Since we’re presumably still in “elbows up” mode, we’re supposed to be doing everything we can to buy Canadian products whenever we can. We have no problem with that.

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We do have a big problem with this: major retailers falsely promoting products as being Canadian when in fact the products are foreign-sourced.

Recently, some grocery stores were caught red-handed by Canada’s food regulator, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Since the CFIA is no longer obsessed with slaughtering innocent ostriches, the agency is now fining those supermarkets that are making false claims regarding product of origin claims. For example, the Real Canadian Superstore in Toronto located at 51 Gerry Fitzgerald Dr. was slapped with a $10,000 fine for just that.

This store, owned by Brampton, Ont.-based Loblaw Companies Limited, incorrectly used “maple leaf advertising decals” and a "Product of Canada" statement as part of an in-store display to promote a foreign product.

We reached out to the media relations department of Loblaw to find out how exactly this happened.

“We take our labelling responsibilities seriously and acknowledge the CFIA’s findings in these instances," they responded. "We are committed to meeting regulatory requirements and making sure customers can trust the information they see in our stores. With thousands of products on our shelves, many sourced from different regions throughout the year, information can change quickly. While we work hard to keep everything current, there are times when signage may not be updated as quickly as inventory is replenished."

“These were isolated cases, but we’re reinforcing our processes across our stores to help prevent this from happening again. We’re sorry for the error and any confusion it may have caused. If customers have questions or spot something that doesn’t look right, we encourage them to let us know so we can look into it quickly.”

So, the false promotion was by accident rather than by design, says the company that was implicated in a bread price-fixing scheme.

Of note, CBC News recently exposed another Loblaw-owned store engaging in false advertising vis-à-vis country of origin. A Toronto No Frills store displayed strawberries with signage that included a red maple leaf and the phrase, “Prepared in Canada.”

Yet the packaging clearly stated that the strawberries were “Product of USA.”

We paid a house call to the Real Canadian Superstore hoping to find out more about how this happened.

Alas, we were promptly told to leave the store, or the police would be called. Apparently practicing journalism in the produce section is a crime.

And so it was that we left, without even purchasing so much as a bottle of maple syrup. That was probably a good thing as we had neglected to check if the syrup was sourced from Ontario or Quebec as opposed to Vermont…