Made In Canada - Sometimes

What an absurd travesty of marketing and sourcing assurances. Canadian shoppers, peering at the packaging containing food and in fact, goods of all kinds, take comfort when they read those reassuring little words "made in Canada", or "product of Canada".

When, in fact, raw materials for clothing, for products of all manufactured goods can in reality have been manufactured elsewhere and brought into Canada, to be "finished". "Finishing" can represent a very small piece of the manufacturing puzzle, but it suffices for that reassuring label of "made in Canada".

Spices, nuts, pulses and all manner of food brought into the country in bulk, then packaged in neat little individual packets for sale can be labelled "product of Canada". As shoppers we feel we can trust these goods to be free of contaminants because of Canada's oversight in the production of foods for the home market, as well as for shipment elsewhere.

But the sad and silly fact is that under Canadian labelling guidelines that trust is misplaced.

If 51% of production costs are incurred in Canada, even if the primary product is sourced outside the country, costs relating to labour, transportation and packaging permit imported food to be labelled as a product of Canada.

We don't really know the derivation of the food we're eating, the drinks we're imbibing, as a result; we only think we do, because we're encouraged to believe the labelling.

Shoppers who go out of their way to ensure that the food they buy, the hard goods they purchase, are grown or manufactured in Canada as the country of origin, are being hoodwinked, and that's truly absurd.

A garment can be made in Indonesia; the fabric, the cutting, the sewing, but if a hem is sewn in Canada, and a label affixed, it can be labelled erroneously and no one the wiser for it.

This isn't always the case, it's true. Scrupulous packagers will ensure that the packing states its made-in-Canada origin, while in fine print elsewhere will appear the origin of the goods contained therein as originating in another country.

Wouldn't it be more sensible, ethical and honestly reassuring if labelling across the board was accurate in identifying country of origin, regardless of where it was packaged?