Buying Canadian (and not American)

[panamaniac]

Given the recent economic attack on Canada by the Trump administration, we now feel even more strongly about trying to buy Canadian products as much as possible--and avoid supporting American products and companies. The company bit is more challenging, as there are many Canadian subsidiaries of US corporations, such as Kellogg's and PepsiCo, for example. So, if the product is made in Canada with (mostly) Canadian ingredients, I'm willing to accept that the corporate profits go to the US.

As most of our day-to-day purchases these days are food and household items, we did some surveying of the fridge and cupboard contents. Happily many things are Canadian, or we can easily find a Canadian supplier to replace them. But not all ...

• I had been under the impression that Silk plant-based milks were Canadian but at least the two varieties in our fridge are both "Product of USA". Will try the Enjoy! oat milk (available at Food Basics) next time.
  
• A lot of vegetables do come from the US, but stores generally do good labeling, and there are many options (not always exactly the same) from Latin America as well. More transport, but at least produced by a friendly country.
  
• I love Pretzel Crisps and we buy them regularly at Costco. No more, however, will switch to Canadian-made tortilla chips instead. Not a direct substitute, I know, but it's really a rather minor sacrifice.
  
• We eat a lot of nuts, and they come from ... California, of course. Need to check at some of the DTK ethnic grocery stores to look for alternatives. Finding a nut (or peanut) butter will be a problem too, I expect.
  
• Raisins and prunes are likely west coast products, too, but maybe sources can be found elsewhere.
  

If you are trying to do the same thing, what are the biggest challenges for you? Or have you found creative solutions for substituting for US products?

You can be sure you're buying Canadian if you can switch to dairy products.  Kraft peanut butter is at least prepared in Canada.  Some of the frozen fruit and much of the frozen veg in the supermarket is Canadian, although it can be hard to be sure.