OTTAWA: After truckers protesting vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 regulations partially stopped the busiest border crossing between the US and Canada, Canadian MPs have expressed growing concern about the economic impact of disruptive demonstrations.
According to public safety minister Marco Mendicino, the roadblock at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, blocked vehicles from entering Canada while some US-bound traffic was still moving, making the bridge "one of the most important border crossings in the world." It transports 25% of all cross-border trade between Canada and the United States.
Such blockades, according to Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, will have major consequences for the economy and supply lines. "I've already heard from automakers and food grocers. This is really a serious cause for concern," he said in Ottawa, the capital.
Added Mendicino: "Most Canadians understand there is a difference between being tired and fatigued with the pandemic and crossing into some other universe."
Speaking in an emergency debate late Monday in Parliament, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the protesters are "trying to blockade our economy, our democracy".
The so-called Freedom Truck Convoy's daily demonstrations are centred in Ottawa, where activists have paralysed parts of the capital for more than ten days with hundreds of stopped vehicles.
All tow-truck companies under contract with the city, according to Ottawa's city manager, have refused to remove the heavy rigs. The protests have enraged residents in the downtown area, notably those living near Parliament Hill, the federal government's seat of power.
Dave Weatherall, a federal government servant, resides near the truckers' preferred staging place outside of the downtown core, in a city-owned parking lot. "They're using the lot to terrorize people in Centretown," he said, asking why the city has allowed the convoy to remain parked on its property for free and without intervention.
"It's the first time since having kids that I've seriously wondered about the world we brought them into. I always figured they could handle most things the world will throw at them, but this feels different," he said.
Demonstrations have moved to areas near or on the Canadian border, including the Ambassador Bridge, where a protest caused substantial delays and blocked traffic in both directions at one point. On the way to Canada, the bridge is still closed.
After Trudeau's speech, trucker spokesman Tom Marrazo maintained that the protesters intend to overthrow the government at a press conference. Marrazo stated that he is willing to meet with opposition parties as well as the nation's governor general, who represents Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom as head of state.
Given Trudeau does not have a majority of seats in Parliament, the three opposition parties might theoretically join forces to overthrow the government, but this is highly improbable because members from the opposition New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois have condemned the protests.
In Coutts, Alberta, protesters have also shut down another vital US-Canada border crossing.
"The border at Coutts continues to open and close at the discretion of a group of protesters who believe they are above the law. It has to stop," tweeted Rachel Notley, Alberta's former premier and current opposition New Democrat leader.
Protesters have stated that they will remain until all vaccine mandates and COVID-19 limitations are removed. They also demanded that Trudeau's government be removed, despite the fact that it is responsible for only a minority of the limiting policies, the majority of which were enacted by provincial governments.
The protests, according to François Laporte, president of Teamsters Canada, which represents over 55,000 drivers, including 15,000 long-haul truck drivers, do not reflect the business, where 90% of drivers are vaccinated.
The Freedom Convoy "and the despicable display of hate 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, and in fact has served to de-legitimise the real concerns of most truck drivers today," Laporte said in a statement.
According to Alain Bedard, chairman and CEO of TFI International Inc., Canada's largest trucking company is virtually unaffected by the vaccine mandate for drivers crossing the US-Canada border.
"Vaccination at TFI is not an issue at all," he said. The company's few unvaccinated drivers are kept in Canada.
Trudeau's Liberal Party legislator Joel Lightbound chastised his leader for splitting Canadians on Tuesday, saying his government needs to develop a road map for when coronavirus restrictions can be repealed.
"It is time we stopped dividing people, to stop pitting one part of the population against each other," Lightbound said.
Trudeau has maintained a tough stance towards the protestors. Everyone is tired of COVID-19, according to the prime minister, and the limits will not remain indefinitely. He mentioned that Canada has one of the world's highest vaccination rates.
"This government has been focused every step of the way on following the best science, the best public health advice, to keep as many people as safe as possible. Frankly, it's worked," Trudeau said Tuesday.
"I can understand frustrations with mandates," he added. "But mandates are the way to avoid further restrictions."
Meanwhile, Saskatchewan, Canada's first province to announce an intention to abolish all COVID-19 limitations, became the first in the country to do so. Beginning Monday, Saskatchewan officials will no longer require COVID-19 vaccine passports. The province's indoor mask mandate will be phased out at the end of the month, with a population of nearly 1.2 million people.
The benefits of obtaining proof of vaccination to enter companies such as restaurants, according to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, a Conservative, no longer outweigh the cost. According to him, the passport has produced significant schisms.
In Alberta, another Conservative stronghold, the premier planned later Tuesday to announce a plan "to damaging restrictions if pressure on our lift hospitals continues to decline."
Except for mask regulations and the vaccine passport system, the Quebec government stated most COVID-19 restrictions would be eliminated across the province by March 14.