"Canadians Supporting Canada"

[the_std]

So there's a new bit of guilt-marketing making its way around Facebook lately. It's called "Canadians Supporting Canada", and its focus is "don't buy cheaply-made Chinese crap for your loved ones, give them gift certificates for local businesses!" I kid you not, one paragraph says...

Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plunking down the Sir Robert Bordens ($100.00 bills) on a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course.

And seeing this in my feed made me stop and think about it. Is the Canadian manufacturing business actually suffering due to overseas production? Is the shift to Chinese-made goods really hurting us as an economy, or were we moving towards other industries anyways? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for going local as much as possible, mostly to leave a smaller carbon footprint from shipping costs, but I wonder if this isn't a big slab of fear mongering.

The reason I use those words is that this is the last paragraph in the whole (lengthy) shpeal...

You see, Christmas is no longer about draining Canadian pockets so that China can build another glittering city. Christmas is now about caring about us, encouraging Canadian small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams. And, when we care about other Canadians, we care about our communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine. THIS is the new Canadian Christmas tradition.

This is a revolution of caring about each other, and isn't that what Christmas is about?

BUY CANADIAN - BE CANADIAN - The job you save might be your own!

What do you guys think? Am I woefully misinformed about our economy, or is this drivel?

[Rapscallion]

We've had 'shop local' campaigns over here from time to time. Generally speaking, I don't think that guilt trips are an effective marketing tool.

What is effective is offering the services that people want at a better price than the competition. It's not romantic, but true.

Rapscallion

[siead_lietrathua]

i live right beside a city that used to be full of factories for manufacturing. when their companies outsourced, it's now basically the local crack-town, and one of the highest unemployment zones across canada. so yeah, in some places it's bad.
but at this point, local economy is less about buying canadian-built products, and more about supporting local business. i agree gift cards to local businesses is a great idea, but you don't have to hate on imports for it. alot of ma&pop shops that need people to come to their stores rather than walmart also carry imported product.

[Amanita]

And in some cases, the things I want aren't available in Canada- I buy from a lightsaber maker based in California a few times a year. I don't know of anyone doing work like that here in Canada, let alone for the good prices he charges. I couldn't take the saber hilt design to a local machine shop, not unless I wanted to pay several times what that maker charges, machining his hilts in bulk.
I also buy content for a 3D modelling program, and again, those businesses are US based. Unless you can persuade them to move north of the border, I have to send my money to a US business to get the stuff.

[Greenday]

When I was home for R&R last year, some woman stopped me in the mall to sell me some skin care stuff. I was bored so I figured I'd hang out. One of her biggest selling points? They weren't Chinese, they were Israeli. Oh well that makes such a huge difference to me.

[Gravekeeper]

Sounds like drivel to me. Canadian's are very good at supporting Canadian businesses, especially local ones, and Canadian manufacturing is a different beast than the US. Yes, raw resource manufacturing and auto manufacturing are down. But that's partially the march of technology and partially an inability of both industries to evolve.

Canada doesn't manufacture cheap consumer electronics. We're not losing anything to China by buying a flat screen TV. We manufacture high mix electronic, cell phone and computer components, textiles, food stuffs, etc. Many of which China ironically has to import.

China's only advantage is its ability to manufacture mass produced consumer goods with cheap labour. Anything more complex than that and it's incapable of delivering. High mix manufacturing, R&D, etc it can't pull off. It also can't support its own population food wise and thus needs our sweet sweet grains. -.-

[lordlundar]

I'm with GK on this. This sounds like a "China is EEEVILL" reaction to the messed up business deal that's trying to be done by a Chinese nationalist oil company. Now that deal is terrible for Canada, but this is just plain stupid.

[protege]

i agree gift cards to local businesses is a great idea, but you don't have to hate on imports for it. alot of ma&pop shops that need people to come to their stores rather than walmart also carry imported product.

Anyone remember when Wal-Mart was on its "Buy American" campaign? I don't know about other areas, but here, quite a few of their stores had banners...with names of American companies who supplied products. Didn't last long, since the *majority* of the products in the stores was actually made overseas

[HYHYBT]

Walmart's problem was that they couldn't keep the "we buy American whenever we can" promise *and* the "always low prices" promise at the same time.

The trouble with this particular incarnation of "buy local" is that the products aren't the same. For those for whom this is an important issue, it makes sense, if you're in the market for a TV, to choose one made in your own country over one made elsewhere even if it costs a bit more. But if *all* the TVs are imported, and you're in the market both for one of those and for an equivalently-priced driveway repair, what difference does it make which one you pay for yourself and which one someone gives you for Christmas?

[Racket_Man]

Anyone remember when Wal-Mart was on its "Buy American" campaign? I don't know about other areas, but here, quite a few of their stores had banners...with names of American companies who supplied products. Didn't last long, since the *majority* of the products in the stores was actually made overseas

I remember That phase of WM and it was about 20 or 25 years ago. they lusted after the almighty profit and switched to the overseas cheaper stuff.

[Hyena Dandy]

See, I think I'd rather have a T.V. for Christmas than a driveway repair, if I'm going to be spending $100 on one of them. I'd rather at Christmas be celebrating, and being more carefree, and relaxing. Whereas at other times, I'd rather think about needing my driveway repaired.

It may come out the same, but one of them has me thinking about relaxing on Christmas day, and one of them has me thinking about my busted up driveway

[Gravekeeper]

I've really been trying to think of a non-local / non-Canadian company I shop at. But I seriously can't think of one. 7/11, I guess? But those are still local franchises. -.-

Canada's not very....what's the term....capitalism ho? A lot of the more deplorable tactics used by big box companies like Walmart to achieve their shit for pennies business approach don't work in Canada. The laws are different and we don't have any "states rights" bullshit. So businesses can't just move to the province with the worst regulations.

[Aethian]

See, I think I'd rather have a T.V. for Christmas than a driveway repair, if I'm going to be spending $100 on one of them. I'd rather at Christmas be celebrating, and being more carefree, and relaxing. Whereas at other times, I'd rather think about needing my driveway repaired.

It may come out the same, but one of them has me thinking about relaxing on Christmas day, and one of them has me thinking about my busted up driveway

See to me it would be more relaxing to know that's one more item that can be crossed off my list or can almost be crossed off my list.