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!
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