What's Your Reason for Buying Canadian?
Is it to help your local economy and partake in our culture, or is it merely to send a message to a despised enemy?
There's a new craze sweeping the nation. Canadians everywhere are suddenly standing on guard for the True North strong and free. No longer is the Canadian flag simply a tool co-opted by racists and misogynists to attempt to bend their government to their fringe ideologies. No longer is the maple leaf merely a decoration for 18-wheelers and pickup trucks, but now is an unusually hot commodity for Flag Day.
And most importantly, no longer will our predilection for American liquors be allowed to continue to fester in the basements, living rooms, and backyards of our nation - oh no! - for these have been forthrightly and ruthlessly condemned. And not only that, but removed - nay, banished from the shelves of our Liquor Marts by decree of our respective provincial governments. Why, you ask? Well, to cause as much pain as we possibly can (small though it may be) to the Orange Ogre of the South, of course.
This new buy local phenomenon that's become all the rage as of late is kind of amusing to me (like so many other things people do). The way people are framing it, it's like they're making this big, glorious sacrifice - hours spent online trying to find clever ways to replace the stuff they've been buying for years (either because they love it, or because they've never bothered to think there might be another option) and then evangelizing others to get on board as if they've discovered a new religion. It's fine I guess, just as long as you don't come knocking on my door during supper time to tell me about it.
Personally, I'm quite convinced that everyone should buy local as much as they possibly can, not because it cuts "the 'Muricans" out of the deal, or because "it hurts Trump" but simply because it's good for local businesses, and by extension, local families.
Not only have I been preaching this for decades, I've also been practicing it, so I don't really need to change much of anything I'm currently doing in order to look good or to "do my part" or possibly cause Donald Trump to lose an hour of sleep.
Since this is my blog, I figure it's likely okay to toot my own horn a little bit, so that's what I'm going to do. If you think any of these ideas have any worth, you're welcome to them, and if you don't, that's fine too.
Anyway, here's what we've been doing for the last decade or more to further the cause (and spoiler alert: it's not because we're awesome Canadians, it's just that we know what we like and we don't have very much money).
Here's the short list, and no, these are not affiliate links. Nobody's paying me for anything here, although I'm starting to think that maybe someone should be:
Beer currently in the fridge: from Fort Garry Brewing out of Winnipeg. Most beers in this house are from Winnipeg breweries because some of the best beer in the world comes from there and it only has to travel about an hour to get here. Also, Magnotta Brewery out of Vaughan, Ontario makes a great beer kit called Festa Brew. It's easy and cheap. It takes about 20 minutes to get going and then a couple hours to bottle a week or two later and in another couple weeks you have great beer that cost you about a dollar each. Right now I have a Coopers stout almost ready for bottling as well. Coopers isn't Canadian, but they're from Australia and Aussies are pretty cool.
We also drink Sleemans Honey Brown every now and then because we're not racist…
Wine: been making our own wine for decades from local fruit. Usually chokecherries because they grow all over the place and they're free. We also have a sour cherry tree in the front yard that we use mainly for pies but sometimes for wine. This year we did apple wine as well because we have a decent sized Goodland apple tree in the yard.
Whisky in the cupboard: Forty Creek Double Barrel from Ontario because it was a birthday present from my brother. It's a step up, and about 30% more money than what I usually buy, which is the Barrel Select, also by Forty Creek. I buy that because it tastes awesome and generally costs less than $30 a bottle.
Rum: Gosling Black Seal from Bermuda. Same reason as the whisky. Another favourite is Newfoundland Screech. It's bottled in Newfoundland (obviously) but of course it also comes from the Caribbean. I haven't found anyone in Canada growing sugar cane yet so...
Coffee: is Ethiopian via a small Asian food store one town over. Once again, I buy it because it tastes better than anything we can get at the grocery store and it's close to the same price point as the cheapest Superstore coffee. Only catch is, it's green so it needs to be roasted. Don't worry, I figured out how to do that (you can do anything with a YouTube video and a couple social media groups) because we drink a respectable amount of coffee here and I like doing weird shit.
Vegetables: we grow a bit of a garden here every summer and attempt to fill our freezer with what we get. Usually we are able to load up on carrots and beans. Also we freeze apples from our tree for pies and last fall I dried a whole pile of them for snacks. I think I've only got one bag left.😥 Also, last summer saw our first small harvest from the plum tree I planted five years ago. That made a great pie and left lots to eat fresh. Hopefully we'll get a good pile off that tree this year. Regardless of how much money this actually saves, the way grocery prices are going it's looking like a better idea all the time.
Meat: for the last twenty years, most of our meat has come from my father-in-law who has always done a lot of hunting so we always have venison (which we mix with pork) and this year we also ended up with some bags of mystery meat (which turned out to be elk) that we also mix with pork and when pork goes on sale it's pretty cheap.
Another bright spot this year was the doe and the buck that ended up in our freezer thanks to my sixteen year old son who had a tremendous first time out with Grandpa's black powder rifle. This was welcome news because hopefully it means we'll continue to have a source for fresh meat in the years to come. 🙂
Used items: most of our furniture was either bought used (much of it at the local Thrift Store) or we built it because money. Our two vehicles are over twenty years old and we'll be fixing them until there's nothing left to fix. Same reason.
Guitars: One of the best guitars I own (I play a fair bit of guitar) is a Seagull SWS Mini Jumbo, built by a company called Godin from Quebec. I don't know how it compares to a Martin or a Taylor and I really don't give a rip. All I know is that it sounds and plays great and it's all solid wood and I didn't have to sell my firstborn to acquire it.
A good friend of mine recently pointed out that the wonderful Canadian institution known as Tim Hortons is now owned by an American company. I knew that, but it's easy to forget with all the mystique and maple leaves inherent in the marketing. So I don't know if you want to think too much about that as you're waiting in the drive-thru tomorrow morning for your daily fix. Maybe not. It's much cheaper (and tastes better) to make your own at home anyway.
Even Manitoba's Crown Jewel, the Crown Royal whisky distillery in Gimli has been owned by a UK company for the last 25 years, so being a purist is not always as simple as we might like it to be. I don't much care for Crown anyway…
I guess what I'm saying is that it would be great if "buying Canadian" was actually a lifestyle choice that we commit to and do because we want to, instead of something we were forced to do because our government wants to look like they've got our backs. I'm still not convinced that they actually do.
It would be wonderful if we could get stuff that we like and use every day in our own town or province because we really want to, instead of because we're trying to send a message.
It would be awesome if these acts that have been so militantly professed in the last month were done out of love for what we have and what we are, instead of out of hate for a foreign leader. It will undoubtedly be a huge relief for many of these new patriots to finally be able to return to the American trough once Trump has realized what a significant force we are (if he ever does) and then they will no longer feel forced to have to consume "inferior" Canadian products. Sadly.
And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe once we get a more honest taste of Canada, we won't want to go back to that foreign trough. A guy can dream.
So I guess if you're gonna do it, then just do it, but if this tariff bullshit is the only reason you're doing it, then maybe save us all the pain and just keep it to yourself because it seems like the vast majority of what I've seen (even from our own governments) is nothing more than posturing. Maybe if it weren't for the fact that three years ago these same people were accusing protestors of "co-opting the Canadian flag" for simply demanding that they be allowed to do their jobs, I might be a little more charitable today. Alas, that ship sailed three years ago and it looks like it's nowhere near coming home.
Why would you make yourself poorer because a government that has tried to crush your buying power for the p[ast 9 years now has found an even better way to do it...an most of you will actually cheer it on. Buy Local if you can always but if you are swayed by a paid off media you need to seriously evaluate where you get your information.
“I'm quite convinced that everyone should buy local as much as they possibly can …simply because it's good for local businesses, and by extension, local families.’
👍🏻👍🏻