All four lanes of Highway 75 at the Canada-U.S. border crossing near Emerson, Man., remain closed Monday morning.
A convoy of trucks, farm equipment and other vehicles have blocked off traffic as part of a protest against vaccine mandates.
According to RCMP Sgt. Paul Manaigre, there’s no impediment to essential vehicles getting through, and although most drivers waiting at the border are dealing with frustration, the demonstration has so far remained peaceful.
“We do have access for agricultural vehicles as well as emergency services currently, so none (of those vehicles) are being impeded,” Mainagre told 680 CJOB.
“We’re in the process of trying to negotiate, trying to get one lane open.
“There’s no reports of anyone getting upset or anything. The frustration is still there, but we’ve made no arrests and no altercations of any sort being reported.”
At a news conference Monday, Doyle Piwniuk, the province’s transportation and infrastructure minister, said the ongoing road closures are having an impact on trade.
“There’s a lot of independent truckers that are losing valuable time and money — they have to feed their families too,” Piwniuk said.
“These are all Manitobans and we want to have the respect for peaceful protesting, but at the same time we want to make sure our trade is still (going on) with the U.S., and it’s important.
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“We want to make sure they’re peaceful, but at the same time, it is affecting trade. We would like to encourage them to have peaceful demonstrations, but let our truckers go out to the States and our industry continue with their work.”
Piwniuk said he doesn’t think it’s necessary to get outside help, for example from the military, to end the blockade, but he wants to see the conversation shift to how this protest affects all Manitobans.
Ron Koslowsky, vice-president of Canadian Manufacturers and Exports (CME), said
“In terms of the impact of manufacturers now, I have had many (members) talk to me… in one case, $450,000 a day was the impact statement they gave me as far as the cost that they were incurring,” Koslowsky said. “And that’s one company, and you can imagine that translated to many companies, depending on their products.
“We need this to end. You know, what we need really is is a calming down of the waters, if you will. I think there have been a lot of there’s been a lot of lines drawn. There’s been a lot of finger pointing at people blame and so on. And this has not really helped the situation.
“I think what we need is for leaders and for governments to try to calm the water, to bring the level of temperature down and try to address these things.”
Manitoba Heavy Construction Industry president Chris Lorenc told Global News that, so far, the border protests haven’t impacted his industry.
“Much of what we need is shipped by rail,” he said. “If the problem persisted, goods shipped by truck would move to rail.
“There are already shipping delays driven by the pandemic … that have nothing to do with the border protests.
“Like all Canadians, we’d love to see the protesters limit activity to legal and not interfere with, nor interrupt, commerce and trade. Those hurt our international trade reliability reputation, and therefore (our) ability to support sustained growth.”
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