Rolling Traffic Protests Have Tied Up GTA Roads Before

If the truck protest along some GTA highways on Monday seems like a familiar tactic, that’s because we’ve been through this many times before – including a similar demonstration a little less than a year ago.

The protestors that time were dump truck drivers, upset about low wages and unsafe working conditions. About 150 of the rigs set out from Mississauga on May 8th, 2008, stopping traffic on all the major routes while taking their complaints to Queen’s Park.

The convoy took it slow – before the days of speed limiters – with reps from the Ontario Dump Truck Association trying to make their point. But most motorists may not have noticed. The protest didn’t start until 10am and drivers mostly kept their promise to stay in one lane and not slow down other traffic.

The operators were upset that their loads were too heavy, leading to what they claimed were too many accidents that put the public in danger. And they complained they hadn’t received a raise in five years. Back in early May, diesel prices were around $1.27 a litre in the GTA.

The protest didn’t move those in power very much. Transportation Minister Jim Bradley insisted there are plenty of safeguards in place and that the dangers are minimized.

A year earlier, on September 26, 2007, taxi drivers converged en masse outside Toronto City Hall, to protest what they called unfair rules that allows them to drop off passengers at the airport, but not pick any up – giving airport limo drivers a monopoly on the lucrative fares.

Even organizers were surprised at the turnout as hundreds of angry cabbies circled City Hall for hours, honking their horns in protest and tying up traffic first on the Lakeshore and the Gardiner, and then creating a massive bottleneck on Queen St. between University and Yonge.

But that was far from the most unusual rolling protest the city has ever seen.

On March 9, 2005, disgruntled farmers upset about everything from Mad Cow restrictions to government subsidies drove their equipment to Queen’s Park.

Thousands of demonstrators made a mess of traffic along busy routes like the 401, the Gardiner and the DVP, as they made their way into the downtown core. But like most of these protests, they waited until after rush hour to show their anger, sparing the majority of inbound motorists.

The odd site of tractors and combines being driven up University Ave. gave way to a major rally, which lasted for several hours. The farmers then drove back to their land, tying up the commute again on their way home as all the vehicles that came in slowly made their way back.