I’m thinking I’m also happy with EU made
oh, our appliances are NZ brand (well kinda, they got bought)
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Hm, maybe Canadian Sold is a better way to put it? Home Hardware or Canadian Tire over Amazon or Walmart?
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I’m going to Tacoma in February for a hobby conference that I can’t get out of now. and might be going to California in November for family vacation, but plenty could change before then and I’m okay with staying home. I’m cutting back on cross border shopping and shipping things to small border town for pick up. I panic ordered seeds this week and that’s probably going to be the last ordering I do. We cross the border a lot for little things, like Mexican food and gas and cheese (it sounds so silly), so it feels strange to cut it out again. but we did it during the pandemic, so it’s not impossible.
I’ve been cutting back on Amazon over the last year and I think I can do everything without it now. It’s just convenient and that’s really not a good enough reason to order from there anymore. like Star mentioned, trying to go to Canadian Tire and London drugs and home hardware instead of home depot, Amazon and Walmart.
I’m worried about food and I don’t know if it’s irrational or not? thinking of expanding my garden to grow more easy veg in the spring and summer to cut down on California produce (like lettuce and herbs). I think the only things I can’t replace are citrus and avocados. most fresh veg and some fruit I eat is local (greenhouse grown veg/potatoes/berries/apples are all local or bc grown). and I’m trying to check where other things are being processed before buying them. but then I think maybe I’m being overly paranoid and need to see what actually happens.
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Ever since the previous term for this President we have been slowly pulling back our spending from American companies.
- We no longer shop Walmart.
- We cancelled our Prime membership.
- We are not renewing our Costco membership.
- We are not travelling stateside.
- We shop local as much as possible.
- I flip products over to check where they are made. Unfortunately, as mentioned, very few are made in Canada. It seems we either support the US or China! I prefer to support neither.
- We have been out of the stock business since the first term of this President. So have a fair bit of ready cash, should it be needed.
- We have a well stocked pantry at all times.
- We have no debt. Pay our cc in full every month.
We are very wary of what the current President and his buddies have in store for Canada.
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A lot of it is hard… I can’t opt out of AWS for example. Several other US companies we’ve been reducing for other atrocities. I don’t think purchasing patterns will be a big factor for our family.
Ongoing resilience and diversification 
.
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more thoughts - while the country specific stuff is obviously top of mind atm, it is merely a symptom of underlying problems which are also very present here.
So it isn’t just about doing a patriotism thing, but pushing back against the darkness which is here as well.
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I’m not particularly patriotic. Canada has failed so many people in so many huge, systemic ways, and continues to do so. I grew up down the road from Japanese internment camps in a region where the indigenous population was 100% wiped out by smallpox blankets in the early 1950’s. I’m not team Canada.
But more than that I recognize that our role has been to temper America’s excesses. We lead the way in human rights and civil liberties and they eventually follow suit. Gay marriage, prisoners’ suffrage, pot, etc. We are the annoying, superior-acting neighbour.
In this era of political instability I would like us to be steady and progressive and safe. We aren’t, but that’s what I would like our role to be going forward . If things get truly dark we can welcome refugees from threatened minority groups.
Basically I want us to react to the insanity with sanity.
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agreed, patriotism is the wrong word. I just don’t have the right one yet.
100%
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The concept of patriotism really got perverted with the trucker convoy.
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Hi, I’ve decided to shop local as much as possible until the tariffs go away. I made a list today of local producers of food products. There’s a lot in the Maritimes, especially NS.
We just did our grocery shop at Sobeys and were surprised how quickly they pivoted. Fruits and vegetables from all over, but not the US. Mexico, Peru, Namibia (grapes), Costa Rica, etc. I couldn’t find Canadian pasta, so bought Italian. Sobeys obviously assessed the situation and took the time to prepare.
There is an extra cost to this for us. I figure our food costs will increase by half or double. However, we spent less than $200 in January on food, and our budget is $500. We have room to double it.
Where I feel sorry is for families. They often have both parents working just to afford a roof over their heads. I do not think the tariffs are sustainable long term. I am concerned a lot of people will lose their jobs, their homes and their health over this. I’ll be discussing food bank donations with Hubby.
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I was just at the grocery store and there were no bananas whatsoever. I’ve never seen that before. Just a vacant expanse in the produce aisle.
The timing seems suspicious so maybe it’s to do with the tariffs? But those started 16 hours ago so I don’t know.
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If there is no bananas I’m in trouble.
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Where you live is very different from where I live. Things get shipped a lot farther to reach me, so shortages hit my area harder and sooner.
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We found bananas from Costa Rica at Sobeys.
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I perhaps chose the wrong time to be eating down my pantry and to look at buying a lot of materials.
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I have 3 bananas. I hope there are some at the store.
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I feel like if there is a widespread banana shortage I would have read about it on CBC or reddit. Probably it’s just that one store, or just my part of the country.
If bananas become expensive i will be very displeased. I rely on them as an easy, cheap way to get fruit into my kid.
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Husband bought bananas today.
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We had bananas, cases of them! Lol
From the grocery store today I picked up Moroccan clementines, blueberries from Peru and grapes from somewhere.
This whole thing is stupid. From my understanding it’s because Trump doesn’t want to increase personal taxes at the end of the day to have others pay the US debt.
I have unfollowed some people on FB because they are posting rants - I laughed because one that they posted was that Trudeau specifically was going to change the CPP to be started at 67- from 2015. I politely reminded them that the conservatives brought it in and Trudeau got rid of it.
Anyways, I like our American friends on the forum so I’m stopping there.
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The Americans here on the forum and elsewhere are great. The actions of their government are a major problem for the whole world.
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