When you have written an opinion piece on any subject weekly for a quarter of a century, you come to truly appreciate when someone takes the time to send off an email regarding the effort.
Admittedly, it’s even more appreciated when it is a positive response.
So it was appreciated recently when I received a message relating to the closure of the Kellogg’s plant in London, Ont.
Kellogg’s had a long history in Canada and London in particular.
Its Corn Flakes were introduced to Canada in 1914, and the London plant was purchased in 1924.
In 1984, the plant underwent a $223-million expansion.
By 2005, it was producing 104 million kilograms of product, but by 2014 that was down to 54 million kilograms, and two days before Christmas that year the plant closed.
Now it’s not that Kellogg’s breakfast products are no longer on store shelves. It’s just that they are now made in another country and shipped to Canada for distribution to stores.
The situation is not unique, as the email noted by forwarding a list of facilities closed in Canada. Many of the products were now made outside of Canada, such as the candy made after the closure of the Hershey plant in Smith Falls, Ont. several years ago.
The overall gist of the email was simple enough, and said that perhaps Canadian consumers should spend some time looking at labels and making purchase decisions based upon where the product was made.
It seems like a rather simple idea to buy Canadian to protect jobs in this country.
It tends to run counter to the philosophy of free trade and open borders, which politicians seem intent on pushing for by way of being signatories to various trade deals. Unfortunately, politics and public desires are often not in sync.
In some respects, label gazing to buy Canadian is just an extension of ideas such as the 100-mile diet, whereby consumers look to buy from local sources as a way to better understand their food supply.
The idea of buying locally, or nationally, for that matter, should be pretty straightforward.
Most chambers of commerce will be supportive of the idea of buying locally, though they don’t mind dollars arriving from the next town down the road either. Buying locally is always a good concept to hold dear.
Certainly, it’s a balancing act.
Consumers have budgets, and there has to be a consideration of price, whether it’s a car, a shirt, or a dozen eggs.
But there also is the question of how many jobs we are willing to see transferred beyond our borders before we decide buying Canada-first should at least be part of the equation when patrolling food aisles, or buying a light bulb.
And that extends very naturally to thinking of our food at least in terms of at least a Canadian diet with milk, cheese, eggs, and pork raised and processed here in this country. Now that is certainly food for thought.
