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In other words, if it hurts the taxi business, the licence can be denied.

The government also says it’s worried unlimited ride-hailing would trigger a flood of Uber and Lyft drivers all taking to the streets at once in search of passengers, creating traffic gridlock.

“We don’t want chaos on the roads,” said Transportation Minister Claire Trevena.

But has ride-hailing created traffic chaos in other Canadian jurisdictions? Let’s take a look at Canada’s largest city as an example. In Toronto, there are over 70,000 registered ride-hailing drivers. But when it comes to the practical reality of ride-hailing on Toronto’s roads and highways, only a fraction of those registered drivers are actually out picking up passengers at any given time. According to Toronto traffic statistics, the average number of ride-hailing drivers on the road during any single hour in October was just under 3,500. And the maximum number of drivers recorded during the month was 7,700.

That latter number was recorded at 11 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27, when thousands of people were out on the town attending Halloween parties. In fact, Uber has reported that the Halloween weekend is their second-busiest time of the year. (The busiest is New Year’s Eve.)

The number of drivers on the street only increased during peak demand time. And the maximum number of ride-hailing drivers actually working never came close to the total number of registered drivers. Why? Because the large majority of ride-hailing drivers work part-time to earn extra cash, with drivers working less than 20 hours a week on average.