That's disgusting. Who would use Canadian tomatoes?
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There's a bit of a story behind that...
That specific marketing is related to Heinz closing a tomato processing plant in Leamington, Ontario a number of years ago (the plant had been in operation for 105 years). Leamington was the unofficial condiment capital of Canada at the time (well over 500,000 tons of tomatoes grown in the area each year for Heinz, along with other ingredients), and the loss of that factory left a ton of farmers in a tough spot, with no one to sell their fields of tomatoes, onions, etc. to, and a loss of many processing jobs.
There was a huge backlash against Heinz at the time, leading to a boycott of their products. French's stepped in and used Canadian tomatoes grown in Leamington in their products. We haven't used Heinz ketchup since, by the way, and I actually prefer French's.
In the end, the plant was sold to another operation, saving the jobs (at least some of them), but the memories remain...
