Buy Canadian. Bye American.

It's time to start buying local

I am an advocate for buying Canadian at most times, but we are entering into an economic war with the United States, a war where the leader of the United States Government has publicly stated his goal is to annex our country.

It’s unacceptable.

I’m sad we are here. I’m proud that our country standing up for itself. I’m proud of how Trudeau framed this challenge. It’s going to get very hard economically.

Buying American at this stage means supporting a war against our own sovereignty as a nation. It sounds crazy to write down, but it’s been a crazy 12 days.

Pivoting how you spend money is expensive, time consuming, and annoying – you’re going to have to learn to cook very differently, very soon.

But it’s up to us to help our economy, especially if you are affluent. I’ve been buying Canadian for years. Here’s my advice.

Understand Made in Canada terminology

Corporations like to use marketing to confuse consumers. This will get worse in the coming weeks, and then it will quickly become clear what is actually made in Canada when counter-tariffs go into place.

You’ll hear things like “Canadian Owned” or “Proudly Canadian.” These words are bullshit, legally speaking.

The core phrases that are regulated are:

• Product of Canada

• Made in Canada

When shopping, one of these words will be on the product listing, packaging, or tag.

Do not trust the website that generically say “Proudly Canadian or “Canadian Heritage.” This is just branding and legally meaningless.

You need to look at each and every product you are buying.

For example, Reigning Champ used to be a premium, Canadian-made menswear brand. Aritizia (Canadian-owned) purchased them in 2021 and over the last few years then outsourced all manufacturing from British Columbia to Vietnam (while increasing prices). They did this slowly over their product lines, and now they no longer make products in Canada.

Stanfields is a well-known Canadian underwear brand, but only two of their mens products are made in Canada and the rest of their products are made in China.

You have to look at the tags in person, or the product listings online. If it’s made in Canada they will tell you loudly.

100% Canadian

100% of materials and labour are from Canada.

Product of Canada

 98% of materials are Canadian sourced and Canadian manufactured.

• A t-shirt is sewn in Canada and made with Canadian grown cotton that’s milled in Canada.

• Ketchup is made with Canadian grown tomatoes and manufactured in a Canadian facility.

Made in Canada

> 51% of the direct costs of manufacture were in Canada. Components of the product are Canadian but it includes imported materials. It’s manufactured in Canada.

• A t-shirt is sewn in Canada with American grown cotton that’s milled in Canada.

• Hummus is made and packaged in Canada with imported ingredients.

Crafted in Canada / Assembled in Canada / Packaged in Canada / {Activity} In Canada

< 51% of the direct costs of manufacturing were in Canada, but some portion of processing was completed domestically.

• A t-shirt is sewn in Canada with Malaysian cotton milled in Switzerland.

• A car is assembled in Canada with Taiwanese chips and American components.

• Protein powder is put into a plastic tub in Canada with the powder created elsewhere in the world.

“Designed in Canada”

This is not a regulated term. This is a very misleading term, it means the business headquarters is in Canada but the vast majority of employees are outside Canada, typically in Asia or Eastern Europe. You could have 2 employees in Canada and 100 in other countries.

There’s a small Canadian brand (I won’t name) that does this. They went so far as to write “Sustainable packaging 100% Made in Canada” on their product listing because the cardboard boxes they ship plates in are made in Canada. The plates themselves are not.

Be careful of snake oil salespeople during this time of patriotism.

“An Iconic Canadian Brand”

This is a very misleading view of the world:

• Tim Horton’s is a Canadian icon that is owned by a Brazilian multinational.

• Sleeman Breweries is owned by a Japanese multinational.

• Labatt Brewing is owned by a Belgian multinational.

None of the money spent at these brands stays in Canada. We need to stop selling off Canadian wealth, but that’s a separate story.

If you buy coffee at a small coffee shop (or Second Cup) that money stays in Canada. If you buy Tim Horton’s it does not.

Imported – Not made in Canada, usually made in China if they do not list the country of origin.

Small Makers – Small makers, at farmers markets and craft fairs, often cannot legally make claims due to regulations. Ask them. If you’re at a farmers market, ask if they are a grower or a reseller. Being a small business is hard, I know this personally – help them survive this.

Move your online dollars

• Subscribe to CBC Gem and Crave instead of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Apple TV+

• Hold off on buying a new phone or computer

• Cancel Meta – Meta has proactively allowed hate speech policies against LGBTQ people

• Stop using Amazon Prime and go shop at a locally owned store even though its much more work – Amazon also removed their LGBTQ worker protections and equity for Black people; they pulled out of Quebec to stop a union

Stop subscribing to American-owned Canadian news sources

Post Media, 66% of which is owned by an American private equity firm, has purchased the majority of Canadian news sites including:

• The National Post

• The Financial Post

• The Toronto Sun

• Almost every single local newspaper / publisher, list here

Cancel your subscriptions to American-owned Canadian news. Focus on CBC News, or the Bell/Telus/Rogers owned media properties.

You might say “Oh no, our local paper will go away!” It’s already gone away, they just regurgitate what headquarters pushes onto their websites. Start a community paper.

This is going to get very expensive: stop shopping at the big box stores to save money

Big box stores are convenient, they are also a rip-off.

• Produce and meat are likely going to go up 25% in price

• Learn to make delicious, cost effective meals with produce we grow locally – try my Ugly Vegetable Winter recipes (PDF book) because it’s cabbage season until May

• Learn how to make cost effective, high protein, delicious meals with dry beans

• Find local, independently owned grocery, and hardware stores

Farmers Markets are your friend

I wrote a whole guide on how to shop at farmer’s markets.

I recently moved to rural Nova Scotia, and here the Wolfville Farmer’s Market offers an option where you can shop online and do pick-up in your rural community. Even in rural Nova Scotia, I can buy 95% of my groceries at the farmers market, directly from Canadian producers – meat, vegetables, fruit, milk, cheese, snacks, etc.

Yes, in winter it’s hard. I have been making a lot of apple based desserts and a lot of roasted cabbage. But that’s what we grow in Canada.

We’re in for a very harsh lesson on what is grown here. Learn to make the most of it.

Stop vacationing in the US, vacation in Canada

I just drove across the country. Canada is beautiful. Spend your money here.

• Visit the Canadian National and Provincial Parks, I particularly loved Riding Mountain in Manitoba and Lake Okanagan.

• Visit the Maritimes, they are insanely beautiful and have so much to offer.

Look at who owns the hotel chains. None of the large chains are owned by Canadians. Stay at smaller, locally owned inns and B&Bs.

Make an inventory of where your money is going

Look at your debit and credit card statements. Make a list of what you’re buying and who owns those companies. Take time when you are shopping to pivot.

• Groceries → You will have to change your diet, if only because of the cost of meat and produce going up at least 25% after this. Use this opportunity to shop local.

• Beer and Wine → Canada has so many great producers. Start going directly to breweries and wineries, so many of their products are not available in the Provincial liquor stores. Many have online stores and ship.

• Household → There are many Canadian producers, as you pick up toilet paper, paper towel, cleaning products, etc. search for lists of providers.

• Hardware → Immediately move from Home Depot and Lowes to Home Hardware

• Entertainment → Cut streaming, use CBC Gem and Crave; sign up at your local library (they have everything)

• Clothing → There are so many great Canadian-made brands at various price-points. I personally shop on the bougier side and love brands like Okay To Rest, House of Blanks, 18Waits, Anian, Outclass, and Province of Canada, but I recognize these brands are pricier than others (but the quality is great).

There are also amazing rural Canadians with terrible websites, like PEI knitters who make great sweaters, or wool duvets made in the prairies, you can buy towels made in Canada. If you need it, it’s probably made here.

Find more options and ask questions on the Buy Canadian subreddit.

If you are a business owner, move your service providers

Business owners have more capacity for capital movement than individuals. If you are a business owner, look at moving from American providers to Canadian providers.

If you make a packaged product, move to a Canadian provider. If you provide digital services, move to a Canadian provider. If you need professional services, move to a Canadian provider.

More than any individual, you can move millions of dollars back into the Canadian economy.

As an employee, ask your COO or CFO how much capital goes to American service providers.

Do not move from American-owned to Chinese-owned

China is not a friend of Canada. We need to invest into countries where their governments support the same value system as Canadians. If the Charter of Rights and Freedoms conflicts with the government in power, don’t support them.

My personal value system is to purchase first from countries where I have the right to get married and women have as equal rights to men as is possible within a patriarchal society. Human rights are expensive.

Follow your own value system. Apply it to where you spend your money.

Remember this is about a government, not a people

Americans are still our friends. The current American government is not.

I know you are busy and tired and overwhelmed, but do it anyway.

Once you make it a habit of looking at who owns a company and where products are made, it becomes second nature. You flip over a bottle, you pop open that hidden drawer on a website. It takes seconds.

Google “Who owns X” (then Google who owns them until you work your way up the chain).

Starting this habit is hard.

Now is the time.

Take care of your neighbours

This is going to hit people hard economically and emotionally.

If you have the time, mental capacity, emotional capacity, or financial capacity, help your neighbours get through this.

Be kind to each other.

Together we’re strong.

– Marko