Videos of truckers, vaccinated and unvaccinated alike, locking up their vehicles are exploding on social media as drivers park their trucks to protest the Canadian government’s vaccine mandate for those in the profession.
According to Ontario Trucking Association president Stephen Laskowski, Canada already faces a trucker shortage, as fewer people have chosen to get into the job in recent years. This will be heavily exasperated, he says, as, in Ontario alone, he expects to lose 10 per cent of his workforce instantly, roughly 16,000 truckers.
A concerned Canadian Truck Driver… you should listen pic.twitter.com/IUxB6XmYfq
— Laura Fonseca (@LauraFo63430334) January 17, 2022
Lots and lots of truckers parking their vehicles are flooding TikTok.
Who’s ready for what’s next? pic.twitter.com/9m5x7DSpDH
— Traditional Canadian Girl 🇨🇦 (@canadiangirls99) January 17, 2022
And these are just the 10 per cent of those who remain unvaccinated in Ontario. This civilization-ending figure does not include the other 90 per cent of truckers standing in unison with their colleagues.
“What will happen and already is happening is the supply chain is just adjusting to having less drivers. We already don’t have enough drivers,” Laskowski said.
“So, what is happening is there is coming to be a prioritization within our membership towards their customers. The companies who can be more aggressive are acquiring truck transportation to go across the Canada-U.S. border, but the others who cannot be as aggressive will find it more challenging moving their product.”
Sylvain Charlebois, a professor specializing in food distribution, shares Laskowski’s concerns, saying that the industry is already roughly 18,000 drivers short and that many, who are approaching retirement, may simply call it quits early.
Truckers mean it this time. Time to unite against evil.#truckers #UnitedWeRoar #NoVaccineMandate pic.twitter.com/IsDnQuyvYe
— Syl Carle (@syl20carle) January 15, 2022
And another one pic.twitter.com/uLSQRMppI0
— Traditional Canadian Girl 🇨🇦 (@canadiangirls99) January 17, 2022
According to Global News, there are over 26,000 truckers who cross the border every day to deliver everything from food to manufacturing materials, a critical process that may now be disrupted.
Even the mainstream media has been critical of Trudeau’s decision to impose a federal vaccine mandate on truckers, writing article after article alerting Canadians to the coming mass food shortage.
“Canada imports about $21 billion worth of agri-food products from the United States every year, and about 60 to 70 per cent of the food imported arrives on wheels,” Charlebois writes.
“That’s almost 20 per cent of the food Canadians buy in both foodservice and retail.”
“And the timing is not great either,” he continues. “Much of the volume comes through during the winter months when produce from the southern states offers welcome supplies to Canadian consumers.”
“Stopping some of that business could exacerbate the driver shortage the industry is already experiencing and could drive up retail prices even further in weeks to come.”
Truckers are protesting Trudeau's vaxx mandate at the Canadian border.
Supply chain issues arising from this is manufactured. The media and politicans will try to blame the crisis on truckers when they themselves are responsible. pic.twitter.com/fqGyLWKqPF
— Mattea Merta🕊 (@MatteaMerta) January 17, 2022
With supply chains already suffering due to labour shortages, Canadians will inevitably face a food shortage of the government’s making. None of this is sustainable nor good for anyone’s well-being. Nonetheless, Trudeau is chugging along, unperturbed by reports this will usher in a ‘winter of death’ as some have called it.
