Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says Canadians have no reason to fear food shortages will result from a small minority of truck drivers refusing to comply with a vaccine mandate in order to cross the Canada-U-S border.
Alghabra says the large grocery store chains and other retailers have assured him that they have plenty of goods to provide their customers, despite some labour shortages and supply chain bottlenecks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moreover, he says there's been no ``measurable impact'' on the number of trucks crossing the border since the vaccine mandate went into effect on January 15th.
Alghabra is calling out critics, including Conservative politicians, for exaggerating supply chain problems and spreading fear among Canadians already stressed by almost two years of coping with the global health crisis.
He made the comments in an interview with The Canadian Press as a convoy of truckers and others opposed to public health restrictions is on its way from B-C to Parliament Hill for a weekend ``freedom rally'' against mandatory vaccinations.
Some supporters of the convoy, including some Conservative M-Ps, have taken to social media to warn that the vaccine mandate for truckers will leave store shelves empty, with some going so far as to predict Canadians will starve.