Truck loggers from across the province will be converging Wednesday morning to Vancouver to send a message to government.
Howard McKimmon with Howard McKimmon Trucking Ltd. and Frank Etchart with Nadina Logging are organizing the convoy from Merritt.
“Our little communities I think we’re all coming together and that’s the biggest thing. We’ve got to be heard and hopefully, they’ll take action and see that it’s not just five or ten guys,” said Dan Turner of Quesnel.
“It’s whole communities. We’ve got shift curtailments and mill closures in Mackenzie, Prince George, Williams Lake…It’s hitting all of our communities pretty hard and we need to be heard.”
Involved with the industry for 15 years Turner said it is getting harder to squeeze the piggy bank.
“For me, I had five months off without any work, paycheque, or anything,” he said.
“You go into your savings and it’s dwindling away pretty fast.”
Turner said he will be departing from the Alamo Restaurant with other Northern trucks at around 4 am to join the provincial convoy in Merritt.
More than 200 trucks are anticipated to take part.
“I’ve talked to quite a few other locals and it sounds like we’re going to get quite a support crew from Quesnel going down,” Turner said.
“I think a couple of guys are starting from Prince George and they’re leaving at 2:30 in the morning and then we’ll join in, and then I’m sure from Williams Lake and 100 Mile. They’re asking for 200 trucks, but I think there will be a lot more than that in support. I bet you there’s almost a 1,000 of us that are going to be coming.”
(Editor’s Note: This article has been updated after inccorectly reporting the operation outfits McKimmon and Etchart are affiliated with)