Labeling Warning Post

Pay attention! Businesses from other industries are facing fines for mislabeling Made in Canada products

The “Buy Canadian” movement has been a popular selling feature in Canada over the past year. Many companies have begun labeling more items as “Made in Canada” or “Product of Canada” to attract more potential buyers. However, the Government of Canada has strict guidelines for what constitutes a Canadian product, and recently some companies have been caught and fined for mislabeling products.

Most recently, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is cracking down on grocery stores that promote imported goods as Canadian. To date the agency has fined Loblaw grocery stores twice, and is currently investigating Sobeys stores. Violations have been met with $10,000 fines for each occasion -an amount that can be costly for locally owned stores.

Although the building materials industry manufactures, deals, and sells non-food products, the Made in Canada and Product of Canada labeling guidelines still apply. In fact, fines could be up to $250,000 for mislabeling a manufactured product. Supply-Build Canada members should be aware that if mislabeled good are sold to customers they could be fined.

How does a product qualify as Made in Canada?

For the building materials industry to label a good as “Made in Canada” or a “Product of Canada”, the Competition Bureau of Canada uses the following criteria: “Product of Canada” requires 98% of Canadian content (total direct costs, such as labour and materials, must be Canadian) while “Made in Canada” content requires 51% to be Canadian.

To read more about Made in Canada and Products of Canada labeling click here.

Supply-Build Canada