File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Two and Out

PETERS: Shopping local cures most supply chain headaches

Oct 17, 2025 | 12:30 PM

THE SILVER LINING around some dark economic clouds over the past five years is we’re all getting a crash course in basic supply-and-demand economics.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the demand side of the supply-and-demand equation that went out of control.

People were so uncertain about what was happening and what the future held, they started hoarding household items like toilet paper.

The idea that humans respond to existential crises by ensuring we will always be able to wipe ourselves probably says something profound, but it will take a psychologist or anthropologist to fully explore that phenomenon.

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Fast forward to the beginning of this year.

When Donald Trump returned to the White House and introduced his long-threatened suite of tariffs, we were once again concerned about our supply chains.

We know those tariffs artificially inflate the prices of goods — and no one likes higher prices.

In response, Canadians sought to punish American businesses so, in theory, they can convince their president tariffs are a bad idea for everyone.

And so we made efforts to shop Canadian, diverting our dollars away from those U.S.-based supply chains.

This year, many Canadian consumers made a new habit of inspecting our purchases to see where exactly they were produced, manufactured or harvested.

More recently, those of us in this province who enjoy liquor or cannabis are facing another supply chain problem.

In their quest for better pay and working conditions, members of the BC General Employees Union have put the province’s distribution centres behind picket lines.

That’s hitting individual customers hard but it’s hitting restaurant and bar owners even harder.

The easiest way to deal with it, of course, is to skirt the distribution infrastructure all together and go directly to local producers for their products.

That’s happening more and more — and though it’s a major shift, the positive impact is the fortification of those sometimes shaky supply chains.

Perhaps the silver lining to all these dark clouds threatening the way we buy and sell is how much we will learn to value shopping local.

We’ve often been reminded about how shopping local keeps dollars circulating in our own communities rather than sending it to destinations far and wide.

There may sometimes be cheaper options but finding local sources for our goods and services keeps the supply chains very short and very strong.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.