British Columbians willing to spend more to buy Canadian, survey finds

The “buy Canadian” movement is seeing growing interest in British Columbia amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s annexation and tariff threats, according to a new survey.

The survey, conducted by Interac, found more than three-quarters of British Columbians (78 per cent) said supporting local businesses was more important than it was a year ago.

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More than half (54 per cent) said they were willing to spend up to $5 more for a local product, while 34 per cent said they would pay up to $10 more.

However, the survey also revealed one major challenge to the movement: 42 per cent said they had trouble determining if a product was local or not.

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That’s not a surprise, according to retail analyst Bruce Winder, who said finding truly Canadian-made products is much harder in 2025 than it was several decades ago.

“Because of … globalization and NAFTA, a lot of the products we buy are a bit of a hybrid,” he said.

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“They could have part of the product originate in Mexico, Canada, the United States, China and then they end up on our shelves.”

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Winder said shoppers who want to buy Canadian should examine the labels on products for two key designations.

“Product of Canada” means that 98 per cent of an item’s inputs are from Canada, while “Made in Canada” means at least 51 per cent of inputs are Canadian.

Winder added that the evolution of our economy has also made shopping at Canadian businesses harder.

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“It’s difficult to really sustain a pure buy Canadian movement because so much of our economy and our retail stores are American in nature,” he said.

“You look at Amazon, you look at Walmart, you look at Costco, it’s difficult to cut them completely out of your life.”

Trump has vowed to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods and 10 per cent on energy as early as March 5, citing a shifting constellation of complaints including drugs and migrants at the border, trade deficits and the desire to raise revenue for the U.S. treasury.

Trump has already imposed 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum.