This is a good sign. I look forward to seeing it go to 90 cents. No country can prosper by having a low dollar. If oil ever changes denomination from USD to Euro, the USD would be done. I also believe US companies doing business in Canada will get a better bottom line from their Canadian operations b/c of the rising CAD.

Our American customers expect their prices to be quoted in US dollars.As the CDN dollar has appreciated yet again this year,all our US accounts have cost us a little.We are able to hedge(helps).As others have pointed out,our efficiencies have gotten better and we will need to do more.

That may be, but it also discourages US companies from manufacturing products in Canada. The auto industry in particular is being very hard hit. They have CDN$ expenses operating here yet their sales are mostly in US$.

Maybe Buzzie will have to get off his arse and work the line at Ford to increase productivity there. They have tailored their wage demands, up until now, in contract negotiations on the low CDN $ to ramp up employment numbers and benefits. Time for the proverbial $hit to hit the fan.

I am paid in USD for most of my consulting projects. It seems like everyday my paycheque is going down instead of up :( Don't know how they would react to a floating rate based on the exchange rate.

We'll all go down to Chinese labour rates eventually then. The engine for GM's next compact car sold in N. America is made in China, as will increasing no. of auto parts, I'd imagine.

Give it time, and you will see more and more of our "domestic" cars manufactured in China.
I casually peruse the Derosiers report regarding the auto industry, the Big Three are lsoing more and more market share all the time. Many buyers have become numb to all the incentives on offer. It appears to me that more people are willing to pay a little more for quality in an auto that is designed and possibly built outside of NA.
Just wait till the likes of Honda and Toyota make a "real" pick up truck. The Big Three will lose even more of their market share, and their biggest profit centre.
Buzz and his cronies need to pay attention to the shifting market forces.

Or all of them. GM figures China will soon be its 2nd most important market (is for Volkswagen already) and probably most important within a decade. I can see manufacturing shift there to take advantage of lower labour rates.

About to happen. Nissan has the Titan and Toyota the Tundra.

Me too. I am trying to get it switched to Euro. I think the USD days are numbered.

From everything I read and hear, I would say that you are right.

When the CAD started getting better with the US and my paycheque (being paid in US) started going down I convinced all but one of my clients to switch to paying me a (little) higher rate in CAD instead. On my side however I don't have to pay the exchange rate anymore and the income is much more stable.

80 cent Dollar soon?
 

And it appears the U.S. administration is trying to talk the USD down further. story.

They should remember what happened when they got (west) Germany to revalue the Mark in the '70s.

Seems a HSBC (Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp.) currency analyst believe that the USD is headed down for 2 structural reasons: fiscal and balance f trade deficits. Interest rate cycle theory is supposedly in the wane.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7b5d42d2-20...00e2511c8.html

A talking head on ROB-TV last week suggested that the C dollar and the US dollar could be at parity in 12 months.

20 minutes later the teller at the bank suggested again that I should have a US currency account to deposit my cheques into. I told her again that I have no US expenses and the Canadian dollar is rising, so bad advice.

First, shouldn't we change the title to "0.80 loonie?"

It does seem there is a consensus out there that the USD should drop further across the board.

Right now, though, we in effect have a dollar block that includes China and Japan. Which roughly balances its "external" trade. Now on the other hand, if China finally lets the RMB float or go up against the dollar, then I would expect the USD to drop and the RMB to go up maintaining a trade-averaged value roughly equal to what it is today.

Incidentally, some analysis also predict that the CAD will drop back to around 0.75. although my bet would be that the loonie will continue going up. At this point in time, Canada is the only OECD (or group of 7/8?) country that's running a busget surplus. The loonie has been way too low for much too long. Still is.

Current recovery is driven by low interest and the "old" economy. Resource-hungry. Favors Canada big time.

As to the manufacturing sector, it's not doing anywhere near as bad as most of us expected. I suspect the main reason is that the automobile sector is more or less currency-neutral: costs in Canada go up together with income from sales in canada, and roughly in the same amount.