Steve Scherer

OTTAWA, (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused conservative politicians Monday of inciting fear that COVID-19 mandates for trans-border truck drivers could lead to supply disruptions and inflation.

A mandate was issued by the United States to combat the Omicron virus, which is rapidly spreading, on January 22. Canada began its mandate on January 15. The trucking sector warned that this mandate would force thousands more drivers from the roads, despite a severe labor shortage.

Jason Kenney from Alberta, a conservative leader in the province, demanded a pause to his mandate. On Monday, he posted images on Twitter (NYSE 🙂 that showed empty shelves in grocery stores and called for immediate action by the U.S. as well as the Canadian federal governments.

Kenney stated, “This is becoming a crisis.”

Trudeau said that while he regretted that Conservative Party politicians and the Conservative Party are creating fear in Canada about the supply chains, the truth is that vaccines will be the way we get through it.” Trudeau spoke to reporters about disruptions to the supply chain as a result of the policy.

Pierre Poilievre (finance critic of the Conservative Party’s main federal opposition) called last week the requirement a “vaccine vendetta” against hardworking truckers. It will increase inflation and lead to “empty shelves” at retail stores.

Trudeau has not been pressured by industry to postpone the mandate. He stated that all Canadians should get immunized and Canada was aligned with America, the largest trading partner. Over two-thirds (or $521 billion) of goods that are traded between Canada and America each year total C$650 billion.

Canada’s January inflation rate was 4.8%. This is a record for Canada. American inflation rose 7% in December on a year to date basis, marking the biggest increase in over 40 years.

Canadian Manufactures & Exporters President and Chief Executive Dennis Darby said he and other manufacturing lobbies spoke with Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Friday about problems caused by the vaccine mandate.

Darby indicated that the price rises and delays being experienced by manufacturers already are evident.

Darby stated that “our supply chain in North America” is very efficient, but not resilient, in an interview Monday. There isn’t a lot of room for error.

Champagne’s group, Darby’s and 30 other trade organizations called for concrete actions to address supply chain issues, which included reversing trucker vaccination mandate.

On Sunday, a convoy of truckers set out from Vancouver to protest the mandate for Ottawa.