If there’s a silver lining to be found in the recent threat of an all-out trade war between the United States and Canada, it would seem to be a resurgence of pride among Canadians. That has manifested itself in positive ways, including buy-Canadian initiatives, as well as negative acts, such as the booing of the U.S. national anthem at sporting events.
On Wednesday, Montreal’s Fairmount Bagel started selling a red-and-white “Canada Strong” variety of the popular baked good. In Ottawa, the makers of the “Canada Is Not For Sale” hat worn by Ontario Premier Doug Ford during a meeting of Canada’s premiers has seen a huge jump in sales, while the hat’s motto has become a social media hashtag.
Meanwhile, a moribund website, madeinca.ca has seen a spike in traffic as Canadian producers and consumers rush to advertise and locate locally manufactured products. The site now includes a grocery shopping guide.
Loblaw, Canada’s largest grocery retailer, announced Sunday that it would try to leapfrog American purchases and buy from Mexico instead.
“Where we have had to purchase products made in the U.S., we will look for alternatives including products from Mexico which has also been subjected to these unnecessary tariffs,” Loblaw CEO Per Bank said, adding that the U.S. decision was “wrong-headed.”
On the social media site Reddit, the BuyCanadian forum, introduced in 2018 during another round of Trump trade tariffs, is seeing more comments as well.
And there are polling numbers to prove it. A recent survey by the Angus Reid Institute found that, between last December and this month, the number of Canadians describing themselves as “very proud” rose to 44 per cent from 34 per cent.
In the same period, those who said they had a “deep emotional attachment” to Canada rose by a similar amount, to 59 per cent in February from 49 per cent in December. And the number of people who thought Canada should join the United States fell to just four per cent, from an already meagre six per cent in December.
The swelling pride was not evenly distributed across the country, however. The poll found that the biggest increases were in British Columbia, Quebec and the Maritimes, which all saw rises of between 12 and 15 per cent on the “proud or very proud” and “deep emotional attachment” questions.
Smaller gains of between 3 and 9 per cent were seen in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, while Manitoba alone saw a slight drop of about 3 per cent.
The pollster pointed out that the shift to greater pride in Canada also bucks a trend that has seen pride fall gradually over the last several decades. “Deep emotional attachment” was cited by 65 per cent of respondents in a 1991 Angus Reid poll, falling to 62 per cent by 2016 and just 49 per cent last year, before the recent rebound.
A variety of polls has shown the number of people who are “very proud” to be Canadian has fallen slowly but steadily since the 1980s.
While it’s impossible to say for certain whether Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and continued talk of annexation are the reason for Canadians’ suddenly glowing hearts, the poll did find that the tariff issue was the most closely followed major news event since the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2020.
Fully 56 per cent of respondents said they were following news of tariffs very closely, while another 33 per cent reported following them closely, for a total of 89 per cent. This topped other recent events such as the last federal budget (62 per cent), the Israel-Hamas War (80 per cent), Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (66 per cent) and the WE Charity scandal (73 per cent).
One has to go back to February of 2020 to find higher numbers, when 90 per cent were following the emergence of COVID-19 closely or very closely.
There is fear as well as general interest in the news of possible tariffs, with 3 per cent of respondents saying they expect to lose their job if tariffs are implemented, and a further 30 per cent saying they’re concerned about what it would mean for their jobs.
The new poll was conducted online from Feb. 2 to Feb. 3, and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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