1706045788 Half of your money leaves Quebec by buying foreign products

Half of your money leaves Quebec by buying foreign products

How does buying a local poop scooper for $4.99 serve the interests of Quebec and its businesses, its workers and its government? For the first time in Quebec, an independent company just calculated the value of local purchases — hint: it's huge.

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“If you pay $1.50 for a product that comes from somewhere else, more than half of your money is leaving Quebec,” says Roxane Popoviciu of Noba Animal in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

Purchasing a litter scoop made in China and sold at the local pet store for $1.50 is almost like transferring $0.75 to the Chinese government account. Bonus: The $4.99 Beauce-made scoop “doesn’t fart in your face after five minutes.”

All products shown here, including Roxane Popoviciu's poop scooper, are made in Quebec.  The business development director successfully uses the argument in her pitches in Ontario.

If you pay $20 for a product, that money goes a long way. The retailer makes a margin and pays taxes, the manufacturer makes a profit and is taxed, the employees receive a taxable salary, the supplier makes sales that drive the economy. If that $20 product comes from elsewhere, the tax and income/salary impact for Quebec is almost nil. Photo provided by Julien McDonald, researcher at AppEco

When the development manager makes her “pitch” in Ontario, she can certify that 80% of her products are made in Quebec. “Even there it’s a lot of trouble. That’s rare, 80%,” says the manager.

This certification is the brainchild of Produits du Québec. The 13-month-old NPO has just commissioned the company AppEco to gather evidence on the positive effects of shopping locally.

“It is a groundbreaking analysis that gives us concrete numbers,” sums up Elfi Morin, who leads the organization whose mission is to give Quebecers the opportunity to see what comes from here.

The document published on Tuesday compares 250 certified products with equivalents from other countries. The percentage of money that stays in Quebec is determined scientifically.

The impact of local purchasing is so positive for Quebec that we would be crazy not to “make more space for our products,” says the NPO happily. All products examined provide greater or equal economic benefits than their foreign competitors.

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The planet also suffers from our consumption habits. The study shows that the distance traveled by imported products produces, on average, 34% more greenhouse gas emissions than local products.

At Noba Animal, which also sells litter boxes, scratching posts and furniture for animals, we want the message to reach the consumer.

“If you produce or buy locally, you create jobs. Your money or investments all stay in Quebec,” says Roxane Popoviciu.

The plastic and molds come from a factory in Beauce, the rest is made by three employees in Sherbrooke.

With the NPO logo appearing on Noba products sold throughout Quebec, sales have increased slightly. However, “it is still too difficult” to know that they are from here.

“We need to see the logo on the shelves of all pet stores in Quebec. Everyone has to participate, we have to see the logo everywhere,” dreams Roxane Popoviciu.

Elfi Morin works there. Founded in 2022, Produits du Québec now has 150 companies participating in its certification mark program.

“Buying local isn’t necessarily more expensive. “I hope that these new findings will convince consumers and encourage our companies to highlight the origins of their products,” she says.

Cheaper local products

A La Vie en Rose bra is $10 cheaper than the American product

A Genie Outdoors cooler is $150 cheaper that the Filipino product

A wooden serving board from Noir et Bois $30 cheaper than the American product

Source: AppEco study

Produce local products

3.8 times more GDP;

2.8 times higher income for employees;

7.6 times more profit;

Supports 3.5 times more jobs.

Source: AppEco study

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