Check It Out: A made in Canada Christmas

By Joan Janzen

The cartoon has a cashier saying to a customer, “Nice iron; your wife will love it. While I wrap it, you might want to go over to sporting goods and pick out a helmet”.

You may not have bought an iron for a Christmas gift, but how about buying something made in Canada? Economists estimate if we spend just one percent more on Canadian goods, we could create 200,000 jobs.

It causes one to wonder how many Canadian products we have in our homes. If a family of four were to empty their home of everything made in China, Honduras, Thailand, India, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and Bangladesh, what would be remaining inside? Unfortunately, we might find all that remains are their made-in-Canada children, because today, more than half of what we buy is foreign made.

In 2018, a Canadian father-son team started an online site called “Made in Canada”, in an effort to help shoppers find Canadian-made products. They encourage consumers to become knowledgeable about the companies they choose to support so that they can make the most informed choices. You just do a search for whatever item you’re looking for, and the results reveal Canadian products available.

The phrase “Made in Canada” means at least 51% of the total direct costs of manufacturing the product took place in Canada. “Product of Canada” means at least 98 percent of the total costs of manufacturing the product took place in Canada.

You may be surprised by many of the products that are made in Canada. People who enjoy testing their luck with lottery tickets, will be pleased to know that scratch tickets are printed in Winnipeg. Michelin tires are made in Nova Scotia and Paderno cookware was founded in PEI in 1985. Hillberg & Berk is a Canadian owned company, manufacturing 80% of their jewelry in Regina.

Initially, it will take more time to find everyday products made in Canada, but once shoppers gain this knowledge, they can easily choose to buy Canadian items. While shopping, one woman discovered garden hose attachments from Home Hardware were made in Canada, as well as Crest toothpaste and “Everyday Value” light bulbs were not only made in Canada, but cost less than those made in Mexico.

While shopping on Amazon is convenient, CBC’s marketplace looked into where those free returns end up. They discovered returns cross crossed throughout Ontario, where trailers full of returns arrive at liquidators every day. It’s estimated about half of the items go into the landfill, because it costs more to sell the returned items, than to toss them in the trash. Consumers would be disappointed by this.

Amazon has a donation program for third party sellers, one in the US and one in the UK, but none in Canada. Some returns cover more than 5,000 kilometres before being resold. It’s estimated 5 billion lbs. of returns end up in US landfills each year; no Canadian estimates are available.

A made in Canada Christmas and choosing to shop locally really is a winning combination.

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