Faced with U.S. tariffs, Manitoba’s ag sector promotes Canadian goods

A Winnipeg woman hopes to bring attention to Canadian food companies while the country negotiates with the United States and boycotts its products over tariffs, and a local food producer has echoed that call.

Winnipeg resident Marnie Scott created the website, Canadian Cool Foods, which lists Canadian food companies across the country and shows their products. In an interview with the Sun in February, Scott said she created the site after she thought it was a problem for Canada that the country didn’t produce its own food supply.

“We shouldn’t be exporting everything and then importing it back,” said Scott on a phone call. “We should be producing it for ourselves. And the more we are self-sufficient, the more secure we are, and the more of a handle we have on the quality of the foods that are coming in.”

Now that Canada has come under threat of tariffs from the United States, Scott said the push for local food supply has become paramount. She told the Sun she has updated her website, which she created in 2017, where people can perform searches, such as food companies by province.

“It’s really a way to show how diversified and amazing our agri-food industry is, and that’s kind of what I’m dedicated to do,” said Scott. “We need to be supporting our own agri-food industry for a variety of reasons. Security, supply, health, quality, careers, all those good reasons.”

“That’s always sort of been what’s driven me.”

Farmery Estate Brewery of Neepawa is one Westman business Scott added to her website. The Sun reached out to brewery co-owner Lawrence Warwaruk to ask him about Scott’s website, about the movement of buying local that has taken place during tariff threats and about how his company might be impacted.

Warwaruk told the Sun he was previously unaware that the business had been listed on the Canadian Cool Foods website. He added that it’s an important cause, however, and that he’s seen similar momentum of shoppers putting an emphasis on buying Canadian goods. Warwaruk said local support is going to be critical for businesses like his because of the possibility of the U.S. interfering with free trade.

“People have to, first of all, be interested in buying local, which I believe they are,” said Warwaruk. “And I think you’re getting that groundswell of that. The thing is, we have to keep it going.”

Interference from the U.S. can have dramatic impacts on local businesses, he said, and it’s important to keep strengthening Canada’s agri-food industry. One of those steps, he said, is to ensure that retailers continue with efforts to create shelf space and sections of supermarkets dedicated to local products.

“I think for us personally, it’s going to matter, that the grocery stores and the (Manitoba Liquor & Lottery) stores help promote buying Canadian and buying local as much as possible.”

Warwaruk said he has seen a large show of support form local buyers like Safeway and Sobeys. He said that these companies have invested in local products in recent years — one example is creating local goods sections in their stores. That effort has increased since the U.S.began to threaten Canada with tariffs.

William Bygarski, former chair of the honey company Bee Made, told the Sun the company set an example of how to move away from the U.S. and do business elsewhere. He said it could be an avenue for Canadian companies to follow.

Bee Made is another company Scott featured on the Canadian Cool Foods website.

Bygarski said that during time on the board of directors at Bee Made, which spanned between 1998 and 2017, the leadership decided that the U.S. was a fickle market to export honey to. Sales were only profitable due to the exchange rate, so Bee Made decided to expand to other parts of Canada.

The Bee Made co-operative of beekeepers from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pivoted away from the south and to new markets in Canada’s east. The company successfully broke into Ontario, with growing production and sales.

As companies seek to diversify away from the U.S. over the tariff threats, Bygarski said Bee Made showed how that can be done by entering other Canadian markets. It might not be possible for everyone, but it is one example of how to adjust to the U.S. regimen today.

“Bee Made is a real success story if you look at the agri-food industry,” said Byarski at his home south of Brandon. “I think they’re one of the few companies that have done that.”

He said the company has expanded honey packaging to about 21 million pounds per year, up from six million when he joined in the late ’90s. Bygarski said Ontario sales are part of that equation, and Bee Made just invested in a new Winnipeg facility, which cost about $25 million, to increase production.

The strategy was not so much a way to freeze-out the U.S., but to invest at home and keep options open.

“It’s not that we’re not going to sell to the U.S.,” said Bygarski. “But any opportunities have to be profitable without the exchange rate for us to entertain them. You’re really driving that market then, and that market is not driving you.”

Canadian Cool Foods founder Marnie Scott agreed and said that’s one of her goals with the website is to advertise and strengthen Canada’s agri-food industry so Canada has greater control over its food market, which is great for many things such as quality food and sovereignty.

Scott told the Sun she doesn’t make any money from the website and treats it as a passion project. Today it has been highlighted by current events, as a broad wave of nationalism motivates Canadian shoppers who look for new ways to buy Canadian products to support their lifestyles.

»cmcdowell@brandonsun.com