By Cheryl Jahn

Buy Canadian the new norm

Mar 7, 2025 | 4:00 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – You see it in grocery stores and on billboards and TV ads: “Made in Canada.” It is in response to US President Donald Trump suggesting Canada should become the 51st state followed up with an ongoing trade war.

But buying Canadian can be easier said than done.

“Not everything grows in Canada, not everything currently grows in Canada,” says Dr Annie Booth with Environmental and Sustainability Studies at UNBC. “And even with work, not everything will grow in Canada. Rice, for example, there are very few places. Nova Scotia has a little bit of rice. Ontario, I think, produces a little bit of rice, but nowhere near the amount that’s always going to come from somewhere else.”

So how do you know what’s Canadian and what’s not? It’s tricky. Alongside the labels in stores, websites are popping up everywhere with long lists of items that are made in Canada. And while Canada is a small fish in the much bigger North American pond, it is working.

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“And so the people who are disenfranchised that way, in addition to the people who are losing business because Canada and Mexico are finding their own resources in addition to the states,” says Dr Booth. “So it’s blue states that [Doug] Ford is talking about cutting the electricity. They’re not happy about it. But they can bring pressure as well.”

But buying Canadian is not cheap. And there’s a reason for that.

“Remember, most of what is produced in the U.S. is produced by undocumented labour who will work for very cheap. And right now, you’re seeing products rotting on the ground because people are afraid to go to work and pick the lemons and the oranges or milk, the dairy cows. A huge amount of farm labour is paid under the table, is not paid fairly, doesn’t collect benefits and isn’t in a position to unionize to demand better.”

And that fact may put buying Canadian out of reach for some.

“For those people on an extremely fixed income where there is not a lot of play for a month to month that right Buying American products is something that they do not out of lack of patriotism. But they do it out of necessity. And so “Buy Canadian,” it’s we want to encourage that. But I certainly don’t want to get into the shaming space. Because, again, there is a significant portion of our population that might not be able to afford it.”

Dr. Booth says, if you are going to buy Canadian and Canadian producers ramp up production to meet that Canadian demand, you better stick with it.

“What happens if people get tired or don’t want to pay the extra cost or it’s not Trump anymore? You’re going to see a massive backlash as these people who have invested for the good of the country. Patriotic reasons to support fellow Canadians if they’re left hanging because suddenly everybody wants the cheap crap from California, out of out of Walmart.”