Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie is facing the first big test of her mayoralty, with a vote Wednesday on the future of ride-sharing companies such as Uber.

The taxi industry, which has significant support in Mississauga, including from the city’s influential South Asian community, has been angered by Crombie’s support for dramatically different rules for ride-sharing companies.

Crombie will have to decide if she’s willing to alienate some in the community and many on her council, which until now has worked well together, by supporting what Uber wants.

“My goal is consumer protection, consumer safety, but at the same time there’s consumer demand,” Crombie told the Star. She says companies such as Uber are clearly providing a service that many in her city want. Uber says it already has 5,000 drivers operating in Mississauga handling 100,000 monthly rides. There are 3,500 traditional taxi drivers operating in the city.

A recommendation from Mississauga’s public vehicle advisory committee endorses regulations for ride-sharing companies that would force them to operate under similar rules to those governing traditional taxi businesses, with strict requirements for insurance, safety protocols and driver background checks. Uber has said it cannot operate under the recommended rules.

With a majority of councillors signalling they were ready to support the recommendations, a vote scheduled for last week was postponed until this Wednesday, after Toronto council passed a set of regulations to loosen rules for traditional taxi operators, in order to win support for less stringent rules to govern ride-sharing services.

“Toronto councillors got rid of many safety regulations in what is a regulated industry and let Uber show them that breaking the rules breaks the will of councillors,” Councillor Carolyn Parrish told the Star. “What’s next, garage dentistry and restaurants operating out of people’s bedrooms?”

Other councillors complained during last week’s meeting that Uber refused to abide by council’s earlier request to suspend operations until a set of rules for them and other ride-sharing companies, such as mandatory insurance coverage, could be established.

“I think Toronto probably went too far,” Councillor Karen Ras said during the meeting. “Why don’t we do a made in Mississauga solution?”

During the meeting, Parrish lashed out at city staffer Mickey Frost, who’s responsible for enforcing taxi regulations, for previously telling the public vehicle advisory committee that the number of ride-sharing drivers could not be capped. After staff clarified that the city could impose a cap, Frost admitted to Parrish and the rest of council that it could be done, with special rules to limit the number of drivers to prevent ride-sharing companies from flooding the taxi market.

Crombie asked Karam Punian, a member of the advisory committee who represents taxi drivers, if he would accept a number of decreased regulations for traditional taxi companies. As she listed off a number of regulations, asking if he would like to see things such as set fares, regardless of demand during peak periods, removed, Punian said no.

Punian said safety is an issue that taxi drivers won’t budge on, and that the requirements set traditional taxi drivers apart from companies such as Uber. The only regulation listed by Crombie that Punian said he would like to see loosened is one that requires frequent physical inspections of taxis. He agreed that vehicle maintenance records could be used instead.

Crombie said after last week’s council meeting, contrary to what Punian stated publicly inside, that there has been some interest voiced by Mississauga’s taxi industry during previous advisory committee meetings to loosen a number of current regulations.

“Certainly (Punian) was being a little conservative and modest, speaking to the larger group today . . . I’m sure that if presented there would be other options they would like, either removed or loosened.”

Parrish told the Star that she and those on council who she agrees with will be disappointed if Crombie tries to do what Toronto Mayor John Tory did last week.

“If she tries to suddenly push through a laundry list of complicated changes to regulations, watered down safety protocols and other things designed to give Uber what it wants, while making the whole industry and everyone who uses it less safe, she will have to answer to the public,” Parrish says. “You heard what most of the councillors said — ‘this isn’t Toronto.’”

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Crombie said she “would never jeopardize the safety of Mississauga residents or the taxi industry.”

“It’s a vital industry, and one that I support, but I need to come up with a solution that also recognizes we have to be open to a service that many consumers are interested in,” she said.

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