Updated — Ottawa | Reuters — Canada will ease entry for fully vaccinated international travelers starting Feb. 28 as COVID-19 cases decline, allowing a rapid antigen test for travelers instead of a molecular one, officials said Tuesday. Antigen tests are cheaper than a molecular test and can provide results within minutes. The new measures, which […] Read more
Canada to ease travel requirements as COVID cases decline
Alberta border blockade expected to disperse Tuesday
Decision comes amid arrests, reported violence at blockade
Amid reports of violence involving a farm tractor and trucks — and seizures of weapons — the protest blockade that shut Alberta’s busiest U.S. trade corridor is reported to be winding down starting Tuesday. Several media outlets on Monday quoted organizers of the blockade at the Canada-U.S. border crossing at Coutts, Alta. as saying they […] Read more
Windsor-Detroit trade corridor reopens after police clear protesters
Prairie premiers oppose use of Emergencies Act
Windsor/Washington/Ottawa | Reuters — North America’s busiest trade link reopened for traffic late Sunday evening, ending a six-day blockade, the Canada Border Services Agency said, after Canadian police cleared the protesters fighting to end COVID-19 restrictions. Canadian police made several arrests on Sunday and cleared protesters and vehicles that occupied the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, […] Read more
Farm and agrifood groups press for clear border crossings
Injunction granted to clear Ambassador Bridge blockade
Groups representing Canada’s farm and agrifood sectors want to see an “immediate” end to multiple border blockades thrown up in recent weeks by protestors in three provinces — while the auto sector has secured a court order that one blockade be taken down. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, […] Read more
U.S. urges Canada to use federal powers to ease border protest disruption
Disruptions force automakers to reduce operations
Windsor/Washington | Reuters — Canada should use federal powers to ease the growing economic disruption caused by the blockage of a vital U.S.-Canada trade route by protesters opposed to coronavirus mandates, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration said on Thursday. The closure of the Ambassador Bridge, North America’s busiest international land border crossing and a vital […] Read more
Feed weekly outlook: Corn seeing higher prices, transportation delays
MarketsFarm — Corn has become the primary feed grain in Alberta feedlots due to its lower price compared to barley and wheat. However, rising corn prices in the U.S. and transportation issues are causing some buyers to give pause. “Basic levels are a little bit stronger. (Add in) the exchange rate, there are a little […] Read more
More government action likely as border blockades hit trade
Manitoba's main crossing now also blocked
Reuters — The shutdown of a vital U.S.-Canada trade route is knocking out automakers’ operations as the business impact from the two-week-old protests against Canada’s pandemic measures ramp up pressure on authorities to quell the demonstrations. The protests started as a “Freedom Convoy” occupying downtown Ottawa, opposing a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border truckers mirrored by […] Read more
Canada, U.S. fear economic damage from border crossing protest
Headway in one area, another protest elsewhere, minister says
Windsor/Ottawa/Washington | Reuters — Truckers blocking U.S-Canada border crossings risk hurting the auto industry and agriculture, the White House said on Wednesday as Ottawa urged an end to the 13-day demonstration against coronavirus mandates. After nearly two years of pandemic measures in many countries, opposition has sprung up in different ways with copycat protests in […] Read more
Pandemic border protests strand cattle and car parts
Ottawa | Reuters — Protests in Canada against vaccine mandates have disrupted two key U.S. border crossings, and are snarling hundreds of millions of dollars daily of trade, ranging from cattle to car parts. Demonstrations who at first demanded an end to federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers began Jan. 28 in the […] Read more
Pandemic protestors block Windsor border crossing
Commercial traffic being diverted to Sarnia
Ottawa | Reuters — The busiest land crossing between the U.S. and Canada was jammed on Tuesday after Canadian protestors blocked lanes on Monday over their government’s pandemic control measures. While traffic in both directions was initially blocked, U.S.-bound lanes have since reopened, Windsor Police tweeted. Drivers demanding an end to federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates […] Read more
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