Saturday, December 6, 2014

Shop "Canadian"



Kellogg's Moves Ontario Plants to China
(courtesy of Tom…thank you)

This has been on our agenda since hearing of the closing of the Kellogg's breakfast cereal plant in London, Ontario and moving it to China.  Some of us have decided we do not want to consume any food products made in China...or for that matter, any food products made outside of Canada or the United States.  There are some exceptions:  cheese from England and Europe, olives from Italy, etc.

We have also expanded this to any products we can avoid NOT made in North America.  This is hard to do, especially in electronics.  This is something we should have paid attention to 30 years or more ago, but it is now, never too late, one person, one step at a time.

Please read the article below.  I believe “Shop Canadian” should be priority one and “Shop North American” priority two.  (No offense to our friends in other countries, but you should also shop your own country's products.)

A Physics teacher in High School once told his students, “While one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would!”

With that thought in mind, read the following...
obviously written by a patriotic Canadian.
“Shopping in Lowes Hardware the other day and for some reason or just for the fun of it, I was looking at the garden hose attachments.  They were all made in China.  The next day I was in Home Hardware and just for the fun of it, I checked the hose attachments there.  They were made in Canada!  Start looking!  In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do, affects someone else ~ even their job.”
A quote from a consumer...
“My grandson likes Hershey's chocolate.
I noticed though, that it is marked ~ Made in Mexico, now
instead of Smith Falls, Ontario.”

“I do not buy it any more.  My favourite toothpaste, Colgate, is made in Mexico now.  I have switched to Crest.  You have to read the labels on everything!  This past weekend I was at Wal-Mart.  I needed 60W bulbs.  I was in the light bulb aisle and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off-brand labelled...Everyday Value.  I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats ~ they were the same except for the price.  The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand, but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that the GE brand was made in MEXICO...and the Everyday Value brand was made in (get ready for this) ~ Canada ~ at a company in Ontario.  Their Equate Products are also made in Canada...and are very good and comparable.

“Just to add to my own experience on buying Made in Canada, I was looking for canned mushrooms that were made in Canada and could never find any, so I would buy fresh.  But recently I found 'Ravine Mushrooms' made in Canada with a little red maple leaf on the can.  A little  more money, but when I opened the can, I looked at the mushrooms that look like real mushrooms, not a mushroom that looks like it was cleaned in bleach.

“Another product I no longer buy is Del Monte or Dole canned fruit.  Del Monte is packed in Taiwan and Dole is now a product of China.  Why should we pay for their fruit when our growers are left with fruit rotting on the trees?  E.D. Smith is still made in Canada...buy theirs...at least you will know what is in it and have some 'quality control'.  By the way, all pickles with the Presidents Choice label and the No Name yellow label...are made in India. Think about it...water from the Ganges River is used...yes, THAT Ganges, the one into which raw sewage is dumped and that the people use as a toilet!”

So throw out the myth
that you cannot find products you use every day
that are made right here in Canada!
My challenge to you is to...Start Reading the Labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is Made in Canada.  The job you save may be your own or your neighbour's!  (Your children and Grandchildren, also).  If you accept this challenge, pass it on to others in your address book so we can all start buying Canadian...one light bulb at a time!
Stop Buying from Overseas Companies!
(We should have awakened two decades ago.)

Let's get with the program.  Help our fellow Canadians keep their jobs and create more jobs here in Canada.  If President Obama insists on a “Made in America Policy” (which is commendable of him), to support American workers, we should do likewise.  BUY CANADIAN!  Read the Labels!
.
Of Personal Interest:  The pharmacy in Wal-Mart is excellent. My medication prescriptions are on file with them.  Vitamins and other 'off the counter' items under the Equate label, the pharmacists always recommend to me...same quality, same goodness and effect...at lesser cost than 'big company names'.

Merle Baird-Kerr...written October 27, 2014
To comment...email to:

Advice from Paul Berton (Editor of the Hamilton Spectator) November 25, 2014.
So frenzied has the hype become around so-called Black Friday in the United States, it long ago spilled across the border, for better or worse.  Canadian retailers are fighting back, as well they should.  To keep local shoppers from straying too far, they are advertising their own Black Friday bargains.  All that is required now is for Canadian consumers to take up the cause. Ask yourself a simple question:  Is it really worth the trouble to drive more an hourthen wait at the bordergo through immigrationand customs…and face whatever other obstacles await…just to acquire an apparent bargain at a foreign retailer? 


Wouldn’t that time, energy and good will be better spent in your own hometown:
 Hamilton, Burlington, Grimsby, Caledonia…???

Wouldn’t shopping local be more, well, 'Christmasy'?

                     Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend your money on your neighbours?

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