Buy Canadian, eh?

If you're still a bit hacked off over the current softwood lumber rip-off (and who among us, except for these fake Canadians, isn't?), a simple solution is to spend your money this side of the border. And how hard can that be?

Now, there are the obvious choices -- if, for instance, you need home supplies, give Home Depot a pass and head over to Rona, which bills itself as "Proudly Canadian." But let's not get sidetracked by frivolities like home hardware and get right to the important stuff, shall we? Alcohol.

Yes, as a patriotic Canadian, there's little reason for you to be spending any money on American booze. Let's start with beer. From my time in Calgary, I learned that you really can't go wrong buying anything from the Big Rock Brewery. Their beers were pretty much a staple when a group of us gathered every Friday afternoon for nerd beer.

Closer to home (well, closer to my home), I'm rather fond of a line of beers from Magnotta -- their "True North" series. "True North Strong" -- recommended by bloggers everywhere who hope to get a free case of it in exchange for shameless shilling of the product. :-)

In a nutshell, there's no excuse for any self-respecting Canadian to belly up to the bar and order, say, a Miller or Budweiser. And anyone ordering a Coors Lite should simply be taken outside and shot. (And given Molson getting into bed with right-wing Coors, there's no excuse for you to be buying Molson, anyway.)

When it comes to the hard stuff, you have options there, too. If you're in the market for vodka, you might want to show a little class and check out Canadian Iceberg Vodka. And if, like me, you're into single malt scotch, there's Canada's own Glen Breton although, sadly, at a price of $90 a bottle at the LCBO, I'm afraid they're not going to be prying me away from my Laphroaig, Lagavulin or Talisker any time soon. A shame that -- I'd love to try it but not at that price. Sorry, folks.

Anyway, you get the idea. And, why yes, a bottle of Glen Breton would look just fine under the tree.

AFTERTHOUGHTS: I didn't think I really had to point out that, at least around here, there's little reason to buy foreign wines when there are so many passable local wineries.

(And no, don't give me that crap about your wickedly discerning palate. I'm betting that, if I blindfolded you, you couldn't tell the difference between a good local Pinot Grigio and, say, Sprite. Oh, hang on ... that's me. Never mind.)