The premier of Canada’s Alberta province on Thursday called on the federal government to pause a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers that companies say will disrupt the supply chain and fuel inflation.
The mandate, imposed by Ottawa to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, has cost Canadian trucking companies about 10 per cent of their international drivers, six top executives said this week.
They said they are hiking wages to lure new operators during the worst labour shortage they have experienced. Read more: ‘Slow-roll’ protest planned by Quebec truckers against COVID-19 vaccination mandate Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, at a news conference in Calgary, urged the government to extend an exemption that had been in place for truckers since the start of the pandemic.
Kenney made his request on the same day the United States confirmed its own vaccine border mandate for truckers would start on Saturday.