In a grocery store far, far away one man purchased a bottle of French's ketchup. This was no ordinary bottle of ketchup.
The man was Brian Fernandez, who wrote on Facebook Feb. 23 that he loves French's because its ketchup is free of preservatives, artificial flavours and high fructose corn syrup.
Brian's praise of the company's support of Canadian tomato farmers reached a fever among nationalist consumers this past week. Over 129,000 shares of his post on facebook showed the shared support of French's Ketchup and their social responsibility to the region's farmers.
Many tomato farmers were left without a customer after Heinz left Leamington in 2014. According to The Globe and Mail, about a decade ago there was a bumper sticker showing up that read, "Out of a job yet? Keep buying foreign."
Loblaws reportedly started removing French's ketchup from the shelves, telling customers that it was not selling well.
After a leaked memo was made public, it was discovered that Loblaws was in fact removing French's due to it selling way more than the PC brand.
Fernandez later posted a Facebook photo of empty shelves where French's should be after the removal, all the while Heinz ketchup is marked down for sale.
This is again proves the true feelings of a large corporation to its community of consumers and producers.
After a public outcry for the return of the ketchup and a threat of boycott, Loblaws returned the French's ketchup to its shelf. Now if we could only get consumers to be in an uproar over the lack of local fresh produce in the stores such as they have been over a processed food used primarily on hot dogs and French fries.
Though this ketchup cover up may seem to be a trivial blip in the history of Ontario producers, what it has done is bring the local food topic to the masses and it has let the grocery stores know that the people do want locally produced food.
Let this story ring true to the ear of the consumer that the loonie casts a heavier vote than that of the ballot. Every purchase you make casts a vote. Do not let the corporate masters fix the ballot or election. Demand local and demand it now, less we become a nation of beggars when the ravages of climate change punches the producing areas from which we import.
Henry Kissinger once said, "Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people."
I believe it's time that we the people take control over the very product that keeps us living. That product being food, to which currently as our nation imports the likes of 70 to 80 per cent of its produce, we have no control.
This week while you purchase your groceries and prepare your meals, think deeply on how much you can actually control the production of locally grown food by means of your purchase.
Out of a job yet? Keep buying foreign.
