Inflation and Wages in Canada

[ice_dog]

Follow this link to find out the latest story in inflation:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/020614/5/n2f7.html

So, if SPs want to increase their rates, better not use inflation as a reason.

 

[Joystick]

Thanks be to Paul Martin?

 

[clipper]

Canada gets by on a cheap dollar and a skilled work force.
No matter how good a job we do we are almost totally dependent on US demand for our cheap products and underpaid workers vis-a-vis the US.

Car makers have to sell their luxury vehicles at a steep discount to stay in the Canadian market. What happens - the cars are
sold to middlemen who take them to the US and make $10,000
US extra profit by selling them into the "grey market".

This is also true for livestock. Some of the best beef cattle are raised in Canada, but the US takes them all. They also take our best lumber because we're almost giving it away.
Then we get whacked with 29% duty.

Many films are made here because our tech talent is better than and 50% cheaper than Hollywood. US producers come here to shoot all their locations, then disguise them as US cities.Then the
US film unions whine to their congresssmen.

Economists specialize in making our "numbers" look good
to foreign capital and espousing policies that generally screw the public. The Bank of Canada is unlikely to do anything for the
ordinary guy.

 

[olguy]

Car makers have to sell their luxury vehicles at a steep discount to stay in the Canadian market. What happens - the cars are
sold to middlemen who take them to the US and make $10,000
US extra profit by selling them into the "grey market".

I never heard of this practice. How the hell does that work????
And what 's the official name for this??

 

[mr. x]

re: cars:

i don't know the official name for this, but it is so lucarative that the automakers are trying to stop it.

the new t-bird is a case in point - ford is threatening to revoke dealership agreements if too many cars from a dealer end up in the US.

the problem also exists with some of the more expensive sUVs and even top-of-the-line minivans.

with the new MINI, buyers have to sign agreements requiring them to sell the car back to the dealership if they sell the car within the first year - so that MINIs don't end up in the US.

this has all been reported in the newspapers - the globe had an article about it a week ago.

 

[mr. x]

re: the canadian dollar and inflation:

the canadian dollar is low for a number of reasons...

ironicall,y the fact that governments have been running surpluses and paying down debt is part of the problem - it creates a surplus of canadian dollars in the hands of foreigners - the suppply of dollars exceeds the demand (and conversely, when governments were running deficits, the borrowing pushed up the value of the dollar, making the canadian economy less competitive).

while our workforce is fairly skilled, the canadian economy has suffered from the follwoing things the last 10 years:

lower increases in productivity (compared to the US particularly)
high unemployment
stagnant incomes
declining value of the dollar


these things are actually indicative of a labour surplus - if the dollar was over $0.70, we would have massive unemployment. the low dollar and excess labour has meant that Canada has created jobs in labour intensive industries - which is why productivity has been so poor - our low labour costs make it attractive for us to manufacture relatively low-tech goods (mens suits, kitchen cabinets, automobile assembly,...)

this country actually has a labour surplus - created by our high immigration rates, yet we still suffer from a lack of skills!

i am not a right wing, racist immgrant basher, but i believe that our "conventional wisdom" about "more immigration is good" is totally wrong - we would be better of being more selective about immigrants - quality not quantity is the important thing...

 

[ice_dog]

In another thread, about two weeks ago, some SP mentioned that she needs to charge x dollars/per hour to keep pace with inflation. We alll know that EC/cachetladies hiked their pirces by more than 100% from 1998 to 2001.

The point I am trying to make is that inflation, or the lack fo it, does not justify the price hile.

The last few posts in this thread are getting off topic.

Lets start another topic based on Mrs X's controversial post

 

[MRMARCUS]

There was a big article on the auto industry in the National Post a couple of months back.
The number of cars that leave Canadian dealerships for American citizens was amazing.
I recall around 100,000 vehicles.
Clipper you are on the money, unfortunately alot of canadians are unaware of what really goes on.

 

[MRMARCUS]

MR X i just read your post and i do see where you are coming from. But i do not think immigration is the problem. Right now they are recruiting alot of unskilled people to come to this country and on top of that, they have to pay to come into this country. Granted there are alot of refugees that are allowed into this country, but this country is under populated.
Hence our taxes are so high to compensate.
I do agree that unemployment is high, despite what the media will tell you. But this country relys heavily on the USA, which i think can be a good/bad thing.
I also think these companies are getting really greedy in there profits and that is at the cost of workers. Look at the Hydro One sceneario. They were giving the big wigs $160,000 car expense, with that money you could provide jobs for four or more people.