Protesters block Ottawa as Canada's vaccine mandate pits truckers against Trudeau

According to media reports, Tamara Lich, a key player behind the convoy traveling to Ottawa, said in a video message on the Freedom Convoy 2022 Facebook page that the convoy would be in Ottawa to protest what she called infringements of personal liberty caused by public health orders.

Canadian news organization CBC in a Jan. 25 report stated that from the time the convoy of trucks and other vehicles left B.C. and began making its way to Ottawa, extremists and fringe groups have taken to social media to encourage their followers to descend on the capital when the convoy arrives, calling on them to destroy property and threaten elected officials.

Some even called for another Jan 6 — the day last year when the U.S. Capitol Building was attacked by Donald Trump supporters, stated the report.

Others have called for politicians to be targeted, the report said, adding that the matter has raised concerns, forcing authorities to assess the threat situation, according to one senior government official who spoke to CBC News on the background.

Police are probing several incidents, including vandalization, the appearance of swastika flags and footage of a woman dancing on the tomb of the unknown soldier, BBC reported.

Ottawa police said in a Twitter post that "several" investigations were now underway into the "desecration" of a number of monuments in the capital city, as well as "threatening/illegal/intimidating behavior to police/city workers and other individuals and damage to a city vehicle".

In another part of the city, chaos reigned as truckers choked the streets around Canada's parliament building, the report said.

Ottawa's Mayor Jim Watson said some protesters barged into a soup kitchen and demanded free meals after they were denied entry by restaurants for their refusal to comply with indoor mask mandates.

In a press conference earlier this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to downplay the problem, asserting that the protesters are "a small fringe minority".

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family have been shifted from their home in Ottawa to a secret location over safety concerns on Saturday.

Former US president Donald Trump, meanwhile, hailed the protest. “We want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way," the former U.S. president told a Texas rally Saturday night, according to Bloomberg reports. 

According to Canadian Truckers Alliance, nearly 83 to 87 percent of truckers in British Columbia are vaccinated, roughly in line with the national average.

The BBC report cited said this number is around 90 percent.

However, the demonstration called to compel the government to end all vaccine mandates across the country has taken a different turn and extreme behaviors by protesters are reported with some protesters even pledging to continue their protests even after they are removed.

The beginning of the problem

In mid-November, the Trudeau government announced that by January 15, all fo truckers engaged in transporting goods from the US to Canada would have to be fully vaccinated to enter Canada. Unvaccinated truckers are to be sent back.

All Canadian cross-border essential workers — including truckers — are also required to show proof of vaccination as part of entry documents to avoid stringent testing requirements and quarantine. 

Is Canada slowly heading towards food shortage?

 According to media reports, at present, empty shelves in grocery stores are not uncommon but the country is also not moving in the direction of acute food shortage despite the disruptions in the food supply.

After the government’s vaccine mandate for truckers, food shipments slowed, widening the gaps in supplies caused by extreme weather conditions, long distances, and Covid-19 induced restrictions.

According to an article in Quartz, Canada depends on the United States for 90 percent of its fruits and vegetable supplies, which are transported in trucks. With only 50 percent of the truck drivers vaccinated, fewer trucks are coming into the country with groceries as the unvaccinated don’t want to get themselves into the trouble of 14-day compulsory quarantine.

The vaccine mandate has added to the already strained supply chain impacted by worker shortages, transportation bottlenecks, and recent storms.

Since the number of trucks on some routes has reduced, the price to transport food has doubled as some shipments are sitting in warehouses, a Bloomberg report said.

Gary Sands, with the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, said there are shortages of certain goods in some parts of the country but the phase was temporary and likely to ease with the decline in Omicron cases, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) quoted.

"We're absolutely seeing product delays and shortages," he stated, adding that this is particularly of fresh fruits and vegetables — a large amount of which come from the U.S. this time of year, CBC reported.

"It doesn't mean the shelves are completely barren or anything like that. But we're already starting to see for some products … they're just not coming in time, or we're not getting them in the quantities that we need," he noted.

Simon Somogyi, a professor who studies Canada's food industry at the University of Guelph, said Canada's food supply chain is always a delicate balancing act, according to the CBC report.

Somogyi said this is because of Canada's relatively short growing season, coupled with vast distances, which pose several challenges in maintaining and distributing supplies even when the circumstances are ideal.

And the current situation is far away from that, he said.

CBC reported that the food industry has taken a hit because of the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which sickened more workers and many were forced to quarantine leading to acute labour shortages.

As this is continuing, there are just not enough workers to keep the racks in grocery shops and supermarkets full.

 This problem had emerged even before the federal government's vaccine mandate for cross-border truck drivers dealt another heavy blow to the industry, making it more difficult to get food transported to the loading dock in the first place.

"The Canadian food system rides on the back of a truck … particularly at this time of year, where it's cold and we have to import a lot of fresh food, like fruits and vegetables, into Canada," said Somogyi, according to CBC.

Everyday food essentials like cereals, soups and spices are getting harder to find in Western Canada, according to Gary Sands while Charlebois said perishables like green vegetables and fruits are posing a bigger problem in Atlantic Canada and Northern Ontario, the CBC report said.

However, both asserted that this is a temporary phase and the situation will soon be normal.

"The shortages that we're experiencing right now … are temporary, and I can't emphasize enough that we don't want to see a resumption or return to panic-buying," Sands was quoted as saying by CBC. "That helps no one and hurts everyone," he added.

Truckers travelling within Canada are not affected by these new measures. The United States has implemented a similar mandate, requiring that all U.S.-bound travelers show proof they've had the required shots.

(Reporting by Suman Das)