So proud of my fellow Canadians for voting with their wallets! We have learned to spend our money in a way that benefits our own country and our own citizens. Let’s keep it going for decades to come. Canada proud 🇨🇦
Good for you, Canada. I'm proud of our Northern neighbors for taking a stand against the stupidity of 70 million 'merkans. We don't deserve your friendship or your dollars untill we get our act together and prove to you we can, once again be good neighbors.
We are, quite simply, helping our American family & friends by allowing our distaste for your leaders ruthless actions & murders of the innocents & other good people shoved into empty warehouses, people murdered in public, Minnesota tears are shed & the song, Minnesota, made our hearts cry, for you all. We'll be back when HE is gone :( In the meantime, we pray for you <3
We used to always buy N.A. cars. Shop local. But I saw an ad for a foreign vehicle and thought Why not? Better mileage, often more reliable. Of course parts are usually more But who really knows in a Trump economic world?? Up is down and down is up. It just struck me how much my mind reacts to US products now. The longer this goes, the deeper it gets.
Thank you Fred! And thank you Canada. I am boycotting American products, but unfortunately the Media over here are making too much noise about Keir Starmer to encourage the British to do the same. I am sure there are others like myself who are ignoring McDonald’s and KFC because they have upped their advertising, which is a sure sign that their business is not thriving! Anyway Elbows Up Canada! I love you 🏴
People tend to think only about hotels and restaurants, but sales taxes, tourism taxes, airport fees, and local spending all feed city and state budgets too.
The boycott explicitly included American streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+.  But polling told a more nuanced story. A Leger survey found that while 81% of Canadians had significantly increased or planned to increase their purchases of Canadian-made products, only 28% said they had cancelled or would cancel U.S. streaming subscriptions. Quebec was highest at 36%; Alberta lowest at 14%. 
The main barrier: no compelling Canadian alternative. An academic at McMaster University noted that many people may be unwilling to give up American streaming because they don’t see equivalent alternatives — “if there’s a perceived cost or we don’t think things are equivalent, then we don’t like it.”  Some did switch to Canadian service Crave, but it’s a niche audience.
Amazon — Easier to Quit the Store, Impossible to Quit the Cloud
Polling found 41% of Canadians reported they would stop using or buy less on Amazon, and 18% said they would cancel Amazon Prime subscriptions specifically. 
But the deeper problem is AWS. Amazon Web Services accounts for nearly 60% of Amazon’s operating profit, and an enormous number of services Canadians use daily run on it — including Netflix, Airbnb, Disney+, Reddit, CBC, The Globe and Mail, and even the federal government and the Government of Ontario.  One Globe and Mail journalist who tried a two-week Amazon boycott discovered that avoiding AWS was essentially impossible — cancelling Prime Video was easy, but the underlying cloud infrastructure is inescapable.
IT Services Broadly — The Hardest Category
This is where the boycott runs into a wall. Multiple apps were created to help Canadians identify and avoid American products — “Buy Beaver,” “Maple Scan,” “O SCANada” — with Maple Scan reaching the top 4 on the Canadian iPhone App Store.  But those very apps likely run on American cloud infrastructure.
The digital economy is so deeply intertwined with U.S. tech (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Salesforce, etc.) that meaningful substitution at the IT services level essentially doesn’t exist for most Canadian consumers or businesses on any short timeline.
Bottom line: The boycott was most effective where Canadian substitutes existed — groceries, alcohol, travel. For streaming it was more symbolic than substantial. For Amazon’s retail arm there was some real pullback. But for cloud and IT infrastructure, the U.S. grip is so deep that avoidance is largely theoretical.
So proud of my fellow Canadians for voting with their wallets! We have learned to spend our money in a way that benefits our own country and our own citizens. Let’s keep it going for decades to come. Canada proud 🇨🇦
Proud of us too, Eliza...
Canadians may be polite… but we’re finally learning that
where we spend our money matters.
Quietly powerful. 🍁
Good for you, Canada. I'm proud of our Northern neighbors for taking a stand against the stupidity of 70 million 'merkans. We don't deserve your friendship or your dollars untill we get our act together and prove to you we can, once again be good neighbors.
Thanks Todd. 🇨🇦🍁
This was never really about regular Americans.
Good neighbours are still good neighbours.
We just need the politics to catch up.
We are, quite simply, helping our American family & friends by allowing our distaste for your leaders ruthless actions & murders of the innocents & other good people shoved into empty warehouses, people murdered in public, Minnesota tears are shed & the song, Minnesota, made our hearts cry, for you all. We'll be back when HE is gone :( In the meantime, we pray for you <3
Patsy, I think a lot of Canadians feel the heartbreak in this. 💔
Most of us still care deeply about ordinary Americans.
Sometimes stepping back is the only way people know how to say,
“this isn’t okay.”
We’ll all be better off when good neighbours feel like good neighbours again.
You read my mind Fred. Yes, we will be back when things change for the better<3
Just as it should be CA.
We used to always buy N.A. cars. Shop local. But I saw an ad for a foreign vehicle and thought Why not? Better mileage, often more reliable. Of course parts are usually more But who really knows in a Trump economic world?? Up is down and down is up. It just struck me how much my mind reacts to US products now. The longer this goes, the deeper it gets.
I think a lot of Canadians relate to this, Rebecca.
What starts as frustration slowly turns into habit.
You pause, rethink, compare options…
and before long the old automatic choices don’t feel so automatic anymore.
Thank you Fred! And thank you Canada. I am boycotting American products, but unfortunately the Media over here are making too much noise about Keir Starmer to encourage the British to do the same. I am sure there are others like myself who are ignoring McDonald’s and KFC because they have upped their advertising, which is a sure sign that their business is not thriving! Anyway Elbows Up Canada! I love you 🏴
That means a lot, Penny. 🇨🇦❤️🏴
And trust me... many Canadians know this isn’t just a Canadian conversation anymore.
A lot of ordinary people around the world are quietly paying attention and making choices too.
Elbows up… and big hugs back from Canada. 🍁
The biggest impact will be to City and State budgets. Canadians pay billions in sales taxes which fund cities and states.
Wait till that kicks in
That’s a really good point, L M.
People tend to think only about hotels and restaurants, but sales taxes, tourism taxes, airport fees, and local spending all feed city and state budgets too.
These things usually show up slowly…
then all at once when budget season arrives.
Any idea if our consumer spending vis-a-vis the US has changed? Have we reduced our use of streaming services or Amazon, etc?
Thanks for the response. I asked Claude; here is the response:
The short answer: intention was strong, follow-through was mixed — and the deeper you go into digital infrastructure, the harder boycotting becomes.
Streaming Services — Intent Strong, Cancellations Limited
The boycott explicitly included American streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+.  But polling told a more nuanced story. A Leger survey found that while 81% of Canadians had significantly increased or planned to increase their purchases of Canadian-made products, only 28% said they had cancelled or would cancel U.S. streaming subscriptions. Quebec was highest at 36%; Alberta lowest at 14%. 
The main barrier: no compelling Canadian alternative. An academic at McMaster University noted that many people may be unwilling to give up American streaming because they don’t see equivalent alternatives — “if there’s a perceived cost or we don’t think things are equivalent, then we don’t like it.”  Some did switch to Canadian service Crave, but it’s a niche audience.
Amazon — Easier to Quit the Store, Impossible to Quit the Cloud
Polling found 41% of Canadians reported they would stop using or buy less on Amazon, and 18% said they would cancel Amazon Prime subscriptions specifically. 
But the deeper problem is AWS. Amazon Web Services accounts for nearly 60% of Amazon’s operating profit, and an enormous number of services Canadians use daily run on it — including Netflix, Airbnb, Disney+, Reddit, CBC, The Globe and Mail, and even the federal government and the Government of Ontario.  One Globe and Mail journalist who tried a two-week Amazon boycott discovered that avoiding AWS was essentially impossible — cancelling Prime Video was easy, but the underlying cloud infrastructure is inescapable.
IT Services Broadly — The Hardest Category
This is where the boycott runs into a wall. Multiple apps were created to help Canadians identify and avoid American products — “Buy Beaver,” “Maple Scan,” “O SCANada” — with Maple Scan reaching the top 4 on the Canadian iPhone App Store.  But those very apps likely run on American cloud infrastructure.
The digital economy is so deeply intertwined with U.S. tech (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Salesforce, etc.) that meaningful substitution at the IT services level essentially doesn’t exist for most Canadian consumers or businesses on any short timeline.
Bottom line: The boycott was most effective where Canadian substitutes existed — groceries, alcohol, travel. For streaming it was more symbolic than substantial. For Amazon’s retail arm there was some real pullback. But for cloud and IT infrastructure, the U.S. grip is so deep that avoidance is largely theoretical.
Good question, Robert...
Early signs suggest yes, at least somewhat, but it’s harder to measure than border crossings.
Travel, booze, and some retail shifts show up quickly in the data.
Streaming services, Amazon, subscriptions, online spending?
That’s murkier because a lot of it happens quietly in the background.
My gut says some Canadians are definitely rethinking spending habits...
especially Amazon and “buy local” choices...
but I haven’t seen hard numbers yet strong enough to say “here’s the real trend.”
Wouldn’t surprise me if that data starts showing up soon though.
The longer this drags on, the more habits seem to shift.
Bravo Canada!!
❤️🇨🇦❤️💪
Once again Fred, I appreciate you hitting the nail on the head! Thank you my friend! Canada Strong!!! 🍁
Thanks Patsy 😊
Just trying to translate the chaos into plain English...
so we can all make sense of it together.
Canada Strong!!! 🍁
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