You may have noticed some grocery stores were out of bananas or produce after last weekend’s storm.
The ongoing truck driver shortage and Friday’s nasty weather led to delivery delays in Halifax.
Not to mention, the Cobequid Pass was shut down due to reduced visibility and a crash on the critical transport corridor.
There is no doubt a number of factors are putting pressure on the supply chain right now and it’s certainly caught the attention of Dalhousie’s professor in food distribution and policy.
Cobequid Pass was closed. Maybe the trucks didn’t get through. No bananas for the grandbaby. Also a big bag salad recall. pic.twitter.com/lY7szLogom
— sackvillenovascotia (@sackvillenovasc) January 8, 2022
Sylvain Charlebois says the food supply chain is fragile right now due to Omicron and in a Tweet, he adds a vaccine mandate for truck drivers could not be coming at a worse time.
“Canada imports about $21 billion worth of agri-food products from the United States every year, and about 60 to 70 percent of the food imported arrives on wheels.” – Sylvain Charlebois, Food Professor
New entry requirements set to begin on Jan. 15 mean truck drivers will only be allowed to enter the country if they are fully vaccinated with one of the vaccines approved for entry into Canada.
“The reality is we could potentially lose 10 to 20 percent of drivers if this goes into effect,” said Jean-Marc Picard, executive director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association.
Picard believes the long-standing worker shortage in the industry has been “manageable” to this point, but that will change come mid-January. As for the direct effect it will have on Canadians, he said consumers can expect to see the price of goods continue to rise.
