How far would you go for a boycott?

How far would you go to participate in a boycott? Cancel your concert tickets? Spend 25% more on groceries? What about refusing to visit your family? This week, Reema Khrais speaks to Canadians who are going to great lengths to boycott the United States, in response to President Trump’s repeated claims that he will make Canada the “51st state.”

Winnipeg bus driver Erica Ford has drawn a line in the sand, refusing to buy American-made products, which she estimates has increased her grocery bill by 25%. Her American-born husband is joining in the boycott. The pair are refusing to visit family in the U.S., forgoing the time with aging relatives and the possibility of inheriting a home. For Ford and her husband, the sacrifice is worthwhile: “We've had economic war declared on us. Our country's sovereignty has been threatened, and bombs are not flying. If they were, I'd probably have grenades, but I don't, I have my wallet.”

But of course, not everyone is willing to make such a dramatic life change for a boycott. Later in the show, Khrais speaks with financial therapist Lindsay Bryan-Podvin about how to practice “good enough” boycotting.

A few takeaways from Khrais’ conversation with Bryan-Podvin:

• Boycotts don’t need to be perfect. If you’d like to boycott a business but can’t totally eliminate your spending, don’t beat yourself up. “Any sort of shift you can do is a shift in the right direction,” Bryan-Podvin said.

• Don’t give in to the need for instant gratification. You likely won’t get immediate results from boycotting, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t effective. “You have to sit with yourself and think: when I look back at this time, will I be grateful that I opted out of moving my dollars toward places that I disagreed with and that held policies that I'm incredibly opposed to?” Bryan-Podvin said.

• Boycotts provide an opportunity to re-examine our habits. Bryan-Podvin said that some clients used to walk through Target when they were bored, “And now [they’re] getting the chance to think about, ‘Well, what do I wanna do with that time? Do I wanna do a little walk around my neighborhood? Do I maybe wanna call one of my friends I haven't talked to in a long time?’”

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