Latest news with #Canadianos
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sorry not sorry: Restaurants revamp decor, menus to showcase Canadian ties
TORONTO — When Grizzly Bar opens next week in Toronto, diners will have no doubt about where its owners' allegiances lie in the trade war between Canada and the U.S. Maple leaves and animatronic bears will set the mood. Customers will be able to order Montreal smoked meat, calamari from the Maritimes or Caesars topped with ketchup chips in mini paper boats. They can all be paid for by cash, card or the country's other favourite currency, Canadian Tire money. For entertainment, Blue Rodeo, Rush and Loverboy will be on heavy rotation and a "Hoser Olympics" will see customers face off in a series of challenges like the 'loonie toss,' 'hockey tape escape' and 'sorry-not-sorry' Canadian apology competition. "It's going to be wild how much stuff there is," said co-owner Jessica Langer Kapalka, who also plans to dress the bar manager in a nine-foot, inflatable grizzly bear costume and set up tents offering a campfire-like experience with s'mores. Grizzly Bar's in-your-face approach is one of the ways Canadian restaurants are responding to the tariff tensions that have engulfed North America and threatened to upend food supply chains and dining out budgets. As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to antagonize his country's closest ally with duties on everything from cars to kitchen cupboard staples, Canadian restaurants have swapped U.S. ingredients for domestic ones. Some have revamped menus, ditching the Philly cheesesteak and replacing Americanos with Canadianos, while others are holding back on U.S. expansion plans. The varying approaches reflect the fact that every establishment has had to find its own way to balance its Canadian pride with the preferences of its customer base and the realities of pricing pressures, said Jo-Ann McArthur, president at Toronto advertising agency Nourish Food Marketing. "You don't have to go all the way to changing your decor and changing your entire menu," she said. "It's about supporting your local producers where you can." Yet some, like James McInnes, are keen to take the issue even further. His vegan fast-food chain Odd Burger Corp. paused its plan to open 60 franchises in the U.S. just two weeks after announcing the expansion in March. McInnes made the decision because he feared "escalating political tensions" had made the economics of the plan too much for his London, Ont.-based business to stomach. "Not only are the tariff percentages changing on a daily basis, but also what is getting tariffed is changing on a regular basis," McInnes explained. "How do you formulate pricing for franchisees when you don't know what many of the costs will be?" Rather than get caught up in the confusion, Odd Burger decided to stay focused on its Canadian operations and think more closely about what it can do to insulate its supply chain from the U.S. "If there's a 200 per cent tariff put on Coke, we don't know what that will look like," he said. "We're exposing ourselves to a lot of risk and at a certain point, it just doesn't make financial sense to carry U.S. products." At Kanoo Coffee, it was patriotism rather than prices that got co-owner Steve Neville to make its menu unabashedly Canadian. When the Guelph, Ont., café opened last year, the plan was to bring customers a taste of the world's best coffees, so it cycled through international brews until the tariff spat convinced Neville to make Canadian coffee the star. 'We realized it's been a no-brainer all along,' he said. Kanoo's offerings now come from Subtext Coffee Roasters in Toronto, September Coffee Co. in Ottawa, Phil & Sebastian in Calgary and Traffic Coffee Co. in Montreal. 'Being in this globalized world, we've kind of lost sight of some of those domestic priorities (like) supporting local businesses, local families ... and that's starting to break down,' Neville said. 'So that's kind of like the silver lining to all this." Grizzly Bar is similarly proud it will be able to put the spotlight on Canada. The company found the fixings for menu highlights like poutine, chicken wings and bison burgers at home. "I was expecting it to be a lot more difficult in some ways to source the majority of our food items from Canada, but it hasn't been that difficult at all," Langer Kapalka said, In the few cases when something can't be sourced from Canada, the business turns to allies. That's why New Zealand elk and Mexican fruit and vegetables make the menu and the animatronic bears come from the Philippines. Asked how much she and Jason Kapalka, her business and life partner, spent on the endeavour, she said, "wish I knew!" The couple's budget is up to $15,000 but they reduced expenses by getting friends to scour "wood-panelled basements" for eccentric decor they could borrow. All of the preparations happened in the last few weeks after the couple settled on transforming Offworld Bar, a dining establishment they run that rotates through different themes, into a Canadian paradise. The beach style pop-up Grizzly Bar will supplant lasted about two months. The Canadian theme will likely stick around longer. Kapalka jokes about running it until 2028, when the U.S. will elect its next president, but hopes the political tide will render it unnecessary even sooner. "Hopefully, there'll be a different regime at some stage there," he said. "I would look forward to switching it off, if there's no longer a need for it." This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 6, 2025. Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press Sign in to access your portfolio
Sky News
12-03-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Small acts of defiance in Canada raise question of what country can do against Trump's tariff trade war
In Miche cafe and bar in British Columbia's capital, Victoria, owner Allan Sinclair is turning around specific alcohol bottles on the top shelf to hide the labels from public view. He picks up a bottle of Jack Daniels. "This is from Tennessee and they supported Trump so we can't have that," he says. A bottle of Wayne Gretzky's cream liquor is nearly finished. "Once it's gone, I'm going to get rid of it," says Allan. "He's shown he doesn't respect our country anymore." Gretzky, once a Canadian ice hockey hero, has alienated many here with his steadfast support of the American president. Allan also sells "Canadianos," which he says, wryly, are stronger than Americanos. They are quiet but considered acts of defiance in the face of a trade war started by the United States. "It is a small protest in the form of a coffee," he says. "What we can do is hope that they don't follow up with all of this madness." Tuesday began with Donald Trump announcing a 50% tariff on aluminium and steel coming from Canada. Just hours later, that was revised back down to 25%. There is a grinding, on-off, tit-for-tat nature to these economic punishments. The British Columbia premier David Eby retaliated to the Trump tariffs by prohibiting the sale of American-manufactured alcohol in his province. BC Liquor Store is just steps away from the premier's office in Victoria. On the shelves where Kentucky bourbon would usually be there are signs saying: "Buy Canadian Instead." Dozens of bottles of California and Oregon wine are wrapped tightly with cellophane. But the threats from the Trump administration don't end with tariffs. The president has stated repeatedly that he's keen to make Canada the 51st state. Even referring to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "governor". Premier Eby tells Sky News: "These are deeply unnerving statements for the president to be making, especially in the context of clearly expansionist policies related to Greenland and the Panama Canal. "What we get continually about the president is to take him seriously, but not literally. "I would love to have that kind of luxury… the danger, I think, is not taking him literally and seriously." 'I'm trying to buy anything but American ' On the ferry which connects Vancouver Island with the mainland, tariff fatigue is setting in. Passenger Nancy, a government worker, says she thinks Donald Trump is intent on causing mayhem. "He's a menace, he's just creating chaos where it doesn't need to be." Her colleague Laura says the silver lining is that the tariffs have galvanised Canadians together. "People feel hurt and angry," she says. "We are trying to buy more Canadian products and travel anywhere other than the United States. I had a trip booked to Las Vegas and we've cancelled that. When I go to the grocery store, I look for the Canadian maple leaf that a lot of grocery stores have put on the shelves. I'm trying to buy anything but American." Richard thinks Donald Trump's end game is to weaken the Canadian economy. "I think Trump had an agenda from the beginning, without a doubt. I think he wanted to cause a collapse of the Canadian economy so it would make it easier for him and his colleagues to buy up whatever they wanted, if not to make us a 51st state - it had nothing to do with Fentanyl, that was just a ruse." Trump's 'fiction' Fentanyl claims He's referencing the Trump administration's repeated claims that Fentanyl, a devastating opioid that has ravaged parts of both America and Canada, is flooding over the Canadian border into the US. It's the reason, they say, for starting this trade war. Dr M-J Milloy, director of research at British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, says that this simply isn't true. "There is no one who knows anything about drug markets in North America who would agree with the statement that Canada is a substantial part of the problem in the United States. It is a fiction." "No question that Fentanyl has devastated the United States. Fentanyl is devastating Canada. And so I think in that way, it might be a potent way for Mr Trump to whip up enthusiasm and to justify this aggression," he adds. Whatever the reason - invented or otherwise - for this trade war, it's making an enemy of this ally. 17:47
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Americans are unhappy with Trump's tariffs. Canadians are furious.
President Donald Trump's decision to impose blanket tariffs on Canadian imports — which went into effect Tuesday — and his increasingly hostile rhetoric toward the U.S.'s northern neighbor have deeply strained the relationship between the two countries. But while the tariffs are unpopular on both sides of the border, the tension between the two nations has been felt most acutely in Canada. In a recent poll from Ipsos, 11 percent of Canadians ranked the country's relationship with the U.S. as the top issue facing the country, making it the third-most commonly cited issue, ahead of even housing and the economy. In the U.S., it's just been one of many headlines from the Trump administration's first weeks. This lopsided reaction is emblematic of the uneven relationship between the two countries, and may be a preview for how big of an impact the tariffs themselves have on each nation. "It is, no question, the most important issue right now in Canadian politics," said Will Greaves, a professor of international relations at the University of Victoria and a candidate for Parliament under the Liberal Party banner (Canada is set to hold a federal election this year, possibly as early as this spring). It's hard to overstate how pervasive the tariff topic, and the "51st state" rhetoric, have become in Canada. A "buy Canadian" movement has swept the nation, with Canadian consumers boycotting U.S. goods and prioritizing buying Canadian-made food and products. Canadians have been canceling trips to the U.S. Companies are attempting to leverage the newfound animosity, with Amazon offering a "Made in Canada" specialized storefront, pizza companies offering "reverse tariff" deals and coffee shops doling out Canadianos instead of Americanos. In true Canadian fashion, the border tensions have also caused a 25-year-old beer commercial about Canadian pride to gain renewed popularity. Comedy sketches about the trade war have gone viral online. And the heightened rivalry prompted about 1 in 6 Canadians to tune into the championship game of the 4 Nations Face-Off between Team Canada and Team USA — a just-for-fun hockey tournament played in lieu of a National Hockey League All-Star Game. It was the second-most watched hockey game in a decade, which I promise you is a lot, even for Canadians. (Team Canada won the game.) But the impact goes far beyond playful patriotism — Canadians are furious. A February poll from Canadian pollster Leger found 27 percent of Canadians viewed the U.S. as an "enemy" nation. (By contrast, less than 1 percent of Americans described Canada this way in a poll from another Canadian pollster at the end of January.) As recently as 2020, fewer than 5 percent of Canadians described the U.S. as an enemy. And in a February Ipsos poll, 68 percent of Canadians surveyed said they think less of the U.S. as a country in the face of heightened tensions. Canadian sports fans have even been booing the U.S. national anthem during cross-border games, a decidedly impolite act. "It takes a lot of doing to mess up the Canada-U.S. relationship, but Trump has managed to pull it off," David Haglund, a political studies professor at Queen's University, said in an email. "It is not just that he has convinced about a quarter of the Canadian public to now regard the U.S. as an enemy, but he has even succeeded in making heretofore pro-Trump Canadians into his sternest critics." The threats from the White House have also had significant impacts on Canada's politics. In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford took on the self-assigned moniker of "Captain Canada" and called a snap election — which his party won — in response to Trump's tariff threats. The U.S.-Canada relationship played an undeniable role in that race, with Ford's lead in the polls doubling from a 6-point lead to a 12-point lead after Trump announced in February that he was planning to go through with the tariffs. At the federal level, with an election looming, the beleaguered Liberal Party has seen an astonishing rebound in the polls as the Conservative Party failed to take an early, strong stance against the Trump administration. "It reflects the broad nature of the Canada-U.S. relationship, which is that it's a close, interconnected and interdependent relationship, but it's asymmetrical," Greaves said. "Canada is more dependent on the United States than the United States is on Canada. Canada knows more about the United States than the United States knows about Canada. This is an extension of that same phenomenon." The imbalanced relationship is evident in the U.S.'s trade deficit with Canada — $63 billion in 2024, though the majority of that is driven by oil and gas imports, which Trump has said would be subject to a lower, 10 percent tariff. Even still, the high level of trade between the two countries (Canada is the U.S.'s second-biggest trading partner, after Mexico) and the fact that so many industries are deeply intertwined across the border mean that a trade war with the U.S. could devastate Canada's economy. And while polls show the majority of Americans don't support tariffs and think they will also hurt U.S. consumers (economists agree), it's simply not as poignant of a threat as it is north of the 49th parallel. And it will take a lot more than cheap pizza and nostalgic beer commercials to weather the storm. Americans are unhappy with Trump's tariffs. Canadians are furious. originally appeared on
Buzz Feed
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Buzz Feed
Canadian Cafes Are Trolling Donald Trump By Renaming Their "Americano"
Hot Topic 🔥 Full coverage and conversation on Politics Since returning to the presidency, Donald Trump has not left Canada (arguably our closest ally) alone. Despite significant pushback from Canadians, he's threatened " economic force" to make Canada join the US and become the 51st state. And he's declared 25% tariffs on Canadian goods beginning this month. Well, Canadians are fed up, and they are protesting Trump's threats via coffee menu. Canadian cafes from Ottawa to Toronto are now renaming their "Americanos" to "Canadianos." A Toronto cafe owner named William Oliveira said in an interview with The Washington Post that his shop made the change to "stand up for being ourselves and reminding other we're not to be pushed around and bullied by others." Another cafe owner in Ottawa said his shop renamed their Americano to "make light of a serious situation." "We don't need any American products right now,' he said to CTV News. "It seems like a really good way to say we're Canadian." Miodrag Ignjatovic / Getty Images "That some Gulf of America energy," another person agreed. u/send-tit / Via This person believes Canadian cafes should go a step further: "American here. May I suggest a 'Gulp of Mexico' and a 'Denali Decaf' be considered for the menu? Some of us, including the Associated Press, refuse to bow to the the Orange Mussolini and his ridiculous renamings." U/amanwithoutaname001 / Via
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Canadian coffee shops changing name of Americano drink to 'Canadiano' to spite Trump, US tariffs: report
Some coffee shops in Canada are changing the name of an internationally recognized drink in response to the Trump presidency. Since winning the election and being sworn into office, President Donald Trump has made multiple comments that have caused controversy among Canadians. These range from proposing Canada become the 51st state, to calling the country's current prime minister, Justin Trudeau, "Governor Trudeau." He also proposed a new 25% tariff on Canadian goods to force the country to toughen up its border and stop the flow of deadly fentanyl into the United States. The Washington Post recently reported that Canadians, incensed by Trump's statements and tariff policy, are now referring to Americano coffee drinks, made from espresso and hot water, as "Canadianos." The outlet recalled, "The movement is reminiscent of U.S. Republican lawmakers' push to change the name of french fries to 'freedom fries' in 2003, after France expressed opposition to U.S. military action in Iraq." Trump Says Us Subsidies To Canada Make 'No Sense,' Suggests Canadians Want 'To Become The 51St State' William Oliveira, the owner of Toronto-based Cafe Belém, told The Post that while he doesn't want his coffee shop to be a "political place," he wanted to show support for his country. Read On The Fox News App "It's good for us to just, you know, stand up for being ourselves and reminding other people… that we're not to be pushed around and bullied by others," he said. Oliveira claimed that customers find the name change clever, and that when someone orders an Americano, employees jokingly inform them that isn't the drink's correct name. "It's definitely me saying, 'Hey, just in case anybody was wondering, this is where we stand on that subject: We are pro-Canadian,'" he said. British Columbia-based Kicking Horse Coffee, which has been referring to Americanos as "Canadianos" for 16 years, reportedly called on coffee shops across their country to do likewise. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture The Washington Post reported that the now-deleted post said, "We're officially making it a thing and asking coffee shops across the country to make the switch." Elizabeth Watson, the owner of Palisades Cafe, also based in British Columbia, told The Post that a customer had sent her the now-deleted post weeks ago. She responded by arguing the movement was "bold and brave," and followed suit in her own shop. "Employees cut two small pieces of paper and wrote 'CANADIANO' on them," The Post reported. "Then they placed the new titles on their menu, over 'Americano' and 'Americano Misto,' which is made similarly to an Americano but adds steamed milk." "We aren't necessarily aiming to be political," Watson told the same news outlet. "But we love the idea of really just supporting Canadian pride." "I would be happy to stick with it," she said, "at this time."Original article source: Canadian coffee shops changing name of Americano drink to 'Canadiano' to spite Trump, US tariffs: report
