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!
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.