What’s the best way to support the Canadian economy as you buy local? What can stores do to show how Canadian products actually are?
Patti Henderson pulls Bamboolia toilet paper, Yumi oatmeal, and Dairyland creamer, all Canadian products, out of her paper grocery bag.
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The North Vancouver woman is angered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on Canadian goods, and is fighting back by leaving American food on the shelves.
“I’ve always tried to buy local. … I definitely now am doing more because of the whole tariffs thing,” she said outside a Stong’s Market grocery store.
“I am just not into bullying. I thought that was over since the #MeToo movement. I thought we were over dominant characters trying to bully us.”
Henderson is among a growing number of shoppers seeking made-in-Canada labels, aided by some retailers adding stickers and signs on local goods to aid their patriotic patrons.
Even for shoppers with the best nationalistic intentions, filling their carts with only Maple Leaf-branded goods will be a challenge. It could require extra time to read those tiny labels, perhaps paying a bit more if the small-batch local fare is more costly to produce, and a willingness to go without some favourite foods that aren’t made in Canada.
“I purposely didn’t get some things, like strawberries,” Alexandra Barrow said outside the North Vancouver Stong’s.
Other things on her list did have Canadian options: pink lady apples, bread, maple syrup, cheese and children’s vitamins. “And I bought the more expensive eggs, because they were local.”
Barrow made an exception for her son’s favourite macaroni and cheese, which is American, because it was his 10th birthday.
While the threatened tariffs would be a financial blow to Canada, UBC professor Kelleen Wiseman argued it’s also a good opportunity to improve the country’s food security, for consumers to learn about local brands and for grocery stores to do a better job of identifying Canadian-made products.
“It’s not that we can completely change and compensate for (the tariffs), but we can make some big strides,” said Wiseman, director of UBC’s Food and Resource Economics masters program.
“There’s no reason that we can’t make this a big step forward for (local food producers), and consumers are ready to respond. So let’s make it work.”
The reality, though, is Canada can’t grow or produce all foods, so shoppers wanting to buy local will have to make some sacrifices.
Right now, Wiseman said, roughly 30 to 40 per cent of produce in grocery stores is from B.C., and that might rise to 50 per cent in the summer.
“We grow apples, we grow cherries, we have berries, we have potatoes, squash, sweet corn, cabbage, wines, mushrooms,” she said. “But you and I are never going to eat another orange or mango again.”
That’s unless consumers decide their shopping, rather than being solely pro-Canadian, will instead be anti-American — that is, purchasing other international goods, such as lettuce from Mexico or grapes from Peru.
“I think we need to start making some alliances with Mexico. We’re in this together,” Wiseman said, in reference to Trump also threatening 25 per cent tariffs on that country’s products.
“What we like people to think about is three things: local grown, local made, local owned,” said Amy Robinson, who 16 years ago founded LOCO, a Vancouver-based non-profit that researches policy changes to help independent businesses succeed and educates consumers on how to buy local.
First, she said, people need to understand what food labels mean:
• Product of Canada: Ingredients, processing and labour are all Canadian.
• Made in Canada from imported ingredients: Processed in Canada using ingredients from another country.
• Made in Canada from domestic and imported ingredients: The contents come from here and elsewhere, with no minimum Canadian percentage required.
Then shoppers should consider who owns their favourite grocery store, as LOCO research found shopping at locally owned businesses creates four to eight times the economic impact compared to purchasing from multinationals. Robinson proposed a scale for consumers to consider.
• If you buy imported goods, such as produce from Mexico or South America, try to get it from a Canadian business, as that supports local retail workers.
• Buying Canadian products from a business owned by an American company, like Costco, supports the local producers of that product, but the store’s profits will still go to the U.S.
She recently found some lettuce from Manitoba, but it “felt like a bit of a miracle.” And Canada-grown broccoli is tricky to track down, unless it’s in the freezer aisle.
Online resources can help shoppers find local products:
Given the high price of groceries right now, Wiseman added, “affordability is a big deal for people.”
Inside Stong’s Market, a locally owned grocery store, staff made small, green labels to put on price signs in the produce section, to clearly indicate the county of origin. This was in response to requests from customers.
“They are eager to buy B.C. products,” said supervisor Sarah Emadi.
She started putting the country markers in the produce section, the most complicated area of stores for consumers trying to figure out the source country of goods. Emadi said the store eventually plans to put the green markers beside every product, in addition to the made-in-B.C. flags that the chain already places beside items coming from this province.
“We support local businesses. That’s our goal,” Emadi said.
While it is early days in this tariff spat, she predicts the buy local trend will intensify among families, especially if American goods become 25 per cent more expensive next month.
In the summer, she visits local farmers markets and buys her honey from a beekeeper in Cloverdale. But she mainly shops online, comparing prices among several grocers to find the best deals, and also uses their points programs to get free things.
This is a system she may need to continue to use to keep costs down, but she will focus on putting Canadian options in her digital cart.
“My main concern is really on the produce side,” added Hardy, who lives in the Tri-Cities and has teenage twins.
When she walked out of her neighbourhood grocer this week, Gail Mayhew’s shopping bag held kale, pizza, salami and some breakfast foods. The North Vancouver mother didn’t necessarily check labels for Canadian products, but shops at Stong’s because it is known for selling many B.C. brands.
“It’s important to support our local farmers,” she said, holding the hand of her daughter Charlotte, a kindergarten student.
“It’s something we’ve always been concerned about, and a bit more so now.”