Business evidence showing impact of boycotts

Opinion

Anecdotal information is one thing: hard numbers are something else again.

If you’re angry about U.S. President Donald Trump and the Trump tariffs, it may lift your spirits to see photos of an empty U.S. Customs hall at Toronto’s Pearson Airport. Likewise, you may get a lift from seeing others in the grocery store diligently checking for where products come from, and subsequently putting American products back on the shelf.

A grocery store pile of untouched, deeply discounted American strawberries may also engender some delicious schadenfreude (or would it be schadenfruite?), but hardly constitutes empirical proof of successful boycotting.

The problem is that those are just moments in time, not clear evidence of a significant change in the marketplace.

But just the way the impact of climate change shows up in the actions and rates of the insurance industry — with companies completely refusing to insure properties in some areas, and dramatically raising rates in others — the impact of Canadian boycotts of American travel destinations and American products is getting attention in the business world.

Quickly.

Canadian airlines have been seeing a falloff in passenger loads, and are correspondingly changing flights. Air Canada is cutting back flights to sunny American hot spots like Arizona, Florida and Las Vegas by 10 per cent, while WestJet is noticing a change from American destinations to the Caribbean and Mexico. Flair is showing a 24 per cent decline in U.S. flights. (The weak Canadian dollar may also be playing a role in Canadians eschewing travel to the U.S.)

Now there are starting to be signs that anti-American boycotts at grocery stores are starting to leave a mark.

In a quarterly earnings call on Thursday, Empire Corp. CEO Michael Medline said that sales of American-made products are “rapidly dropping” as customers push for alternatives.

“We have heard loud and clear from our customers that they want Canadian products,” Medline said.

Empire operates grocery stores under the Safeway, FreshCo, IGA and Sobeys banners, and Medline said his company is rapidly finding alternatives for the roughly 12 per cent of its products that come from the U.S., and asking suppliers that have alternative manufacturing options to supply products from non-U.S. sources.

Other grocery stores are pushing “Buy Canadian” programs and are flagging Canadian-made products.

It’s a sign that boycotts work — even if the message may not immediately be getting across to American suppliers, simply because the Canadian market is significantly smaller than its American counterpart.

Still, it’s one small thing that Canadians can do to exert some control to overcome the feelings of anger and hopelessness that comes with Trump’s repeated attacks on a former friendly neighbour. There’s obviously no sign that Trump himself is paying any attention to the actions of Canadian consumers — but then again, there’s no sign he is paying attention to anything except his own interpretation of an 1890s U.S. theory of tariff economics.

If you’re among those boycotting, don’t forget that there are other American targets that may be worthy of your attention. Though it’s difficult and perhaps troubling to boycott the Amazons of the world — simply because firms like Amazon employ many Canadians — digital and streaming services like Netflix that simply hive money out of the country to American head offices are ripe for a disconnect.

And don’t be afraid to ask questions wherever you shop: where is it made, are there other options, and especially, are there Canadian alternatives?

Keeping money in Canada, working its way around the Canadian economy, means a more healthy economy for all Canadians, and makes it easier to weather the current tariff storm.

Remember the old business adage — the customer is always right. And if the customer wants non-American alternatives and makes that clearly known, businesses will pay attention.