Buying Canadian is a matter of pride for shoppers. For major grocery chains, it's an opportunity

CBC

12-03-2025

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The Buy Canadian movement has arrived in the country's major grocery stores. You've probably noticed labels with bright red maple leafs, prominent displays stacked with Canadian products or promotional flyers that tout homegrown items.
"All the best things have always been made here. All we had to do was look," proclaimed a recent Buy Canadian-themed commercial from supermarket giant Sobeys, one of several supermarket giants trying to prove its Canadian bona fides to consumers amid a tariff war with the U.S.
Shoppers just want it to be easy to find Canadian products right now, and some are willing to scour labels or seek out the items themselves — but that could get old, quick, said Tandy Thomas, an associate professor of marketing at Queen's University.
Grocery stores to the rescue: "That is going to be imperative to the longevity of this," she said. "Because if it is hard, if every decision requires three minutes in the grocery aisle to really try and decipher the labels, consumers won't be able to do that. It's too big of an ask."
The country's major food retailers have all rolled out new marketing strategies in recent weeks to meet a newfound demand for Canadian products — and with price hikes in play, they're betting on a reputational reset after years of contention between shoppers and consumers came to a boiling point last year.
Loblaws priming shoppers for tariff price hikes
Loblaws is priming its shoppers for pricier groceries as the trade war plays out, announcing this week it will add a triangular "T" label to store items that it says will be costlier due to tariffs. As soon as the tariff goes, so will the price hike, according to the company's website.
CEO Per Bank explained in a LinkedIn post last week the company would be doing more to highlight Canadian products in-store, in promotions and on flyers, and that shoppers would have the option of swapping an item for a Canadian-made version in PC Express, the company's online delivery platform.
The company is also "offering points for Canadian products," but it's unclear if those products now qualify for a higher PC Optimum points reward than they did previously. CBC News reached out to Loblaws for an interview and a statement and did not hear back.
Spokespeople for Sobeys (which shares parent company Empire with FreshCo, Safeway and IGA) and Metro did not grant CBC News an interview, but said they were putting more effort into highlighting local and Canadian products and making them more visible to customers in-store, online and in marketing material.
But they're not always getting it right. A recent CBC News investigation found a Sobeys in Nova Scotia had labelled its house brand maple syrup with a red maple leaf, but hadn't done the same for other Canadian maple syrup brands. The same investigation found other discrepancies, like a maple leaf on products by brands owned by foreign companies, but not on brands wholly owned in Canada.
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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency told CBC News in an email it had seen "an increase in complaints related to country of origin claims on food labels or in advertisements" over the past month, indicating some savvy shoppers have become more conscious of labelling mishaps. After a total of five complaints made between November and January, 23 complaints were made in February alone.
A spokesperson for the agency, which regulates food safety and labelling, said it's reviewing the complaints but that it's too early to tell if any of them violate Canada's food laws.
A reputational reset after summer boycotts
Some retailers are probably relieved they'll get a break from being the subject of consumer anger after inflation-induced boycotts were directed at Loblaws, Sobeys and Metro last summer, said Tim Dewhirst, a professor and senior research fellow in marketing public policy at the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics at the University of Guelph.
The Buy Canadian movement represents an opportunity for major grocers "to be seen as good corporate citizens," he said, especially as focus shifts — for some, but not all — from one boycott to another.
"In a lot of ways, people's anger has been diffused or redirected towards American brands, but more in particular, the decisions and threats coming from President [Donald] Trump and his administration," he said.
But Dewhirst also pointed out consumers have a long memory. When inflation was soaring two years ago, shoppers accused major grocers of price-gouging during an affordability crisis. Their executives denied it, but experts told CBC News at the time inflation would give them cover to hike retail prices.
Several readers have written to CBC News recently saying they're concerned that grocery retailers will capitalize on tariff-related costs, and increase prices more than necessary.
"With geopolitical tensions and the threat of tariffs and so on, it's expected that would lead to an increase in prices," said Dewhirst. "And we have observed in the past, especially [due to] the lack of competition that there is among the grocers in Canada, that there are opportunities potentially for price gouging or allegations of profiteering."
Calgary grocer takes a different approach
Mike Soufan, owner of Calgary grocery wholesaler Freestone, said a small portion of his clientele have asked to be directed to Canadian products while shopping in his store. But he has no plans to launch a marketing blitz to highlight those products — he'll leave that to the grocery giants, he told CBC News.
"A lot of people ask if it's a Canadian product, 'I'm not buying U.S.,' but I think they're in the minority. Other people don't care. They only care about the price," he said.
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Soufan said he plans to share the cost of the tariff with his supplier and his trucking company to keep prices low for consumers.
The store imports produce from the U.S. and other countries like Mexico and Peru, in addition to sourcing products domestically, and he's more worried about importing food with a weak Canadian dollar than he is about a tax on goods.
He acknowledged he would have to bargain with suppliers and cut expenses in the store to make up for a 25 per cent tariff. But he said he wouldn't join the major grocers in their Buy Canadian marketing push.
"I'm not playing that game," he said. "I'll let people make their choice."