Since U.S. President Trump’s re-election in late 2024, and his imposition of tariffs on Canadian products, there has been a frenzy of “Buy Canadian” sentiment in Canada. One would hope that Canadians would always attempt to buy goods made in their own country, but it seems it took their intense dislike for a U.S. President to actually bring them onside with supporting Canada. This consumer sentiment has led to a push by retailers and other businesses to label themselves “Proudly Canadian” and their various products “Canadian Made.” It turns out it’s not actually that easy to know whether you are buying Canadian or not.
There are rules around how a business is allowed to legally claim their products are Canadian or Canadian made. For instance, to have an item labelled as a Product of Canada, there must be at least 98 per cent of the total cost of producing it be Canadian. Products labelled Made in Canada only need 51 per cent total Canadian cost of production. Quite a difference. Consumers surveys have shown that while consumers may believe they know the difference between the two, that is not in fact true.
It gets complicated. There are many “middleman” types of vendors who themselves have a Canadian base yet subcontract work abroad, so that it can be confusing as to how much of the work has been done by Canadians with Canadian materials. There are all kinds of tricks played by foreign suppliers who do such things as put a logo very similar to that of a Canadian company on their product so people just assume it’s Canadian.
Problems also arise from assuming the government bureaucracies involved do their jobs to ensure that the rules are followed. There is no evidence this is the case. Enforcement is sloppy and Canadian businesses encounter many instances where foreign suppliers get around the rules. The Canadian businesses are then forced to hire lawyers and enter into costly legal processes to defend their rights.
Often politicians intervene and permit foreign businesses to supplant Canadian competitors. Government procurement of goods and services is especially vulnerable to allowing Canadian companies to be shut out of major projects. Government bureaucrats often get used to dealing with a particular supplier and don’t bother to have open competition for project bids because that is more work than just going back to the supplier they have dealt with before.
The major projects that the current federal Liberal government talks about constantly are a case in point. The Kitimat LNG facility’s first phase was built by importing modules from China that were assembled in Canada. The second phase of this project, announced with great pride by Prime Minister Mark Carney, will be largely supplied by modules built in South Korea and assembled in Canada. Often governments like to say that they had no Canadian bidders and that is why they went abroad. In reality, however, they did not even bother to look for Canadian companies or consortia that could have done the work.
The Carney government’s desire to get closer to China raises concerns about its true intentions to promote “buy Canadian.” China has been the worst offender in terms of dumping products into Canada and engaging in other unfair trade practices, while encountering little if any pushback from the Liberal government. It is hard to believe that becoming more enmeshed with China, both in terms of trade and security issues, can be consistent with an enhanced “buy Canadian” policy approach.
Looking at the evidence to date, there is no doubt that the Carney Liberal government wants to appear to favour strong “buy Canadian” policies yet doesn’t actually practice what they preach. We need to keep a close eye on any future major infrastructure projects to see if Canadian businesses are actually treated favourably.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
