Foodora, the Berlin-based food courier delivery service, arrived in Canada in 2015. After acquiring Hurrier to expedite its entrance, the company helped “disrupt” the food delivery industry in many of Canada’s major cities and beyond. By 2020, however, it was gone.

Employing a huge fleet of cyclists, e-bike riders, and drivers, Foodora became a central architect of the so-called “gig economy” in Canada. By now, the model is a familiar, border-crossing phenomenon, a classic example of how capital retooled its war chest for the 2010s.

Workers are classified by the gig employers — such as Uber, SkipTheDishes, and Doordash — as “independent contractors,” a designation that allows the companies to cast off responsibility for health and safety protections. This ensures that they no longer need to worry about paying minimum wage and unemployment insurance contributions or respecting workers’ rights that are enshrined in law.