Weekend video
from Salmon Arm, B.C. shows a truck convoy being greeted by hundreds of
sign-wielding supporters lining the Trans-Canada Highway.
As trucks left Abbotsford, B.C., they passed underneath highway overpasses utterly jammed with supporters waving Canadian flags and signs reading “No Forced Vax for Truckers.”
A Facebook group for the convoy has 397,000 members – more than one hundredth of the Canadian population. ...
Truck Convoy supporters would be correct in their contention that the protest isn’t attracting nearly as much official attentioncompared to prior protests that have been numerically much smaller , such as the pro-Wet’suwet’en blockades that dominated the national discourse
in early 2020. Only on Monday did the convoy first receive
acknowledgement from major party leaders. Conservative Leader Erin
O’Toole dodged a question on the convoy, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau obliquely mentioned the protests while accusing Conservatives of “fear mongering” by linking trucker vaccine mandates to supply chain disruptions.
Like the truckers. The gap between those insulated by government
employment and everyone else — and government employment especially
includes politicians — is currently the deepest divide.
As is his wont, Justin and his faithful mouthpieces are prepared to portray this convoy as they did the last and quiver as necessary:
Scaffolding, crane and above-ground access is NOT permitted," read one staff memo in 2019.
"Our
law enforcement partners encourage everyone to be vigilant and to be
aware of their surroundings at all times," wrote staff. "Please report
any suspicious activity or anything that may be out of the ordinary to
the Privy Council Office Crisis Management Cell."
According
to those documents, officials feared that as many as 400 trucks and
25,000 protestors would meet at Parliament Hill, with media portraying
the groups as being filled with racists.
In the end, only 170 trucks arrived.
Outlets such as Vice
said that the group was "plagued by racist messages," and condemned
then-Conservative leader Andrew Scheer for embracing the group.
Those protests even prompted then-Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick to voice concerns over assassinations.
"I
worry about the rising tide of incitements to violence, when people use
terms like treason and traitor in open discourse," said Wernick. "Those
are the words that lead to assassination. I'm worried that somebody’s
going to be shot."
"I worry about the trolling from the vomitorium of social media entering the open media arena."
It was utterly fabricated rot spat out to make any popular dissent appear anti-social (quite rich coming from the notorious black-hating Trudeau but I digress ...) and the tactic has not lost its punch yet.
**
Political aides yesterday declined comment on federal security measures
for a Truckers For Freedom convoy. A similar 2019 rally had the Privy
Council Office clear rooftops overlooking Parliament Hill and distribute
staff emails claiming truckers wanted to arrest Justin Trudeau: “I’m
worried that somebody’s going to be shot.”
**
Rumours in Ottawa that Butts/Trudeau are planning to put check points on highways to stop trucking protest from advancing too close to Ottawa.
“We’re
touching a lot of aspects of the supply chain. It moves by truck,”
Stephen Laskowski, president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, said.
From auto parts to furniture, appliances to food imports, everything moves by truck, but there are now fewer drivers.
George
Pitsikoulis, president of Montreal-based distributor Canadawide Fruits,
told Bloomberg that the cost of importing fresh produce from California
and Arizona has jumped by 25% over the last week.
“The lower the supply, the higher the price. Ultimately, it’s the consumer that pays for this,” Pitsikoulis said.
Laskowski
said the trucking industry isn’t opposed to the vaccine mandate, but he
added that neither the Trudeau nor Biden administrations consulted the
trucking industry or those relying on trucks to move goods before going
ahead.
Truck drivers have hit the proverbial wall & every tactile thing
in your life is moved by them. This goes far beyond the mandate issue,
that’s just the snapping point for many. There are many factors at play –
truckers being the constant, proverbial scapegoat for a crumbling
supply chain is front & centre.
I want to be clear that this has been brewing for decades. The
horrible state on our Canadian highways is similar to what I’ve
experienced traveling in third world countries. Safety has declined to
where there’s almost daily fatalities. I’ve had to unfollow most
trucking groups because they are just so negative & defeating
showing all the daily wrecks that don’t hit the news. Real, undoctored
pictures, video, & dashcam footage of “professional drivers” showing
absolutely no regard for human life.
What’s the answer? Feds throw mass quantities of undocumented drivers
who simply have to say they have a license or experience. They pay
large sums to “handlers” that facilitate throwing them right into the
fire on our mountainous, snowy, icy highways. I have personally helped
drivers that had absolutely no idea how to chain up, free a frozen
brake, fuel up a tractor or reefer, add diesel exhaust fluid, back up
one trailer (let alone two), which airline went where, how to check
fluid levels, hook up a trailer, etc. And this was in the parking lot!
Now to watch them pass people on double yellows, over the crest of a
hill, around a blind corner, driving loaded super B’s 6 feet from my
passenger vehicle at highway speed. I’ve taken the ditch or shoulder
several times this winter alone as I knew my family would be hit &
perish when the loaded tailgater couldn’t stop in time. Because I have
decades of off-road & trucking experience.
Unfortunately, I could no longer afford to run a viable business in
transport. The rates are the same as in the 90’s but every expense has
tripled. My last three months hauling grain I couldn’t even pay myself a
dollar, I was just working for the bank. Mary insisting I “get out
while I could” was the best thing to happen to us in years. All those
long, wasted, unpaid hours of my life never to return. Then, months
later, she saw her cancer return & we were very thankful a semi with
a $3K+ monthly payment wasn’t sitting on the driveway.
I also knew that every extra mile I drove on the decaying state of
our roads would increase the chance of my ticket being punched. Not a
sacrifice my family was prepared to make. I was sick with stress every
Sunday night before going to work. All so people could give me dirty
looks, cut me off in the city & on the highway. It didn’t matter if I
had dynamite, aviation fuel, crude oil, or apples in the trailers. The
end result would be the same for them.
Try and find a place to pull over and rest, eat, use a washroom in
Saskatchewan. Especially a safe location with adequate room and not just
a litter-ridden highway shoulder with a frozen porta potty. How many
times did I stop just to see a “no trucks” sign, locked garbage bin,
jugs of pee everywhere, and an out of service or locked bathroom.
Next is drivers being driven to financial ruin & physical
distress with ridiculous fines and penalties. Many of those lie squarely
on shitty trucking outfits & brokers that push people far beyond
their limits. Shippers & receivers as well. But it all falls on
drivers that are quickly thrown under the bus.
What’s the answer? I don’t know.
• make trucking a recognized trade
• keep diesel prices in check
• insurance costs will stop escalating if drivers actually qualify for what they’re operating without the resulting chaos
• a decent wage available for competent, experienced drivers
So many of my former colleagues are finding different avenues than
driving to earn a living. Or getting out of the industry entirely. The
average age of a trucker is 58. Would you venture out to do this
thankless job? Encourage your kids to pursue this? It’s nearly $15K just
to get a 1A now. Even if you love the idea of everything the road has
in store for you, good & bad, would you do it today? Maybe give a
little space, sprinkle some respect, and consider what a truck driver is
currently dealing with on the road before branding us all as the source
of domestic terror.
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