Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
The main trucking lobbies in Canada and the United States are warning that vaccine and testing requirements for workers will further disrupt supply chains because there is already a dire shortage of drivers.
Canada will require vaccines for truck drivers starting in January, while the Biden administration has issued rules requiring truck drivers at companies with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.
More than two-thirds of goods traded between Canada and the United States travels on roads and highways. For most of the pandemic, truckers crossed the border regularly as they were considered essential workers to keep supply chains flowing.
"We know that there already is disruption in the supply chain; this is going to intensify it," said Stephen Laskowski, president and chief executive of the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), which represents some 4,500 carriers.
It estimates that 10-20 per cent, or between 12,000-22,000 of Canadian truck drivers, and 40 per cent, or some 16,000 of U.S. truck drivers traveling into Canada would be sidelined if the requirement begins.
"This is not a trucking issue. This is a Canada-U.S. economic issue," Laskowski told Reuters, adding about 70 per cent of that C$650 billion (US$507 billion) U.S.-Canada trade moves by truck.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA), together with others, is seeking to block U.S. President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate in court.
A U.S. appeals court issued a temporary stay last month blocking the requirements. The court found "all else equal, a 28 year-old trucker spending the bulk of his workday in the solitude of his cab is simply less vulnerable to COVID-19 than a 62-year-old prison janitor."
The Justice Department has asked another court to throw out the temporary stay, and a decision could come as soon as mid-December.
Supply chain problems caused by the pandemic has contributed to inflation in both countries rising to decades high.
"Given the nature of our industry and makeup of our workforce, (it) could have devastating impacts on the supply chain and the economy," ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said in a statement.
In written comments filed with the Labor Department, the ATA said the nation's motor carriers could lose up to 37 per cent of their drivers to "retirements, attrition to smaller carriers and/or conversion to independent contractor owner-operators."
Motor carriers move 70 per cent of all U.S. freight tonnage.
Laskowski said there are already 18,000 job vacancies for truck drivers in Canada and he is pushing to delay the Jan. 15 deadline to give companies more time to deal with the situation.
Canada's Transport, Health and Trade ministries did not comment when asked whether truckers would be given more time.
A Transport Ministry spokesman said it encourages "all Canadian industries to develop COVID-19 vaccination requirements for their employees."
Despite the potential disruptions, some 70 per cent of Canadians support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's strict mandates, according to an EKOS Research poll.
"We'll be seeing shortages of goods in stores" if the vaccine requirement deadline is not delayed, said Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
($1 = 1.2826 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa and David Shepardson in Washington Editing by Marguerita Choy)
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.