The federal government must postpone by three months the deadline of January 15 for the vaccination of cross-border truckers by three months, estimates Manufacturiers & Exportateurs du Québec (MEQ).
“Although efforts to vaccinate these essential workers continue, a lack of flexibility puts the entire supply chain at risk, which is still struggling to recover from the pandemic,” MEQ said in a statement.
Manufacturers say they are “aware that the vaccination of these truckers is essential”, but believe that the short vaccination deadlines required risk “endangering integrated production on a North American scale”.
“We have to be clear-headed: right now, preventing truckers who are not yet vaccinated from doing their jobs would deprive the industry of a fifth of its workforce. With supply chains already weakened, procurement costs rising and many vacancies, it is one to midnight for the federal government. Keeping a hard line would send a worrying signal to the public and to the industry, ”said Véronique Proulx, President and CEO of MEQ.
Nationally, the trucking industry transports nearly 70% of the $ 648 billion in trade between Canada and the United States, including Canada’s food supply and essential goods.