The Executive Director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association believes it would be “quite the undertaking” to try and test the thousands of truck drivers entering Canada every day.

Commercial truckers make up the largest group of people regularly entering Canada, yet the new travel measures—such as testing at the border or quarantine—don’t apply to them. The federal government has confirmed that it is exploring the possibility of requiring truckers and other essential workers to be tested before entering Canada.

Jean-Marc Picard says volunteer testing could work, but mandatory testing of every driver would be quite the task.

He uses New Brunswick as an example, which will begin testing drivers entering the province starting next week.

Picard says the number of drivers entering New Brunswick is nowhere near the number entering Canada from the United States, which he claims has already proven to be a large logistical task.

Meanwhile, Picard does believe truck drivers should be high on the list for vaccinations because of the crucial role they play.

He says they’ve been lobbying for that and want the provinces to take serious consideration of truck drivers when it comes to the vaccination priority list.

Picard again points to New Brunswick, which he says has identified truck drivers as a priority and will start getting vaccinated when they become available this spring.