Cross-Border Convictions: Analyzing the Drivers of Buying Canadian

On May 5, Prime Minister Mark Carney made his first visit to the White House to meet with President Trump.

As usual, tariffs and annexation were on the menu. Canadians, however, have not been waiting for our political leaders to resolve this crisis. They are taking actions into their own hands, and continue to “buy Canadian” whenever and wherever possible, especially Boomers, as our Nuanced Nationalism paper argued. Today, we want to explore what’s driving that persistent behaviour change, as the “buy Canadian” moment inches towards being a movement.

Using a MAPS Framework for Behavioural Change, we examined Canadians’ shopping behaviours, including buying Canadian products or services, avoiding American products or services, avoiding shopping at American retailers, and avoiding travel to the U.S. These are all things Canadians tell us they have been doing over the past two months. It’s one thing for Canadians to loudly declare their patriotism – and even demonstrate it with their purchasing habits – in a fury of anger at the tariffs and annexation threat. But anger is a surface emotion. We set out to establish what might be motivating them below the surface. The results are surprising.

Here’s what we found. Download our POV here.

Download Now