The practice of politicians slapping mandates on the populace under the guise of safety looks like it will have some incredibly painful consequences. Not for the politician mind you, but for those that they are only trying to help.

Rubes.

Something is brewing in regards to forced mandates, not only in this country but across our northern border with our Canadian friends, and it looks like it is going to get super interesting very soon.

First up let’s see what we had going on here in the nation’s capital Sunday, as my colleague, Nick Arama touched on here —  Thousands Come out for Anti-Mandate Rally in DC…

The National Park Services approved a permit for 20,000 people, and the people marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, where they listened to speeches. About 6,000 are anticipated to be federal workers who are against mandates. The SCOTUS struck down the mandate imposed on private businesses with 100 or more employees and on Friday, a Texas federal court struck down the mandate on federal workers.

D.C. is requiring vaccines to get into local restaurants, so that may be an issue for the thousands who have shown up from across the country.

As Nick wrote above, the mandates in local restaurants are pretty damn annoying but could be a moot point soon. Seems that both the Canadian and U.S. Federal governments have placed mandates on truckers crossing the borders with goods and it looks like a large number of them are just not going to comply and will stay home. That means that food won’t be getting to those restaurants and your local grocery stores.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus’ government dropped the hammer on Canadian truckers being mandated to be poked last January 15th and Joe Biden ordered the same for truckers here this past Saturday the 22nd.

According to an article from Canada, the Canadian truckers are not taking this well.

From the National Post…

“We are taking our fight to the doorsteps of our Federal Government and demanding that they cease all mandates against its people,” wrote Go Fund Me organizer Tamara Lich. “Small businesses are being destroyed, homes are being destroyed, and people are being mistreated and denied fundamental necessities to survive.”

The decision for Canadian truckers to meet in Ottawa to protest the vaccine mandate comes as the industry struggles with issues , such as disruptions to the supply chain and a shortage of drivers.
The federal vaccine mandate could result in a loss of 12,000 to 16,000 cross-border commercial drivers, according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance .
The mandate came into effect on Jan. 15, which means Canadian truckers must show proof of vaccination to avoid taking COVID-19 tests before reaching the border. They will also have to quarentine when they return from the United States. American truckers who are unvaccinated will not be allowed to enter.

On Wednesday, a group of truck drivers protested the mandate at the US-Manitoba international border, blocking the highway and slowing traffic.

Now let’s take a step back and think about this.

Just about everything you have in your home was brought to a store or a warehouse where you purchased it, by truck. During this past holiday season, the “official” reason we were given for shortages was that ships sitting offshore were not getting offloaded fast enough because of labor shortages at the docks.

What happens when there are fewer trucks to deliver that material or food?

According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, we do a lot of trade with our neighbors to the north and almost all of that is moved by truckers.

Canada is currently our 2nd largest goods trading partner with $612.1 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2019. Goods exports totaled $292.6 billion; goods imports totaled $319.4 billion. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Canada was $26.8 billion in 2019.

According to this gentleman on Facebook who claims to do two runs a week from Canada to Florida, there are many others like him who are just going to sit home rather than comply with Trudeau and the mandates.

Instead of hauling goods, it sounds like there might be a convoy of truckers heading to Ottawa where truckers from all over Canada (which if you recall is a MASSIVE country land-wise) will let their government know they are not down with this. The Facebook site Convoy to Ottawa 2022 already has almost 300k followers and has multiple updates daily on what is being done to fight this.

How long until the American truckers get this vocal? I know that some already are but possibly because the Canadian government pressed this a week earlier, our neighbors to the north had a bit of a head start on organizing.

Truckers are the backbone of both of our countries’ economies and just like with your back, if you get a kink in it, stuff gets pretty uncomfortable. If you have a break in that backbone, you may become paralyzed.

If a significant number of truckers from either country who do international runs decide to sit out and tell Washington and Ottawa to take this jab and shove it, then we are in for some rough water in terms of living the way we are used to in both countries.

I guess it might be time to go watch Smokey and the Bandit and reminisce about when the biggest problem we had was sneaking Coors out of Texas to Georgia.