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Margareta Dovgal: Canada's tumbling dollar is a symptom of Liberal mismanagement

Unless productivity improves, our standard of living will continue to stagnate

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As a university student in Vancouver a decade ago, I’d regularly hit up the Warehouse, an ultra-budget pub because they offered an enticing $5 burger or plate of pasta. I went back recently, and when I saw that the same items today run around $12, I felt something between shock and bereavement.

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The average wages of Canadians certainly didn’t double. Canadians are earning about $1,300 a week, up roughly a third since 2016. That bump has been swallowed up, as everything has become more expensive — groceries alone have risen just as much. The asking rent on a Vancouver one-bedroom has, just like the burger, more than doubled. I do love to reminisce about the $800/month rent I landed for a two-bedroom back in 2013, split with a roommate. And then, I look at the $3,000 I pay today, and I can only grimace.

Margareta Dovgal: Canada's tumbling dollar is a symptom of Liberal mismanagement Back to video

Gas that cost $1.25 a litre ten years ago now pushes $2 per litre.

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Our dollar has gotten materially weaker, and relative to our peers and our potential, Canada is poorer. That has been driven by a combination of declining investment, rising labour costs, and worsening productivity.

In late June, the loonie hit $1.42 against the U.S. dollar, its weakest in more than a year. Economist David Rosenberg, never one to miss a downturn, is expecting $1.50 soon and $1.60, or 62.5........

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