B.C. truck drivers protest high diesel prices: ‘We work for free right now’

Hundreds of dump truck drivers joined a convoy protest in the Lower Mainland on Friday morning to protest record-high diesel prices.

The convoy started in Surrey and Abbotsford around 8:30 a.m. and drove to Vancouver.

The war in Ukraine and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East are limiting global diesel supply, driving up prices worldwide.

On Friday morning, the cost of diesel in Vancouver is $283.9 per litre.

“Everybody is struggling right now,” Raginder Bhandu, a truck driver of 23 years, told Global News on Friday.

“The diesel price is going up; it’s $3 right now, so all the families are struggling. We work for free right now.”

He added that they will likely have to pass the cost on to customers, as many are independent owners and operators.

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Bruce Banman, BC Conservative candidate for Abbotsford South, was at the rally and said he supports the truckers.

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“I’m here to tell David Eby a message that he should follow what Alberta did and reduce the fuel costs and the taxes,” he said.

“British Columbia has the highest fuel taxes in North America and if David Eby wants to run around and blame Trump for everything, really what he should do is lower the fuel costs because absolutely everything comes on a truck.”

Banman said these high fuel costs are only going to drive up costs for British Columbians.

“It makes no sense to have the highest fuel taxes in North America and blame Trump for all the problems we got when we could actually fix this problem right here at home.”

2:12 Trump proposes banning diesel exports

U.S. President Donald Trump said he is considering temporarily banning diesel exports in an attempt to bring prices down in the United States, but experts say that may backfire and cost consumers more in the long term, including in Canada.

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Banning export of the fuel would be expected to provide some short-term relief for American consumers while spiking prices worldwide.

Over the long-term, prices could stay higher for longer, experts warn.

“Diesel is the backbone of the economy for trains, for ships, for trucks, so many trucks around the world. We depend on it,” says Richard Masson, former CEO of the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission.

“If there is an upset in the market, and the diesel price is already really, really high, it will just further exacerbate the problem, but people need to keep their economies running so they’re going to have to continue to pay the price.”

Masson says he believes the U.S. banning the exports of diesel is unlikely, but if it were to happen, it would add significant pressure to an already disrupted global marketplace.