Mixed reaction to 'Freedom Convoy' protest in Ottawa from truckers still on the road

While the protest in front of Parliament Hill remains parked in place, the rest of the trucking industry continues to roll on. 

However, there is a divide from those behind the wheel as to whether they support the protesters in downtown Ottawa.

Phil Thompson is a regular driver along Highway 17 west of the city and stopped into the Antrim Truck Stop in Arnprior, Ont. Thursday to fill his gas tank. He says he's had enough of the protest.

"It's not making a difference and myself and the other drivers that I work with have had it," Thompson expressed to CTV News Ottawa. "Day after day, and it's just silly, that's all it is."

After almost a week of occupying the downtown core, Thompson feels the ongoing protest is casting a bad shadow on the rest of the industry.

"I get asked all the time, are you a part of this? I'm not," says Thompson, who adds he received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and does not have a problem with trucker vaccine mandates.

"It was originally about the border, now it's about everything else," the driver adds. "Everybody else is trying to get their agendas in there."

Trucker Gilles Blondin says the mixed messages coming from those loudest within the protest are not in line with what the movement started as.

"We have different types of people going into Ottawa from the weekend and I think it's been skewed," says Blondin.

"I'm not saying I'm against it," the Ottawa-based driver says. "I think everybody has a right to protest. But I think it's been long enough and I think we're all in agreement that we want this to end."

But there are also those keeping the trucking industry rolling that are happy to see the protest continue.

"Yeah, it's changed a little bit," says a driver who only identified himself by his first name, Kai. "There's a lot of issues, not just the one issue."

He says that is the exact point for those in support. There are multiple issues across the country that have reached a boiling point with the protesting contingent, and those issues are being directed towards the prime minister.

"They're fighting for all these laws that [Justin Trudeau] is trying to pass. I think he's screwed up everything he's touched; screwed the oil patch up, the pipelines, robbing everyone with the WE charity."

For the drivers like Kai still out on the road, they are hoping the protest continues until changes are made.