Canada has passed a vaccine passport bill for truck drivers entering or leaving the country, which just went into effect. The short term effect of this bill is that it has provoked a substantial demonstration among truckers up north; they say it took 45 minutes for the convoy to clear Calgary on its way to link up with others. The medium term will be to exacerbate supply chain issues and crash the economies of Canada and the United States (the latter made worse by a similar issue with Mexican truck drivers, who supply a large amount of our fruits and vegetables -- especially in winter).
The long term effect may be to encourage the shift to robot truckers, as this kind of concentrated economic power among the little guys is threatening to those who enjoy political and social power. They aren't there yet, though. For now they still have to heed those ordinary men (and a few women) who push those diesels down the highway.
Canada imports damn near everything. What we get from them? Car parts and lumber.
I think the US imports Canadian oil, the cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline notwithstanding. Other older pipelines still exist, and provide the channels that allow Canada to be the #1 provider of "foreign oil" to the US. A relatively small fraction of Canadian oil is hauled in railroad tanker cars -- many owned by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway/Burlington Northern.
"The long term effect may be to encourage the shift to robot truckers"
A shorter-term approach could be to shift some of this traffic to rail...the number of people who have to cross the border to deliver a given load is much smaller.
Anto-drivers have so far enjoyed a pretty-much open field advantage, testing the technology. But you know, what happens to robot trucks when they enter an adversarial playing field and people decide to start playing dirty?
It will be much harder on Canadians than US citizens because Canada imports damn near everything. What we get from them? Car parts and lumber.
ReplyDeleteCanada imports damn near everything. What we get from them? Car parts and lumber.
ReplyDeleteI think the US imports Canadian oil, the cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline notwithstanding. Other older pipelines still exist, and provide the channels that allow Canada to be the #1 provider of "foreign oil" to the US. A relatively small fraction of Canadian oil is hauled in railroad tanker cars -- many owned by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway/Burlington Northern.
"The long term effect may be to encourage the shift to robot truckers"
ReplyDeleteA shorter-term approach could be to shift some of this traffic to rail...the number of people who have to cross the border to deliver a given load is much smaller.
Anto-drivers have so far enjoyed a pretty-much open field advantage, testing the technology. But you know, what happens to robot trucks when they enter an adversarial playing field and people decide to start playing dirty?
ReplyDelete