Today’s coverage of the Ambassador Bridge blockade and COVID protests across Canada

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Protests against COVID-19 vaccine mandates have snarled the streets of Canada’s capital and shut down cross-border crossings in Ontario and Alberta, blocking vital routes for goods. Here’s our coverage from today.

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3:29 p.m.

‘We are being held hostage’

The head of a top lobby group for food and drug manufacturers in Canada says the blockade could force production delays in his sector.

“We are being held hostage,” Michael Graydon, CEO of Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada, said in an interview today.

Domestic food makers depend heavily on U.S. suppliers for the ingredients and packaging they use to make their products. Factories were already running low on those inputs because their suppliers struggled with labour shortages and production interruptions during the Omicron wave. Without those products, factories can’t function.

Most manufacturers will have enough inputs for the next few days, Graydon said. If the blockade extends into next week, however, “some of our members will in fact likely have to close down.”

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— Jake Edmiston

3:10 p.m

Is Toronto the next target?

Toronto police say they’re closing streets around Ontario’s legislature in response to several social media posts announcing a possible demonstration involving many vehicles. Police are asking the public to avoid the area unless absolutely necessary and say to expect more closures in the coming days, reports Canadian Press.

Ontario’s legislature sits just north of a downtown stretch known as “hospital row,” and police say keeping emergency routes clear and protecting key infrastructure is a priority.

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3 p.m.

‘We don’t need this’: Tiff Macklem

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem was asked about the border blockades at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. He isn’t amused.

“We don’t need this,” he said.

Macklem did a call with reporters after speaking at a virtual conference hosted by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He said the protests at various trade arteries could have a “measurable” impact on economic activity if they don’t soon end.

“So far, (the protests) haven’t lasted very long, but if they were to last longer that would become a concern, a bigger concern,” Macklem said. “Most truckers are trying to get goods in and out of Canada. I do hope these blockages can end quickly. We’ve already got a strained global supply chain. We don’t need this.”

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— Kevin Carmichael

2:40 p.m.

Windsor asks for help

The city of Windsor has asked for federal assistance with the blockade partially blocking access to the Ambassador Bridge.

“While we are hopeful this situation can be resolved in the near term, we need to plan for a protracted protest and have requested additional personnel to be deployed to Windsor to support our hard working local police service,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said at a press conference today.

“Make no mistake, our community will not tolerate this level of disruption for long,” he said.

As for the economic impact, Dilkens laid it out:

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Dilkens said his office has received many complaints from local residents and business owners calling for the forced removal of the demonstrators, reports Canadian Press.

“While it may be gratifying for some to see the forced removal of the demonstrators, such action may inflame the situation, and certainly cause more folks to come here and add to the protest,” he said.

“We don’t want to risk additional conflict.”

He said negotiating with the protesters has been challenging because they don’t have a clear leadership.

“It’s not like there’s one person you can go to and try to find a resolution. There are pockets of people who are here.” he said. “They’re not all here for the original mandate of freedom convoy in terms of how it started.”

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He said the resolution of this crisis require a-whole-of-government approach.

“Leadership (is) required from Ottawa and Queen’s Park to bring down the temperature and resolve these protests peacefully,” he said.

2:14 p.m.

This just out from the White House!

The Canadian truckers blockade is posing a risk to supply chain for the auto industry and U.S. officials were in close touch with their counterparts in Canada on the issue, the White House said on Wednesday.

“So we are watching this very closely” White House Jen Psaki said at a news briefing.

— Reuters

2:09 p.m.

The success of a Bitcoin-based fundraiser in support of the convoy protest is demonstrating the technology has a genuine use case.

Donations to HonkHonk Hodl and other Bitcoin fundraisers have exploded since GoFundMe declared it would issue refunds for or redistribute to charities all but $1 million of the total raised in support of the convoy.

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HonkHonk Hodl has raised the equivalent of over $500,000, and a campaign underway to more than double that because of one very important advantage: donations go directly to the organizer’s Bitcoin wallet, which means they can’t be stopped, reversed or seized.

12:39 p.m.

The Ambassador Bridge shutdown is a disaster for importers trying to get fresh fruit and vegetables into Canada, according to the head of a Toronto-based transport company that focuses on perishables.

“I’m going nuts. I’m going crazy,” said Sandro Saragiotto, president of Offshore Canada Logistics Inc. “This is not right.”

In winter, Canadian grocers rely mostly on fruit and vegetables from the southern hemisphere. Canadian players don’t often have the domestic demand to be able to fill a whole vessel full of fruit in, say, South America and bring it directly to ports in Vancouver or Halifax. So they rely on container vessels that deliver to ports in the U.S. From there, the product travels to Canada by road or rail, but lately that leg of the journey has been tough.

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“It’s always a fight every day,” Saragiotto said.

Demand for transport has outstripped supply in Canada and the United States for months, according to a Feb. 8 earnings update from Montreal-based TFI International Inc., a top North American trucking firm.

The Ambassador Bridge situation is liable to make the shortage worse, with ripple effects stretching out to major U.S. ports like Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.

That’s because trucks crossing in Detroit will typically unload in Canada and then return to the U.S. to pick up more freight. So a blockage at the border means less capacity available for shipments arriving at U.S. ports, Saragiotto said.

— Jake Edmiston

11:41 a.m.

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11:38 a.m.

UPDATE The Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit remains closed
Traffic is flowing at Coutts, Alberta but some lanes remain blocked

The interactive map below shows the Ambassador Bridge and surrounding area.

11:24 a.m.

Frustration growing among Canadians

Agree or disagree with the truckers, public opinion pollster Nik Nanos from Nanos Research said the protests in Ottawa and on the Ambassador Bridge underscore the frustrations many Canadians have with the pandemic.

His comments came in conversation with Perrin Beatty, president and chief executive officer at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, as they kicked off the chamber’s Canada 360° Economic Summit today.

“What we do know from the research that’s out there is that Canadians are frustrated, even if they don’t agree with the truckers, they’re still frustrated with a pandemic and they ask the same questions that truckers have: ‘When are things going to get back to normal and under what conditions?’…” Nanos told the audience.

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— Stephanie Hughes

11:18 a.m.

Day 13 in what officials in Ottawa are calling the “occupation” and city residents are still being advised to avoid non-essential travel, especially in the downtown core.

The presence of children, the immobilization of some protest vehicles and attempts to thwart enforcement of a fuel ban among protesters are among the challenges Ottawa police face as they try to end an occupation that is nearing the two-week mark, reports the Ottawa Citizen.

“Many of the remaining demonstrators are highly determined and volatile,” Deputy Chief Steve Bell said Tuesday.

On Tuesday afternoon, police said they’ve made 23 arrests since the start of the truck convoy protest in late January. The arrests were made in connection to charges like resisting police, breach of probation, mischief (transportation of gas) and flight from police.

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10:49 a.m.

Indian citizens in Canada or planning to travel to Canada have been warned by the High Commission of India in Ottawa to “take all precautions in light of the ongoing protests and public disturbance in Ottawa and other major Canadian cities,” the Ottawa Citizen reports.

A special helpline was launched for Indian citizens in distress in Canada, the high commission said in a statement issued Tuesday.

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10:27 a.m.

Protests spread to France

Anti-mandate protesters in France, inspired by the “Freedom Convoy” in Canada, plan to make their way to Paris, then Brussels, to demand an end to vaccine passports, Reuters reports.

Around 200 protesters gathered in a parking lot in Nice today, waving Canadian flags in solidarity with protesters in Canada. Their convoy is made up of motorcycles and cars, but no trucks.

10:04 a.m.

Truckers getting a bad rap

Truck driver protests that started in Ottawa and have now popped up in Windsor, Ont., seem to be short of actual truckers, Bloomberg reports.

Traffic blocking the Ambassador Bridge on Tuesday consisted of only three semi trucks. The rest were pickup trucks and sedans. That reflects a change in who’s protesting, as anti-mandate sentiment spreads to the greater population.

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In Windsor, most of the protesters work in other industries, Bloomberg said. Their reasons for protesting: opposition to vaccine mandates, shutdowns and restrictions on businesses and “to take shots at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.”

Meanwhile, the Ontario Trucking Association said most of its drivers are vaccinated and protesters’ views don’t represent the industry.

“It appears that most protesters have no connection to the trucking industry and have separate grievances beyond the cross-border vaccine requirements,” the OTA said on its website.

“As these protests unfold, OTA asks the public to be aware that many of the people you see and hear in media reports do not have a connection to the trucking industry and do not represent the view of the Ontario Trucking Association or its members.”

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10:01 a.m.

Business associations on both sides of the border are calling government to step in and end the “illegal” border blockades.

“The Ambassador Bridge is the busiest trade crossing in North America and a vital enabler of our two economies. Given the importance of ensuring that the supply of food, medical products and industrial goods can continue, the disruption at the Ambassador Bridge is an attack on the well-being of our citizens and the businesses that employ them,” said the statement from business groups including the Canadian Food Exporters Association, Canadian American Border Trade Alliance and Global Automakers of Canada.

“As our economies emerge from the impacts of the pandemic, we cannot allow any group to undermine the cross-border trade that supports families on both sides of the border.”

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The stakes are high.

Each day, $300 million in car and truck parts, agricultural products, steel and other raw materials flows across the Ambassador Bridge, Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association in Toronto, told The Washington Post.

The blockades could cause temporary plant closures and layoffs if companies can’t transport their goods or get the parts they need.

The morning shift at Windsor Assembly Plant where Stellantis employs roughly 5,000 workers was sent home early on Tuesday due to a parts shortage, reports the Windsor Star.

9:45 a.m.

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9:28 a.m.

In Coutts, Alberta protesters have closed the lanes of Highway 4 leading to the province’s main U.S. border crossing on and off since late last month in solidarity with the Ottawa truckers protest.

The impasse has stranded travellers and cross-border truckers, compromised millions of dollars in trade and impeded access to basic goods and medical services for area residents. The wait at this border today is seven hours.

The announcement yesterday that Alberta is scrapping many COVID restrictions, including the vaccine passport, did not stop them, with many protesters promising to hunker down for the long term.

“We’re here for the big picture. It started with the border thing, it started with Trudeau and until Trudeau moves, we don’t move,” John Vanreeuwyk, a feedlot operator from Coaldale, Alta, told the Canadian Press.

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9:11 a.m.

How important is the Ambassador Bridge to Canada’s economy? 

The bridge from Windsor Ontario, to Detroit accounts for 27 per cent of cross-border traffic between Canada and the U.S. each year.

Almost 20 per cent of all Canada-U.S. trade moves across the Ambassador Bridge, and 30 per cent of cross-border freight moved by truck uses that route.

“This is the most significant crossing in that trade relationship, because it’s the biggest highway crossing,” Marco Beghetto, vice-president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, told The Logic. On average, he said, 7,000 trucks cross the border there daily.

9 a.m.

As of Wednesday morning there was no traffic coming into Canada through the Ambassador Bridge. and the bridge was still listed as “temporarily closed” on the Canada border services website. The delay at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron as commercial traffic diverts was over four hours.

Supporters of the Truckers Convoy against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate block have been blocking the crossing since Monday. Approximately $323 million worth of goods cross the Windsor-Detroit border each day at the Ambassador Bridge making it North America’s busiest international border crossing.