What's behind a trucker shortage in Canada? Britain's labour crisis offers a clue
CBC
While the British government sends in the army to help deliver fuel to gas stations, Canada's trucking industry is watching the crisis unfold with concern as it grapples with its own shortage of truck drivers.
Last week, the labour shortage in Britain strained supply chains and triggered chaotic scenes of panic-buying at the pumps. Since then, British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said the situation is stabilizing and that sending in the military was an "extra precaution," after the shortage set off a chain reaction that affected everything from petrol and pork to medicine and milk.
"It's pretty scary. We're not at that point so far. And we hope we will never get there," said Marc Cadieux, the president of the Quebec Trucking Association.
He said in Quebec alone, they need somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 truck drivers.
"Our carriers are complaining that they have the work but they don't have the workers."
In the second quarter of 2021 there was a vacancy rate of 18,000 truck drivers in Canada, according to the latest report from Trucking HR Canada, an organization that focuses on addressing workforce issues and challenges in the trucking and logistics sector.
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