Quarantine mandate back in effect for unvaccinated Canadian drivers effective Saturday. Canada Border Vaccine Mandate for Essential Workers set to take effect this Saturday, January 15th
In a further update to the update earlier today, the Canadian Federal Government has reversed course again, and late this afternoon have announced that unvaccinated Essential Canadian Truck Drivers, returning to Canada as of Saturday, will in fact be required to quarantine when they return to Canada. This comes on the heels of late yesterday’s announcement that the quarantine was being removed for Canadian Drivers. We have yet to receive an official update form the government and will provide more details tomorrow when we receive it, however we wanted to ensure you had this information as quickly as possible.
In Previous Update:
Bowing to mounting pressure from the trucking industry, the opposition, and common sense, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reversed the government’s mandate requiring Canadian truckers crossing the border into Canada from the U.S. to have COVID vaccination.
The vaccine mandate was to take effect Saturday, January 15. Pressure has been mounting on the government to back down from this unwanted mandate. Industry insiders told the government that the border vaccine mandate would result in driver shortages, disrupt cross-border trade, drive up inflation, and cause further problems to a supply chain struggling from 2 years of COVID-19 disruptions.
Unvaccinated Canadian truckers or those who have only received one dose of the COVID vaccine will now not be required to quarantine as they return to Canada from the U.S.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance believed the mandate would force 10 percent of cross-border drivers off the roads, approximately 16,000 drivers. Canadian Border Services Agency CBSA says that full details of the exemption remain unclear.
Truckers from the United States will still need to be vaccinated or they will be turned back at the border as of January 15, the CBSA says.
A Canadian government source said the decision was to ensure smooth supply chains. Trucking is the main artery for over 2/3 of the $650 billion $511 billion in goods traded annually between Canada and the United States.
The Pandemic is blamed for global supply chain issues and has helped drive Canada’s inflation to an 18 year high in November. The Bank of Canada says that interest rates may rise as soon as April.
The Truck Driver border mandate could have inflicted more economic pain on Canadians. The potential was to cause further supply chain issues in Canada while raising inflation and causing food shortages on grocery shelves. The Trucking industry said that the border mandate would force more drivers permanently out of the industry, which is already dealing with an ongoing driver supply crisis.
The cost to transport a truckload of fruit or vegetables from California or Arizona has doubled during the pandemic.
In the end, the Federal government had to make the right choice. The Canadian populace was in no mood for further costs and economic pain caused indirectly by the pandemic and short-sighted Federal government policies.
