Great theatre, bad reform
April 25, 2007
Royson James
Peace in our time. And common sense at city hall.
On a day of rancour, when fearful and angry airport limo drivers were arrested for hyper-belligerent protests in the city council chambers, Toronto has served notice it wants fairness and equity for its cab drivers at Pearson International Airport.
And it is giving the airport authority one month to broker a deal – or it's war.
War would mean a ban on the popular airport limos that now pick up passengers on pre-arranged trips from Toronto to Pearson. The ban is retaliation to a decades-old dispute that doesn't allow Toronto cabbies the right to take passengers from Pearson to the city.
For most of the day, it seemed the vote would turn out more disastrous than it did. And the dispute shaped up as a classic case of how not to set public policy. It still might turn out that way, but the different sides have a chance to solve the dispute.
Failing that, consumers face higher fares for the trip to Pearson; Toronto taxis still would be banned from pickups at the airport; and airport limos would be hit with a ban on picking up passengers in Toronto. A lose, lose, lose proposition.
Yesterday morning's tete-a-tete was great theatre – finger jabs, frothing mouths, screams and shouts, not to mention a couple of airport limo chauffeurs hustled away in police cuffs.
Whatever the intent of Councillor Howard Moscoe and the city politicians behind this ill-conceived attempt at reform, the process was unfair to the main combatants and disrespectful of the paying public. In fact, it seems the entire plan has been staged to achieve a political outcome rather than a reasonable solution to a long-standing concern.
"We shouldn't be playing them off against each other," said Councillor Adam Vaughan, as both sides in the dispute rained down insults on each other, forcing a recess in the council meeting yesterday.
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