Three taxi companies and a Canadian ride hailing startup are calling on the City of Toronto to encourage residents to support local business by avoiding U.S. ride hailing apps like Uber and Lyft.
Beck Taxi, Co-op Cabs, Toronto 1 Taxi, and Hovr — a local ride-hailing startup — all signed a letter addressed to Toronto City Council, asking to be included in the “Buy Local, Buy Canadian” campaign. The measure was passed unanimously by city council in February, and seeks to encourage Torontonians to buy Canadian goods and services in response to the U.S. government’s tariffs.
“App-based ride-hailing and payments are now offered by many local taxi companies as well as Hovr,” the companies wrote in the letter, first reported on by the Toronto Star. It went on to urge council to “support existing and emerging Canadian alternatives, and to make it easier for drivers to work for Canadian companies.”
In their letter, the companies also asked Toronto to stop reimbursing city staff for rides taken with U.S.-based companies, like Uber and Lyft. It wants council to prioritize “domestic and local vehicle-for-hire sourcing.”
The letter is being applauded by Ridefair Toronto, a lobby group representing taxi and ride-hailing drivers, as well as public transit workers and environmental groups, among others. Since 2024, the not-for-profit has made it its mission to inform the public on the need for equitable and sustainable urban transportation.
“It’s high time for Toronto’s Council to recognize that Uber wields too much power over how the city regulates this sector,” Thorben Wieditz, Metstrat co-founder and Ridefair Toronto member, told AutoTrader over email. “If they want to support a ‘Buy Local, Buy Canadian’ campaign, there should be no more partnerships and outsourcing of government functions to Uber, be it in regards to licensing, dispatching, or otherwise.”
Zeus Eden, a spokesperson in the office of Mayor Olivia Chow, told AutoTrader via email that the city is closely examining vehicle for hire services and has sent a rideshare licensing plan back to staff for review.
“We are reviewing options with the Mayor’s Economic Action Team about how best to support workers and businesses in all sectors in response to Donald Trump’s unjustified trade war,” said Eden. “Mayor Chow supports taking a Team Canada approach and encourages Torontonians to look at options to Buy Canadian in their daily purchases.”
