The Canadian province of Alberta is ending Covid-19 restrictions, including vaccine passports, mask mandates, and capacity limits amid mounting pressure from the truck drivers.
Effective Monday, Alberta’s school mask mandates ended, and its vaccine passport programs were suspended at midnight the following day.
However, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney seemingly dismissed the protests, saying his lifting restrictions had nothing to do “with a few trucks parked at the Coutts border crossing.”
Nevertheless, the Coutts border crossing earns C$44 million in trade per day. It has also been blocked off by protestors for nearly two weeks, which will have a significant impact on the economy.
The Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit, which represents 25 percent of all cross-border trade, is also blocked off by protesting truckers, which has cost the government millions of dollars in profits.
Saskatchewan, another province, announced plans to end vaccine passport programs on Feb. 14, and mask mandates towards the end of February.
Provinces Quebec and Prince Edward Island also announced plans to alleviate restrictions slowly over the coming spring.
While provinces have begun eliminating restrictions, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doubled down on his strict mandates, saying that the protestors are “not the story of Canadians.”
Trudeau, who recently contracted Covid-19, said the only way to get through the pandemic was to “continue listening to science.” He has also called the protests against his strict mandates an “insult to truth and memory.”
Meanwhile, protestors refuse to leave Ottawa until Trudeau ditches his vaccine mandates. Truck drivers have continually honked their horns throughout the protest in the capital, a defining feature of the movement.
However, Judge Hugh McLean, banned honking for 10 days on Monday, ruling that “tooting a horn is not an expression of any great thought.”
Nonetheless, truck drivers kept honking, and the protests are continuing without hesitation, despite officials seizing food and supplies from protestors.
The Freedom Convoy has even raised nearly $8 million on GiveSendGo as of Wednesday.
