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A ring number for the “multi-unit residence” was requested, Patni said, but one wasn’t given so the customer was asked to wait downstairs.

“The call was dispatched within seconds, literally one or two seconds after the call was dropped, and the cab arrived three minutes after the call,” Patni said.

After waiting more than six minutes outside, the driver gave up, according to Patni.

There’s disagreement over whether Baird was waiting outside.

“We’re being told that the customer was there,” Patni said. “But we don’t think the customer was there, because if the customer was there, the driver would have picked him up.”

Baird’s spokesman Rick Roth said he’ll let the tweet stand and the call was to a house, not an apartment. “We’ve all had a similar experience, and the Minister was just simply making an observation,” Roth said in an email.

The driver, who still needs to be interviewed by Patni, should have told a dispatcher the customer didn’t show up, Patni said. But the driver didn’t do that, creating some confusion during the subsequent calls. “That was the mistake that took place,” Patni said.

Patni said he found four calls regarding Baird’s request for a cab but wouldn’t say whether Baird made the call himself. Patni said he’s upset Baird complained online.

“Mr. Baird is a foreign minister and he has a massive Twitter following,” he said. “He waded into a very charged debate that’s going on at the moment.”

cmills@ottawacitizen.com

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