As much as we wish it were so, life is never as black and white as some make it out to be.
On the face of it, the massive patriotic proclamations of being proudly Canadian and buying Canadian at the grocery store and elsewhere is a straightforward rallying cry.
In this moment, with talk of annexation and tariffs, of course, we should be supporting Canadian businesses and suppliers.
Elbows up for Canada; a polite “no thank you” to U.S.— anything.
Take tires, which we will be swapping to summer versions in April.
Kal Tire is a based in B.C.
Canadian? Check! Easy peasy.
But scratch the surface of the red and white and the water below is as murky as the Mamquam Blind Channel in August.
As Kerry Neil, the executive director of the Downtown 麻豆社国产Business Improvement Association (DSBIA), noted in a recent 麻豆社国产 story, some very local businesses previously purchased and stocked some goods from the U.S.
So, are we doing anyone any favours by refusing to buy our neighbour’s stock?
And then there are the companies that seem like they should be in the no-go column, until you dig a little.
For example, recently, the first Uber car started up in Squamish.
The ride-sharing company is based in San Francisco, CA.
Boo to Uber! Right?
Well, the fellow who is operating the first Uber here has lived in Squamish for 40 years.
Are we doing the right thing by boycotting a person who has been in this town longer than many of us?
And take McDonald’s.
Next to those giant “No. 1” foam fingers, nothing is more American than that, right?
Actually, in the Sea to Sky—Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton—the franchises couldn’t have a more Canadian backstory, with the couple who own them B.C. locals, through and through.
(—starting with co-owner Ryan Oliver working at the fast food restaurant in Surrey at 15, meeting his wife Bri there and the couple eventually owning all three in the corridor.)
All this to say, buy Canadian, support Canadian, but give your decisions some thought. Do a bit of online googling.
Make sure that your buying decisions aren’t unintentionally shooting a fellow local in the foot. (Sources for the origin of that saying aren’t clear, but given their penchant for guns, that has to be a U.S. saying, don’t you think? Or maybe not.)
