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Photo by Rafal Gerszak / PNG

“Embracing ride-sharing and hoping it doesn’t come about and embracing ride-sharing and ensuring it happens rapidly are two different things,” Weaver said.

Legalizing sometimes-controversial ride-hailing services was a key Green-party campaign pledge as a step toward embracing the innovation economy.

Weaver noted that seven years after Uber tried to open in Vancouver, the city remains the largest in North America without ride-hailing.

And, in a regulatory vacuum, Weaver said “pop-up” entities such as a service called Raccoon Go, which operates through the WeChat messaging platform, have started offering similar, unregulated services.

“We cannot pretend to be innovative in the new economy if Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna and British Columbians are unwilling to embrace the technological innovations (already out there),” Weaver said.

The previous Liberal government proposed a plan that would have allowed ride-hailing to operate in the province, but relaxed licensing rules for taxi drivers, eliminated geographic boundaries for taxi companies and gave the existing industry cash to develop its own technological alternative to the apps from Uber and other new players. The taxi industry was outraged, saying drivers who’d invested in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars in limited taxi licences would see the value of their investments evaporate.

Weaver said new provisions in the bill he plans to introduce include direction to ICBC to come up with a new insurance category for ride-hailing. He echoed the Liberal call to allow existing taxi firms to maintain a monopoly on customers who hail a ride on the street.

Uber and Lyft, typically refer to themselves as technology companies that link passengers looking for rides with drivers willing to take them through an app-based communication platform that handles booking and payment on both sides.

On Monday, Uber Canada spokeswoman Susie Heath said the company is “pleased to see positive action from the B.C. Green party today that will benefit British Columbians, and we encourage all parties to follow through on their election commitments to work together and make ride-sharing a reality in 2017.”

Vancouver Taxi Association spokeswoman Carolyn Bauer couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.