The high cost of fuel was top of mind for a convoy of truck drivers who marked Labour Day on Monday by driving slowly over the Alex Fraser Bridge in New Westminster, before heading to downtown Vancouver.
"We organized this drive just to get the word out that fuel prices are getting so high that we can't afford to drive our trucks anymore,'' said Paul Uppal of the Vancouver Container Truck Association.
Angry truckers joined a union-organized rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, where protesters attacked the provincial government for hiking wages for senior bureaucrats, but refusing to raise minimum wage to $10 an hour.
"For nearly eight years, [B.C. Premier] Gordon Campbell has denied B.C.'s lowest paid workers a raise," said Jim Sinclair of the B.C. Federation of Labour.
But the rally also railed against the rise in fuel prices.
"We're paying record prices at the pumps," said Sinclair.
He said that'sunfair, given that corporations are making record profits, and Premier Campbell, has reacted by recently imposing a carbon tax.
For their part, long-time truckers say they're making no more now than when they started in the business.
"Fuel is taking big chunks of money out of our pay cheque," said truck driver Jag Dhah.
"There's breaks out there that these big fuel companies give to big corporations where they buy in bulk and they get it at a very, very good rate and we should get something along those lines," added Uppal.
Meanwhile, many British Columbians have been forced to make changes to deal with rising fuel costs. Some are taking transit to work. Others have stopped driving altogether.
But truck drivers don't have that option, Uppal says.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Michele Brunoro.
