Canadian lawmakers expressed growing concern Tuesday about the economic consequences of disruptive demonstrations after truckers protesting vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions partially blocked the busiest border crossing between the United States and Canada.
The blockade at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, prevented traffic from entering Canada while some traffic from the United States was still moving, according to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, who described the bridge as “one of the most important border crossings in the world.” It transports 25% of all trade between Canada and the United States.
According to Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, such blockades will have serious consequences for the economy and supply chains. “I’ve already heard from car manufacturers and grocery stores.” “This is a serious cause for concern,” he said in Ottawa, Canada’s capital.
“Most Canadians understand there is a difference between being tired and fatigued with the pandemic and crossing into some other universe,” Mendicino added.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in an emergency debate late Monday in Parliament that the protesters are “trying to blockade our economy, our democracy.”
Despite the bridge delays, auto parts and other goods were still flowing across the border Tuesday evening. Trucks, on the other hand, had to travel nearly 70 miles north to the Blue Water Bridge, which connects Sarnia, Ontario, to Port Huron, Michigan. Trucks crossing that bridge faced a nearly three-hour delay, according to authorities. The trip will take more than five hours longer than usual.
The protesters have no right, according to Flavio Volpe, president of the Canadian Auto Parts Manufacturers Association, to park their vehicles in the middle of the road. He questioned how many of the protesters were truckers, pointing out that trucker associations and large logistics firms have condemned the blockades.
“It’s really a collection of anti-government provocateurs,” he explained.
According to Volpe, the protests also jeopardize fresh produce, livestock, and other food supplies.
According to Jeff Schuster, president of the LMC Automotive consulting firm in Troy, Michigan, even a five-hour delay can cause production disruptions because factories are already running low on part supplies and have a fragile supply chain.
“Everything these days is so ‘just-in-time,'” he said. “We’re still dealing with general parts shortages and supply chain issues.” This is just another hiccup in the industry that we’re currently dealing with.”
Protesters also shut down another key US-Canada border crossing in Coutts, Alberta.
The so-called Freedom Truck Convoy’s daily demonstrations are centered in Ottawa, where demonstrators have used hundreds of parked trucks to paralyze parts of the capital for more than ten days. Protesters have stated that they will not leave until all vaccine mandates are lifted and COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
Protest organizers have been calling for the removal of Trudeau’s government for weeks, despite the fact that the majority of the restrictive measures were imposed by provincial governments.
On Tuesday, the organizers withdrew an illegal demand that the nation’s governor general, the representative of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, order the federal and provincial governments to lift all COVID-19 restrictions, including vaccine mandates. They now claim to support the Canadian constitution and the democratic process.
The protests, according to François Laporte, president of Teamsters Canada, which represents over 55,000 drivers, including 15,000 long-haul truckers, do not represent an industry in which 90 percent of drivers are vaccinated.
The Freedom Convoy “and the despicable display of hatred led by the political Right and shamefully encouraged by elected conservative politicians does not reflect the values of Teamsters Canada, nor the vast majority of our members,” said Laporte in a statement.
According to Alain Bédard, chairman and CEO of TFI International Inc., Canada’s largest trucking company is largely unaffected by the vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the US-Canada border.
“Vaccination is not an issue at TFI,” he explained. The company keeps a few unvaccinated drivers in Canada.
The protests have also enraged residents of downtown Ottawa, including neighborhoods near Parliament Hill, the federal government’s seat of power.
Dave Weatherall, a federal civil servant, lives in a city-owned parking lot outside of the downtown core, near the truckers’ prime staging area. “They’re using the whole thing to terrorize people,” he explained.
“It’s the first time since having children that I’ve seriously pondered the world we’ve given them.” “I always assumed they’d be able to handle most of what the world could throw at them, but this feels different,” he added.
According to Ottawa’s city manager, all tow-truck companies under contract with the city have refused to remove the large rigs.
Joel Lightbound, a Liberal Party lawmaker, chastised Trudeau on Tuesday for dividing Canadians and said his government needed to develop a timeline for when coronavirus precautions should be lifted.
“It’s past time to stop dividing people, to stop pitting one segment of the population against another,” Lightbound said.
Trudeau stated that everyone is tired of COVID-19 and that the restrictions will not be in place indefinitely. He mentioned that Canada has one of the world’s highest vaccination rates.
“This government has been committed to following the best science and public health advice at all times in order to keep as many people safe as possible.” “To be honest, it’s worked,” Trudeau said on Tuesday.
Pandemic restrictions in Canada have been far stricter than in the United States, but Canadians have generally supported the measures. The death rate in Canada is one-third that of its neighbor.
Meanwhile, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Alberta, and Prince Edward Island have announced plans to lift some or all COVID-19 restrictions, with Alberta removing its vaccine passport almost immediately. Alberta’s premier stated a week ago that the vaccine passport could be phased out by the end of March.
The Quebec plan does not call for the abolition of mask mandates or the vaccine passport system.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault said the protesters who descended on Quebec City last weekend calling for an end to health-care measures had no bearing on the government’s decision to offer a reopening plan to Quebecers.
Now, if they (demonstrators) want to claim credit for this and then fail to return in two weeks, I won’t object,′′ Legault said.