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I just gave Zhers as an example of a Canadian store. I'm the most canny foodshopper that exists and I never pay one cent more for any food item than I have to. I do shop at Zhers once pre week for particular items. I buy Yogurt, Juice, salad and baked goods there and they are always marked 50% off. They are almost at their stale date and therefore marked down. I can not save any money at all grocery shopping in the USA because of the way I shop. I read their flyers every week and I can save more shopping here. I live close to many food stores and I have my favorites for certain things. For example I often buy my bananas at Lococo's for 39 cents a pound. While I'm there if they have some other really good deals I will take advantage of them. They often have great deals on meats. I buy a lot of meat at Big Red meat market in Thorold. I have to go there in any case to pick up the special meat orders my wife places for her homemade dog food.
Lucknow, you can definitely save big on certain items in the U.S... chicken is half price or even less. Leg quarters 69 cents a lb. at Wegmans. Chicken breast 1.99 a lb. sometimes on sale for less. Milk is $2 a gallon, even the brands that do NOT use rBST hormones. Packaged goods like cereals... generic brands under $2 at Price rite or Aldi and just as good as the real brand. Ketchup... hot sauce... etc. etc. all cheaper in U.S.
Beef, lamb, duck, etc. about the same in Canada... Chicken is the main exception.
Lucknow, you can definitely save big on certain items in the U.S... chicken is half price or even less. Leg quarters 69 cents a lb. at Wegmans. Chicken breast 1.99 a lb. sometimes on sale for less. Milk is $2 a gallon, even the brands that do NOT use rBST hormones. Packaged goods like cereals... generic brands under $2 at Price rite or Aldi and just as good as the real brand. Ketchup... hot sauce... etc. etc. all cheaper in U.S.
Beef, lamb, duck, etc. about the same in Canada... Chicken is the main exception.
On those items that I might be able to save a few dollars on I would rather pay a little more and support our Canadian farmers.
Well my family is on a budget so it's a no-brainer... pay $10 for 5 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts vs. paying $20 to $25 for the same thing in Canada... no thanks, I'll put that extra money towards paying the high gas prices so I can get to work.
When the Canadian farmers start supporting me by lowering their prices, then I'll support them by buying their product. Sounds like a fair trade to me, eh?
Well my family is on a budget so it's a no-brainer... pay $10 for 5 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts vs. paying $20 to $25 for the same thing in Canada... no thanks, I'll put that extra money towards paying the high gas prices so I can get to work.
When the Canadian farmers start supporting me by lowering their prices, then I'll support them by buying their product. Sounds like a fair trade to me, eh?
It's not as simple as that. You are getting your cheaper US chicken thanks to American tax payers who subsidize every pound of chicken produced. If Canadian chicken farmers reduced their prices they would make nothing at all and would therefore go out of business.
I have never heard of a chicken subsidy, please show me some proof. I have heard of grain subsidies which reduce the cost of grain, but that would equally benefit chicken producers anywhere in NAFTA territory. This website: Does the United States government subsidize chicken farming? | Answerbag states that there are no chicken subsidies. A Google search did not show any government subsidies for chicken.
Do Canadian beef farmers go out of business for selling their product so cheaply? Why is chicken more costly than beef, pound for pound, in Canada? Chicken is cheaper to produce. The only real answer is a cartel controlling the production and price of the commodity, so as to protect small individual farms from competition from large producers. Otherwise a large producer would come in, economies of scale would allow them to sell at a much lower price.
I was shopping in a rather large store owned by one of these large American companies yesterday.
I tried to pinpoint all of the adaptations that it had to make in order to operate in Quebec in French: in-store signage (not just big signs, but all those little thingies on the shelves that say "Ziploc QTY 50 ECONOPAK UNIT PRICE XXX), computer software on cash registers and hand-held price checkers, staff training manuals and other materials, labelling, architectural plans, dealings with municipalities, police, fire departments; TV, radio and print ad campaigns, websites, major adjustments to inventory to stock French language magazines, books, DVDs, CDs, video games, toys, etc.
I am sure I am missing some as well.
So they have done all of this pretty much without saying "boo!", but are going to fly the coop because they might be required to add the word "ENTREPÔT" or "MAGASIN" to one or two signs outside the store?
As for the word Walmart? the French culture has to be protected at all costs and just the word Walmart standing alone sends fear into the hearts of the likes of Mrs Marois and her legions of xenaphobes.[/url]
If French culture's very existence is that threatened by a sign with Wal-Mart standing alone within Quebec's borders, then French culture is already doomed. The cold truth of the matter is if a culture requires protection to exist, it isn't worth protecting in the first place. Culture is a reflection of a population's beliefs, attitudes, customs and behaviors, not some government's ideal of such.
If French culture's very existence is that threatened by a sign with Wal-Mart standing alone within Quebec's borders, then French culture is already doomed. The cold truth of the matter is if a culture requires protection to exist, it isn't worth protecting in the first place. Culture is a reflection of a population's beliefs, attitudes, customs and behaviors, not some government's ideal of such.
So you would disagree with the existence of the CRTC and Canadian content (CanCon) rules then? Because most of these things actually exist chiefly in order to protect English Canadian culture from total American domination?
Most francophone culture in Quebec would exist without this type of CanCon protection. A good example that proves this is the most popular TV network in Quebec is privately-owned TVA, which largely dominates the ratings. According to CanCon rules for prime time TV (apply to both English and French networks across Canada), TVA has to air roughly one third Canadian programming in prime time. Yet TVA airs roughly 85% Canadian programming in prime time, a business decision that it obviously feels allows it to stay atop the ratings heap.
English Canadian culture is every bit as "protected" and propped up, if not more, by government policies than French Canadian culture is.
Last edited by Acajack; 02-13-2013 at 10:35 AM..
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