B.C. Premier David Eby, along with other premiers, is calling on residents to buy local whenever and wherever possible as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to threaten tariffs on Canadian goods.
While many British Columbians are no doubt trying to do that, Dr. Lenore Newman, the director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, told Global News that it might be a hard time of year to do so.
“One problem is consumers can’t do this alone because it’s winter,” she said. “And unfortunately, we don’t have as much choice as we’d like because we badly neglected our processing sector in B.C. And so the government needs to address that right away.”
Newman explained that less and less food is processed locally than before.
“So, for example, we don’t have potato processing,” she said.
“We’ve lost about 70 per cent of our potato farmers over the last 20 years. Alberta built potato processing and now they’re a potato processing superpower.”
She said that needs to change in B.C. because right now about 80 per cent of the province’s fruits and vegetables either come from California, or if they are grown in the province, they are being shipped south of the border, processed there and then sent back.
“We need to stop that immediately,” Newman said. “So immediate reform to the processing regulations is probably the easiest low-hanging fruit. There’s a lot of other things we need to do too, but that one-step win isn’t trivial, so we should do it immediately.”
Newman said chicken, eggs and dairy are processed in B.C. so buyers can look for local products.
Steven Kieboom, owner-operator of The Local Boom giftshop in Vancouver sells local and Canadian products.
“It’s something that should have been done already, or in the past,” he told Global News of the premier’s message.
“I’m glad it’s being talked about at a higher level.”
Kieboom added that he would like to see some more incentives for local companies to help them start their business.
“More stores should be looking for Canadian-made stuff,” he said.
Newman pointed out that interprovincial trade could also help consumers access local products.
“That’s another low-hanging fruit,” she said. “Interprovincial trade should be easy, and it’s going to need to be easy to maintain supply and keep prices down.”
Newman added that B.C. also needs to be “aggressively” building trade relationships outside of the United States.
“Because all our eggs in one basket has been a bit of a weakness,” she said.
“And we’re we’re feeling that right now. So we need to be aggressively building our influence around the Pacific Rim and with Europe and make sure that we have other places to turn to to buy and sell goods.”