Respondents to The Logic’s latest subscriber survey are making Buy Canadian their focus this holiday season, with 85 per cent prioritizing buying domestically.

One respondent noted that until the relationship with the U.S. improves, they will “seek out other suppliers, starting with local producers.” Numerous others said they were trying to buy Canadian, but would go with other sources if that was difficult or impossible.

“Our main goal will be to vote with our wallets and do everything we can not to support the United States,” one reader said. “Their behaviour is reprehensible.” Another reader said that the U.S. “needs to feel the impact of treating Canada as a vassal state.”

A number of respondents also expressed frustration around unfavourable tax and policy conditions they said are keeping businesses from scaling up in order to meet the increased Buy Canadian demand. “That is profoundly limited now from a federal standpoint,” one subscriber said. “So it is hard to obtain the items one would like solely from Canadian sources. There have been no definitive actions taken by the federal government that provide any sort of comfort or any steps toward changing Canada’s trajectory.”

(After the close of the subscriber survey, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government announced nearly $186 million over five years in new funding to implement a Buy Canadian policy across all federal departments and to help small and medium businesses compete for government contracts.)

The Logic’s readers remain divided on how much they will spend this year during the holidays, with 36 per cent saying the economic uncertainty will definitely affect their plans while another 23 per cent said it will to some extent. They are also divided on their budgets for the season. Forty-nine per cent said they expect to spend less this year compared to previous years, and 45 per cent expect no changes. Nearly six per cent, however, are actually planning to spend more than in previous years.

A few respondents who were on a stricter budget this year said—unprompted—that they plan to reduce their spending specifically by 10 per cent. “I expect my dollar to be stretched thin, getting far less value from the same spending due to inflation and tariffs,” one subscriber said.

Among those looking to cut back, many expressed a desire for “less is more,” reorienting their focus toward having experiences rather than physical gifts.

Another priority this season is supporting local businesses, with some readers actively moving away from large retailers, especially U.S.-based retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon, etc. 

Sixty per cent of respondents say they frequently or always rely on online shopping for the holidays, with a few saying it’s good for “hard to find” items or avoiding the “buying frenzy” in brick-and-mortar stores.

Asked about their go-to ways to shop, 82 per cent of respondents said in-store shopping through local businesses was among their preferred methods, while 38 per cent supported the same businesses’ online storefronts. “This will be a change from previous years, where I favoured online retailers like Amazon,” said one reader, who said they’re now actively avoiding those companies whenever possible. Another reader said that they are “tired of tech monopolies and their subsequent political actions,” and are going to focus on “local as much as possible.”