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“People will be able to see what’s available in their region,” Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon said in an interview. “There’s a solidarity developing, I want to capitalize on that.”

Quebec’s nationalism, which is rooted in the 1960s economic and political emancipation of its French-speaking majority, predisposes the population to close ranks behind local businesses, according to Andre Lecours, a professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. The province has a number of sizable homegrown retailers, such as Simons department stores, and has produced a few international players.

Amazon is fighting stronger opponents in other countries, including France, where last week it lost a court fight to sell the whole range of its products. France has restricted the company’s deliveries to food, health items and computer products to protect workers from the coronavirus.

Wealth Gap

The track record of Canadian-made alternatives to Amazon is not good. One of most famous failures was a site called Shop.ca, backed by several big names in business and former hockey star Eric Lindros. It flopped and wound up in bankruptcy court in 2016.

Few Quebec companies are known for their online retailing success. According to a survey by CEFRIO, a digital research and innovation group backed by the government, more than a third of Quebec adults make at least one purchase per month on Amazon. Yet in another report published in 2018, only 14 per cent of the Quebec firms surveyed said they sold products online.