Ottawa South Liberal MPP John Fraser has become the latest politician to take on the Uber ride sharing program with a piece of legislation so ridiculously over-wrought in heavy-handedness that you really have to question what or whose interest is really being served here.

Certainly not the consumer's interest, not if you listen to the federal Competition Bureau, whose mandate is consumer choice and who recently declared Uber and similar such services "innovative and convenient" for customers.

Innovative? Convenient for customers? Hello? Anybody listening?

The Bureau even urges cities like Ottawa to resist their reflexive tendency to make laws against just about everything and instead "explore whether less restrictive regulations could adequately address their concerns." Again, anybody listening?

Not a chance.

Fraser has produced a Private Member's Bill that would equip municipalities with new powers so heavy-handed that an Uber driver would face less severe penalties robbing his customer than driving him to his destination.

A slight exaggeration? Perhaps, but not much.

In Fraser's world, drivers could face fines up to $30,000 and lose their vehicles and driver's licences for having the audacity to provide a service that consumers actually want.

We expect no opposition to Fraser's proposals from bylaw-crazy Ottawa, which has already launched its own harassment campaign to drive Uber out of town.

But, frankly, we were shocked that even Nepean-Carleton PC MPP Lisa MacLeod would hop aboard the bandwagon.

She claims her ideas for clamping down on bandit taxis aren't aimed at curbing Uber.

But that would be the effect.

Apart from the competition cops, it appears the only ones voicing the consumer interest in this battle is consumers themselves, who clearly like the convenience and quality of Uber services or they wouldn't be using it.

Consumers know there is no defending the status quo, not when taxi licences sell for $250,000.

That value is in direct proportion to the degree to which the city is prepared to quash market competition and deny consumers real choice.

Politicians need to get it through their thick heads that Uber isn't just a ride sharing program or a threat to the taxi industry.

It's part of a growing disruptive movement of Canadians who refuse to accept the heavy-handed power of the state to make all of the decisions in their lives.