Between two similar t-shirts, one of which is made in Quebec and the other is imported, which is better for the Quebec economy and the environment? A study looking at nine products with Quebec certification quantifies for the first time the extent of the advantages of buying local.
Everyone suspects that buying local is more virtuous, believes Elfi Morin, general director of the organization Les Produits du Québec. “But when we wanted to document this or look for data, we quickly noticed that there really wasn’t any,” she emphasizes.
She therefore commissioned the economic analysis firm AppEco to look into the issue. Two of its economists compared nine products certified by Les Produits du Québec — including a Poches & fils t-shirt, a Noba Animal litter scoop, Cascades toilet paper and a La vie en rose bra — with two imported products each similar. They were careful to select goods considered to be of equivalent quality, both in terms of the materials used and their function and lifespan.
They found that the local products in question generated on average a gross domestic product, profits and a number of jobs in Quebec respectively 3.8, 7.6 and 3.5 times greater. The reason is that the design, manufacturing and sourcing carried out by these local companies results in the payment of wages and the creation of wealth in the hands of Quebec residents. On the other hand, imported products only bring profits to Quebec at the retail stage, explains the report.
Participating companies opened their books and revealed the origins of their suppliers. The study therefore takes into account the fact that a portion of their inputs come from foreign companies and that some of their Quebec suppliers have business ties in other countries. Goods displaying the most demanding certification in terms of local activities, namely Product of Quebec, compared to Made in Quebec and Designed in Quebec, are those presenting the most economic benefits.
More or less expensive
“An important aspect that we wanted to take into account in the study is the question of price. It is often cited that the goods we import are less expensive, that citizens therefore have greater purchasing power and that this also allows the economy to function,” reports Julien Mc Donald-Guimont, director and economist. at AppEco.
However, in four out of nine cases, the Quebec product was cheaper. “And in our estimates, even if the price favored the imported product, it was never important enough for it to become better than the certified product,” he assures.
AppEco economists also took the risk of measuring the environmental consequences of the production and transport of these products. They calculated that imported products were associated with greenhouse gas emissions on average 34% higher than their Quebec equivalents. To do this, they used the online tool 2030 Calculator, which carries out a partial life cycle analysis and which received support from the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat.
“It’s not so much the transport aspect that changes the situation, even if the imported products have traveled thousands of kilometers,” emphasizes Mr. Mc Donald-Guimont. What is really determining is where the energy used for production comes from, because we have renewable energy in Quebec. »
Both Elfi Morin and Julien Mc Donald-Guimont admit that this analysis does not allow conclusions to be drawn for all Quebec products. However, they want to soon expand it to more sectors and companies in order to highlight broader trends.