Canada: How do you feel about the dollar?
 

The dollar is at approximately 93 cents U.S.

How do you feel about this?
Is it good or bad for you family, your job, your community, city, province, Canada?

It is hard to decide
- Things should be getting cheaper and this should be a plus for a high dollar but I don't see this happening. For example, should't gas prices go down?
- Canadian Manufacturer's who sell in the U.S. are no making less Canadian dollars per unit sold.
- Canadian companies can more cheaply invest in the U.S. and grow their business and pay more tax dollars in Canada becuase they can make more.
- U.S. companies will be more hesitant to invest in Canada and may choose to invest somewhere else

I don't know.

I think it is all about trends and how we adapt to exploit the situation. For example, Toronto and Vancouver have developed a very robust cinema industry based on the relative cost of production between here and the US.

But since the decline of the US$ (I think the C$ is not improving as quickly on the global stage as the US$ is declining relative to the C$) it is less attractive to come to Canada and subsequently there has been a recession in film production here.

Luckily we managed to leverage the good times into a fairly healthy film festival in Toronto and Vancouver.

On the flip side, with a stronger C$ our pro-sports franchises have more buying power on the North American stage, and can even entertain the thought of purchasing American teams and moving them to Canada (for example RIM's owner's purchase of the Nashville Predators, and the rumour that they will move to Kitchener Ontario).

Back when I was in gr 9, i worked at Mcdonalds. I remember that the C$ cost $1.09 US that summer of '74.

What I worry about is the fluidity of world markets, and how quickly the trend could reverse itself. It's hard to build a long term strategy on changes that can occur over-night.

I also worry that the American economy will sink/slow down further because, as they go, so will we sooner or later.

the canadian dollar is actually doing very well the world over. when i get my computer back i'll quote some hard g8 figures that show real growth, especially in relation to other world leaders

All is know is that the money I send home to Canada is a lot less once it gets there...

I'd rather see the dollar around 80-85 cents US. More than that and our exports - to our biggest market - are hurt.

My understanding is that our economy is primarily export based so I guess this would be a bad thing, but then I really don't know.

Tourism will suffer from less american dollars, but already the industry is moving to attract overseas tourists to compensate.

I'm fortunate not to be in a strictly resource based job.

I do like the boost to our national pride. :thumbsup:

80 to 85 cents compared to the $us is about what it should be. More than that and our manufacturing sector really suffers, and people flock to the states to shop like a bunch of lemmings. My gawd, is shopping that important? What a scary thought.

Anyway, just my $0.02 CDN worth.

Peace,

Pierre

I voted "I don't know," mainly because there are several factors at play that make things uncertain...

The U.S. economy is slowing, the housing market there is shoddy, etc., which means their demand for our products will diminish. A stronger Canadian dollar will make things worse.

However, a strong dollar will help soften the blow if things get a little shaky politically or economically. It will be good to have some room to have the dollar value drop in the case of unfortunate unforeseen events.

Ideally, I think this is a result from a mixture of a somewhat solid Canadian economy and a sluggish, uncertain American economy. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, especially since our housing market is still a bit bizarre.

I said it's good strictly as a non-educated and selfish response. It makes my shopping cheaper. I do realize the impact on trade and tourism though and agree that the dollar being in the 80-85 cent range is probably best. I just like to shop though, so whatever hehe.

With the dollar weakening throughout the world we in the US are sure to feel the effects, i.e. - inflation.

It should make things cheaper but I have not seen the effect.
E.g. Gasoline should have decreased in price since it is bought in USD and we pay in CAD

Yup, just wait until the gasoline companies post their yearly profits. All due to currency issues.

Also, books and magazines - by this point we should be paying the US price, yet somehow everything is anywhere from 2 to 10 dollars more in Canada for the same book. I get the feeling Heather Reisman (the Indigo/Chapters maven) is pretty happy about the situation.

What about books and magazines produced in Canada? And don't ever expect Heather to pass savings on down to the customer. Just expect her to learn how to run a bookstore. But even that is a bit of a stretch.

We still get ripped off badly on US items sold here, the magazines and books for example. No reason why a $3.99 US magazine should be $5.99 here. I've heard it explained it's for GST which is a crock as that's applied at the retail sale on top of the price.

Gripe about books all you want.

A paperback costs about S$16.80 (C$11.60) and the Wired Magazine I just bought was S$11.

Here it's a combination of exchange rates and shipping paper over great distances.

C$1 = S$1.45

What about cards (birthday, anniversary, other occasion).

Take a look at the back of any of the Father's Day cards you guy this week to see the difference in U.S. and Canadian prices.

Okay, I work for a small book publisher, so I know a bit about how this works (or doesn't...) Regardless of how the Canadian dollar fluctuates, the cost of doing business stays the same (actually, it usually goes up). For example, even though the dollar opened at $0.94 this morning, it doesn't change the fact that the cost of paper is still high (especially now that printers are switching to 100% post-consumer products as a default stock), as is distribution (fuel prices, warehousing, compensating sales reps and marketing admin.).

There was a report released by a major bank (RBC, I think) that revealed how despite the strong dollar, the purchasing power of Canadians is staying the same. Prices are not going down. Economics is a complex and interconnected thing. So, yeah, gripe about books (and greeting cards) all you want, but bear in mind that running a publishing-based business isn't cheap. Books and cards take a lot of paper to make and they're heavy to ship.

That does not negate the point.
No, running a publishing-based business is not cheap.
However, depending on where the business is located and where the item published is sourced from it did get cheaper or more expensive to run based on a change in the currency rates.

If you were selling books in Canada that you bought in the United States (let's assume for argument sake that the book is completely printed in the U.S. and made completely from U.S. ram materials) then if the Canadian dollar is worth $0.93USD today but it was worth $0.90 two months ago the Candian book seller should be able to by more U.S. made books today then it was able to two months ago.

Let's look at in the other way around if the Canadian Dollar went down relative to the U.S. dollar would it not be more expensive for the Canadian Book Seller, importing from the U.S. to do business? It would. So why should the argument work the other way around as well. It does.

This does not change the fact, as you stated, that the publishing business is not chaep to run.

All this, of course, is much more clear in the Oil markets.
Oil, around the world is traded in USD.
Gaz Stations, Fuel Stations...whatever you want to call them...change prices everyday and throughout the day. They are no stranger to changing prices.
If the Oil price stays the same and if the Canadian dollar gains on the U.S. dollar then the Gaz Stations can now buy more gaz for their dollar.
If the price at the pump does not go down you would have to ask yourself why.

I was listening to Toronto's Hip Hop station yesterday and American rapper DMX's latest track had a line that went something like "I'm like tha Canadian Dollah: Doin' better than evah!"

I guess a little street cred can't be all that bad. :)

Sorry, my point wasn't entirely clear. What I'm saying is the cost of doing business in publishing isn't tied to the value of the dollar. The Canadian dollar is strong but the cost of doing business in the States remains the same--actually, they are likely going up. If anything, you should be grateful that the U.S. book prices aren't increasing, if you consider the rising cost of paper and fuel for distribution. Another thing to consider is this: many "American" books are actually made and distributed in Canada through their Canadian divisions. This just makes things even more confusing, I know.

Ultimately, the price issue is not mainly about the value of the dollar so much as it is about economies of scale. Compare the following attributes of the U.S. and Canada: geographic size, population & population density.

Personal reason to dislike it : I cost more to employ now than my colleagues in Kingston and Manilla. Consequently, they're getting my work.

On the other hand, the implication is that our economy is able to thrive independent of the US economy and that's always a goos thing.

It has helped the small market Canadian hockey clubs..................

If anyone in the NHL really cares.

Our manufacturing sector is almost extinct as it is. 600 companies and counting bought up by foreign investment in the last 18 months.

Just wait until we have no more raw materials to export. Then those Nikes made in China will be double what they were before since we effectively sold off our bargaining and buying power.

Good thing we have R&D to fall back on. Whoops,..got rid of that in the 70's

This is not necessarily the case.

The increase in the dollar could also be due to the huge amounts of Canadian dollars that are required to carry out the foreign purchases of Canadian companies that Percy mentions.
In order to make these purchases Canadian dollars had to be bought.

We can also ask the question:
Is our economy really 93% that of the U.S. economy?
Not really.
However, it, of course is alot more complicated then this.

This won't happen any time soon. We keep finding large deposits of things that were previously thought to be maxed out globally. (Think uranium and nickel.) Comparatively speaking, Canada is a ridiculously large place. Natural resources will be a viable source of income for a very long time.

i'm curious as to how the status of the dollar affects the price of scotch. I thought that we should be seeing a drop in the cost of Lagavulin which is around $94 now.

But I guess that while the dollar is performing well against the $US, it is staying relatively stable with the Euro.

Too bad.

Leto, wouldn't scotch be bought in Brittish Pounds rather then Euros?
Looks like the CAD has been gaining on the GBP recently as well.
http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/co...submit=Convert

If you like Lagavulin then you must be an fan of the Islay region scothes.
What do you think of a Bowmore 17?

My mouth is watering. I like the Islay so much, that I can uncork a Lag, and place it on a table in the dining room so that the aroma can be used as an "airwick".

The Bowmore is great. I also like the Macallan, but because it is a change and fairly complex. I don't like the Glenlivet, or fiddich that much.

So, why are we payng so much for these??? I think that the Lag used to be around the $70 mark.

I find the canadian dollar being higher useful.

It means when I invest my income overseas, I can buy more stuff.

It does mean that my old purchases aren't worth as much, but them's the breaks. :)

As I intend on living in Canada, and my biggest asset is my future income, by buying out of country assets I diversify away risk. ;)

It does hurt Canadian exports -- but the fact is, our exports are doing great. It is the extremely high rate at which our exports are flowing that is causing the increase in the dollar.

Today the rate is 0.9485.

Still no reduction at the pumps.

well, i think the high oil prices will only rise...
this is a global problem, and if it would go down for a short time, those cents wont mean anything... I'd be very happy with a car that would use some alternative energy source. No pollution :)

Back to the Canadian Dollar
it is 0.9499 USD today

The dollar should remain high so long as oil prices do. Alberta is booming and is hitting its stride now.

This is assuming the rest of the economy is as stable as it has been for a while now.

The economy is going to start to turn down.
Just my guess.

Apparently we're currently in a bear cycle if you look at the long-term trends. We won't see any real stability for a while. Look at the States. Thankfully, Canada's been weathering it okay so far.

Right the indicators like new housing starts and such are starting to point that way.

What a tangled web we weave, imagining the things we do.

Cloth and base-metal and virtual reality cannot be eaten and so only sustain us in our minds.

But where do our minds live?

I imagine we'd all be somewhat better off with a less convenient system of adding things up. Or less imagination regarding the value of things. Or a universal currency that could not be bought and soldm

Okay, that damned loonie is up over 97 cents now. It's at a 30-year high.

Oil is at nearly US$80 a barrel.


Correlation?

No correlations can save us from how we think or what we feel. The former changes slowly and the latter even more so.

I like the way things feel, yet I feel money is a mistake. Am I contradicting myself?

Loonie passes 99-cent US mark in overseas trading

http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/Top..._record_070919