A Canadian journalist contacted me the other day looking to get a sense of the current state of the Canadian boycott. I pointed out that it was the first time in many months that I had been contacted by anyone in the Canadian media about the issue.
I think they assumed the boycott would fizzle out. That Canadians would lose interest and return to seeking out the best deal at the grocery store, on Amazon or their favourite US tourism destination.
But that hasn't happened.
In fact, if you want to know about the growing power of the Canadian boycott, just check out coverage on the major American networks. They're reporting on how the financial pressure of a grassroots Canadian movement is beginning to shake the American economy.
We've even made the cover of New York Magazine — not that Canadians are ones to brag about such things.
In a in-depth article titled "Canada is Not for Sale," featured with the subtitle "The Canadians are Furious," journalist Simon van Zuylan-Wood, who spent two months in Canada, writes about the strong determination of Canadians to resist the MAGA threat.
He interviewed Dale Hajas, a member of The Resistance community about her experiences as a former snowbird who now refuses to fly south for the winter:
“I’ve written to every tourism outlet in the United States — and not very graciously, I swear — to tell them why I will never set foot there again. I redacted and then sent out-of-date bank statements showing what we’ve spent in the U.S. over the years.”
Dale’s story first appeared in an early instalment of our Portraits of Courage series.
Portraits of Courage — Dale's Story of Resistance
When Dale Hajas of Huntsville, Ontario, wrote to share her response to the Trump threats on our nation, she wasn't sure her story belonged in a series about courage.
CNBC sent a television team to Canada to make sense of this slow-moving economic tsunami. They predict the boycott will result in a $90 billion hit to the American economy.
Recent polling has found that 75% of Canadians are not only determined to boycott US products, but they also want those products off the shelves. Grocery store owners say they receive pressure from customers to delist American products if Canadian alternatives exist.
Let's examine the staggering collapse of the wine, beer, and spirits market. Canada was the number one export market for US alcohol. The total ban in most provinces has led to a precipitous drop in sales.
Even in Alberta, where MAGA Premier Danielle Smith tried to undermine the boycott by bringing back American alcohol, the boycott remains strong. Many Alberta liquor outlets are refusing to stock bourbon, wines and beer because they don't want to be stuck with unsold stock. Albertans are not going along with the MAGA premier; they are holding the line.
A Unique Political Pressure Point
The boycott has a long history as a political tool to hold the powerful to account. It was first used in Ireland in the 19th century to punish the landlord Charles Boycott, who had abused his tenants and evicted people from their lands.
Irish independence leader Charles Parnell helped promote this novel resistance tactic, whereby the entire population in the region refused to work for Boycott or support his business in any way during the evictions.
The tool was so powerful that Mr. Boycott went down in history, his name a synonym for this act of resistance.
Ghandi used the boycott as the tool that allowed a seemingly powerless people to bring down the British empire.
In the 1950s, the civil rights movement embraced the boycott as a nonviolent tool to force the city of Montgomery to desegregate its public transit.
And I remember, growing up, how our local parish encouraged people to boycott grapes in solidarity with the Mexican and Filipino farm workers in California. My family didn't eat grapes for decades.
But the Canadian boycott is different.
It isn’t a negotiating tactic. It wasn't organized, planned or led by anyone. The boycott is the result of an instinctual response from ordinary Canadians across the country to defy the threats and disrespect of Donald Trump.
And Trump can't do anything about it. His understanding of politics is that of a zero-sum game. He not only believes in a world defined by winners and losers but also uses his power to humiliate and degrade those he considers lesser.
From politicians and potential rivals, he demands public concessions and makes them genuflect in public.
But Donald Trump is powerless against the determination of ordinary Canadians. As powerless as Mr. Boycott, as powerless as the English overlords in India, as powerless as the racist state in Alabama, by a people who are united in nonviolent non-co-operation.
MAGA Can’t Handle It
Ambassador Pete Hoekstra recently lashed out, expressing MAGA’s rage at our unwillingness to bend. He says that Canadians are the "meanest and nastiest people."
Why? Because we refuse to give up the boycott.
Suck it up, Pete, because the boycott is growing stronger. And, it’s having a very positive impact here at home.
Ontario wine sales are up 40% and tourism across Canada is on the rise as people opt to spend money in our country rather than crossing the border. Small business organizations are astounded by the boost in sales for companies manufacturing and promoting made in Canada.
Media have asked me if the boycott will end if Trump negotiates a trade deal with Prime Minister Carney.
But that's not what this is about.
Canadians are deeply offended by witnessing the abuse of the rule of law. We are appalled that people are being kidnapped off the streets and dragged to detention centres where they are facing abuse and degradation.
At least 55 Canadians have been kidnapped. There is no way Canadians will cross the border to support a regime where cruelty and abuse have become official state policy.
The impact of the Canadian-led travel boycott, which is now being supported by people around the world, could result in $29 billion in losses to tourism and upwards of 260,000 jobs this year.
That is the power of the boycott.
So when people ask you how the boycott is going, you can tell them this:
The boycott is the front line in the fight for democracy. And the lines are holding.
And if they still don’t get it, feel free to tell them what I told New York Magazine’s Simon van Zuylan-Wood:
"Do you think I am going to let that fucking criminal take over my country?
Not a chance."
