With interest surging to buy local food products, Canadians have a lot of choices to sink their teeth into.
While U.S. President Donald Trump has paused the threat to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian goods flowing south and the federal government is ready with retaliatory measures if necessary, social media chatter has revealed many consumers are vowing to support more local products as a matter of pride.
In addition, the popularity of the website Made In Canada gives patriotic citizens a place where they can find how to keep their money in the Canadian economy.
That’s welcome news to Ashley Chapman, who runs the Ontario-based and family-owned Chapman’s Ice Cream brand.
“Before the Trump tariffs (threat), Chapman’s Ice Cream and myself, we’ve always been in lockstep with ‘buy Canadian’ regardless,” he said. “Now that this has come up, it’s more and more important” to buy local.
The company is the only Canadian-owned and -operated ice cream brand nationally and has been in business since 1973, when Chapman’s parents David and Penny purchased a creamery in Markdale, Ont., south of Georgian Bay.
“We are fully on board for this trend to support Canadians. We’re proud Canadians and we love the fact that people are realizing how important it is to support Canadian businesses.”
If U.S. tariffs are put in place and Canada retaliates, Chapman said the company would definitely be affected.
“We get some of our ingredients from the United States,” he said. “A good example would be cherries. Canada just does not grow enough cherries to supply our business throughout the season.”
While the company doesn’t sell too much product south of the border, Chapman said he is worried about the retaliatory measures, but isn’t against that option.
“I have no problem with retaliatory tariffs because at the end of the day, as we all know from elementary school, the only way to deal with a bully is to stand up to them.”
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Meanwhile, Quinta Quinoa came to fruition following a medical issue that changed Jamie Draves’ life.
The founder and CEO of the company based in Rockwood, Ont., was diagnosed with idiopathic pancreatitis in 2007. Doctors told him there is no cure, no treatment and no outcome from inflammation of the pancreas.
After two surgeries and medication to alleviate the pain, Draves said he assembled a health-care team that developed a restricted diet to combat the lethargy, nausea and weight loss he experienced.
“Once I started eating quinoa every day, I stopped losing weight,” he said. “And so that was the trigger then to drive my passion and pursuit to naturally develop the first Ontario-grown and highest-nutrient quinoa in the world.”
Draves said being local is the “foundation” of the company, which sources the quinoa seeds from farms in five provinces and sells its products in stores big and small across Canada.
“The foundation has been through people recommending our product to other people and to buy local,” he said. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them.”
He said a trade war involving tariffs will not affect his company as the product is 100% Canadian owned and grown, adding only a little is sold to the U.S. market.
“We are very focused on our Canadian business.”
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For John Gaya, president of Nature’s Mix granola, the Cambridge-based company has always advertised its products as 100% natural and made in Ontario.
“Our focal point is to help the local farmers …,” he said. “We make healthy granola from real honey and real maple syrup from our Mennonite (community) in Waterloo Region.”
While oats, quinoa — sourced from Quinta Quinoa — and other ingredients are also bought locally, Gaya said he can only import almonds and walnuts from California.
The reason is two-fold: Quality and overseas shipping is costly.
“Nobody has weather like California, nobody has almonds like California,” he said. “I’ve tried Pakistan, I’ve tried Turkey. Nobody can give you the quality of almonds that California produces.”
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If a retaliatory tariff is placed on U.S. goods entering Canada, it will increase the price of nuts for Gaya’s business, which has been around for a decade.
Gaya said the company is in the process of expanding into the U.S. market. But with the tariff threat, he is unsure how to proceed.
“We started last year and we invested a lot of money,” he said. “And now with this tariff, we might have to stop because our profit margin is not that high. Getting this 25% hit on us would be devastating.”