated Cabs president Roger Richard argued in 2015 that ride-share companies should follow the same rules as taxi companies.
Calgary wouldn't be the only Canadian city considering a ride-share cap. In 2023, Toronto temporarily capped the number of ride-share licences in its city, but backed off following a legal challenge from Uber.
In December, Toronto council revisited the issue, with the city calling for staff to present more information about the effect a cap would have.
The problem Dhaliwal points to in past conversations on the ride-share companies' place in Calgary is that drivers didn't feel included.
"Engage these people. Listen to them for once, please," Dhaliwal said.
"And engagement is not just listening. Engagement is having a two-way conversation and considering their ideas, what they have to recommend and going back to them with some of the answers"
Naeem Chaudhry, who worked in the taxi industry for more than 30 years, said he's talked to city councillors and officials on this issue for years. He argued that because apps like Uber and Lyft can have as many vehicles in Calgary as they want, many drivers are left unable to make a living, and the taxi industry's future is in jeopardy.
"If we keep moving in the same direction, I think we'll eliminate the taxi industry within the next five years, perhaps 10 years," Chaudhry said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
42 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
1 Warren Buffett Stock That Could Go Parabolic in 2025 and Beyond
It is hard to find cheap stocks trading at all-time highs, but Warren Buffett's portfolio at Berkshire Hathaway may be a good place to start. Berkshire Hathaway owns a large collection of stocks, and one that should catch people's eye today is Ally Financial (NYSE: ALLY). Berkshire owns close to 10% of the online bank and is its largest shareholder, having started a position back in 2022. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » Many investors have soured on Ally stock in the last few years. The stock is off 37% from all-time highs while the rest of the market is soaring. But if you look at the numbers, now may be the time that Ally Financial begins to turn around its operations, meaning the stock could go parabolic in 2025 and beyond for those who buy today. Here's why this Warren Buffett stock may go parabolic for the rest of this year. Improving loan metrics, decreasing deposit costs As an online bank, Ally Financial has two sides of the business that investors need to analyze: loans and deposits. The company makes loans in a variety of markets, but mostly for consumer automotive loans, which have been under some pressure in the last few years because of rising interest rates. Loans made in 2022 and 2023 have not performed as well as Ally hoped, while existing loans at ultra-low yields decreased its interest income, while costs paid to depositors soared. These dynamics decreased Ally's net interest margin (NIM), which is a large indicator of what the company can generate in bottom-line profits for shareholders. Now, all three of these factors seem to be normalizing. Deposit costs are decreasing due to the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates and Ally giving up on expensive depositors to competitors. Its 2024 automotive loan book is performing much better than 2022 and 2023 when it comes to delinquencies and 30 days past due metrics. The average yield it is earning on its automotive loan book keeps rising, which will help expand NIM through the rest of 2025. Add it up, and Ally has a lot working in its favor coming out of the inflation-induced Federal Reserve hiking cycle. The stock is not earning much in net income today, but it has a recipe for greatly increasing its earnings in the next few quarters: lower funding costs, higher-yielding loans, and better-performing loans. Expect this dynamic to continue. A cheap stock for those with eyes forward Ally stock does not look cheap on a trailing basis. It has a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 26, which is expensive for a bank. However, at a market capitalization of $10.9 billion, the stock may be a steal if we consider Ally's forward earnings potential. Before the pandemic, Ally was well on its way to generating $2 billion in annual net income. It went through a period of overearning with interest rates close to zero and rising used car prices and has now fallen to the other side of the spectrum. Through the rest of 2025 and over the next few years, Ally's core automotive lending business can help it recover back on its track to $2 billion in net income, which is easily doable with a much larger deposit/asset base today compared to before the pandemic. This would bring the stock's price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) down to around 5, a dirt-cheap figure even for a bank. This is the setup that could drive gains for Ally stock through the rest of 2025. ALLY PE Ratio data by YCharts Long-term dividend growth at a high starting yield Another way to look at Ally's cheapness is the stock's dividend. A rising dividend will not make the stock price go parabolic, but it can help fuel total shareholder returns. Today, Ally has a dividend yield of 3.40%, a high starting yield even though its dividend has not been raised in a few years. Once Ally's net income starts moving in the right direction again, the company should be able to start raising its dividend per share, which will help boost returns for shareholders who buy today. This makes it a perfect dividend growth stock. Lastly, once Ally's net income begins to grow again, its share repurchase program will likely recommence. This has been paused for a few years as the bank works out the kinks on its balance sheet but it was previously a huge driver of shareholder returns. Shares outstanding will begin to shrink, which will help the company increase its dividend per share at an even faster rate. Putting everything together, Ally Financial looks like a dirt-cheap Buffett stock with the chance to produce huge returns for investors who buy today. Should you invest $1,000 in Ally Financial right now? Before you buy stock in Ally Financial, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Ally Financial wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $868,615!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to171%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
London's commemoration of Afzaal family
Hundreds gathered at a vigil Friday night in London, Ont., to commemorate four years since the brutal killing of the Afzaal family. 'It's so important for us to remember what happened, to remember this family and recommit to standing united against all forms of hatred, including Islamophobia,' said Amira Elghawaby, a Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia. The family was out for an evening walk on June 6, 2021, when they were run over by Nathaniel Veltman, who was later convicted of first-degree murder and deemed a terrorist by the courts. 'It happened because they were Muslim which is deeply, deeply painful for Canadians across the country and of course London Muslims,' said Elghawaby. Advocates expressed events like this one help bring the community together, show solidarity and respect for human rights. 'This is really a whole of society issue that all Canadians benefit from supporting and addressing,' said Elghawaby. The Youth Coalition Combating Islamophobia organized the event, to ensure no other families are destroyed as a result of hate. 'We believe that silence is an enabler of hatred,' said Malik Khandakar, YCCI communications director. 'We feel the signs you give are an agreement and if you don't speak up against hatred this allows people to think it's ok.' Khandakar said more must be done to put an end to Islamophobia. 'We feel it needs a larger community because we can't just speak for ourselves. We need to have other people come out and gather. That's an important aspect of how we can move forward,' said Khandakar.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Accountant hired by Ramal to confirm accuracy of campaign finances fined by CPA Ontario
The Khalil Ramal election spending scandal reveals his auditor was not licenced and has faced discipline for involvement. CTV London's Daryl Newcombe reports. Salah Hassan's failure to cooperate with an investigation by Chartered Professional Accountants (CPAs) of Ontario has resulted in fines and penalties totaling $13,500 from the profession's disciplinary committee. Hassan provided a written auditor's report confirming the 2022 campaign finances of former mayoral candidate Khalil Ramal. Every candidate who receives contributions or incurs expenses in excess of $10,000 must attach an auditor's report to their financial filing. In August 2023, an anonymous complaint to CPA Ontario, a professional regulatory body, alleged Hassan's work confirming the accuracy of Ramal's campaign finances 'did not meet the standards of the profession'. It cited a story from August 2, 2023 that appeared on CTV News about a meeting of London's Compliance Audit Committee. The news story referred to the unsigned auditor's report included in the campaign's financial filing. The unsigned document read: 'Hi, I am Salah Hassan a Chartered Professional Accountant Licensed by Professional Accountants of Canada, license number 2086643. According to the information provided by Mr. Khalil Ramal, the Mayoral candidate for the City of London, Ontario, for the year 2022 election, after examining the bank statement, donation expenses and Form 4, it appears to me that all the information are correctly entered in the Financial Statement - Auditor's Report candidate - Form 4n. Best regards, Salah Hassan, CPA." 060625 - Ramal Audit Report included by Khalil Ramal with his 2022 campaign finances. (City of London) In September 2024, a ruling by the CPA Discipline Committee determined Hassan committed professional misconduct by not responding to multiple emails and telephone messages from its investigator. 'The nature of the misconduct, being the Member's complete failure to respond to the inquiries of Standards Enforcement, raised concerns about public confidence in the profession's ability to govern its own members,' the ruling reads. He was fined $5,000 for failing to cooperate with a regulatory process plus he was required to pay $8,500 in fees for the hearing. Eventually Hassan contacted CPA Ontario and blamed his failure to respond on health issues, an ill spouse, travel, and a misinterpretation: 'I was in the hospital with my wife and I was so busy with her during the month of September and October and I travelled to Egypt on November 1 for emergency family issues and I returned back on December 26, 2023. I did not have my Canada phone number with me. Please note that I did not violate any rules or regulations in my life or caused any harm to any human being or animals on earth.' The ruling by CPA Ontario states Hassan '… blamed CPA Ontario for the harm to his reputation, reflected a completed absence of insight or remorse.' Subsequently, a Compliance Audit of Ramal's campaign finances by William Molson CPA in April found a number of apparent violations of the Municipal Elections Act including not filing the names/addresses of donors who gave over $100, exceeding the candidate contribution limit ($25,000) by $11,916.27, and using an unlicensed accountant to confirm the accuracy of the document submitted to the city clerk. Molson wrote, 'Hassan did not hold a license at March 31, 2022 or March 31, 2023.' The findings of the Compliance Audit are being forwarded to a prosecutor for possible legal action against Ramal. Hassan's LinkedIn page lists his most recent position as Director of Finance for a business called EK Tech Software Solution. A company by that same name is based in Houston, Texas. However, there is a similarly named company called EK Tech Solutions on Waterloo Street in London. When CTV News called the telephone number included on EK Tech Solutions' website— Khalil Ramal answered. After being asked why Hassan described himself as Director of Finance for the company Ramal replied, 'Yes he did, he did it for a while, for three (or) four months. He did what he did, but he didn't finish. I'm not sure what he did do, but he didn't complete the work for us back then.' A week prior, Ramal was asked by the Compliance Audit Committee what steps he took to verify Hassan was a licensed CPA. At the time he responded, 'The person who I went to was the auditor of a company called Global Financial. I met him there. I know him from there. He has, you know, was an auditor. And also I went to him after that three or four times to audit a few companies.' CPA Ontario confirms Hassan is currently an 'active member', but would not disclose the status of the original investigation about whether his work for Ramal's campaign met the standards of the profession. Unable to find a phone number or email address for Hassan, CTV News accepted Ramal's offer to try to provide Hassan with a reporter's contact information. There has yet to be a response from Hassan.
