By Ryan McNally
Photo Courtesy: Mitchell Blair
The Saskatchewan Trucking Association is calling for voluntary COVID-19 testing at the Canada-U.S. border instead of mandatory tests.
Executive Director Susan Ewart says mandatory tests would create shipping delays at the border.
“We’re not supporting not-testing, but we want to look at voluntary testing away from the borders at different locations so as to alleviate congestion and make sure that our goods are moving through there.”
Ewart says there’s been no word of COVID-19 spreading from truckers coming back from the U.S.
“They have done a very good job on risk mitigating that spread of COVID-19, and there’s a very secure work group for truck drivers at this particular point.”
REGINA The Saskatchewan Trucking Association (STA) is standing with the Canadian Trucking Alliance in support of voluntary COVID-19 testing, but in opposition of mandatory testing at the U.S.-Canada border that could result in shipping delays. Truckers crossing the U.S.-Canada border are being screened by border officials for symptoms upon re-entering Canada. The STA said it’s unnecessary. Instead, SAT is encouraging the government to introduce voluntary testing sites to be located away from the border and busy ports of entry to prevent any delays in the supply chain. The STA said nearly 30,000 trucks carrying essential items such as food, medical products, and household goods cross the border each day.
Christopher Worsley was packing up all his gear Wednesday morning in preparation to haul a load of peas down to Topeka, Kansas. The last trip down was rough, as he had to navigate through a couple of blizzards. What's been even tougher for him has been getting in to see a dentist, or a chiropractor or getting his hearing checked. "I was almost denied service at a hospital for routine tests because I was a truck driver," said Worsley, an owner-operator truck driver who lives in Swift Current and crosses the border every week. "They had to have a meeting … I was isolated, which is understandable in this COVID world, we have to be careful. But the stigma of, you know, being to a different country is a little too much when we know as truck drivers just how safe we have to be, because it's our health and our family's health that we're looking at as well." Christopher Worsley is a long haul trucker who goes back and forth across the Canada-U.S.
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