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Some Saskatchewan shoppers are still choosing Canadian and local products at the grocery store more than a year after tariff threats began to fly from United States President Donald Trump.
On March 4, 2025, Canada responded to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods with its own 25 per cent tariffs on American goods.
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The tariffs and the counter measures have since been removed — with the exception of a number of items including steel, aluminum and lumber — but the shopping and travel habits of many people haven’t wavered.
Giselle Ripplinger is still looking for products marked with the Maple Leaf while in Real Canadian Superstore.
“It’s not always possible to buy totally Canadian, but it is a focus,” she said.
Ripplinger has chosen to steer her money away from the United States in other ways as well, choosing to travel elsewhere.
Jim Osiowy has begun shopping more at Canadian grocery stores like Co-op, and less at American stores like Costco.
“I will not be afraid to say I hate Trump,” he said.
But Annika Schwartz said otherwise about her customer habits.
“Canadian is nice, but healthy (groceries) and obviously cost as well,” she said is where her shopping priorities lay.
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Shandee Waldbauer, the general manager of Old Fashion Foods in Regina, said interest from customers from which products are Canadian has waned.
“It was really significant a year ago,” she said. “It was a conversation that happened multiple times, both in store, online, and on the phone with our customers.”
A year later, Waldbauer said she gets one question a month from customers clarifying where a product comes from.
Waldbauer said there are certain American products the store has ordered less of, or stopped ordering all together.
“Prior to the tariffs, we had always really focused on Canadian, on Saskatchewan, as much as we could,” she said.
“When we went through the inventory of our store, there were a lot of products that were already Canadian. So, the shift wasn’t that significant for us.”
Some shoppers are still watching for a small maple leaf on packaging or pricing. (Abby Zieverink/980 CJME)
Biggest change to come was shopping habits: expert
Paul Martin, a business analyst for 980 CJME and 650 CKOM, said the biggest shift within the past year was in the minds of Saskatchewan consumers as they choose how to spend their money.
“It’s not worn out after a year,” he said. “People are still talking like that, and they’re still making conscious choices to buy local or buy Canadian wherever possible.”
Martin said the push to shop Canadian and local has dwindled within the past year, but part of the reason it may be less talked about is because its become habit for shoppers.
“You just do it every day, so you don’t have to talk about it anymore … Canadian consumers have become quite accustomed to buying local wherever possible,” he said.
Jason Childs, a University of Regina economics professor, said people are also paying attention to the price of their grocery bills as some of the shop-Canadian sentiments peter out.
“A lot of households are really, really squeezed, and being that choosy where you buy and what you buy for things other than price is a luxury,” he said.
“As we get more financially constrained, the decision to do that gets harder and harder.”
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