As of Saturday, truckers who cross the American border into Canada must be vaccinated for COVID-19, something one Manitoba professor says will hurt all Canadians, but Westerners the least..Barry Prentice, Professor of Supply Chain Management at the University of Manitoba, tells the Western Standard the federal government has failed to properly assess the risks..“This is nonsense. We’ve been now 22 months into this, and suddenly they think, ‘Oh, people have to be vaccinated.’ Is there a big risk? No, there’s no risk assessment associated with this decision whatsoever. And, indeed, the drivers, they tend to stay in their cabs. They’re not getting out running around. So who are they going to infect?” Prentice said..Although the announcement was made November 19, the timing for follow-through seemed odd to Prentice, since Manitoba minimized its isolation requirements. As of January 1, vaccinated Manitobans who tested positive for COVID-19 but have no fever and were feeling better needed only five days’ isolation..“The Manitoba government has just told us, ‘We’re cutting y’all loose. You’re on your own, good luck.’ In so many words that’s what they’ve said. ‘Look after yourself now, we’ve done as much as we can do.’…Saskatchewan’s in that train as well. Kids are going back to school, and there’s more damage done to them, psychologically, being trapped in their houses, than what risk a virus might have,” Prentice said..“It’s back to the vaccine, either it works or it doesn’t work. Now we all know that the vaccine won’t stop you getting the virus; it just stops you from becoming a hospital patient. That is the premise. Of course, nobody wants to get the flu…I take precautions anyway, as do most people.”.The trucking industry has already had worker shortages for years and Prentice believes the border policy will raise trucking prices and push some truckers out of the driver’s seat altogether. This will mean higher prices for goods, especially for fruits and vegetables bought east of Saskatchewan..“You can quote me, they’re gonna spend a lot more lettuce for their lettuce,” Prentice says, as he explains why cross-border trucking is less prevalent on the Western Prairies..“There’s nothing really south of Alberta. So if you drop a load off in Alberta, you can’t pick up a load there to take back somewhere in the States because there’s nothing in Montana or Wyoming. Whereas, if you’re coming to Winnipeg, you can drop down to Fargo, Minnesota; or Minneapolis. And if you’re in Ontario, there’s a huge number of loads there to Chicago, Detroit and so on.”.Prentice believes Transport Minister Omar Alghabra is “incompetent” and his Liberal colleagues have a blind spot when it comes to supply chains..“It really shows that this is a party of three big cities. And they don’t really understand how things move around because they’re urban, they’re urban people represented in government. Alghabra, I don’t think he’s ever been to Manitoba, let alone the rest of Western Canada or to the North. And he’s a Mississauga MP,” Prentice said..“It goes back to the quality of leadership in the country. I don’t have a lot of belief that this prime minister understands transportation.”.The US is planning a similar mandate for truckers crossing into their country, requiring vaccination as of January 22. Prentice is more concerned about U.S. thinking and politics crossing the border than COVID-19..“You literally can look up almost anything on the Internet. But of course, it also is a great vehicle for spreading falsehoods…to the political peril. What we’re seeing in the States right now scares me. Living next door to them doesn’t protect us from their craziness,” he said..“We need to vaccinate them for stupidity. That’s what we need a vaccine for.”.Lee Harding is a freelance contributor living in Saskatchewan.
