On Thursday, during a press conference, Premier Jason Kenney released a statement saying the federal government needs to end the trucker vaccine mandate and “use common sense”. Kenney pleaded with the federal government to extend exemptions for truckers.
“We need to apply these policies with a heavy dose of common sense,” he said in his press conference. “Common sense tells us we are at the peak of supply chain constraints across North America, around the world, huge inflation, and we can’t afford to lose potentially thousands of truckers on our roads bringing groceries up from the U.S. and, who knows, maybe rapid test kits as well.”
It’s a well known fact to all Canadians because they all shop for groceries we are facing a giant supply shortage and high inflation rates.
As reported here “Up to 26,000 Canadian and American truck drivers who regularly move crucial supplies across international borders will be impacted by the Liberal mandate”
These estimates translate to a major impact to the Canadian economy because 80% of our fruits and vegetables cross the board with trucking logistics. In the United States there is even less truckers vaccinated than in Canada.
“Estimates are that 80% to 90% of Canadian truckers and 50% to 60% of those in the U.S. are vaccinated.”
“According to the Canadian Trucking Alliance, about 16,000 drivers could be forced off the road.” covered in a BC Rise opinion peace here
Preventing these truckers from crossing the boarder can cause shortages in food and other important supplies such as rapid test and other health care supplies or everyday products we all love and buy.
Last year Jason Kenney also said that Alberta will not entertain the idea of vaccine passports because it will split society. Moving forward a little and Alberta ended up rolling out vaccine passports for the province.
