The ‘nudge, nudge; wink, wink’ international incident over Canada’s crackdown on Aussie Vegemite spawned some very real and serious comments about how two grown-up countries should address differences over issues of mutual concern…
I think the Australians had more fun with what their ‘side’ coined ‘Vegemite-Gate’ than Canadians did. But now that it’s over, nearly everyone involved is patting themselves on their backs for handing the ‘crisis’ so darned maturely…
Highest levels
No sooner had Toronto-area importer and retailer Leighton Walters (see photo, top of page) gone public with his at least partly playful rant about a crackdown on Vegemite than Canadian and Aus-tralian politicians gone to bat for their respective nations’ manufacturing sectors and small business sectors.
It all started when Walters woke up from minor surgery to find a letter on his desk from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency ordering him to stop importing and selling Aus-tralian yeast-derived toast-spread delicacy Vegemite.
A news release from CFIA said an inspection of Walters’ café Found Coffee showed Vegemite being sold did not meet Canadian regulations around vitamin fortification, adding the food label also wasn’t in both French and English.
More at stake
There was more at stake then just being able to retail the stuff at two cafés in the Toronto area. Walters also distributes Vegemite to a string of Central Canadian Australasian specialty shops.
Overnight response
Literally overnight, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Aussie counterpart Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had not only agreed to ‘work together’ on the matter of vital economic and cul-tural import than they had shaken hands on a mututally-accptable agreement to end the dispute.
“This is a win for Australian industry, but it’s also a win for those people in Canada who get to enjoy this wonderful product that is so much a part of Australian culture and, indeed, Australian pride as well,” Albanese said, speaking at an Easter event in Sydney. “So I think that is a fantastic outcome.”
“This is the value of strong free trade with reliable partners like Australia — and mutual respect for our cultural treasures,” Carney added.
Walters saw a more serious to ‘Vegemite-Gate’: “What I was concerned about was that in the midst of a trade war with America, the last thing you want is starting to create any sort of tension or especially with the most, most iconic Australian brand, that’s part of the fabric of our country,” Walters said in an interview.
My take
“Overall, this is a win for small business,” Walters declared. Then, referring to a classic Vegemite ad-vertising slogan, he added: “But in my view, if you want to be the Prime Minister of Australia, you got to be a Vegemite kid. You know what I mean?”
“It’s not so much a political thing,” he waxed more seriously. “It’s more of me just defending my small business and wanting to do what I believe is right.”
My questions to you:
Are you a Vegemite Kid? (Or a fan of its equally popular British clone, Marmite?)
Were you amused or outraged over the very real (though very temporary) Vegemite ‘ban’ in Canada?
Do you approve of (or even applaud) the way Canada’s and Australia’s highest-level leadership moved so quickly and decisively to deal with the ‘dispute?
Did you enjoy the *nudge* – *wink* references in public statements from Carney and Albanese about Vegemite-Gate being an example of how to handle international economic issues – in the midst of what Walters referred to as a global ‘trade war’ with the US?
Did you allow yourself a giggle about the whole, silly business – perhaps thinking for a moment about what a great episode it might have made of the legendary Britcom, Yes, Prime Minister?
Muse on that…
~ Maggie J.