Taxi drivers suing Quebec over life after Uber want to take fight to Canada's top court

Quebec taxi drivers who lost their retirement dreams when Uber arrived are taking their fight to Canada's Supreme Court, hoping the country's top justices will recognize what they say amounts to government theft. Max-Louis Rosalbert, 80, president of the Montreal Taxi Owners' Association, bought his taxi permit for $12,000 in 1977, treating it like a pension plan. By 2014, that permit was worth more than $180,000 — until Uber crashed the party and the Quebec government deregulated the industry in 2019, wiping out the permit system entirely. "One day we had it and the next it disappeared," Rosalbert told CBC Montreal, explaining why he's still driving at 80 instead of enjoying retirement. The class-action lawsuit represents about 7,000 former permit owners seeking an additional $300 million in compensation beyond the $800 million the province already paid out. Lead plaintiff Dama Metellus argues the government should compensate based on 2014 market values, not what people originally paid decades ago. The legal argument centers on "disguised expropriation" — the idea that taxi permits were property the government essentially seized without proper compensation. The case has ping-ponged through the courts with dramatic swings. Quebec Superior Court sided with the drivers in 2024, awarding an extra $141 million plus interest, ruling that permits were treated as property for tax purposes and could be sold, inherited, and leased. But Quebec's Court of Appeal overturned that decision in March, calling permits a "privilege conferred by the state" rather than true property with "absolute, exclusive and perpetual" ownership rights. For West Island residents, this isn't just legal theory. Many local taxi drivers, particularly immigrants who saw permits as their path to financial security, watched their life savings evaporate when the rideshare revolution hit. The Supreme Court application asks a fundamental question about what constitutes property in Canada and whether governments can eliminate entire industries without fully compensating those who invested their futures in them. The case highlights the broader tension between innovation and protection of existing industries — a debate playing out in cities worldwide as technology disrupts traditional businesses. Robert Poëti, Quebec's transportation minister during the Uber wars from 2014-2016, expressed surprise at the appeal court's ruling. Whether Canada's highest court will hear the case remains to be seen, but one thing's certain: at 80, Max-Louis Rosalbert is still waiting for that retirement he thought he'd bought and paid for forty-seven years ago.