Mayor Nenshi met with city council on Monday and answered a lot of questions about some controversial comments he made last week about the ridesharing service Uber.
While Nenshi was on a trip to Boston to speak with students at MIT, he hired a local driver registered with both Lyft and Uber and discussed the topic of ridesharing.
During the talk, which the mayor was unaware was being livestreamed through Periscope, Nenshi made a number of comments about Uber, its CEO and its employees.
He called them ‘the worst people in the world’ and insulted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.
Nenshi also admitted that Calgary had registered sex offenders and people convicted of violent crimes test Uber’s background tests.
“How we found registered sex offenders, I don’t want to know,” said Nenshi, "but they all made it through the theoretical background screening.”
The driver, John Bravvo, is a Harvard student and regularly livestreams his passengers. He spoke to CTV and defended Nenshi, saying that he probably just had a long day and was venting his stress.
“You gotta understand, an Uber driver is a lot like your barber or your hair dresser. People come in, it’s really a break from what they’re doing; they’re releasing themselves and sometime when we’re releasing ourselves, we’re gonna say things that are exaggerated versions of how we truly feel.”
Nenshi has since apologized for his comments and personally apologized to Uber and its CEO. He further said that he should be the same person in private as the one he is in public.
During Monday's council meeting, Nenshi reiterated his apology about the comments when the topic was brought up by Councillor Richard Pootmans.
"There were two things that went on there. The first being was me being sort of a jerk and I am sorry about that. Certainly, one needs to be the same person in public as they are in private and that is something we'll all need to remember every now and again."
Nenshi said that another issue that came up as a result of the comments on the weekend had to do with questions about the legality of some city operations.
"Although I did not speak very clearly, we did announce back in January of February that there are some concerns about the background screening process being suggested by that transportation company. There was one person that we knew that we thought was an active charge, but it turns out it was a conviction, making it through the system that highlighted our concerns."
Nenshi told the council that it was interesting that no one at the time asked how they knew those details. "That is a question that people are now asking."
He said that those concerns are a legal matter and should be discussed in camera, with the city solicitor.
Nenshi did say that he oftens chats with people about particular issues and he did speak at length with Bravvo about ridesharing. "If you watch the video carefully, you'll see I learn how much money the guy makes, how he manages his car and an unpleasant fact about insurance which gave me pause."
He says that the driver was very evasive when it came to having proper insurance. "We have to be sure that we are investigating these things."
Nenshi said that he welcomes an investigation from the integrity commissioner and the ethics advisor although the latter, he added, didn't believe there would be any risk.
"If that's the council's will to have the ethics commissioner look at this, that's why we have one."
About whether or not any confidential information was shared, Nenshi said, in his limited knowledge, one person did get through the test screening process,
"I never asked how that had been done. I just assumed it was through what is called in the IT industry as user acceptance testing, which is when you try to poke holes in the system and it actually works."
He said that it was this flaw that led the city to require a CPS background check instead of the Uber check.
Nenshi says that council has been working very hard on the Uber issue. "It has been a very, very, very difficult negotiation and when a company tries to enter your market illegally when you are still negotiating, I don't think that's a very nice thing to do."
He says that ridesharing operators will come to Calgary at some point in the future, under the right regulations.
Some councillors did express further concerns about the comments, in particular the suggestion that the city used registered sex offenders to test Uber's background check system and agreed to discuss them in a closed door meeting.
Council did vote in favour of a motion to begin an investigation, through the integrity commissioner, into Nenshi's comments and the city released a statement on Transportation Network Companies saying...
“Recent media coverage may have resulted in questions about the conduct of City staff during the course of investigating the Transportation Network Company (TNC) industry.
In 2015 October, Council directed Administration to examine options to regulate TNCs for Council's consideration. To develop its recommendations, Administration needed to understand the operations of the TNC industry.
The City's priority in regard to the operation of taxis, limousines and TNCs has always been to try to ensure public safety. Administration's primary focus was vehicle safety, driver qualifications and insurance coverage.
Administration used customary and appropriate investigative techniques to assess public safety, develop an understanding of the TNC industry, and determine whether offences were being committed.”
(With files from Kathy Le)
