Experts say truckers should have done more to prepare for vaccine mandate
Global News
The trucking industry's hardline stance against the vaccine mandate for drivers marks a wrong turn, experts say, arguing the sector should have been better prepared.
The trucking industry’s hardline stance against the vaccine mandate for drivers marks a wrong turn, experts say, arguing the sector should have been better prepared for the January deadline.
The Liberal government announced in November that all Canadian truckers looking to cross the border from the United States would need to be vaccinated in order to avoid a 14-day quarantine, a policy that came into effect last Saturday.
Warning of potential further damage to an already crimped supply chain, the Canadian Trucking Alliance urged the federal government over the past two months to keep the industry exempt from cross-border vaccine rules, or to delay them until 2023.
Lori Turnbull, director of the School of Public Administration at Dalhousie University, questioned the wisdom of truckers’ lobbying strategy, given how firmly Prime Minister Justin Trudeau staked out his position in favour of vaccine mandates during last year’s federal election.
“Trudeau really drilled in on putting the pressure on for vaccines,” Turnbull said. “If some companies are making an effort and others aren’t, I don’t get it.
“It’s another thing again if companies are really resisting it, as though government doesn’t have the right to make us do this,” she said.
Some big-riggers feel strongly that Ottawa should stay out of their way. On Sunday, a “Freedom Convoy” is slated to roll out from British Columbia en route to the capital for a demonstration against the mandate at the end of next week. As of Friday afternoon, the campaign had raised just over $1 million from donors in under a week, according to its GoFundMe page.
Up to 26,000 of the 160,000 drivers who make regular trips across the Canada-U.S. border would likely be sidelined as a result of the vaccine mandate in both countries, according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance and the American Trucking Associations.
