Some truckers sympathetic, others just get on with the job

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This article was published 07/02/2022 (1308 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RM OF HEADINGLEY — A few semi-trucks were parked near the Manitoba Legislative Building protesting COVID-19 public-health measure on Sunday.

Many more were on the highways, hauling goods across provinces and countries.

Sean Corbally, a trucker fuelling up at Flying J Travel Center in Headingley, said he doesn’t understand the logic of the protests.

“They’re protesting in Ottawa; no one’s there,” the Toronto native said. “(It’s) messed up.”

Protesters remain in downtown Ottawa for a second weekend to protest against COVID-19 public health mandates. Ottawa declared a state of emergency Sunday.

Some truck drivers, who drove in a convoy across Canada in the last week of January, have led the charge. A vaccine mandate for commercial truckers came into effect Jan. 15.

Corbally, who is double vaccinated, still crosses into the U.S. easily. He said he hasn’t noticed a big change in the number of drivers, and he’s been doing the job for 15 years.

Brett Jamieson got his COVID-19 shots to continue trucking.

“I knew, as soon as they started making it mandatory for health-care workers, it (was) only going to be a matter of time before they came for us,” he said.

Jamieson was fuelling up at Flying J Sunday morning, preparing for a drive to Minneapolis. Then, he was scheduled to head north to Toronto, he said.

“When we were being hailed as heroes, I said to a lot of guys I work with, ‘Don’t get used to it — it’s not going to last,’” Jamieson said.

Support for truckers died down as lockdown restrictions started to lift last year, he said.

Jamieson said he understands the protesting truck drivers’ views.

“What is the end game with all this?” he said, adding he’d like for life to be normal again. “Are we going to be showing proof of vaccination in 2025?”

He said he longs for the day he can sit in a restaurant and not present proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

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George, who refused to give his last name, has been in the trucking industry for four years. He said he’s noticed a decrease in peers entering the U.S.

He just wants to focus on his job.

“(This is) politics. I am not interested in… politics,” he said.

Damien, who also refused to give his last name, said he attended the Ottawa protest last weekend. The movement has captured people’s attention, which is what he’d hoped for, he said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com

Gabrielle Piché
Reporter

Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.

Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.