Pundits predict consumers will start to see more bare store shelves and ever-rising prices in coming weeks as U.S. and Canadian vaccine mandates for cross-border trucking take effect. Canada’s rule, imposed January 15, requires U.S. truckers to show proof of vaccination at the border and subjects unvaccinated Canadian truckers who are returning home to extensive testing and quarantines. A similar U.S. border regulation banning unvaccinated Canadian truckers begins January 22.
Bureaucrats are enforcing the new rules with blatant disregard for appeals from industry leaders, who warn of significant disruptions to an already-strained supply chain. “We are extremely concerned there is a perfect storm brewing,” said Stephen Laskowski in late November when the rules were announced. Laskowski is president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), a federation of provincial trucking associations. CTA estimates a loss of up to 15 percent of cross-border commercial drivers. Since the trucking industry ships around 70 percent of the $648 billion in trade between the two countries, “the supply chain desperately needs more drivers to deliver goods and products that consumers depend on — not less,” Laskowski warned.
CTA’s state-side counterpart, the American Trucking Associations (ATA), estimates that up to 37 percent of the U.S. workforce of major carriers are unvaccinated. In its statement against President Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandates ATA defended its members, noting their record of safe operation throughout the pandemic, spending most of their time alone on the road or outdoors, and maintaining an infection rate of “8.7% — well below the national infection rate.”
Independent truckers have similar safety records, but the new rules pose problems for them as well. “We have seen all too often how unnecessary government mandates can force experienced owner-operators and independent truckers out of business,” protested Todd Spencer, president of Missouri-based Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “These requirements are another example of how impractical regulations will send safe drivers off the road.”
Regardless, health bureaucrats are willing to sacrifice economies, jobs, and possibly even food security for fear of a virus with a death rate comparable to that of the seasonal flu. Stanford University’s expert in disease prevention, Dr. John Ioannidis, has published extensive research in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization and in the European Journal of Epidemiology indicating that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has an infection fatality rate around 0.15 percent, but that misdiagnoses, overcounted deaths, and erroneous death certificates plague official reports.
While bureaucrats feign concern for these unnamed masses, they remain unfazed by life-altering economic ramifications of their arbitrary rulings. “We had hoped that both U.S. and Canadian officials would recognize the effects such a rule would have on our industry’s capacity levels,” laments David Heller, vice president of government affairs for Virginia-based Truckload Carriers Association, Inc. “Mandates such as these are certain to cause delays and increased issues regarding our supply chain.”
The government “could find themselves with a very tough situation if Canadians rise up with inflation and food insecurity, or major manufacturers slow down, lay off people,” warned retail expert Bruce Winder, who told Toronto-based CTV News that he predicts the hardest-hit areas will be food, auto parts, and building materials.
Others are less concerned. Global supply-chain news outlet FreightWaves.com quoted Matt Silver, founder and CEO of Chicago-based cross-border logistics firm Forager, predicting that the rule will convince drivers to get vaccinated. “They have to make a choice,” he said. “Do they want to keep earning money, or do they want to be stubborn?”
Statistics side with the stubborn. “While there’s reportedly a modest uptick of drivers getting vaccinated at some companies,” notes Laskowski, “there are substantial reports of higher-than-normal turnover and others declaring their intention to leave the industry or seek employment” in the domestic industry, where competition for jobs is becoming more intense.
Meanwhile, social media provides a from-the-cab vantage of compelling thoughts of truckers personally impacted by the draconian dictates, such as that of “Fed up Canuck” who tweeted his final voyage video on January 16:
Crossing the border into Sumas, Washington, for the very last time. This is my last visit to the United States. I used to take two loads of lumber south and typically two loads of steel north out of Seattle. And that contribution to the economy comes to an end today. That’s it. I’m done. And I refuse to give in under any circumstances. I’ll never comply. If we don’t have bodily autonomy, if we don’t have control over ourselves, if we don’t own our own physical bodies, then we own nothing at all. This is the hill I’m going to die on. I will never back down.
Others echo his concerns:
