It’s not just bourbon and California whites getting boycotted: Canadians still don’t want anything to do with American groceries.
What happened: After facing backlash from customers, Loblaw is reversing its decision to take down country-of-origin labels on its produce and will bring back its T symbol for U.S. products that are affected by tariffs.
Loblaw removed the labels earlier this year, citing the difficulty of updating information. Stickers remained in Ontario and Quebec due to stricter labelling laws.
Meanwhile, Sobeys — which stopped adding maple leaf symbols to store shelf signs in March — said it would ramp up its displays of Canadian products and signage.
Catch-up: Several Canadian grocers were investigated or fined for mislabelling foreign products as Canadian. In the first three months of last year, when the Buy Canadian movement began, there was an eightfold increase in consumer complaints about mislabelled, or “maple-washed,” products.
Some industry experts have suggested that the risk of fines and bad press for labelling mistakes is the real reason Loblaw decided to abandon the stickers.
Zoom in: Label requirements have a lot of nuance. The "Product of Canada" label requires labour, processing, and at least 98% of a product's ingredients to be Canadian. However, the “Made in Canada” label has only a 51% minimum, and other labels are even more lenient.
CBC Marketplace found that Loblaws labelled 35% of its products online as “Prepared in Canada” — a broad label that could only require that a jug of U.S. orange juice be bottled in Canada, for example.
Why it matters: There’s nowhere that the Buy Canadian movement is more relevant than the grocery store. For those who are trying to support local companies — and are paying up to do it — the Canadian-made label can determine what items get placed in the cart.—LA
