How do I identify what counts as ‘made in Canada’ for this project? As I’ve said before, there are rules for each month, and they’re up for debate. However, for all of the products, I’m applying these (deceivingly) simple criteria:
- Gold – The product is designed, manufactured and entirely sourced in Canada.
- Silver – The product is designed and manufactured in Canada, but its constituent parts or ingredients don’t all originate here.
- Bronze – The product is designed here, but neither manufactured nor entirely sourced in Canada.
Does somebody have an Olympics hangover?
My goal is always the gold standard, but I’m afraid there will be compromises. More on this in my next post, about this month’s category of clothing. I’m also going to write about the official ‘Product of Canada’ standards that the federal government has established, which differ considerably from mine.
What do you think of my approach?
Photo by Tom Magliery.
I like the idea of gold, silver and bronze. Not sure how many GOLD products you’ll find every month, I look forward to finding out. I think the majority will be Silver.
I know cleaning products were last month but i forgot to mention Lemieux cleaning products available in bulk. Not sure if you have them out west or not, they are big here in Quebec and 100% made in Quebec all of the products are Eco friendly. https://Www.produits-Lemieux.com.
As for clothing, you can find Made in Canada at Roots (not everything, check labels). Le Chateau has a line of Made in Canada as well if you’re looking for dress shirts and dress pants. you can sometimes find stuff at The Bay, but you need to have some time to check the labels.
I’ll add other stores or brands when I think of them
https://www.canadianmade.com/retail_clothing.shtml
You can check out this website for a list of store which carry Made in Canada clothing. I’m sure you will be able to find some stores near you.
If I am not mistaken A lot of the clothes at Tilley is made in BC. All VERY good quality at reasonable prices.
I like it! Nice tie-in to the Olympics anniversary too. I believe Rocky Mountain Soap Company would get a gold or silver. They are based in Alberta but have a store on south Granville in Vancouver. I’ve been using their all natural (really!) bath and body products for the last few yrs now. Here’s a link to their product line for men:
https://www.rockymountainsoap.com/productList/1042592/1000144
I question the value of the “bronze” standard.
That is a gigantic loophole. Any product can be designed anywhere, or numerous places simultaneously.
How can you confirm that a product is actually designed in Canada?
What about product development, prototyping etc?
Design could employ one guy sitting at his home computer. Product development and prototyping could employ hundreds and manufacturing thousands.
Thoroughly agree; manufacturing is far, far, far more important than design as far as jobs and helping our economy goes. Design employs a fraction of the people that manufacturing does…
I love this site/idea/everything about it, but the “Bronze” standard holds little if any value.
The way I look at things, is if it’s not manufactured in Canada, then it’s not Made in Canada. Materials can come from other parts of the world; there is NOTHING Canadians can do about that.. but there is something we can do about WHERE it’s manufactured, and that’s what counts if you really are concerned about our economy.
I guess this is to allow for all the hurrah Fluevogs! or Lululemon! fans out there. Before Darren wrote out this standard, I blithely proclaimed myself as supporting Canadian products. Sigh. Obviously I will have to work a lot harder.