how to shop local in ottawa during a u.s.-canada trade war
9 minute read
canadian apples are seen for sale at a farm boy in ottawa.
tony caldwell
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postmedia
the on-again, off-again threat of donald trump’s tariffs has left many of us seeing red and white, as in re-establishing our patriotic pride. we’ve heard it in the booing of the star-spangled banner before ottawa senators games, and we’re seeing it in a renewed focus on buying canadian products in our grocery stores.
and maybe, just maybe, the anti-trump movement could serve to help highlight the goods and services, restaurants and other businesses in and around ottawa. a buy ottawa bent has emerged.
what could happen in the stores?
first, a quick refresher. trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on canadian goods that went into effect on march 4. after two days, trump paused the levy on some of those canadian goods until april 2. which goods? the ones that fall within the current north american trade deal, cusma. confused? you’re not the only one.
“the whole thing is a mess,” ontario premier doug ford told reporters after news of the tariff suspension.
not waiting until spring to see what the americans announce next, ford has pulled all u.s. booze off the lcbo shelves, ripped up a deal with starlink, and announced an upcoming 25 per cent surcharge on u.s.-bound electricity for 1.5 million americans across new york, michigan and minnesota. the government of canada is also hitting back with a slew of 25 per cent tariffs on $30 billion worth of u.s. products, though it would for the moment hold off on its next round of 25 per cent tariffs on another $125 million of u.s. goods.
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what can a proud citizen of ottawa do?
the political gamesmanship is one thing, but for all of us non-politicians, we do have a choice to spend our dollars — albeit, a shrinking loonie — closer to home. shopping might take a little longer, but it is a cool way to send a message and support local companies in the process. keep this in mind: for goods labelled “product of canada,” at least 98 per cent of the costs and production must have been incurred here. when a label carries a “made in canada” tag, at least 51 per cent of the production and manufacturing was done north of the canada-u.s. border.
a file photo shows an equator coffee roasters location in almonte. there are currently cafés in almonte, kanata, stittsville, westboro, barrhaven and at the national arts centre.
julie oliver
/
postmedia
coffee
let’s start where many of us begin our day: with our caffeine fix. for those looking to skip starbucks, the local caffeine market does include equator coffee roasters, an almonte-based company that has been roasting and delivering organic specialty coffee — with a significant charitable component to aid vulnerable coffee farming communities — since 1998. there are currently cafés in almonte, kanata, westboro, barrhaven and at the national arts centre.
meanwhile, the ottawa-based roaster little victories recently opened its third coffee shop in the city (and second in the downtown core), and its beans can be bought in multiple shops across the region.
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bridgehead also serves fair trade, organic coffee and its roastery headquarters is on anderson road. there are 16 additional locations in ottawa.
st-albert cheese products are sold in 2,000 locations. its factory is located 50 kilometres east of ottawa.
wayne cuddington
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postmedia
cheese
if your idea of cheese is peeling the plastic off kraft slices, it’s time to take a look closer to home.
you know you’re doing something right when your 130-year-old cheese business gives rise to an annual curd festival. that is the case for st-albert cheese and its factory 50 kilometres east of ottawa. it’s one of the oldest co-ops in canada and the products are sold in 2,000 locations, including the flagship store in st-albert.
the upper canada creamery in iroquois, an hour south of ottawa, is proud of its full range of dairy products and its heritage as a “family owned and udderly different” company.
since 2000, back forty has also been operating in mississippi station west of ottawa, with a range of hand-crafted artisanal cheeses, featuring raw ewe’s milk.
one other option for cheese products is the balderson village cheese store, southwest of ottawa in lanark county. if this trade war lasts into the heat of the summer, their ice cream shop also offers up chilly treats.
meat
ottawa valley meats works with a variety of smaller family-owned farms near ottawa to deliver fresh beef, pork, poultry and lamb from free-range, 100 per cent grass-fed animals. there’s a store based in ottawa and the company also delivers.
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ketchup
savvy canadian-proud shoppers of the hamburger, hot dog and french fry topping have taken note that french’s is made in canada from tomatoes harvested near leamington, ont.
for those who want to buy local though, check out the ketchup project. kitchener-born, ottawa-bred chef david schaub makes four varieties — classic tomato, curry tomato, spicy and dill pickle — which are sold in a dozen butcher, cheese and specialty shops in the city. he also markets the product at farmer’s markets.
“i noticed there were a dozen types of mustards, barbecue sauces and hot sauces on the grocery shelves, but usually only heinz, french’s, and maybe a bargain brand of ketchup,” said schaub, who began marketing his ketchup in 2017. “i thought there’s room on that shelf for a fourth.”
his ketchup features standard basic ingredients and lower sugar content than the standard brands.
“i’m a one-man operation,” he said. “i make it, i bottle it, i put it on the tables and i deliver it to stores.”
a file photo shows cane sugar being poured into a large vat of churned chocolate at the hummingbird chocolate plant in almonte.
mike carroccetto
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postmedia
chocolate
when hershey purchased back its former plant in smiths falls from canopy growth, it was widely celebrated in the ottawa region. but the chocolate isn’t pouring out of the factory just yet.
there are a couple of local chocolate options. camino chocolate is made in ottawa, from chocolate sources from small-scale farmers elsewhere. hummingbird chocolate products come from almonte, and they sell their product at stores across ottawa.
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personal health care
alain menard and karen clark — a husband-and-wife team with science backgrounds — experimented with beakers in their kitchen to create their own self-care products. word of mouth spread from family to friends and the hawkesbury-based green beaver business was born in 2002. from toothpaste to aluminum-free deodorant to soaps and sunscreens, the products are now in more than 2,000 stores. “it’s important to tell people they can have an effect by buying canadian,” said menard, who has 36 employees. “small businesses create jobs.”
soft drinks
u.s.-based coke and pepsi are, of course, at the top of the north american pop charts, but, if you’re looking for some local soda options, some nearby breweries have you covered.
the big rig has made its mark as a popular microbrewery and restaurant in ottawa’s west end, but the place has expanded its reach to non-alcoholic drinks, too. their soft drink line — lil rig craft soda — includes caffeine-free pop that uses organic cane sugar.
meanwhile, dominion city brewing has expanded into the non-alcoholic realm with its city selzer line. their carbonated water drinks include flavours like orange and vanilla; cantaloupe and cucumber; and yuza and mandarin. meanwhile, the company says 1 per cent of their revenue is donated to the ottawa riverkeeper.
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and now on to the harder stuff.
‘our main whisky is fundamentally a bourbon except that the corn comes from ontario,’ said john criswick, founder and ceo of perth-based top shelf distillers.
julie oliver
/
postmedia
bourbon
bourbon is a type of american whiskey that’s made from a mash of grains, primarily corn, and aged in new, charred oak barrels. the term “bourbon” is a legally protected trademark in the u.s., and it’s also protected under trade agreements such as the north american treaties that u.s. president donald trump’s threatened tariffs violate.
one ottawa-area alternative to the bourbons (that could be pulled from lcbo shelves if trump puts tariffs back on the table) are the whisky products made by perth-based top shelf distillers. “our main whisky is fundamentally a bourbon except that the corn comes from ontario,” says top shelf ceo john criswick. several of top shelf’s whisky products are aged for three years in oak barrels made in kentucky.
gin
despite canadian star ryan reynolds’s former stake in american aviation gin, to be patriotic and benefit the local economy you can buy any one of a number of gins made in the ottawa area. among them are award-winning gins by vankleek hill–based dunrobin distilleries, including its artisanal gin and purple-hued earl grey gin. other local gin makers include top shelf distillers, north of 7 distillery and stratford-fox run distillery. “you could swap aviation gin for our admiral’s command,” says adam brierley, master distiller and general manager of kanata-based stratford-fox run. “gin people are very particular. this would be simply gin-for-gin.”
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vodka
if you like vodka, a made-in-ottawa alternative that stands out is almonte-based dairy distillery’s groundbreaking spirit called vodkow, which is distilled from milk byproducts and as such has a different, slightly creamy mouth feel. top shelf ceo john criswick says his vodka is corn-based “because that is the majority grain produced in ontario and it gives it a sweet flavour.” criswick adds that top shelf has sold about two million bottles of its vodka over the past decade. other local vodka makers include stratford-fox run distillery, north of 7 distillery and dunrobin distilleries.
vodkow cream from the dairy distillery in almonte.
bruce deachman
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postmedia
cream liquors
if you want to wave the canadian flag while drinking some cream liquor, avoid wisconsin-made rumchata and for that matter such famed irish creams as bailey’s. almonte-based dairy distillery has made more than a dozen flavours of cream liquors, including classical vanilla, dark roast coffee, sugar shack maple, golden bean chocolate. the innovative distillery, which got its start by distilling a vodka-like spirit from milk byproducts, uses 100 per cent canadian cream and it displays the dairy farmers of canada’s blue cow logo on its wares. dairy distillery has also created north america’s first lactose-free cream liquors.
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wine
to replace wines from california and oregon, your obvious canadian option would be opting for bottles from prince edward county or the niagara region’s 50-plus wineries. however, there are also winemakers to discover much closer to ottawa, including two just east of the city in navan. one is domaine perrault, which was launched 25 years ago when the perrault family added grape-growing and winemaking to their dairy farm. the business produces 20,000 bottles of wine annually. a little further east is vignoble clos du vully, which grows cold-climate grapes over five acres and also makes wine with wine and niagara grapes. south of ottawa, not far from kemptville, there’s the family-owned and -operated smokie ridge vineyard, which was established in 2007 and also specializes in cold-climate grapes.
the dominion city brewing company and the broadhead brewing company offer ottawa alternatives for those currently consuming american suds.
julie oliver
/
postmedia
beer
first, if you’ve made a habit of drinking american beer, can we kindly suggest that you give your head a shake? as orléans-based broadhead brewing company’s chris de carlo posted in a facebook group for ottawa’s food and beverage industry, there are about 300 breweries in ontario and roughly 40 in ottawa. in a post aimed at ottawa restaurateurs, de carlo wrote: “just about any local brewery has an answer for any american beer you want to replace, and with way better service than some multinational macro beer entity.” if you had to drink one made-in-ottawa beer for the rest of your life, a good pick would be dominion city brewing company’s sunsplit ipa.
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grocery store chain
if you’re in the market for fresh fruits and vegetables, farm boy has come a long way from its humble roots as a 300-square-foot fresh produce store that jean-louis and colette bellemare opened in cornwall in 1981. the chain, which also features butcher quality meats, artisan cheeses, fresh dairy and baked goods and a ready-to-go take-out soup and meal counter, had expanded into nepean and kanata by 1987. there are now 51 stores across ontario.
canadian apples at farm boy in ottawa.
tony caldwell
/
postmedia
this story will be updated with more products.
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