Now if buying Canadian meant having better options. Crave is the only Canadian streaming platform I know of and on top of giving money to Bell, it’s… not great.
So for the folks that are concerned about not having good Canadian streaming services, there IS an alternative me hearties! Yaarrrr!
Canada: Removes US liquor from shelf
US: 🤡😭😡🖕🏼
US: Bans Canadian liquor
Canada: ok 🤷🏼♀️
Our stuff is better anyway, so I’ll just keep buying Canadian… Or anything that ISN’T from the US. Simple, easy choice, really.
This, twice. Give me Crown over Jack any day.
The USA has been fucking us over for decades not just since they elected their god emperor. There is greenhouse produce available all year and frozen for the few times it is not.
Yup, which is why we should have been diversifying decades ago. Kudos to Carney for doing it now, but like… this really shouldn’t be the conversation in 2026.
If there’s not a Canadian streaming option, there’s always piracy. I’m not so much doing “Buy Canadian” as I am doing “Buy Not American” or not buy at all.
🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
CBC Gem for what it has, piracy for the rest.
This is the Maple way
CBC Gem is an excellent addition to Canadian streaming options.
really is!
cant see GEM in Australia. Geo blocked
Eh. Personally I only ever consistently watched CBC for Hockey Night in Canada, and they kinda lost that.
It’s back, covering the PWHL!
Which is badass. Its a different game, not saying better or worse, just different. Very fun to watch live too.
Which might be the only reason I check them out again. Are they doing it on the radio too? That would be useful for me if I ever decide to attend a Charge game in-person. Not a cable subscriber and last I checked YouTube was blacked out if you’re in Canada so I haven’t checked them out as much as I’d like to. Might fix that.
What sort of non sports shows do you usually enjoy?
Science fiction, medical/police/similar dramas, the occasional sitcom, etc. The Big Bang Theory, for example, is not on CBC. Star Trek is not on CBC. The Expanse didn’t originally run and currently doesn’t rerun on CBC. Chicago PD/Fire/Med isn’t on CBC. Grey’s Anatomy isn’t on CBC. Even ER isn’t on CBC. I’m sure they have original Canadian content that tries to be similar, but if you have to literally flip through their catalogue to try to find a show that checks off vaguely similar boxes, that’s most of the problem. Most of the shows I listed are on Netflix, Prime or Crave. Or if you’re strictly buying Canadian, Crave.
You realize that you’re talking about “buying Canadian”, but dissatisfied that the Canadian broadcaster doesn’t have American shows, yes?
It’s more I’m disappointed in the quality of the Canadian shows. But also, watching American TV on a Canadian platform is still buying Canadian. Bell already paid the Americans for the rights.
The first three seasons of the expanse are on CBC Gem.
I don’t watch many police/med procedurals (or much of what you’ve listed) but they seem to have a few procedurals etc, I think Republic of Doyle is one? Oh, Luther is a detective series and solid stuff, not sure if that scratches your itch? A couple others I don’t know much about… Kind of different and I do love Natasha Lyon so I’m biased but Pokerface seems like a fun take on the procedural.
Mr D is a sitcom, seems on par with Big Bang? Also, they have Portlandia which is sketch comedy but hilarious.
Might be a but highbrow but Reservation Dogs is great stuff.
To each their own though, good luck!
The first three seasons of the expanse are on CBC Gem.
The other half of the series is only on Prime.
Yup. I don’t think you can fault CBC gem for not, I dunno, pirating a prime “original” series. (Prime bought the rights once the sci fi channel or whatever it was called cancelled it.)
Oh, I’m not faulting anyone. It’s just an example of why this whole thing is lowkey dumb. If you’re on a strict “buy Canadian” diet, you get half a good TV series. Having watched the whole thing before things got lowkey dumb, that’s kind of a ripoff.
I find that the CBC gem newsletter helps. CBC Gem isn’t a full replacement to all other streaming platforms but it does help reduce usage of the other ones. It’s hard to switch over to Canadian options all at once. Another factor is how difficult it is to hear about content that isn’t popular on social media. Even with content that is on a large streaming platform, people will come across it months of years later wondering why people didn’t mention it before
CBC gem has a lot of pretty good procedural type shows (ex. police dramas), especially when you mix in the content from the UK, Europe, Australia/New Zealand. There are some good sitcoms too. Schitts Creek and Kim’s Convenience are popular, but there’s also content from american networks like Animal Control.
I’ve seen Schitts Creek and Kim’s Convenience. They didn’t keep my interest.
That’s unfortunate you didn’t like Schitts Creek, I think it’s solid for what it is. Maybe not top tier, but watchable. Never got into Kim’s Convenience but did see a couple eps.
Have you heard of Letterkenny? It’s like growing up in small town Ontario but it’s great. Kind of a mix of Trailer Park Boys but more up-brow. I’ve started a Lemmy community for it !LetterKenny@sh.itjust.works. Just a few clips so far, but hopefully people will find it and share some interesting Letterkenny content 🤓
I keep meaning to watch Letterkenny, but always end up getting distracted by something else. Perhaps I’ll give that a look.
I may or may not also be from small town Ontario, which may or may not be how I heard of Letterkenny.
May or may not be your thing, but Colin from Accounts and Pen 13 are both critically acclaimed.
They aren’t Canadian shows but are both on gem.
I’ll look them up. Wanna give me the Cliff’s notes?
Fair enough, they’re pretty different in format from traditional sitcoms. I had to look them up to confirm if they were even considered sitcoms.
I did also come across this list, although I haven’t tried the vast majority of these: https://friends.ca/takeaction/how-to-stream-canada/
Definitely saving that link!
Let’s keep it up lads.
Yet Walmart is still raking in the $$$…
I mean, sometimes cheapest wins. As long as what you’re walking out with is Canadian or at least not American. Personally my other options are Loblaws and Metro, and between the three of them milk is usually cheaper at Walmart, just as an example. And yes, I buy a Canadian brand.
“Fun” fact: Walmart has/had an entire business strategy that boils down to:
- Enter new market,
- Undercut new market, using established stores to support the new one,
- Pay employees poorly so that they can’t afford established businesses even if they wanted to,
- Drive out local businesses/any competition at all,
- Jack up prices so store can be successful.
Buying cheap from Walmart is not a good idea.
Neither is getting ripped off by Loblaws.
Walmart should be avoided, always. Cheapest does not win. You lose later while thinking you won. And the rich that own big chains like Walmart know that.
And in about 15 minutes someone’s gonna come by and tell me to avoid Loblaws. In about half an hour someone else is gonna come by and tell me to avoid Metro. Those are kind of the options in most of the country.
Boils down to 2 things
- Do the best you can.
- Be honest with yourself whether you really are doing the best you can.
Cycle through those two and you’re golden.
I would add: 3. Do your best, not someone else’s.
If you’re making $80k and living in Toronto you do not get to complain that the thing I can afford at $30k in rural Ontario is not doing the best I can, unless you’re offering to pay for my relocation and support me until I’m also making $80k.
Not as commonly mentioned, but National Film Board of Canada has a lot of great selections.
Thanks for that tip! Some interesting choices there.
As an American, I watch these all the time! I’ve seen some great stuff on here, especially documentaries
Thank you! Your the best! Authentically speaking, they have very good, underated, and unknown films.
I was always looking for Canadian. Especially in terms of groceries (produce, meat etc). Now I just have another reason. Canadian or at least non American and that’s probably for life.
Very annoying that local produce is more expensive than US ones. Strawberries, blueberries, etc.
Do you want cheaper blueberries or blueberries uncontaminated by E. coli and Cyclosporiasis?
Thats because they have lower food safety and labour standards down there…
That’s also corporate funding and buying power. They will fund lower prices to crush the little guy and then raise their prices when the little guys are gone.
They can buy their fertilizer, diesel, and seeds in bulk at discount. Your little guy cannot.
And when there’s a disaster localized to you?
Your little guy will be there, keeping his produce on the shelf, while the big guys products can’t get through because shipping routes are closed.
Local produce, when in season, is worth the extra price. We buy ours from a garden center that has an agreement with area farmers. Much better berries than you can buy at the grocery store.
I found this some days ago, not sure how viable this might be over time, but having this on products to make it easier to identify their origin might help consumers prioritize products made in Canada with Canadian ingredients
Amazing, Americans would have given up by now if the shoe were on the other foot.
I don’t know about that. They seem more worried about not being able to sell to us than not being able to buy from us.
Most centrists gave up on the loblaws boycott after a month.
I doubt most Canadians are boycotting u.s goods.
I doubt most Canadians are boycotting u.s goods
Your doubts don’t match my experience. I still see people in stores reading labels and putting things back I’d thwy say "made in USA ".
We totally are.
All depends what they’re buying. If you drink Coke or Pepsi, for example, that would be an American brand made and/or bottled in Canada. And this is why this whole trade war thing is dumb.
Also:
Most centrists gave up on the loblaws boycott after a month.
I didn’t even know there was a Loblaws boycott. I only shop there if I have no other option.
We just gave up purchasing stuff that was like that. A little pain now to send a message to the USA is worth it . they keep crabbing about us and their sales so it must be working.
