A convoy of transports from across Canada is converging on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday, Jan. 29 to protest COVID-19 mandates.
“Freedom Convoy 2022” left Delta, BC Sunday, Jan. 23. It has a Facebook following of more than 120,000 people and a GoFundMe campaign of more than $ 4 million. Tamara Lich, an Alberta woman who works as a secretary for the western separatist Maverick Party, has helped organize the fundraiser. The money raised is to help truckers pay for fuel, lodging and food, and will be distributed “following a strict procedure,” the group’s Facebook page reads.
“Drivers must register, check in with their respective road captains and submit receipts to be reimbursed,” it says. “All remaining funds will be donated to a Veterans Association in Canada. There is a lawyer and accountant overseeing this. ”
The group claims the rally is not about anti-vaccination: “It’s anti-government mandates.”
“Our current government is implementing rules and mandates that are destroying the foundation of our businesses, industries and livelihoods,” Lich wrote. “Canadians have been integral to the fabric of humanity in many ways that have shaped the planet.”
As of Jan. 15, Canadian truck drivers need to be fully vaccinated or will have a two-week quarantine period when crossing the border. The “Freedom Rally” is not sanctioned by all truckers as 90 percent of them have been vaccinated.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance shared in a statement on Jan. 22 that it does not support “and strongly disapproves” of the protests on public roadways, highways, and bridges, “especially those that interfere with public safety.”
“The Government of Canada and the United States have now made being vaccinated a requirement to cross the border. This regulation is not changing so, as an industry, we must adapt and comply with this mandate, ”said CTA President Stephen Laskowski. “The only way to cross the border, in a commercial truck or any other vehicle, is to get vaccinated.”
TRUCKERS REACT
Perth trucker Randy Stuart will be joining the convoy.
“I will be heading down (to Ottawa) on Saturday with the family in the SUV, not a truck,” he said on Monday, Jan. 24. Stuart said he’s “forced to run just Canada until this changes at the border.”
He said he was proud of the movement that started on the west coast.
“Seeing how many are on the road gives me goosebumps. But in all honesty, I have no idea what to expect, ”he said. “I’ve been a strong advocate for freedom of choice and reversing these ridiculous mandates and it’s all coming to a head right now.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, Stuart said truck drivers were treated as heroes.
“For those two years, it was never a problem until someone decided they needed to mandate another new rule,” he said.
In 2020, Stuart said he never had to buy a coffee at McDonald’s or Tim Hortons. “Now I can not even sit in either restaurant, let alone cross the border. It’s a very frustrating situation and it’s boiled over to what you are about to see in Ottawa on Jan. 29. This is true unity, vaxxed or unvaxxed truckers, farmers, hockey moms in their minivans, all are joining forces as one to gain back our freedoms in Canada once and for all. ”
Greg Blankenborg is an owner / operator from Elgin who was on his way to Syracuse on Monday after picking up a load of “ironically, air purifiers for hospitals,” he said from his rig. Runs to the States “are where I make my money,” he said.
Blankenborg has been double vaccinated, “because I have some big bills to pay,” and has had no issues at the border. He plans to join the convoy Saturday morning.
“I do not think the government should be telling us what to do,” he said. “We self-isolate all the time. I follow my own protocols. ”
Trucker Matt Hudson from the GTA tweeted: “As a trucker I’ll be going into work as usual … real truckers want to make (money). Not to mention their (sic) gonna get inspected at every single scale. Just wait till they hit Ontario. Far more regulations and I’m not talking COVID. ”
Reference-www.thestar.com