Remember the pandemic?
Yeah, who could forget?
During that time, “buy local” became a massive movement. People supported local businesses to avoid supply chain issues and help them survive tough times. But as life returned to normal, so did shopping habits—big box stores and Amazon regained their dominance, and many local businesses struggled to compete.
Now, thanks to Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on Canadian goods (and Canada’s possible tariff retaliation), people are again turning to local products to avoid anything American-made. The backlash against the tariffs, along with Trump’s outrageous idea that Canada should be the U.S.’s 51st state, has fired up Canadians. Many are now refusing to buy U.S. products altogether.
Take the Made in Canada website, for example—it typically gets between 1,000 and 5,000 visits a month. Since the tariff threats? Traffic has exploded into the hundreds of thousands. The Made in Alberta site is seeing the same surge in interest.
With Trump claiming that Canada isn’t “viable as a country,” Canadians are proving him wrong by doubling down on buying homegrown products and services, cancelling their planned vacations to the US to stay and explore in Canada or going abroad elsewhere. Canadians have even stopped buying American booze; now that shows commitment!
As Charlie Angus, a Canadian Member of Parliament, put it, “What makes the Canada 2025 boycott unique is that no one organized it. There are no leaders. There is no strategic team looking to use it as a negotiating tool. This resistance campaign has sprung from the determination of ordinary people to resist tyranny.”
Albertans have jumped on the U.S. Boycott in full force, with many Alberta businesses highlighting Canadian-made products in their stores.
Businesses, like the Village Flatbread in Calgary, emphasize how they have always used only Canadian-made products with a note on social media from founder Ryan J Wright stating: “If you’re randomly and suddenly feeling the urge to buy local, I’d like to remind you we’ve been on that tip since the beginning. WE (and by extension YOU) buy direct from Canadian and specifically local Albertan farms and producers. Support Alberta, Support Canada. Support your Village.”
Alberta APPtitude to the Rescue
But outside of specialty stores, knowing what to buy in the grocery store is complicated especially if you’re are trying to avoid U.S. products. However several Alberta app developers are making it easier for Albertans to identify Canadian-made products in grocery stores.
For instance, mother-and-son duo Cathy and Ryan Checora have launched O SCANada, an AI-powered app available on the Apple App Store. The free app helps shoppers determine whether a product is Canadian by scanning its barcode or entering its name in the search bar. If the product isn’t Canadian, the app suggests alternative Canadian-made options.
Two Edmonton entrepreneurs, Matthew Suddaby and William Boytinck, have created a free app called Shop Canadian that is available Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. It lets people scan barcodes to learn if a product is made in Canada.
When asked how the app works, Suddaby said, “It’s really simple. All you have to do is pull out your phone, find a barcode, scan it, and it will show you the results. Right now, it will look at a database of company registrations for product codes, and then it will show you if that company is registered in Canada, the U.S., or elsewhere.”
Finally, Alexander (Sasha) Ivanov created Maple Scan, which is available on the Apple App Store and in beta form on the Google Play Store, which, like the previous apps, lets you know if a product is Canadian or not, gives you alternatives for non-Canadian products and even gives you tariff insights letting you know, if the imported products have tariffs or special taxes applied.
Helping Shoppers
TheRockies.Life caught up with Sasha Ivanov, asking him the why and how behind developing Maple Scan.
When did you first get the idea of creating an app to help people find Canadian products?
On Saturday, February 1, I was watching a news segment about the proposed tariffs and how to determine if a product is Canadian using “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” labelling. I felt like this was a good start, but also had its limitations:
- Many times, looking at many labels can be time-consuming and doesn’t really help in finding alternative products.
- It’s hard to determine which products genuinely support Canada. For example, many car manufacturers have facilities in Canada, but the companies themselves are not Canadian. I believe it’s still valuable to support businesses that invest in our country, even if they aren’t Canadian-owned.
- It’s unclear which products will be impacted by the potential tariffs.
- I felt an urge to help Canadians and suddenly had the idea. As an app developer familiar with designing for AI systems, I realized I could create a solution that addresses these challenges.
How long did it take to go from an idea to an actual app that people could download?
The very next morning, on Sunday, February 2, I started creating mockups in Figma and building the app in Xcode. By Monday evening, February 3, I had a working prototype and shared a closed beta on TestFlight with family and friends. This allowed me to gather feedback and ensure the app was accurate and high quality before releasing it to the public.
Why are you giving away the app for free?
Making the app, I had no idea it was going to get this much traction! This is ultimately a passion project and something I wanted to give back to Canadians in these uncertain times. With more people using it, I’m motivated to keep adding features and improving the app to make it the best choice for Canadians looking for local products. Over the past few weeks, I’ve felt a strong sense of unity across Canada, and this was my way of contributing.
The app actually does cost me money every time someone uses it due to photo processing fees. In the future, I hope to work with local brands and Canadian organizations to sponsor the app and potentially feature their products to help offset these costs.
How important is it for Canadians to shop for Canada-made products?
I’ve always valued shopping locally, visiting cafés and farmers’ markets in my hometown of Calgary. Supporting local businesses directly helps our communities grow. Recent events have only reinforced this importance. Many Canadians I’ve spoken with say their buying habits have permanently changed, regardless of what happens with the upcoming tariff proposals.
What has the response to your app been like so far?
The response has been incredible. Within a week of launch, the app reached the number 24 spot in the Shopping category on the iOS App Store. Over 2,000 people downloaded it in the first few days, and I anticipate that number to double over the weekend.
What are your future plans?
Right now, I’m focused on growing Maple Scan, but long term, I’m passionate about using cutting-edge technologies to solve real-world problems for Canada and beyond.
Canada has played a major role in AI research. Geoffrey Hinton helped pioneer deep learning at the University of Toronto, while Richard S. Sutton in Alberta developed reinforcement learning, a key technique behind AI breakthroughs like AlphaGo. Ilya Sutskever, a former U of T student, even went on to found OpenAI.
With so much top talent coming from Canada, I believe it’s crucial to invest in our own ecosystem.
Canada For the Long Term
Congratulations to all the fantastic companies that work hard to source local Alberta or Canada-made products and people like Sasha who make it easier for us to find local products.
Buying local isn’t just a choice—and it is more than giving Trump the middle finger–it’s an investment in Alberta and Canada’s economy, environment, and future! 🌱🇨🇦
