To fight Trump, our politicians, business and labour leaders have all been urging us to ‘buy Canadian’.
Aside from the flimsiness of this premise (are we supposed to pelt Trump with Canadian tomatoes?), a recent article in the Globe and Mail shows clearly that students and young workers simply can’t afford the cost.
One student interviewed for the article, for example, stated, “I’m at the point right now where if the difference between something being made in the U.S. and being made in Canada is a dollar, I’m going to go with the thing that’s the cheapest.” Another investigation by the Globe confirmed that buying Canadian at the grocery store is in fact more expensive, adding $6 to a grocery bill of $83.
This might seem like a trivial expense to some, but amidst an already historic cost of living crisis, every dollar counts. Another student, for example, added: “I don’t have the kind of money, especially here, to do that. I kind of go wherever I can afford. (…) The money I could be putting [into buying local] is going into affording a place to live that’s safe.”
The aforementioned Globe article concludes optimistically that shopping Canadian doesn’t have to break the bank. Seasonally-grown Canadian produce such as butternut squash and cabbage are cheap and will keep all winter! This is small solace, and frankly insulting, for a young person struggling to find work and to pay rent these days. It is no wonder that so many of them are much more inclined to squash the system.
