EDITORIAL: Shopping local is always the best policy

As the on-again off-again tariff conversation continues, the call to buy Canadian and boycott American products continues to grow.

The idea is to hit American companies in their wallets, so they in turn will put pressure on President Trump to reverse these ill-designed tariffs.

Whether that will work remains to be seen, since Trump has made it clear his goal is to threaten Canadian sovereignty and hurt our nation any way he can.

Some claims of success have also been exaggerated if not completely fabricated.

A story making the social media rounds this month is that the Canadian boycott of American liquor has already caused massive layoffs at Jack Daniel’s, a popular whiskey brand.

Turns out that while Jack Daniel’s did lay off approximately 12 percent of the company’s global workforce, these cuts occurred in January, before Trump’s inauguration and before his actions on tariffs.

Simply put, they were completely unrelated.

But it remains clear that Canadians can make change with their wallets.

While we may be a smaller market share for most American businesses, they will notice when we stop spending.

If every Canadian family spent $50 less per week on American products that would mean $39 billion that would not flow over our southern border.

While opinions may vary on the need to boycott our closest neighbour and until lately most dependable friend, it’s also sparked a conversation that’s needed.

And that is that shopping locally is always preferable to spending money abroad.

There are different levels to be sure.

For maximum impact purchase a product that was developed, manufactured and sold locally from a store that is also locally owned.

Every penny of that product can potentially be reinvested into your local economy.

Next would be any store that is locally owned, preferably with as much product as possible sourced in the province or in our country.

Next would be businesses that aren’t locally owned but employ local employees. While the corporate profits may not benefit the community, each employee spends their paycheque in the region, supporting the local economy.

This rallying cry of shop local has ebbed and flowed over recent years but until now it had seemed to be on the decline.

One only has to see the fleets of Amazon trucks come to Steinbach daily to understand too many people couldn’t care less about local businesses. In their bid to save a few dollars, they don’t worry too much about how local businesses will continue to operate and continue paying taxes to the local municipality.

But Amazon is an example of the worst kind of spending one can do.

There is no local impact at all from funds spent on Amazon products.

There trucks, driven by people who live in other communities, simply dump product into our community without any support whatsoever.

Now nobody suggests we must buy every single product locally, in fact even most businesses wouldn’t demand that.

But what does make sense is that we give local businesses the opportunity. We can ask them if they can get a certain product, see if they’ll price match some deal we found elsewhere and find out how accommodating they are.

We can also consider what they do for the community.

Do they sponsor minor sports, the arts, or other non-profits?

Are they good corporate citizens?

Do you see them advertised locally, either in your community newspaper or on local radio?

Are they active in their local chamber of commerce?

Do their owners and managers involve themselves in other local boards or causes?

While not every business can check off every box, there’s a lot to be learned from going through this.

And the best part is businesses are usually very agreeable to answering questions like this and are approachable even when a customer has an issue that needs to be addressed.

We as Canadians, Manitobans, and residents of the Southeast have been blessed. We have many strong, charitable, local businesses.

Showing them a little more love may in some small way help fight the tariff battle, but more importantly it strengthens communities.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew also saw the need for such a campaign, launching “Support Manitoba. Buy Local” in January.

While the advertising campaign was in part embarrassingly shared on U.S. media giants Facebook and Instagram in addition to local advertising, the point was still well made.

“We have incredibly innovative entrepreneurs in Manitoba who create world-class products and food that is enjoyed here at home and across our country,” business, mining, trade and job creation minister Jamie Moses said. “This campaign will highlight how Manitobans can connect with Manitoban businesses, products and services as we move to make our economy more resilient to uncertainty posed by tariffs.”

And shouldn’t that always be our goal?