Some of you downvoted-to-dead this from another poster ("Hi, I'm Nelson" from Technologists for Democracy); new user who had low karma, so it's dead in the thread.

I frankly think it's a legit POV, and I'm also local to this, so I'm going to use my own much higher karma to post it again:

https://techfordemocracy.ca/2026/04/29/say-no-to-waymo/

I think there are legitimate concerns in promoting American BigTech as provider of infrastructure/services in Toronto. Concerns about data collection, about technological autonomy, and local employment.

I fail to see any unique argument in this. That is to say you can replace Ontario with San Jose and it'll all work.

> Digital sovereignty and privacy is at stake.

This is the most strongest argument, and luckily that's the first one. Many ways to solve this so not really a big problem.

> Ontarians’ jobs risk being outsourced

What jobs are being displaced by driverless cars? The best argument here is uber drivers are going to be affected. Who would you rather drive you at 3am if you're a drunk woman? An uber driver or Waymo?

> Public transit could lose riders

What is the goal here? The goal is to move people efficiently and decrease the reliance on human driving, which can cause deaths. Public transportation is vital but again, there are times when subway / buses wont work.

Also, if public transit is a major concern, shouldnt we be asking Uber (see point #2) to go away?

The last two points are super generic, it isnt even worth discussion.

Not convinced with the approach here.