Dollar for Dollar

Many in the media and financial institutions are predicting that the Canadian dollar will be on par with the U.S. dollar by the year’s end. This will put a heavy burden on export-oriented industries and will impact on employment in this country. While this is usually phrased as “the raise of the Canadian dollar,” it is not entire correct. The Canadian dollar has been and will be holding steady against the Euro and the Yen, indeed almost any currencies not tied to the U.S. dollar. This is not a rise of the Canadian dollar but a fall of the U.S. dollar. Consequently, there is very little that we can do to change the situation. The reason the movement of one single currency can have such impact on our economy is because we have traditionally relied on the U.S. for too much of our trades. As Canadian products, particularly those here out west, have become more sorted after, we should definitely diversify our customer base. Our governments should lead more strongly on this. If we can reduce the U.S. trade to 50% from 70-80% of total trade, the rise and fall of the U.S. economy will have much less of an impact on us and makes our economy much healthier.