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This list is the equivalent of French's "proudly made in Canada" Ketchup response to the Heinz boycott from a couple years back when they've decided to close their Ontario factory. French's still being just another US company, that did not close it's Canadian plants at the time.
Also it's full of shit products and seems to push galen's stuff mostly, when there's so many smaller, local alternatives.
Many American brands I've never even heard of. And NestlΓ© is Swiss, not from the US.
Please provide a list then.
Seriously. I understand you waving the flag pointing out the lowblaw connection (I noticed it too and I haven't shopped at lowblaw or their counterparts more than a dozen times in the last 2 years), but people need alternatives.
Even ONE option would be helpful, otherwise you are just making this shit seem even more hopeless.
How can I provide you a list of local products specific to your area? I live in the more French part of Montreal, Le Plateau, and everything is full of products from France and Quebec. Highly irrelevant to what you likely have in say Toronto.
I used to live in the Junction and would frequent three non-galen stores in the area (a local butcher, Sweet Potato and Stari Grad) and never encountered either the listed US or Canadian brands, unless I had to go to the no frills in the area for cheap TP.
This list is simply stupid. It's an infatuation with big consumer brands and outdated products. Very typical of North America.
Montreal's a pretty big city. If you're willing to do it, sharing your local expertise can help a lot of people.
Just try. Instead of whining uselessly. A single Canadian made product you enjoy. You don't have one? Then you are the problem.
You don't want people buying big name brands. You say everyone else is stupid. Fucking pull your weight then.
I'm sitting on the can and I can see 'true earth' brand toilet cleaner is made in Canada. They have laundry soap and dish soap too.
And I know my fancy Lush shampoos and stuff are super local, if you can afford it.
And just in case laundry detergent isn't on the tariff list I have Okazu miso chili oil on my counter at all times.
And Matty Matheson has a brand of kraft dinner that's pretty dang good and not that much more expensive than KD.
So what about you? Gonna keep whining about a shitty list or are you gonna post something helpful? If everyone else in this thread did the same thing we'd have something to work with.
I think their point was "don't just buy Canadian, but local" which means the unless you live near each other, their recommendations won't help. This is generally more impactful advice.
But I appreciate your point that we want to make it easy to avoid American products, to lower the bar so more people do it; so listing national brands makes that much more useful.
Their point was to whine. If we need to buy local and OP's intention is not just to piss and moan they could give a single example, or link to a list, or start a little data base.
Even just list some tips to start figuring it out for yourself, like "go to your fridge and take out the most expensive/most used items. Find the label and figure out where it's from. If it isn't from Canada do a google search for "local mayonnaise" or "Ontario made cheese", or "Toronto hot sauce" and start looking for alternatives. They aren't the single only person living in Montreal on Lemmy, and even if they were, their recommendation could lead others to search in a different way for what they need.
I'm not disagreeing with anything said, I'm trying to encourage the whiners to also contribute, as I have been as I whine about whiners. It should be a requirement.
I think there is still value in their reminder that Galen Weston isn't forgiven, despite being Canadian; so don't get so caught up in our passion to switch to Canadian brands that we end up giving our money to someone nearly as bad.
I still don't really think them listing a single example (or many) would prove anything, or be meaningfully useful. I wouldn't mind hearing some of their experience in looking for local, so people know what to expect, but I don't think we need to be upset that they didn't.
In other words, I think they are contributing, even if their tone is perhaps not ideal for moving people to action.
Hmm. Good point. Thanks.
Old Dutch is the best. I grew up on the rippled sour cream and onion. I never got the lays appeal..
If Coke etc are canned in Canada do they get tariffs? The Canadian people deserve better than PC cola.
Just went grocery shopping. It was actually easier to figure out what was made in the US than I expected. Pretty much everything was labeled with the origin and where they were imported from (if they were imported).
The other thing I learned is that the US cornered the junk food market lmao.
Also I did buy one item from the US which was broccoli. If someone finds broccoli not from the US let me know :D
I just checked the President's Choice broccoli in my freezer and it says "Product of Belgium".
BioSteel was bought by a conspiracy theorist/Guru type last year that also owns Canadian Protein. For anyone that needs proof just lookup the owner and his social media.
PVL is probably a decent Canadian alternative.
Those are some grim coffee options. If your store carries jumping bean (mine does) they're from Newfoundland. There's some good rosters you can buy online like Detour. Of course if you're in a city like Vancouver Montreal or Toronto you have endless local rosters but even smaller towns will usually have one or two good ones.
I actually get mine only from a local coffee shop. I'd rather drink less and buy better local quality anyway. I have a subscription and they deliver once a month. It's nice!
The one product I needed tonight from this list doesn't like it is listed correctly. PC mustard is product of USA. I passed on it and bought French's because it at least uses Canadian mustard seed. And fuck Galen Weston anyway.
Fantastic list! Where'd you find it?
For anyone scrolling, add Rustica to the frozen pizza list. Siwin for excellent dumplings. Cheemo for perogies. I've just found them in the past few months and they're all really well made.
I wouldn't president's choice or any other loblaws either. unless rob loblaws month never ended the by all means go for it.
Cool to see some brands I already use on here. Speaking of, I kinda thought everyone used Sun-Rype for their juice anyway. I mean, I am biased as I've been by their HQ multiple times so it just feels natural to buy their brand, but still.
I quite enjoy seeing "President's Choice" on this list.
Is it prescient, poignant or just apt?
Yeah, the "president" there is Dave Nichol, who was a former president of Loblaws. A lot of it is just marketing, but Nichol actually did personally taste and approve things with the President's Choice label. The Loblaws test kitchen was actually right next to his office. These days it's just the Loblaws premium in-house brand, and my guess is that a lot of it is made in America, shipped to Canada, branded as "President's Choice", then sold in the monopolist's store.
I honestly believe this can be a net positive. Lots opportunities internationally. Plenty of natural resources .
These kinds of things bring people together. America doesnβt understand that.