Boycott US

I saw a recent CBC News piece about a local grocery and their challenges rising to the growing demand of Canadian goods as alternatives for US goods.

Grocery stores are very aware of the problem, and they are trying. Unfortunately, some products sit on shelves for weeks before they're cleared out in normal conditions, so it might be a while before the stock rotates out so they can rotate in non-US alternatives.

Produce is one of those areas where it's more about who makes it, rather than who you're buying from. We can grow just about anything we want with enough time, effort, and money. Hydroponics has come a long way. But again, time, and money. We have land... We have land in spades. A lot of it is colder climates than most of these plants are capable of enduring, so if we want some things to be Canadian grown, we would need greenhouses of the stuff to grow it. Not cheap. So what if we throw out the "grown in Canada" and just went with non-US?

There's two challenges there: can we get it in a reasonable time frame so that it can sit on shelves and/or in people's houses long enough to actually be consumed before it spoils? Is there a country with the necessary climate and shipping capability that's close enough to make all of that make sense? That's not the USA?

This is the question we'll struggle with, and I'm certain we are struggling with. I'm certain that some varieties of apples, pears, oranges, and other common fruits and vegetables spoil fast enough that normally, our only real option for them is from North America and one of the biggest farmland areas in North America is the United States. They have prairies that rarely freeze and are vast and plentiful.

Look, I'm not saying we should give up. Far from it. I'm just pointing out that getting to the point where we have completely eliminated US goods from grocery stores, isn't going to be an overnight thing. It will take months if not years to fully migrate to alternatives.

Luckily, our current federal government seems to be helping in this regard. I've seen plenty of news coverage about their efforts to bring goods from Europe, and from across the Pacific, into Canada, as well as have our exports sent those directions too, so we are not economically dependent on the US buying our stuff.

I have to give them credit for trying at least.

Keep doing what you're doing. Look for Canadian goods, buy them whenever possible. Look for US goods, avoid them whenever possible. The market is changing. All I can say, from the economist in me, is that, I have high hopes and expectations that we will end up as a stronger, more independent country when all is said and done. The damage the commander and cheeto of the US has done with all of this will create a permanent rift between the long, prosperous and open border we've enjoyed with the USA for over 100 years. I'm worried that the US economy will suffer for a long time after this, but that's not really what any of us are actually concerned about. I feel bad for the American people, especially those who voted against this. Hopefully this serves as a strong example to everyone that they need to think a bit more about what and who they are voting for.