A group of truckers are raising millions in a fundraiser as they drive across the country to protest compulsory vaccinations, even though the vast majority of truck drivers have been inoculated.
Leaving Vancouver on Sunday, the group raised $3.5 million by Monday afternoon from some 46,000 donors to support truckers set to converge on Ottawa this weekend, according to the fundraising campaign’s GoFundMe page.
The group of truckers aim to demonstrate against the federal requirement forcing essential workers – including truckers – to be vaccinated if they want to avoid a 14-day quarantine when crossing the border returning from the United States.
Harwil Farms Mobile Feeds, whose dozen drivers deliver feed to farms and livestock to slaughterhouses across southern Ontario, donated $5,000 to the convoy, placing the company among the top contributors.
Owner Wendy Metcalfe explained that she opposes mandatory vaccinations and is skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines. She believes the motorcade will draw attention to what she sees as a government encroachment on basic freedoms.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says mandatory vaccinations are a key tool to keep Canada’s economy on track and that the Conservatives are “scaring each other” about empty store shelves, while the Conservatives are pressure on Ottawa to lift the requirement, which they believe is a risk to supply chains and the economy.
Reese Evans, general manager of Evans Trucking, said 14 of his 36 drivers who typically haul lumber across the Alberta-Montana border are unvaccinated and are now largely out of service. His group donated $5,000 to the campaign.
“As a company, we do not believe that the government [est dans son droit] to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do with their bodies,” he said. “It should always be an autonomous decision for each person. »
Mr Evans pointed out that the new rule, in conjunction with the United States’ decision to ban unvaccinated Canadian truckers from entering the country since Saturday – Canada has the same policy towards American drivers – would only exacerbate supply shortages and price hikes.
Public opinion polls since August have shown that a large majority of Canadians support mandatory vaccinations for essential workers.
On Saturday, the Canadian Trucking Alliance condemned protests on roads and highways. She had already indicated earlier that at least 85% of drivers were fully vaccinated. But Mr Evans assured protests planned near border crossings across the country this weekend were safe and legal.
“Nobody stops on the highway with their vehicle,” he said.
According to the Canadian Trucking Alliance and the American Trucking Associations, up to 26,000 of the 160,000 drivers who regularly cross the Canada-US border would likely be sidelined due to mandatory vaccinations in both countries.