You may be too busy celebrating Canada’s milestone birthday to notice, but over 70% of the Canada 150 merchandise was made outside of the country.

CBC News has learned the Trudeau government is spending over $2-million on swag for the major anniversary and nearly $1.5-million of that budget was used to buy items made elsewhere – including pins, ball caps, cellphone cleaning cloths, T-shirts, tote bags, foam glow sticks, even hockey pucks.

(Some Canada 150 items given to MPs to hand out /

MP Rachel Blaney’s office / CBC News)

Meanwhile, Public Services and Procurement Canada, which does bulk purchasing for the federal departments and agencies, says it spent almost $600,000 on goods made in the country; most of it on hand-held flags.

The government claims international trade agreements do not permit it to restrict competition for contracts to Canadian companies or manufacturers – even when it comes to Canada 150 merchandise.