“There will be times when consumers will have to look for alternatives when the item they want isn’t available,” said Wasylyshen. “But there is food on the shelves.”
Videos circulating on social media show a different scene, with empty shelves and a depleting food supply. One video on TikTok shows an empty aisle at Walmart that would have typically been full of frozen goods. Another video shows empty shelves and only a limited number of frozen foods at a Metro in Ottawa.
The video was taken by Sandra Manahan, who said she isn’t worried about the reports of food shortages in Canada.
“I would say the basics are still available. Everyone’s still able to get bread, eggs, and milk,” said Manahan. “It seems more like specialty items that are missing off the shelves.”
Manahan said she believes the reports of food shortages would cause people to panic buy. Still, she said she’s never seen her store have that many empty shelves.
“Three to four days after that video, there are still empty shelves. I guess it’s just something that we have to wait and see,” said Manahan.
As for the potential impact of the vaccine mandate for truckers, Wasylyshen said it is too early to tell. Still, she said the council is concerned that the mandate could result in another spike in freight costs and disruptions to the supply chain.
The office of the minister of transport said in an email that the volume of cross-border truck traffic “has not varied significantly” since the mandate took effect.
“We have been working extensively with the trucking industry and we know that the vast majority of their workforce is vaccinated,” the statement said. “The biggest threat to supply chains is COVID — and our best tool is vaccines.”
