OTTAWA — President Trump’s newly-launched trade war against Canada has increased anxiety over food security, a new study reveals.
Presented Thursday by Dalhousie University and insights aggregator Caddle, the report — Value Shopping in Canada: Trends Shaping Consumer Habits in 2025 — suggests the current political tiff between the two countries, coupled with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, is reshaping how Canadians shop for food.
“The consumer psyche has been severely impacted by geopolitics,” said Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of Dalhousie ‘s Agri-Food Analytics Centre, pointing out that data for the survey was collected in the midst of U.S. trade tariff uncertainty.
While price still factors greatly influence buying habit, other factors are coming into play — while 36% of respondents said price was the most important factor, followed by 27% who pointed at quality, the country of origin of groceries items rounded out the top three, with 10%.
But it’s not just about exclusiciley seeking a “Made in Canada” sticker, either.
“How we define ‘quality’ is going to be redefined, because all of the sudden we’re looking beyond America to procure food,” Charlebois said.
“We’re looking at Mexico and other places around the world, and consumers right now are being offered products or food they weren’t exposed to before.”
As for brand loyalty, the study noted that nearly 80% of shoppers were willing to switch brands to save money, with 51% of shoppers saying promotions or discounts would be enough to switch.
Quality and a “Made in Canada” label both tied for second place, at 33%, followed by 32% who said a cheaper standard price wound tempt them to changing brands.
Caddle’s Jared Kligerman said it’s important to understand the context of the report, based on the ongoing inflation-fuelled cost-of-living crisis.
“Fifty per cent of Canadians are $200 away from not being able to pay their bills,” he said.
“As of November of last year, NielsenIQ highlighted that only 17% of Canadians have been unimpacted or have been thriving in the past year — which means the vast majority have made some change to the way they buy and the way they shop due to increasing costs.”
On top of that, 35% of Canadians are in a position where even a slight change of prices puts their well-being at risk.
The study was based on responses from 3,011 Canadian shoppers conducted between Feb. 11 and 12, 2025.
No margin of error data was noted.
[email protected]
X: @bryanpassifiume