A variety of U.S.-based groups are organizing convoys of trucks and other vehicles for this weekend and early next month, emulating the protests against COVID-19 mandates that have roiled Canada https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-protests-enter-third-week-sophisticated-demonstrators-dig-2022-02-11 and disrupted North American supply lines.
An organization dubbed “Convoy to Save America” said on its website that two separate vehicle convoys will converge this weekend at the Peace Bridge, a U.S.-Canadian border crossing in Buffalo, New York. One of the convoys will leave New York City on Friday and the second from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, on Saturday.
Pennie Fay, one of the group’s founders, told Reuters that the convoys will consist of sports utility vehicles and minivans filled with supplies such as water, food, gas cards and blankets for Canadian truck drivers who arrive on the U.S. side.
“This weekend is about the Canadians, about supporting them,” said Fay, who is leaving from Nashville, “while at the same time bringing attention to the fact that we want the mandates gone. Remove them from state to state. We want a free country.”
In Canada, the trucker protest is entering its third week. Beginning as a protest over a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers, its scope has expanded to include a more generalized opposition to government rules set up to control the spread of the virus over the past two years.
Truck drivers have occupied the Canadian capital of Ottawa and now are blocking the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest international land border crossing in North America and a critical lifeline for the automotive industry, between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. Truckers have also blocked smaller border crossings in Canada’s Alberta and Manitoba provinces.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency on Friday.
Calls for financial help for U.S. and Canadian truckers have been created on fundraising websites. A campaign on the Christian fundraising site Givesendgo.com has raised more than $8 million for Canadian truckers while another has raised more than $41,000 for truckers in the United States.
Some U.S. Republicans have vowed to investigate GoFundMe after it took down a page accepting donations in support of protesting truck drivers.
On Friday, during a protest against New York’s school mask mandates in Buffalo, demonstrators put money into cans that were passed around for donations for Canadian truckers. Demonstrators also rolled around a wheelbarrow that they filled with coins and bills for the truck drivers.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned law enforcement agencies of a possible convoy of protesting truckers gathering at this weekend’s Super Bowl in Los Angeles, according to several media reports.
The agency said in a statement that it is tracking reports of a potential convoy traveling to several U.S. cities, but the statement did not allude to the Super Bowl.
A variety of U.S. groups are organizing on social media platforms such as Telegram, TikTok and Facebook, aiming to tap into frustration that appears to be growing among Americans over COVID-19 mandates. In some cases, logistics for possible large convoys across the nation are part of those discussions.
One of the efforts, dubbed “The People’s Convoy,” which has 64,000 followers on Facebook, is planning a rally in Coachella Valley in Indio, California, on March 4. Truck drivers will then convoy from California and other parts of the country to Washington, D.C., to show their disapproval over mandates.
“It’s happening whether you like it or not, it’s going to happen,” Brian Brase, one of the group’s organizers, said in a TikTok post. “It’s not a right issue. It’s not a left issue. It’s not an anti-vax thing. It’s about the constitution and our rights as Americans.” Brase could not be reached immediately for further comments.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago and Carlo Allegri in Buffalo; Editing by Mark Porter and Grant McCool)
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
