Buy Canadian. Invest Canadian. Be Canadian.
In 2020, Trump advisor and son–in-law Jared Kushner publicly stated that it was the U.S. administration’s deliberate strategy to create an agreement with Canada that weaponized uncertainty, so that the United States could return years later to extract further concessions. Today, under President Donald Trump, the trade war with Canada continues on script. It is my hope we are not quietly accepting a diminished standard of living while potentially losing our place in the global economy because of Mr. Kushner’s scheme.
Why buy Canadian? Let’s evaluate the present moment we are in. Ontario’s unemployment rate sits at 7.6% (the United States rate sits at 4.3%). Nearly one in seven young Canadians cannot find work. Our manufacturing sector has lost over 52,000 jobs since the tariff war began. Steel workers, auto assemblers, forestry communities, and farmers are absorbing a hit that was imposed on them—not earned.
At the same time, we must confront a deeper and more structural reality. Forty years after the advent of the knowledge economy, Canada still does not have a coherent national strategy to capture and retain wealth. This is now showing up in the data in ways we can no longer ignore. Canada’s GDP per capita has declined from roughly 90% of U.S. levels in 2010 to approximately 75% today. That is not a cyclical fluctuation—it is a structural erosion of relative prosperity. You can see it every time you leave your house.
Recent reporting from Statistics Canada this week further confirms that inequality is widening across the country. Lower- and middle-income Canadians are experiencing weaker wage growth, losing savings capacity, and increasingly relying on debt simply to maintain consumption. In contrast, gains are accruing disproportionately to those with access to capital and financial assets. This divergence should concern anyone interested in long-term economic stability and social cohesion.
This is not a reason to despair. It is the reason to act. And how should Canadians act?
When you choose Canadian steel, Canadian lumber, Canadian food, and Canadian services, you are not waving a flag—you are making a rational economic decision in a moment that demands it. You are keeping a wage in a London household where the unemployment rate is 9.1%. You are keeping a shift running in a Hamilton mill where the unemployment rate is 7.2%. You are keeping a young person in their first job instead of their first unemployment line. We need a persistent and principled approach to Canadian economic nationalism.
Here’s what “Buy Canadian” actually does:
- It keeps demand, jobs, and margins inside our borders when export channels are under siege
- It reduces our dependence on U.S. inputs in sectors we cannot afford to hollow out
- It signals to every foreign policymaker watching that Canada can redirect its economy—and will
- It turns consumer and procurement decisions into genuine negotiating leverage with President Donald Trump
- It sustains the forestry towns, auto hubs, and farming communities that built this country
As a nation, we have weathered harder moments than this. But this moment is different in one important respect: the risks we face are not only external—they are structural and internal. Slowing productivity, declining relative incomes, and widening inequality are all signals that Canada is at a crossroads.
We must remind ourselves – we are not a branch plant. We are not a client state. We are an innovative, resource-rich, highly skilled economy of 40 million people who have every reason to support one another in the face of external pressure. So to every procurement leader, business owner, and supply chain manager reading this: ask your suppliers where their goods are made. Ask them to source Canadian where they can. Ask them to stand with Canadian workers—because we need to support our workers now. We need to remain independent. We need to support those being left behind. We need to recommit to the common good. Let’s not settle for less – let’s demand more from ourselves.
Buy Canadian. Invest Canadian. Be Canadian.
