Canadian Dollar Matches 30 Year High
Posted June 1, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was the year Elvis Presley died, Jarome Iginla was born, Star Wars premiered, the Blue Jays played their first game in the snow against the White Sox, the Eaton Centre opened, and they arrested the Son of Sam. All those events were going on the last time the Canadian dollar was this close to its American counterpart. The Canuck buck edged up above 94 cents U.S. Friday, the first time since July 1977 that it hit those lofty heights.
And it could be just the beginning. Analysts at the CIBC are predicting the loonie will be on par with the American dollar by the end of the year. The booming Canadian economy, a sluggish American engine, the Bank of Canada not moving to stop the surge and a low jobless rate in the Great White North, are all contributing factors. And Mother Nature may play a role as hurricane season dawns in the U.S.
“That’s exactly where the risk factors lies if we do have a truly disastrous hurricane season and there is a lot of upwards pressure more relative to the risk on oil and gas prices, then we could maybe see the dollar approaching parity,” suggests Andrew Weir of Toronto Tourism.
The soaring buck is good news for Canadians heading across the border and could mean big savings for your next Christmas vacation. But for those who want to bring the Yankee dollar here, it’s the worst news possible. Will it affect our already declining tourist numbers here? Americans currently in the city don’t think so.
“It’s not affecting our plans,” responds one. “Things are expensive everywhere.”
“I think it’s easier if it were the same,” adds another. “Then I wouldn’t have to worry about which way it’s going to go.”
It’s hard to say if the cross border shopping craze that greeted the last dollar boost will happen this time. Back in July 1977, gas was selling for less than 50 cents a litre. Now it will cost a lot more than that just to reach one of the crossing points.
