A ‘Buy Canadian instead’ sign sits on a BC Liquor Store shelf. (Credit: Abby Luciano \/ North Shore News)
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Many Canadians are choosing to buy domestic products to support their country, but some are finding their patriotism is coming at a growing cost. That\u2019s because local purchases aren\u2019t necessarily cheaper.<\/p>\n
Since United States President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian imports<\/a>, Canadians have chosen to fight back by buying products made in Canada and shunning U.S. options.<\/p>\n Some provinces have banned U.S. alcohol sales<\/a> and the overall shift in buying trends has prompted some grocery chains to indicate which items are Canadian and which are tariffed.<\/p>\n But are these changes in behaviour actually helping Canadians in their wallets?<\/p>\n When it comes to food, many Canadian options are cheaper than their U.S. counterparts, but are more expensive than the U.S. versions pre-tariffs, according to a report from NerdWallet Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cCanadian-imposed retaliatory tariffs mean you\u2019ll pay more for American produce, dairy products, coffee, liquor, toiletries, furniture and more,\u201d the report states. \u201cTariff-free Canadian alternatives may save you, but only on tariff costs.\u201d<\/p>\n Alcohol is a category in which Canadians seem to be saving money, but the growing trend of cutting back on booze may be the bigger factor.<\/p>\n Sales of U.S. spirits fell 66 per cent in the first two months after several provinces banning them as push-back on tariffs, but sales of Canadian and international products also fell, signalling a drop in alcohol sales all together, according to data from Spirits Canada.<\/a><\/p>\n Many Canadians are also opting to travel locally this summer instead of heading to the U.S.<\/p>\n Air travel from Canada to the U.S. fell 24.2 per cent year-over-year in May, while automobile round trips fell 38.1 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.<\/a><\/p>\n Last month, a survey from TD Bank reported that 64 per cent of Canadians plan to travel domestically over the summer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s encouraging to hear that Canadians are planning to support local small businesses as part of their vacation plans this summer, as it helps both entrepreneurs and our local economies,\u201d Julia Kelly, vice-president of small business banking at TD Bank, said in the news release.<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s particularly welcome news, as many of our small business customers have been concerned about consumer spending slowing down.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, keeping travel local might not be the most cost effective strategy. Cancelling existing vacations runs the risk of fees and penalties, and travel insurance rarely covers the cost in these scenarios, NerdWallet notes.<\/p>\n While the changing spending habits may not be saving money, Americans are taking notice. Earlier this week, U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra called Canadians \u201cnasty\u201d for the measures.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n \u201cCanadians staying home, that\u2019s their business, you know. I don\u2019t like it, but if that\u2019s what they want to do, it\u2019s fine. They want to ban American alcohol. That\u2019s fine,\u201d Hoekstra said during a conference in Bellevue, Wash.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are reasons why the president and some of his team referred to Canada as being mean and nasty to deal with, OK, because of some of those steps.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Sign up here<\/a> to get Posthaste delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n Ontario Premier Doug Ford is back at it with his \u201cBuy Canada\u201d message as premiers meet this week for wide-ranging discussions in Huntsville, Ont.<\/p>\n Canadians are already planning to ramp up their boycott of U.S. products as deeper tariffs loom, according to the Bank of Canada\u2019s quarterly survey of households.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re encouraging all provinces and territories: start buying Canadian-made vehicles, start buying Canadian-made everything \u2014 that will hurt more than anything at all,\u201d Ford told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n The federal government is sending Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, to Washington this week to negotiate with the U.S. administration.<\/p>\n Read more here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Final day of premiers\u2019 meeting in Huntsville, Ont.<\/p>\n Data: Housing price Index for June, U.S. existing home sales for June<\/p>\n Earnings: Alphabet Inc., Tesla Inc., International Business Machines Corp., T-Mobile US Inc., AT&T Inc., Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., Rogers Communication Inc.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If a spouse is written out of a loved one\u2019s will, they can still claim some inheritance in some provinces. In Ontario, for example, spouses are entitled to property inheritance as they were sharing the same home, the same as they might receive during a divorce. Find out more here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Are you worried about having enough for retirement? Do you need to adjust your portfolio? Are you starting out or making a change and wondering how to build wealth? Are you trying to make ends meet? Drop us a line at wealth@postmedia.com<\/a> with your contact info and the gist of your problem and we\u2019ll find some experts to help you out while writing a Family Finance story about it (we\u2019ll keep your name out of it, of course).<\/p>\n Want to learn more about mortgages? Mortgage strategist Robert McLister\u2019s Financial Post column <\/a>can help navigate the complex sector, from the latest trends to financing opportunities you won\u2019t want to miss. Plus check his mortgage rate page<\/a> for Canada\u2019s lowest national mortgage rates, updated daily.<\/p>\n Visit the Financial Post\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a> for interviews with Canada\u2019s leading experts in business, economics, housing, the energy sector and more.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s Posthaste was written by Ben Cousins<\/a> with additional reporting from Financial Post staff, The Canadian Press and Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Have a story idea, pitch, embargoed report, or a suggestion for this newsletter? Email us at\u00a0posthaste@postmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the business news you need to know \u2014 add\u00a0financialpost.com<\/a>\u00a0to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A ‘Buy Canadian instead’ sign sits on a BC Liquor Store shelf. (Credit: Abby Luciano \/ North Shore…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,15632,15633,5440,1376,44,15635,15634,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-18050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-alternatives","11":"tag-canadian-imports","12":"tag-dairy-products","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-pete-hoekstra","16":"tag-retaliatory-tariffs","17":"tag-statistics-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
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