Convoys in Canada: provinces drop ballast, in vain for the moment

Police set up a barricade in front of parked vehicles as part of the truckers' protest, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022 in Ottawa.

AP - Adrian Wyld

Text by: RFI Follow

3 mins

Protests against health restrictions continue in Canada.

For thirteen days now, some 500 trucks have blocked downtown Ottawa, the federal capital.

And the sling is spreading, since truckers have also begun to block two strategic bridges linking Canada to the United States.

Several Canadian provinces have decided to let go.

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Since this Wednesday morning, the inhabitants of the province of Alberta no longer need to show their credentials to enter stores or sports halls.

The vaccine passport has been abandoned by the provincial authorities.

In the province of Saskatchewan, we are not as fast, but the government has already announced that it will also abolish the vaccine passport next Monday.

And in Quebec, where health measures are among the strictest in the country, the authorities have presented a detailed agenda for the first time.

Objective: the lifting of most health restrictions by March 14.

►Headline: The anti-sanitary movement is gaining momentum in Canada

The turn that the truckers' movement seems to be taking has caught the Canadian political class off guard, observes

, of RFI's international service.

According to the latest polls, one in three Canadians supports the protesters and 44% of respondents say they understand the frustrations expressed.

About thirty million euros daily

However, the concessions made by several provinces to calm the anger have so far not had the desired effect: the truck drivers have not moved.

Their initial demand, namely the lifting of the vaccination obligation, can only be decided by the federal government.

A convoy is now blocking the main border crossing with the United States.

About a quarter of daily trade between the two closely intertwined economies passes through the Ambassadors Bridge, south of Toronto and north of the US city of Detroit.

►Read also: In Canada, Justin Trudeau tries to calm anti-vaccine pass protesters

Normally, thousands of trucks use this bridge in Windsor every day.

Exchanges between the two countries represent approximately thirty million euros daily, just for the automotive sector.

“Risk of suspension of automotive production activities”

This blockage has in particular very important consequences for the automobile industry of the two countries.

This is what Yan Cimon, professor of strategy at Laval University, in Quebec, explained to our correspondent on site,

.

There is a risk of suspension of production activities in the automotive industry, because generally, inventory levels of parts in factories are quite low.

A motor vehicle that is manufactured in Canada crosses the border more than seven times before it is fully assembled.

The United States and Canada exchange parts, systems, subsystems before carrying out the final assembly of the vehicle

Foodstuffs, but also other factory-made products, cross this bridge every day.

Not to mention the many cross-border workers who work in one of the two countries.

The blocking of this neuralgic point of exchange thus hits the Canadian economy in the heart.

►Also listen: “Freedom convoy” in Canada: “We thought it was all over, and not”

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