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At some point we as a society have to say stop. We as Canadians (or in this case Americans) are very accomdating people. But where does it end. Can the garbage man refuse to pick up my garbage because it contains empty liquor bottles and he finds that offensive? Garbage collection is not a "right" either; but it is a government regulated service.
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Garbage man from the city actually has a limit for bags and a limit for weight of each bag along with the right to refuse anything that he doesn't think is safe to pick up. The fact that they don't enforce it is a different story but all you have to do (as one of my neighbors did) is to pick a fight with your garbage man and they will give you the book on it. They are unionized city workers and city can't do squat to them. No amount of calls to your alderman or 311 will make your garbage collection the same ever again.
Cabbies in Calgary can pickup someone through the following ways:
1). Airport - in a long lineup called the 'bullpen'. You're lucky if you get a trip to Mckenzie and very unlucky if you get a trip to the Sandman on Barlow and Mcknight. Often it is a long wait in the lineup.
2). Designated spots like: tower, greyhound terminal, hotels downtown, on friday and saturday nights certain drinking places like Cowboys which have their own cab lines
3). dispatched through their computer. This method is the best because you only pick up trips in assigned areas that you book yourself into.
4). & of course threw somone that waves them down.
5). Some of the mini-van cabbies get trips through the City's 'Access Calgary' program for disabled people.
I haven't taken a census but most of the cabbies are either somali or middle-eastern descent or east indians in Calgary. Probably a good number of them are Muslim. They seem to have no problem picking drunk people up from bars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnFBAmsNoN4