Tod MaffinCanadian Commentator, From Far and Wide · Emotional Support Canadian

Heres's HOW to buy Canadian at the grocery store.

3 Feb 2025 · 2 min

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1:32

In this instructional video, the speaker explains how to navigate Canadian labeling claims on grocery items. He defines the "Prepared in Canada" label, which requires the final preparation to occur in Canada but allows imported ingredients. He then contrasts "Made in Canada" (at least 51% of direct production costs and the last substantial transformation must happen in Canada) with "Product of Canada" (approximately 98% Canadian content across ingredients, labor, production, and distribution). The speaker notes that bilingual (English/French) packaging is legally mandatory and does not guarantee Canadian origin, and cautions that Canadian ownership does not always mean the product itself is Canadian. He adds a brief social remark urging kindness toward Americans on social media before ending the segment.

Chapters

Now that the illegal trade war is on, let me teach you how to buy Canadian at the grocery store. It is harder than it looks. Let's start with prepared in Canada. To legally say this, the product has to have undergone preparation entirely in Canada, but the individual ingredients could come from anywhere. It's kind of like this one, made in Canada from domestic and imported ingredients. And there's a difference between made in Canada and product of Canada, a big difference. When you see made in Canada, it means at least 51% of the direct cost of production manufacturing was in Canada, and the last substantial transformation of that product had to have occurred Canada. That means it turns into a completely new product, like tomatoes becoming ketchup. A much better option than Made in Canada is Product of Canada. For that, 98% of that product has to be Canadian, and everything—ingredients, labor, production, distribution, all that stuff. Product of Canada is the real deal, especially when it's made by a Canadian-owned company. It is a higher threshold and harder to find, but they are there. Remember, Made in Canada's threshold is at least 51%. That doesn't mean that it's 51%. It could be as high as 97%, but just didn't quite hit the 98% to get the product of Canada. Also, don't think that just because it has French on it, it's Canadian. By law, all products sold in grocery stores have to have French and English on them. Don't assume that just because the product is from a Canadian-owned company that the product itself is Canadian, because in some cases, it ain't. And fellow Canadians, remember, be kind to the Americans you see on social media. They didn't want this either. And now, here's your daily Otis. Is that all I am to you?