Drivers at Smithton truck stop predict Canadian blockades soon will spread to U.S.

Trucker blockades of bridges along the Canadian-U.S. border that forced the shutdown of a Ford plant in Ontario this week soon might spread south to the U.S., according to several truckers who spoke to the Tribune-Review as they traveled through Western Pennsylvania.

“I can definitely see it happening here, too, and I agree with it to tell you the truth,” said Ty Morrison, a truck driver from Glassboro, N.J., about 20 miles south of Philadelphia.

The Canadian protest, extended to a fourth day Thursday of blocking traffic at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, revolves around truckers demanding an end to that country’s covid-19 restrictions.

“I say as long as you’re vaccinated and the covid-19 numbers are declining like they appear to be doing here, there is no reason at all for the government to mandate wearing masks,” Morrison said after filling his truck with diesel fuel at the Flying J truck stop along Interstate 70 in Smithton, Westmoreland County. “We’re taxpayers and supposed to be living in the land of the free. … Under these current conditions, the government should not be still telling us what to do.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended the measures that include a rule that took effect Jan. 15 requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated.

Another truck driver from the Garden State said he has been following reports on the blockade.

“From trucking-related sites on social media, I can tell you that many of those truck drivers protesting up there are from the U.S.,” said Tyler Burr of Burlington, N.J. “And they are already talking about having a protest convoy down here, and there’s a lot of interest in it from what I’ve seen.”

Billed on social media sites as the “People’s Convoy,” it would begin in Indio, Calif., perhaps on March 4, and make its way to Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security this week warned that “a prolonged trucker convoy protesting vaccine mandates” could begin this weekend in Los Angeles, where the Super Bowl will be played Sunday, Yahoo News first reported.

“But as I said, it really doesn’t impact me. I’m fully vaccinated and have been for a long while now,” Burr said at the Smithton truck stop.

In addition to the vaccine issue, Burr said he has seen talk on social media that such a convoy also could be in protest to the high price of diesel fuel.

Diesel fuel prices at the Flying J were $4.25 a gallon for cash, or $4.51 for credit card.

“I can see the protests happening, but I’d doubt I’d take part,” he said.

Maryland-based truck driver Biniam Fitui, a native of East Africa, has been driving tractor-trailers in the U.S. for three years. He said he supports the Canadian protests.

“I think the protests that are happening are a good thing,” said Fitui, who declined to say whether he is vaccinated.

Related:

• Ontario declares an emergency over truck blockades in Canada
• U.S. urges Canada to use federal powers to end bridge blockade

He said he believes it’s time to “roll back” the covid-19 mandates.

In addition to the closing of the Ford plant in Windsor, Ontario, parts shortages caused by the blockade also forced General Motors to cancel the second shift Wednesday at its midsize-SUV factory near Lansing, Mich., according to the Associated Press.

Johnstown truck driver Todd McCullough said he is “all for the protests” against mask and vaccine mandates.

He anticipates the trucker blockade protests spreading to the U.S. soon —“especially if there is continued talk of increasing taxes on diesel fuel and gasoline,” he said.

According to the AP, officials in Ontario, Canada’s largest province with almost 40% of the country’s population, said they are sticking to what it calls a “very cautious” stance toward the pandemic and have no plans to drop vaccine passports or its mask requirements.