Elbows Up in Support of Canada

Unimaginable even just a year ago, the beginning of 2025 sees Canada under attack from our closest neighbour and former ally.  Not only have the extremely unjust tariffs levied by the United States upended our Canadian economy, but they have destabilized markets around the world including within the U.S. itself.  Even worse are the constant attacks on our nation’s sovereignty with threats of making Canada the 51st state.

We need to fight back however we can.  Every proud Canadian should be considering what we can do to stand up for our country, be it a token gesture or a significant act.  We acknowledge that after so many years of building ties and becoming co-dependent with America, it would be unrealistic and impossible to simply cut all association with them at the drop of a hat.  Yet we need to do something to take a stand, although what that stand consists of is an individual choice based on each person’s circumstances.  Rich and I realized that we needed to pick our battles, so we reviewed our spending and investing habits to see where we might be able to make a difference.

I read an article in the Globe and Mail about Canadian investors divesting themselves from their holdings in US companies.  This puts a new spin on the term “sin stock”, which is usually reserved for companies dealing in tobacco, liquor, gambling, weapons and sex.  We might have considered doing this if not for the fact that we don’t own any US stock and have not done so for a few years.  Our strategy has been to live off the income generated from our dividends.  To do so effectively, we need to be able to know how much the dividend payouts will be each quarter.  Adding the currency fluctuation of US dividends would have introduced too much uncertainty.  For a while, we held one or two American stocks so that we could accumulate US cash.  But then we realized we could achieve the same goal by holding Canadian stock that paid in US funds, (e.g. AQN.T, BIP.UN, SOBO.T).  Being Canadian companies, there was the added bonus that these dividends qualify for the dividend tax credit.  Therefore, selling US stock was not where we could make a stand since we didn’t own any.

Next, we looked at joining the movement to boycott US products whenever we could.  We would only buy American if there are no other options and if we truly could not substitute with another product or just forgo that product all together.  We would shop Canadian whenever possible or at least buy non-American products from other countries.  In the winter, when local fresh fruit is not available, instead of buying Driscoll’s strawberries from the U.S., we could opt for blueberries from Peru.  We have taken to squinting at product labels to determine their place of origin, or using phone apps such as OSCANada, Buy Beaver, Shop Canada, Buy Canadian, etc. to help determine whether a product is from Canada by scanning the bar code.  Not all products are recognized but the more common ones should be.

For a while, we even boycotted Loblaws in favour of Farm Boy and Longos because these latter stores were prominently adding signs indicating which products are Canadian and even putting some of those products on sale.  By contrast, Loblaws had no signs and were trying to tempt us by putting their US products front and centre at cut-rate prices.  Just recently, Loblaws finally seems to have wised up and now they also label and identify Canadian products.  Thank goodness some of our favourite snacks and drinks turn out to be 100% Canadian, including Hawkins Cheezies made in Bellville Ontario, Covered Bridge Potato Chips from Waterford, New Brunswick, and Great Gentleman Ginger Beer whose headquarters is in Laval, Quebec.

We are especially trying to support businesses or companies who go the extra mile for Canada.  We will be buying Chapman’s ice cream after they declared on Instagram that they would absorb any extra costs caused by tariffs. Some of their ingredients are from the US, but they are actively looking at other sources. We will try to dine at restaurants like FK and Taline, who advertised that they have taken all American wines off their menu. Peace By Chocolate, an award-winning Nova Scotia-based chocolate bar producer founded by former Syrian refugees have produced a chocolate bar wrapped with our new hockey-based battle cry “Elbows Up”.  We decided to purchase a bunch of these bars to pass out to our friends and neighbours, both to spread the word and to support a Canadian company.

Given how intermixed our supply chain is with that of United States, we need to be careful that our efforts to punish the Americans do not inadvertently end up hurting Canadians.  Should we be boycotting a product that is owned by a US company but manufactured or processed in Canada?  Should we boycott a Canadian product that uses American ingredients?  Should we avoid an American chain restaurant that has a location in Canada and employs Canadian workers?  It is not that simple.

At any rate, the changes in our shopping habits are probably just symbolic gestures since we never spent that much money on American-only products.  Where we can truly take a stand and withhold significant amounts of our discretionary income that we used to spend on U.S. goods and services is through our travel.  Before all this nonsense started, we would visit New York City at least once a year to watch multiple Broadway shows and possibly take a second trip to another American destination.  On each of these trips, we were spending multitudes more than the cost of the jar of Stonewall Kitchen Country Ketchup, which I love but will no longer buy. We have decided that at least for the next four years or however long it takes for the insanity to end, we will not set foot in the United States again.  If every Canadian, or even a majority of them would make the same commitment, this may indeed cause enough economic pain that the American people might rise in protest to join our cause.

There are so many beautiful places to visit in the rest of the world that avoiding the U.S. should not be that much of a hardship, unless you own property there or have family to visit.  Neither of these conditions apply to us.  Another reason we have no desire to travel to the United States right now is that it actually seems dangerous. There is a lawlessness and total disregard for human rights that has become prevalent in that country ever since the new government came into power.  

We read about two sisters from Halifax who were pulled over in Ohio and detained for an hour, ostensibly for a drug search (none was found).  They were separated into two police cars and each individually questioned about whether they “preferred Canada or America”.  Then there is the Canadian woman who was detained by ICE for multiple days and even handcuffed and chained for not having all of the correct documentation when crossing the border.  

The U.S. does not seem to be treating Europeans much better either as similar reports are coming out about citizens from countries including Britain, Germany and France.  Stories like these just solidify our resolve not to travel to the United States.  But our federal and provincial governments need to make it easier for us to travel within Canada and lift intra-provincial trade and supply chain barriers.  It is crazy that it currently costs as much if not more to fly across Canada than it does to fly to Europe.  This is not a time for protectionism by each province.  It is a time for all Canadians to stand together and support each other as a country.

As I said in the beginning, as much as we want to spurn the U.S. and support Canada, it is not realistic to try to eliminate everything American.  In terms of picking our battles, our main one is travel and anything else we do is more symbolic.  For example, we have not given up using our credit cards in favour of using Interac (which is Canadian), despite VISA and Mastercard being American companies.  We are not giving up our iPhones as they are too entrenched in our lives.  And we are not giving up our streaming services which include Prime Video and Apple TV.  We did make one concession here in not purchasing our own Netflix subscription after Netflix changed the rules and prevented us from sharing an account with our friends.  I try not to feel bad about the American goods and products that we still use, but take pride that at least we are doing something to take a stand.  

We hope the rest of Canada joins us.  Let us know if you have any other ideas!