It would be difficult to undertake a similar effort today. Looking for a new kitchen range? The only Canadian-made offerings are premium-priced, antique or 1950s-style models from the Elmira Stove Works. The reporters’ notebooks I’ve used all my career still have reproductions of clippings from Canadian newspapers circa 1975 on their covers. But a few years ago, their production was shifted to India and now they come from China. And this week, Campbell Soup said it would close its Canadian plant and move its work to the United States.

In advance of the North American Free Trade Agreement talks in Montreal this coming week, I traveled to Peterborough, Ontario, one of many cities that once made what Canada bought. Since Canada entered into free trade with the United States in 1989, Peterborough has seen an exodus of major factories. This year, General Electric, which once employed 6,000 people, will go after 126 years. Now, buying Canadian is pretty difficult.