When Justin Trudeau announced the end of US steel and aluminium tariffs at a steel mill in Hamilton, Ontario on Friday, onlookers witnessed something they had not seen in weeks — the Canadian prime minister smiling.
“This is just pure good news for Canadians,” said a beaming Mr Trudeau, standing before coils of steel. “Families will know that their jobs are just a little more secure.”
The break in trade hostilities with the US comes at a crucial time for Mr Trudeau. Over the past three months, a series of controversies have rocked his government and left his Liberal party trailing the Conservatives in the polls with just five months to go until the federal election.
“I hope they don’t view me as ‘that billionaire from Canada’,” says Canadian billionaire Lino Saputo Jr.
Saputo, CEO of the giant cheese, milk and yogurt company that shares his name, is sitting in the private locker room he installed in the personal hockey arena he built next to the luxury auto club he owns in Montreal. It’s literally and figuratively as far away from the world of Australian dairy farming as you can get. Nevertheless, the “they” he’s referring to are farmers Down Under.
Saputo has been spending a lot of time in Australia lately. Last year, his company acquired the country’s largest dairy processor, a farmer-owned co-op called Murray Goulburn. To seal the deal, Saputo spent weeks criss-crossing thousands of kilometres of arid grasslands, making his pitch to farmers at town hall meetings. In some cases, he even drove directly to farms to sit at their kitchen tables and field questions one-on-one.
Which prompted my first question: What must those farmers think when Quebec’s richest man— his family’s stake in the company is worth $7 billion—shows up on their doorstep?
As food fights go, it’s hard to imagine one healthier than the war underway near the bustling downtown Toronto intersection of King and Yonge. It’s a battle of the salad bowls, and the weapons of choice are kale and quinoa.
With all the salad spots packed into this area there are more leafy greens than a farmer’s field. To the north, a Fast Fresh Foods restaurant attempts to lure customers to one of its eight downtown locations with customizable spinach, quinoa and spring mix salads. To the east, B.Good, a Boston-based chain with five spots in the city, counters with its marinated kale, carrot and brussels sprouts power bowls. A nearby iQ Food Co., one of seven in Toronto, pitches a seasonal rotating salad menu to passersby. And if salad fans needed still more options, there’s a Flock Rotisserie + Greens, a Hopscotch, a Kupfert & Kim, a La Prep and a Salad Days, all vying for their healthy-minded dollars.
And it’s not the only front in the salad skirmish. In cities across Canada, healthful fast-casual chains and mom-and-pop shops are squaring off. In Calgary, restaurants like Dirtbelly, a homegrown chain known for its seasonal mix-and-match salads, and Fork and Salad are facing off against Seed N Salt and larger chains like the Chopped Leaf, which was founded in the Okanagan and has more than 30 locations, mostly in the west but in Ontario as well. Meanwhile, in downtown Vancouver, restaurant-goers on a kale quest have a multitude of options, with names like Chop and Toss, SaladLoop, Green Leaf, GreenDay, Leafy Box and Tractor Foods.
But in this avocado arms race, there’s a Goliath among the Davids. Back in Toronto, within a five-minute walk of King and Yonge, there are eight Freshii restaurants beckoning customers with limited-time kale Caesar salads and wraps. Just beyond those, there’s another ring of Freshii restaurants. And just past them. . .well, you get the picture.
