Hey all,
Recently I’ve been trying to work on purchasing more products made here in Canada as opposed to down south or overseas, reason being to help decrease my environmental footprint, as well as to keep my money supporting businesses based in Canada, especially with the tariffs that might be coming in the near future.
I was curious if there were some good tips to help find products made within our borders. Some stuff has been easy, like swapping from Silk to Earth’s Own for example due to labeling on the package that states where the product was manufactured, but other stuff is a bit of a pain since it doesn’t seem to indicate where the product is manufactured or at the very least if it was imported, just where the company’s head office is located.
While my main concern is with groceries since I’ve been trying to purchase more second-hand as of late, I was curious as to what some good all-around tips are for finding Canadian products. I’m willing to spend a little more if needed, I prefer to bank my money in my morals and not in convenience.
Can I ask which province you live in? In my experience (Southern Ontario, not GTA) local meat is not cheaper (though it’s definitely better quality). Same with locally milled flour and locally grown produce (when in season).
I have tried to support local (and sometimes still do, despite the cost) but I just don’t understand how labour costs in Ontario can be so much higher than labor + shipping for produce from California or Florida or Mexico.
Is it just a bigger markup because there are enough people who are hardcore about buying local here? Is there another factor I’m ignoring?
I don’t live in Ontario anymore, but even when I did I was able to find a couple of farm stores with very reasonably priced local Ontario meat and produce. At the end of the day its going to depend on exactly what your local options are where you live. And to be fair, one of those places closed down shortly before I left, so maybe those reasonable prices weren’t viable.