London grassroots movement looks to go national with call to boycott U.S. products

Matthew Trevithick · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 12, 2025 7:54 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

A London man's run is looking to marque a large patriotic splash, tapping into the increasing discontent of Canadians toward U.S. President Donald Trump.

It's telephone to enactment is simple: "Boycott USA, Buy Canadian."

"The lone mode that we're going to get the attraction of the mean American is if you onslaught them successful that pouch book," said Randy Young, who launched the effort earlier this period with a fewer friends.

It's each successful effect to threats of tariffs and annexation Trump has levelled astatine America's longtime ally, rattling fiscal markets and prompting Canada to enforce its ain levies, including connected electricity.

Young acceptable up a website and Facebook leafage to merchantability gait signs and different items printed with the message, hoping to rise funds to bring the telephone to much eyeballs. Any profits volition beryllium enactment toward nationalist advertizing space, helium said.

"We're going to support it going for 2 years time, we fig until the adjacent predetermination successful the U.S. We've got to permanently alteration the cognition of buying American products," helium said.

Trump's comments person led to a question of uncharacteristic vocal patriotism from Canadians. Take, for example, the autarkic refreshing of Molson's iconic "I Am Canadian" ad, oregon the caller ubiquity of "elbows up," evoking Canadian hockey fable Gordie Howe.

"Definitely, we're successful a infinitesimal of situation of nationalist identity, and it's driving radical to deliberation astir what is Canadian," said Howard Ramos, a Western University sociology professor.

He said that was particularly existent successful English Canada, whose individuality and civilization competes with the U.S. It's not communal that English Canadians articulate their individuality beyond institutions similar wellness attraction oregon bully governance, helium said.

"It's truly successful moments similar this wherever the individuality is challenged, wherever English Canadians are forced to deliberation astir what is their individuality and however to articulate it."

It's not the archetypal clip Canadians person had to analyse their nationalist identity. Ramos referenced the 1970s, erstwhile thousands of American men made their mode northbound to debar the Vietnam War draft, and the 1980 and 1995 Quebec referendums arsenic examples.

"It's truly uncommon that we've faced thing wherever we're threatened with the precise individuality of the country. We would person to spell backmost hundreds of years," helium said. He stressed that immoderate individuality Canadians rally astir shouldn't beryllium solely successful absorption to something.

CBC News recovered Young and 2 friends camped retired Sunday crossed the thoroughfare from RBC Place, wherever Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was holding a rally and positioning his enactment arsenic the lone 1 susceptible of taking connected Trump.

By mid-afternoon, Young said lone 3 gait signs and immoderate stickers had been sold, but helium remained optimistic, saying helium had already received a slew of funny telephone calls.

A tiny concern owner, Young has raised funds for Canadian causes before. From 2008 to 2012, helium says helium ran Friends of Veterans Canada, a foundation which documented the stories of Canadian veterans connected video.

"I'm doing this arsenic a work to my country, and that we each should beryllium buying Canadian products," helium said.

Other Canucks from seashore to seashore to seashore person formed oregon joined grassroots campaigns similar Young's.

"Anecdotally, we've had a batch of user inquiries astatine beforehand of stores astir which products are Canadian versus which are U.S. manufactured oregon adjacent international," said Karl Littler, the Retail Council of Canada's elder vice-president of nationalist affairs.

Most focus has been connected groceries, partially due to the fact that it's thing consumers interact with frequently, but besides due to the fact that Canadian-made products already marque up a bulk of store shelves, helium said. 

"There's immoderate anecdotal grounds that (recent) depletion patterns are really lifting that," Littler said. 

"By the aforesaid token, we don't turn bananas, we don't turn avocados … Out of necessity, determination are going to beryllium products that simply can't beryllium replaced by a Canadian product."

While it's positive shoppers are prioritizing Canadian-made products, and by hold communities and jobs, Littler cautioned against reflexive anti-Americanism, arsenic U.S. firms prosecute Canadian workers and lend to the economy.

At the aforesaid time, Canada volition need additional trading partners different than the U.S., helium said, which means Canadians volition person to beryllium unfastened to buying products from different countries.