“The goal here for us is to sit down with the government and find ways to concretely operate, but we know for sure if they impose 35 hours of training, we’ll need to leave,” Uber Quebec manager Jean-Nicolas Guillemette said, insisting the ride-sharing’s rating method and Uber’s own guidance to drivers are sufficient to provide exceptional service.

Other terms of the pilot project, with which Guillemette did not take issue, are for police to conduct criminal background checks of drivers and for annual mechanical inspections of cars.

Guillemette held his news conference at the Notman House downtown, the location of the company’s first office when it set up shop in Montreal. It has since moved to an office on Richardson St. in Point St-Charles.

The company now has about 50 full-time employees, and its partner drivers make up the equivalent of 3,000 full-time employees, according to Guillemette.

Most drivers are part-time workers, so forcing them to undergo a full week of training is excessive, Guillemette argued.

“The beauty of the Uber platform is the flexibility the driver partner has to come and go and decide when they want to work,” he said.

Uber has been making waves for the taxi industry and the Couillard government since it became a part of Montreal’s transportation landscape. The taxi industry complained Uber was engaging in unfair competition, since its drivers didn’t hold expensive permits required of taxi drivers, some of which are sold on the resale market for nearly $200,000.

Transport Minister Laurent Lessard said the government has been more than patient with the California firm, which he suggested has mastered the art of stalling almost from the moment it arrived.

He pointed out there are other firms using the same kind of technology in the field, with properly trained drivers using electric cars such as Téo taxis, ready to step up and provide consumers the same service.

“We are not in a negotiation process,” Lessard told reporters in Quebec City. “We tabled a project and we indicated the elements. So only they can decide what will happen on the 14th. I am open to hearing how they propose to attain the objective, but we are firm on the targets.”

Sounding at times exasperated, Lessard said he can’t believe a giant multinational that developed groundbreaking technology can’t come up with a way to give their drivers an online 35-hour training course.

During question period in the National Assembly, CAQ Leader François Legault accused Premier Philippe Couillard’s government of sending the wrong message to firms like Uber, which he says are innovative.

But Couillard responded that if Uber is willing to propose other ways to conduct driver training, Quebec is willing to listen.

He added the government has no intention of backing down on what it feels is a “reasonable demand.”

“Frankly, I don’t think it’s up to the government of Quebec to lay down before a multinational.”

At a news conference organized outside its Hochelaga-Maisonneuve offices, the union representing taxi drivers said it is not surprised Uber doesn’t want to adhere to the terms of the pilot project, saying the company has flouted the rules since day one.

“What Uber wants is not to have to adhere to any rules,” said Wilson Jean-Paul, the spokesperson for the Regroupement des travailleurs autonomes Métallos. “But I’m a bit surprised, because it’s just 15 hours more of training.”

Jean-Paul was referring to Lessard’s estimate that Uber drivers already undergo roughly 20 hours of training to drive in Quebec.

Jean-Paul said he and his members will “be overjoyed” at Uber’s departure, but said he’s not yet ready to sound Uber’s death knell.

“We think this is just a threat by Uber, but so far the minister seems to be firm; we’ll see if he stays firm until Oct. 14,” he said. “We won’t let this go.”

RTAM-Metallos has brought several lawsuits against Uber, including a class-action suit that also names the province, blaming it for a decline in the value of taxi permits, which are required to drive a taxi in the province.