Trade war gives Canadians a chance to enrich our own billionaires rather than U.S. billionaires

But keep in mind that some "Canadian" companies are not owned domestically

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      Three things are certain with the Trudeau government's decision to impose 10 percent tariffs on a wide range of American products used by consumers.

      First, it will result in a lot of revenue suddenly flowing into the government treasury as U.S. producers of toilet paper, pizzas, orange juice, and many other goods fork over fees to sell their wares north of the border.

      Secondly, it means that Canadians will be more likely to buy Royale over Scott, McCain over DeLissio, and Sun-Rype beverages over brands created by the Florida-based United Juice Companies of America, and so forth.

      Thirdly, companies controlled by Canadians are going to market their domestic connections in upcoming advertising campaigns.

      It's already started with Royale, which is owned by the Irving family of New Brunswick. The unspoken message in its TV spots is that it's downright unpatriotic to wipe your ass with Scott.

      McCain Foods was created by the McCain family, which is also originally from New Brunswick. How long will it be until we see a prominent Canadian reference appearing on its boxes in frozen-food sections?

      Sun-Rype foods is owned by Vancouver businessman Jimmy Pattison, who's as Canadian as they come, having grown up poor on the city's East Side during the Great Depression.

      All have been billionaires for many years.

      The upside of buying from them is that they conduct most of their philanthropy in Canada.

      Pattison, for example, recently announced a $70-million contribution to help build a new hospital in Vancouver. He's donated many more millions to other health-care facilities. 

      The Royale brand is truly Canadian as it's owned by the Irving family in New Brunswick.

      But expect some patriotic Canadian consumers to be confused when it comes to other products. 

      Take whiskies, for example.

      Many probably think that Crown Royal or Canadian Club have Canadian owners because they were created in this country and are still distilled in Gimli, Manitoba, and Windsor, Ontario, respectively.

      However, the Crown Royal brand was bought by U.K.-based Diageo when the Seagram empire was sold off in 2000.

      Hiram Walker & Sons Limited, which distills Canadian Club, is owned by the French company Pernod Ricard S.A. It's been a supporter of bullfighting, which hasn't endeared it to French consumers.

      Canadian Club also used to be part of the Seagram empire.

      Nowadays, the booze market has been globalized to an incredible degree. This means even a brand like Molson Canadian is controlled by a company with a head office in Denver, Colorado.

      Tim Hortons, that paragon of small-town Canada, merged with Burger King in 2014, creating a new company called Restaurant Brands International Inc. 

      It still has a head office in Canada, but it's 51 percent owned by a Brazilian investment company, 3G Capital, which previously owned Burger King.

      Brazilians are also major shareholders in a Belgium-based corporation called Anheuser-Busch InBev, a.k.a. AB InBev. It owns the fabled Canadian beer company Labatt.

      Even buying ketchup isn't as straightforward as it used to be.

      When Heinz shut down its plant in Leamington, Ontario, Canadians decided en masse to buy ketchup produced by French's.

      That's because French's was still being made in Canada.

      But last year, a Maryland-based corporation, McCormick & Company, bought this division of Reckitt Benckiser, which itself has a head office in the United Kingdom.

      To its credit, McCormick & Company has a more progressive and transparent policy than most corporations when it comes to political donations.

      In the heyday of economic nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s, buying Canadian meant purchasing products from companies that were owned by Canadians.

      After decades of globalization and free trade, it's morphing into something else.

      It's starting to mean buying from companies that create products in Canada, no matter where their head office is, no matter where the profits flow, and no matter where any corporate philanthropy takes place.

      And sometimes, these corporate entanglements are enough to make your head spin.

      Who knew that pouring a glass of Canadian Club meant that you, as a consumer, were somehow implicated in bullfighting?

      Or that buying Molson Canadian was enriching the Coors family, which has been one of the largest funders of right-wing causes in the United States.

      This eventually led to the election of America's quasi-fascist president, Donald Trump, who's now waging economic war on Canada and separating immigrant children from their parents.

      It's enough to drive a liberal-minded, medicare-loving Canadian to drink.

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