I’ve been doing the ‘buy Canadian’ thing for a few years now. I actually enjoy the game of trying to find cool folks making cool stuff and I know that there are others like me just like there are people who lack the time or inclination to do the research.
I also think it can be tricky for people looking at starting a business to be able to identify a need.
So what’s a product you don’t know of a Canadian alternative to?
Personally, it’s cast iron cookware. Meyer makes great stainless stuff, but there isn’t a single foundry making cast iron cookware in Canada. I’ve actually started emailing a few to see if I can find a Canadian foundry that would be willing to batch produce cast iron skillets. Finding a local brand already doing it would be a LOT easier!
Credit cards. Not like a Canadian Tire card, but the equivalent of Visa, MasterCard or AMEX. I have a line of credit through my bank, but it’s tied in with Visa. Think of the amount of $ we give the US through interest and/or annual fees! Would it be in the billions?
WHY isn’t there a Canadian credit card?
This is the unspoken lie about the supposed trade imbalancr. America has a deficit with many countries when it comes to goods but has a massive surplus with nearly every country on services.
Think app stores, streaming services and financial services as you’ve come across. America got there first and so American companies profit off of these in perpetuity. Unless you’re like China and have a domestic version of all such services. Which the world may need to move to if the US is no longer seen as a reliable partner.
The EU is currently pushing for a non-US alternative to the big two credit card processors.
It still uses the same networks, but you should check out Neo Financial - great cashback, they work specifically with small vendors, and their offices are in the same building as me here in Calgary.
Canada does have Interac E-Transfer, which is already used as a free alternative to the likes of PayPal. It is also possible to use e-transfer for business transactions. An e-transfer system similar to Alipay where you scan a QR code to pay would be quite handy to make payments at stores. Would it be possible for credit card merchants to use e-transfer for their transactions?
Makes accounting a nightmare if it’s not integrated with Point of Sales. But Hong Kong and Brazil and a few other countries already figured out how to use a single system for e-transfers and digital payment method, it can be done if Interac is extended - and better yet, nationalized under the central bank.
It would be great if we have Credit Cards that uses Interac or The Exchange Network.
I’ve seen the scanning QR code to pay. It would be great if companies can just scan them and save the bills on the phone for expenses. It would streamline things very well during tax time