Not only is the Canadian trucker turmoil interfering with trade across the border with the U.S., it's coming to Fort Erie on the Canadian end of the Peace Bridge on Saturday.
How many trucks isn't clear, but an array of police agencies and government branches are preparing for what's being called the Freedom Convoy. The truckers are protesting COVID restrictions and a lot of other issues, and have tied up the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Toronto and cross-border crossings at Detroit/Windsor and Port Huron/Sarnia over the last couple weeks.
Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop said police will try to prevent any shutdown.
"Here, the police are more inclined to try to get compliance with the laws and then if that doesn't work, gradually increase the level of the enforcement effort," he said. "It's a narrow bridge and the highways, there aren't a lot of lanes on the highways either. So the police authorities have to keep an eye on this, along with the road authorities, the Peace Bridge, the Town, the Region, the police agencies, the Niagara Parks Commission, because the Niagara Parks also have a police department and they have a road that runs across the river, adjacent to the Peace Bridge."
The mayor said it's important the Peace Bridge remains open.
"It's the conduit which provides the commerce between the two countries and in terms of the percentage of trade that takes place, the numbers far outweigh the populations," he said. "So that's the target. And if you take Windsor, Sarnia and Fort Erie, altogether you're talking about two-thirds of the trade which takes place between our two countries."
There have already been major cuts in auto production because parts can't cross the border. There are also problems with the food supply that travels both ways over the border.
On the U.S. end of the bridge in Buffalo, the protest is being sponsored by an alliance of groups, particularly those whose families have been split for two years by border closures and want the border simply re-opened.
Marcella Picone said the U.S. convoy will start in the City of Tonawanda and weave its way to Pat Sole Park, next to the bridge.
"We will land at the bottom of the Peace Bridge, at Pat Sole Park, probably around 1-1:30, obviously depending on how large the convoy is," she said, "and then we have about five speakers or so that will speak at the bottom of the bridge."
Other groups say they are leading convoys to the bridge, backing Picone's stand against COVID and mask rules, along with opening the bridge for separated families.
"Families have done their time. They've been separated and we've just continued to keep advocating," Picone said. "So this convoy is in solidarity of what the truckers are doing, but it's continuing to scream at the regimes of Trudeau and the Biden Administration to say we need a pathway. We need to be able to reunite and we need an off-ramp for these COVID mandates."
