Iqaluit councillors, cabbies drive a compromise

AARON SPITZER

IQALUIT — Iqaluit cabbies returned to the road Monday after receiving a promise that taxi fares will climb another 50 cents within a month.

On Sunday, the Town council told cab drivers that fares will likely go to $4.50 by March 27.

Drivers, who have been pleading for a pay increase since December, had reacted with outrage last week when the council upped fares by only 25 cents, to $4.

The Town had promised a further increase to $4.50 in three months — a pledge that drivers deemed a “slap in the face.”

But now municipal officials are saying that if cabbies cooperate with the Town to help craft a better taxi by-law, the fare hike could be in place much sooner.

“It’s hopeful that if we have a good working relationship we can put the increase in place toward the end of the month,” said Mayor John Matthews.

That offer put an end to a four-day strike that threatened to paralyze Nunavut’s cab-dependent capital.

On Feb. 28, a day after the council’s initial decision, enraged taxi drivers took their cars out of commission, parading Iqaluit’s roads in protest, their horns honking and their dome-lights dimmed.

Throughout the ensuing strike Iqaluit’s roadsides were thick with pedestrians. During the period the town’s bars closed early, offering patrons free rides to ensure that they made it home safely.

The cabbies’ tactics did not sit well with many residents, who felt the drivers were blackmailing the community by denying an essential transportation service.

On more than one occasion townspeople were heard to heckle off-duty taxi drivers, demanding that they return to work.

But the work-stoppage got the attention of Town councillors, who agreed to sit down with cabbies and hear their complaints.

At a public meeting with the drivers on March 2, taxi industry representatives accused the Town of treating them like children.

“It seems like you’re stalling, you’re stalling, you’re stalling. Why do we have to suffer?” asked André Plante, who served as the spokesman for the cabbies.

According to taxi drivers, skyrocketing gas costs have cut so deeply into their profits that a fare-hike is urgently needed to make it worthwhile for them to stay on the road.

But according to councillors, the Town is leery of issuing the full fare-increase until it can demonstrate to customers that a better taxi by-law is in place.

That concern stems from a public meeting back in January in which several residents came forward to question the proposed cab-fare hike, criticizing cabbies for infractions ranging from smoking on the job to bootlegging booze and drugs.

Now, said Matthews, with drivers and town officials working in concert, such concerns can be addressed in a new by-law.

The new legislation will likely contain provisions for a taxi-industry disciplinary committee, in which drivers themselves will provide input on the punishment of colleagues who violate the law.

New licences may also come with a one-year probationary period, during which they could be easily revoked if the licence-holder was shown to have broken the law.

Also under the by-law, new drivers will likely have to take a test to prove they know their way around town.

Matthews said taxi industry representatives will be reviewing the draft by-law and will likely propose additional changes and improvements.

Matthews said that though he hopes to have the $4.50 fare in place by March 27, Town lawyers are currently checking to see if the fast-tracked hike is permissible under council procedures.