The 10% Shift: Keeping More $$$ in Nova Scotia

Thirteen years ago, I led a campaign called the 10% Shift when I was president of CUPE Nova Scotia. The idea was simple: you do not have to spend more money. Just shift where some of it goes. Back then, we asked people to make a pledge. The image was the one we used back then. The idea was that if a slice of what you already spend each week goes to Nova Scotia businesses instead of big chains or online giants, your own community benefits. You can read a 2021 article I did when I was the Federation of Labour president on this topic in the Nova Scotia Advocate here

So no matter how old the idea is or was, the Numbers Still Add Up. Last July, Nova Scotia had 484,634 households. If each household spent just $50 per/week on Nova Scotia goods and services, that would add up to $2,600 per household per year. Across the whole province, that is about $1.26 billion a year staying with Nova Scotia businesses, and that’s a lot. Read the NS housing stats here.

What the Research Shows Across Atlantic Canada: The Centre for Local Prosperity looked at what would happen if people across Atlantic Canada shifted 10% of their spending from imports to local goods and services. Economist Michael Shuman built the model using detailed economic data for all four Atlantic provinces. You can read his full report here.

His findings were striking. A 10% shift across the region could support more than 43,000 new jobs, add about $2.6 billion in new wages, and grow the regional economy by close to $4.7 billion. It could also bring in roughly $220 million in new annual tax revenue for governments.

Here is a simple way to think about why this works. When you spend a dollar at a locally owned business, more of it stays close to home. A 2023 study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business found that 66 cents of every dollar spent at a small Canadian retailer stays in the local economy. At a big multinational chain, it is just 11 cents. At an online giant, only 8 cents. That means a dollar spent at a local shop does about six times the work of a dollar spent at a chain.

What I Have Learned Since 2013: Asking a family to shift $50 a week is a real ask when rent, groceries, and power bills already eat up most of the paycheque. I understand that better now than I did back then.

But there is a limit to what families can carry on their own. That is where government comes in. The biggest opportunity is not just household spending. It is public money. Governments across Atlantic Canada spend billions of dollars every year on goods, services, and contracts. If even a share of that spending goes to Atlantic-based businesses, the impact would be bigger and faster than anything one household could do alone.

Public procurement is the lever that can turn the 10% Shift from an idea into real results. Local businesses would gain steady customers, workers would gain stable jobs, and government dollars would keep circulating at home instead of leaving the region. CBC News obtained data from the province showing that between November 2024 and mid-June 2025, Nova Scotia awarded 1,226 public tenders, and about 79% (966 tenders) went to companies headquartered in Nova Scotia. Ontario firms received 12% (146 tenders), while U.S.-based companies won 21 contracts, just under 2% of the total. The rest went to companies based elsewhere in Canada and abroad. So most spending does stay in-province, but a meaningful share still leaves. Read the CBC article here.

Still, the core idea holds. When money circulates locally, it does more work. It creates jobs, supports wages, and builds a stronger tax base for schools, hospitals, and roads.

The 10% Shift is about recognizing that our choices, especially our collective choices through government, shape where wealth lands. Thirteen years later, that lesson matters more than ever. Here is some information on our spending. The CBC Nova Scotia vowed to stop spending in the U.S.