Trucker Thuggery: The Costs To America

Destructive convoys of right-wing truckers, ostensibly protesting vaccine mandates for cross-border trucking, are blocking main roads in Canada, and between the U.S. and Canada, in particular the Ambassador Bridge which connects Detroit with Windsor, Ontario. The thugs have resorted to tactics like letting the air out their tires to further delay their removal, and to disrupt traffic between the two trading partners, and according to a report in the Washington Post, it comes with a price to American businesses:

"Each day, $300 million worth of car and truck parts, agricultural products, steel and other raw materials flows across the bridge, according to Flavio Volpe, president of the Auto Parts Manufacturers Association in Toronto.

U.S. manufacturers rely on daily or near-daily shipments to and from their Canadian partners. Just one or two more days of interrupted deliveries could lead to temporary layoffs or plant closures, Volpe said.

'We work in 24-48 hour contingencies. Everybody is thinking about what that means for tomorrow’s production,' he said. 'A few dozen people are getting in the way of the American economy.'"  (our emphasis)

Already suffering from a shortage of foreign-made computer chips, the U.S. auto industry -- and their hundreds of suppliers -- can't afford another break in the supply chain, one that's caused by a relative few misinformed and radicalized wingers bent on bringing down the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Canada. More on the impacts from the WaPo:

"For almost 30 years, North American trade agreements have melded vehicle makers in the U.S. and Canada into a seamless operation. Incomplete vehicles routinely cross the northern border several times before assembly is completed.

As U.S. plants run short of Canadian components, they will react by cutting their own orders to suppliers elsewhere, meaning layoffs could ripple across the industry, Volpe added.

All major car makers – GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda – have plants in Ontario."  (our emphasis)

The worldwide anti-vaxx movement symbolized by the truckers' stunt appears to be a means to mobilize various conspiracists on the far-right, and the violent into hardcore militant actions. It's receiving encouragement from the usual fascistic operators in the U.S., including the Malignant Loser, Marjorie Traitor Greene, Cancun Ted Cruz and others of their ilk. Prime Minister Trudeau needs to clear the roads of these extremists, as we may have to do shortly in this country.

BONUS:  The thugs are, again, outliers --

François Laporte, the president of Teamsters Canada, which represents over 55,000 drivers, including 15,000 long-haul truckers, said the protests do not represent the industry in which 90% of drivers are vaccinated.

The Freedom Convoy “and the despicable display of hate led by the political Right and shamefully encouraged by elected conservative politicians does not reflect the values of Teamsters Canada, nor the vast majority of our members,” Laporte said in a statement.

(photo: Right-wing protesters in Ottawa last month, with Confederate and other racist flags displayed. Patrick Doyle/Reuters)