Latest news with #VonMassow
CBC
12-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Is Coors Light Canadian? Why finding a homegrown product can be tough
Social Sharing As tariff news changes by the day, Canadians continue to look for homegrown alternatives to American products. But what constitutes a Canadian product is not necessarily straightforward. "The onus is on us as consumers to ask the questions, to do the research that's important to us and decide which parameters are important to us," said Michael von Massow, a food economics professor at the University of Guelph. Von Massow said possible factors to consider include where the product is produced, where the ingredients come from, where it's packaged and the ownership of the company. Consider beer. Coors Light is an American brand. Molson Canadian is a Canadian one. But a can of either on the shelf in New Brunswick is produced in the same place: the MolsonCoors brewery in Moncton. MolsonCoors is headquartered in Chicago, but, as a publicly traded company, it has shareholders around the world. When N.B. Liquor began taking Kentucky bourbon and California wines off the shelf in their corporate stores, brands like Coors and Budweiser remained. WATCH | What makes a beer Canadian?: According to N.B. Liquor spokesperson Florence Gouton, the retailer considers "the country of production as our primary data point to identify what is considered an American product." "Our goal is to ensure that we do not negatively impact companies that manufacture in Canada, with Canadian ingredients and Canadian employees," she said in an email. MolsonCoors, Gouton said, "is an excellent example." "This Canadian business division has five breweries in Canada, which produce all the domestic products sold here in New Brunswick; it also employs thousands of Canadian workers in its five breweries, its sales force, its logistics, etc." The highest certification a food product can receive from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is "Product of Canada," where all, or nearly all, of the ingredients in a product are from Canada, and it is produced with Canadian labour. Pretty much all beer on the shelf would fit into that category. Where it gets tricky is if the ownership of a given company matters. "Are we worried about where the brand is from, where the ownership of the company is from, or are we worried about where it's made?" von Massow said. Ultimately, he said, those looking for Canadian-owned options should turn to craft beer. Lloyd Chambers, the president of the New Brunswick Craft Alcohol Producers Association, said consumers can feel comfortable knowing their dollars are staying in their communities. "You're supporting jobs here," he said. "Most of the craft producers invest most of the money back into hiring more people, expanding, buying equipment. So the money that you spend on craft alcohol, whether it's wine, spirits or beer or cider, most of it will stay in the province." However, Chambers says he wouldn't want to see a boycott of macrobreweries. Just because they aren't necessarily Canadian-owned doesn't mean they don't contribute to the local economy. One of the few macrobrewers that remain Canadian-owned is Saint John-based Moosehead. CEO Andrew Oland told Information Morning Saint John t he company is looking to lean into that distinction with its recent marketing. "Consumers are saying 'We want Canadian products, we want true Canadian products," he said. "So we are leaning into that very hard … we've adjusted out media campaigns to remind everyone that we are 100 per cent Canadian since 1867." Oland admitted as well that basically all beer on the shelf in New Brunswick stores can be considered Canadian. He also pointed out that many of the hops that many brewers rely on come from the U.S. The integrated nature of the North American and, to an extent, global economy is part of why it's so difficult to determine what being a Canadian product means. Even the production of beer cans involves moving product back and forth across the border multiple times. Von Massow said there's a reason trade has become so integrated.
CBC
05-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Grocers say prices in some northern communities protected from tariffs, for now
Two grocery chains that serve the North say stores in remote communities that rely on large, infrequent shipments of non-perishable goods are shielded from the effects of Canadian counter-tariffs – at least, for now. Stores operated by the Northwest Company in the Sahtu and Beaufort Delta region of the N.W.T., for example, have just filled their warehouses with goods for the upcoming season using the winter road, said Mike Beaulieu, the company's vice president of Canadian store operations. "Those goods have all been purchased long before any of this tariff nonsense started, and those goods are in our warehouse and ready to serve communities for the upcoming year," he said. Beaulieu said those stores typically rely on the winter road and the summer barge season to haul in goods, but after some barge trips were called off in 2023 and the entire season was cancelled in 2024 because of low water, it's planning to rely more on the winter road season. Duane Wilson, the vice president of stakeholder relations for Arctic Co-operatives which has a network of 32 community co-op businesses in the three territories, said stores that rely on sea lifts also have a "buffer" from the tariffs. But, he pointed out, what gives remote communities protection now might hurt later down the road. If a store wants to load up on a year's worth of shelf-stable goods to reduce transportation costs while Canadian counter-tariffs are still in place – it would be locking in that higher price for the better part of the year. Where you'll feel the pinch at the grocery store Michael von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph in Ontario, says Canadian counter-tariffs put on 30 billion dollars' worth of American goods imported into the country have been chosen strategically. For example, he said, there are now tariffs on American dairy products which "represents a very small proportion [of dairy products in Canada]." He said he doesn't expect to see much impact from those tariffs on Canadian consumers because there are plenty of Canadian products to choose from that won't be more expensive. For other goods and products – like oranges and grapefruits – there isn't a Canadian option to choose. Von Massow said his household has swapped for Turkish or Moroccan oranges instead. They're also choosing to eat Canadian produce that's in season as well, choosing locally-grown carrots, beets and potatoes over broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Von Massow doesn't expect prices to change much at grocery stores unless a second round of Canadian counter-tariffs takes effect as promised in three weeks. Moshe Lander, a senior lecturer in the department of economics at Concordia University in Montreal, said the effect of tariffs will depend on how long they last. "If this is merely going to be a week and they go away, maybe Loblaws eats it on the bottom line in the name of consumer loyalty," he said. But if grocers think the tariffs will last for an indefinite period of time, he said, they're going to pass it on to consumers. Lander said the effects of tariffs will start in the produce section and work its way into the bakery, the dairy section, and eventually into meat products as well. Both Lander and von Massow said that Canada has a thriving poultry industry of its own. Von Mossow said while Canada has its own pork and beef industry too, those products might travel to the States for processing before winding back in Canada, making it hard to define them as American or Canadian products. But, Lander said, northern communities understand better than southern Canada the importance of supply chains and what the smallest of disruptions can do.
