Still Waiting and waiting and.....

For all their talk about how the Harper government takes action it is just that talk.

Jim Flaherty's timelines on national securities regulator, international tax

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has repeatedly talked about plans to strike two panels: One to create draft legislation for a national securities regulator, and the other to identify ways to improve the fairness and competitiveness of Canada’s system of international taxation.

The latter panel was even suppose to produce an interim report by the end of 2007 and a final report in 2008. But the panels don’t exist yet. When will they be created?

“Soon,” Mr. Flaherty told reporters after speaking at a Rotary Club of Toronto event. Asked to clarify how soon, he said the international tax panel will show up within the next ten days. He did not elaborate on the national securities regulator panel.

Canada's health care rated poorly

Canada has the worst rating in a new study of health care in seven countries when it comes to wait times for seeing doctors and getting elective surgery.

And the Commonwealth Fund says Canadians are most likely to report going to an emergency room as an alternative to a visit to a doctor's office or clinic.

Only 22 per cent of Canadians surveyed say they could get a same-day appointment when they're sick. Thirty per cent -- by far the highest among the countries -- say they had to wait six days or more.

And 15 per cent reported waits of six months or more for non-emergency surgery.

Meantime, two-thirds reported having a lot of difficulty getting care at night, on weekends or holidays.

"The report indicates that Canadians are saying the same thing to politicians that they're saying to the Commonwealth Fund: access to physicians and access to medical services has to improve," said Health Minister Tony Clement.

"We share that concern."

SEE

Finally Some Common Sense

Still Waiting On Wait Time 2

Still Waiting On Wait Time 1

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Proletarian Doctors

Medicare reform can only occur when we break the doctors business monopoly and 'their haughty power' over health care. One of the ways is to put doctors on salary.

Another is by creating integrated community medical centers and thus the proletarianization 0f Medicare through the use of salaried Nurse Practitioners and Physician's Assistants. It's an idea Norman Bethune would approve of.

Dr. Sigurdson, who worked with a physician assistant during a fellowship in Atlanta, just completed a master of business administration degree at Saint Mary's University during which he examined the business case for physician assistants.

"We could do things much better here," he said Wednesday.
Dr. Sigurdson said in an average 10-hour day set aside for operating, he only spends about six hours in the operating room and the rest of the time waiting for patients to be moved, the room to be cleaned and so on.

But much of what he does in the operating room could easily be done by a trained physician assistant.

He said it doesn't require a surgeon to prepare and drape a patient for surgery, sew up an incision or dress a wound.

"A (physician assistant) could sew up just as good as I can," Dr. Sigurdson said.

In fact, by his calculations, a surgeon is needed for only about 37 per cent of what happens during an operation. And a physician assistant could handle 51 per cent of the patients he now sees in a clinic.

About 100 patients were booked to see Dr. Sigurdson on Thursday morning. He needs to see patients having or recovering from major procedures like breast reconstruction. But when the appointment is simply to check whether someone who's had a minor procedure is faring well, a physician assistant would do just as well.

Comparing the cost of hiring a physician assistant at about $70,000 per year to a conservative estimate of Dr. Sigurdson's increased productivity, he estimated the province would see a modest cost saving over 10 years.

But when he compared the cost of a physician assistant plus the space and staff to run two operating rooms at once to simply hiring a second surgeon to work in a second room, he found the province could save $1 million in today's dollars.

A full-time surgeon at the QEII is paid an average $432,521 a year under a contract with the province, meaning the doctor would get no extra pay for doing twice as much surgery.

"I'm a young surgeon; I like operating," Dr. Sigurdson said. "And I'd like to operate more. You don't train 14 years to do something and then you only get to do it a day or a day and a half a week. It's frustrating."

He said it's much too late now to hope that increasing the number of doctors trained in Canada can meet the mushrooming demand for care. The country is just now experiencing the leading edge of a huge group of aging baby boomers who will not accept years-long waits for health care.

"To take business concepts and bring them into the public system is a strategy that we really should be thinking very strongly about before we throw the baby out with the bathwater and bring in a parallel private-care system," Dr. Sigurdson said.

Physician assistants work well in the private American system and could easily be incorporated into the public system, he said.

And there are trained physician assistants in Nova Scotia eager to work, he said. Those employed by the military frequently take early retirement and are left with few work options save providing care on oil rigs.

SEE

Ex Pat Attacks Medicare

Privatizing Health Care

Socialized Medicine Began In Alberta

Laundry Workers Fight Privatization

Two Tier Alberta

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Why The Senate Is Undemocratic

To be a senator, you must be a Canadian citizen, at least 30 years of age, own $4,000 of equity in land in your province, have a personal net worth of $4,000, and live in the province that you plan to represent.

SEE:

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

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Cost Of Abolishing The Senate

Another Liberal blogger suffers from wishful thinking;A splash of cold water for the Senate abolition gang and sounding a lot like their partisan pals over at the Blogging Tories.

The Liberal nay sayers are buoyed by the 'experts' opinions; NDP-Tory plan won't get through Senate: experts

Except they forget that Quebec eliminated it's Senate years ago. And we can do the same. Simply payout the old farts.

The Senate consists of 105 members, appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the prime minister. Seats are assigned on a regional basis, with each region receiving 24 seats. Senators must be at least 30 years old, and they can serve until they reach the age of 75. They earn more than $100,000 a year, not including pensions and benefits.

Let's see pull out my handy dandy calculator and that comes out to a paltry;
$10,500,000 not including pensions and benefits. Make em a one time offer and they will dissolve the Red Chamber laughing all the way to the bank.

And I am sure the Conservative Senators would of course not accept the payout on the principle of saving taxpayers money. Just like the Reform Party MP's didn't accept their government pensions.



SEE:

The Senators Fan Club

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

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Which Priority Was This?

Gee I didn't know Capital Punishment was one of the Stephen Harper Party priorities. No mention was made in the throne speech. Did I miss that.

And gee they even did a 'secret' poll and found out that other than their base, the majority of of Canadians oppose capital punishment. Does that matter? Nope its full speed ahead with their Hidden Agenda.

So now we have reversals on clemency and the abandonment of sponsorship of the UN resolution on a global moratorium on the death penalty. All straight out of Tom Flanagan's play book

OTTAWA - The Conservative government will not co-sponsor a United Nations resolution calling for a global moratorium on the death penalty, breaking with a nearly decade-old tradition.

An official with the Foreign Affairs Department says Canada will vote in favour of the resolution when it comes to the floor of the UN General Assembly in December, but will not sponsor it.

"There are a sufficient number of co-sponsors already, and we will focus our efforts on co-sponsoring other resolutions within the UN system which are more in need of our support," said Catherine Gagnaire.

Seventy-four other countries have put their names forward as sponsors, including the United Kingdom, Australia and France.

Last week, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day surprised the House of Commons by announcing that Canada will not oppose the execution of a Canadian citizen on death row in Montana for two murders. Day said the new policy will apply to "murderers" such as Ronald Allen Smith who have had a fair trial in a democratic country.

The government has not specified which countries it considers democracies.

Scott hits the nail on the head with his observation;

"Basically I perceive that image the Cons want to be seen showing is “we’d support a reinstatement of capital punishment if we had the numbers in parliament to do so, but since we don’t, we’ll send out a sublinimal message like this and like last week’s “no clemency pleas” to show our hard-core supporters we really do wish we had capital punishment here (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)”

SEE:

Another Tory For Capital Punishment

More Conservative Media Backlash

Conservative Columnist Opposes Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment Poll

Harpers Lethal Injection


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BT Breaks Wind

Some Blogging Tories have finally spoken up about the Conservatives switcheroo on Capital Punishment and Clemency. One even made Don Newman's politics show. Gee I don't know how I missed his pithy comment, oh yeah it was in with four other pithy comments.

And Raphael Alexander has finally posted his article after leaving comments over at Scott's blog.

Two count 'em two BT's have finally commented on the 'big story' of the weekend. I guess the other's were too busy watching Fox News.

Still waiting for the Conservative parties official blog voice to speak up on this topic. While the other Steve is wrapped up in the Weblogs Awards.

See:

Death Penalty For Whom

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Your Pension Plan At Work

We may end up owning an airport in New Zealand. I can't wait to retire and visit.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The Canadian state pension fund said on Wednesday it would make a partial all-cash offer for NZ's Auckland International Airport Ltd (AIA.NZ: Quote), a week after the company rejected a previous offer.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said it would offer NZ$3.6555 a share for up to 40 percent of Auckland Airport shares valuing the company at around NZ$4.5 billion ($3.5 billion). CPPIB said Auckland Airport shareholders encouraged it to bid again, after the board rejected the previous proposal as too risky.

Shares in Auckland Airport, 23 percent owned by two local authorities, closed on Tuesday at NZ$2.91, having traded between NZ$2.06 and NZ$3.50 over the past 12 months.

($1=$1.29)

In response to a stinging snub from the board of New Zealand's largest airport, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has fired back with a plan to take its partial takeover offer directly to shareholders.

After a months-long friendly process in which the Canadian pension fund manager was given ample access to Auckland International Airport Ltd.'s books, its board put out a surprising and sharply worded release last week quashing the CPPIB's bid.

Four of its five members voted against the offer for up to 49 per cent of the company. The revised all-cash offer is valued at $1.8-billion New Zealand ($1.3-billion Canadian) for 40 per cent.

Alongside its concern about the level of debt involved in the partial privatization, Auckland International's board also took an unusual poke at the expertise level of the $120.5-billion (Canadian) pension fund manager, which is considered by many to be one of the world's most sophisticated investors in infrastructure.

The CPPIB's second wind, however, has come from institutional investors including the airport's largest, the Auckland City Council.

The council owns a 12.75-per-cent stake and has encouraged the pension fund to continue on with its plan.

"We are really going down this route because shareholders have lobbied us to find a way to opine on the proposal," Mark Wiseman, CPPIB senior vice-president, private investments, said in an interview.

The airport's other large shareholders include the Manakau City Council, the city just south of Auckland in which the airport is located, along with infrastructure investors Macquarie Bank of Australia and New Zealand's Infratil Ltd.

Actually this is another case of public sector funds being used as a P3 Public-Public-Partnership. Privatization by another name,except all the investors are publicly owned institutions or pension funds. Ironic that.

Privatization of infrastructure is now being paid for by public funds. No capitalist is willing to invest in long term infrastructure. Not private equity companies or Hedge Funds. So while neo-cons promote the myth that private capital is willing to invest in public infrastructure the reality is that it is workers pension funds, public funds that are used to rescue the public sector and the commercial private sector investments in infrastructure.

Canadian pension plans, Australian bank to acquire Puget Energy

A multinational consortium lead by an arm of Australia's Macquarie Bank and including three Canadian public-sector pension plans is acquiring Puget Energy (NYSE:PSD) amid continued infrastructure investments by major Canadian pension funds seeking more lucrative returns to pay pensions.

The deal values the U.S. utility company at US$7.4 billion, including $3.2 billion in shareholder capital provided by the consortium, $2.6 billion in existing debt that will be assumed and $1.6 billion of newly issued debt.

In addition to Macquarie, the consortium includes the Toronto-based CPP Investment Board, British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and Alberta Investment Management.

"PSE is Washington's oldest and largest energy utility - it is a strong, stable company with a growing customer base in a market that has displayed consistent demand over time," Christopher Leslie, chief executive of Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, stated Friday.

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 1, 2007) - RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust ("RioCan") (TSX:REI.UN) today announced its financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2007.

Financial Highlights

RioCan reported net earnings for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 of $35,917,000 ($0.17 earnings per unit basic and diluted) as compared to net earnings of $41,763,000 ($0.21 per unit basic and diluted) for the three months ended September 30, 2006. For the nine months ended September 30, 2007, RioCan reported a net loss of $32,790,000 ($0.16 loss per unit basic and diluted) as compared to net earnings of $120,377,000 ($0.61 per unit basic and diluted) for the comparable period in 2006.

For the quarter ended September 30, 2007, rental revenue was $160,559,000 as compared to $145,339,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2006. Rental revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 was $483,824,000 versus $429,291,000 for the comparable period in 2006.

FFO for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 was $76,029,000 ($0.36 per unit) as compared to $72,533,000 ($0.36 per unit) for the three months ended September 30, 2006. For the nine months ended September 30, 2007, FFO was $227,120,000 ($1.09 per unit) as compared to $209,440,000 ($1.06 per unit) for the nine months ended September 30, 2006.

RioCan's Consolidated Financial Statements, Management's Discussion and Analysis and a Supplemental Information Package for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2007 are available on RioCan's website at www.riocan.com.

FFO is a widely accepted supplemental measure of a Canadian real estate investment trust's performance and should not be construed as an alternative to net earnings or cash flow from operating activities determined in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles. RioCan's method of calculating FFO may differ from certain other issuers' methods and accordingly may not be comparable to measures reported by other issuers.

Portfolio Stability

At September 30, 2007:

- Portfolio occupancy was 97.6%;

- 65.1% of rental revenue was derived from properties located in Canada's six high growth markets (including and surrounding Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver);

- 82.6% of annualized rental revenue was derived from, and 83.1% of space was leased to, national and anchor tenants;

- Approximately 49.7% of annualized rental revenue was derived from its 25 largest tenants; and

- No individual tenant comprised more than 5.7% of annualized rental revenue.

Development Activity

With over a billion dollars at cost of ongoing developments, project activities remained strong throughout the third quarter as RioCan continues to focus on its development program. At the end of the third quarter, approximately 8 million square feet was under development, of which RioCan's ownership interest was approximately 3.4 million square feet. Third quarter highlights include:

- Oakville, Ontario - RioCan Centre Burloak, located at the intersection of Burloak Drive and Queen Elizabeth Way, is a 552,000 square foot new format retail centre anchored by Home Depot (retailer owned), SilverCity Oakville Cinemas, Longo's and Home Outfitters. This joint venture with the Canada Pension Plan ("CPP") Investment Board is 100% leased with approximately 92% to be occupied by national and regional retailers.

Construction is well underway and store openings are now being phased-in. A number of retailers have recently opened for business including Home Depot, Nike, Sony and Tommy Hilfiger. Additional retailers opening by the end of 2007 include SilverCity Oakville Cinemas, Suzy Shier, Guess, La Vie En Rose, Reitmans, Le Chateau, Urban Barn, Benix & Co., Bowring and many more. Other retailers such as Longo's, Home Outfitters, Urban Planet, Kitchen Stuff Plus, Structube, Solutions, Kelsey's, Montana's and Swiss Chalet will be opening in 2008.



- Edmonton, Alberta - Construction is ongoing at RioCan Meadows, another development joint venture with CPP Investment Board. Upon completion, this 502,000 square foot new format retail centre will be anchored by a Real Canadian Superstore (retailer owned) and Home Depot. Some retailers that recently opened for business include Winners, Dollarama, TD Canada Trust and Wok Box. Additional retailers opening later this year and in 2008 include Petsmart, Reitmans, Laura, Scotia Bank and Swiss Chalet.

- Calgary, Alberta - Also moving towards completion is the construction of RioCan Beacon Hill, a 788,000 square foot new format retail centre featuring shadow anchors Costco and Home Depot, both of whom are open for business, as well as Canadian Tire and Shoppers Drug Mart, both of which are expected to open in spring 2008. This joint venture with Trinity Development Group Inc. and CPP Investment Board boasts a number of national retailers, many of which are already open for business, including Winners, HomeSense, Royal Bank, Linens 'N Things, Golf Town, Michaels, The Shoe Company, Mark's Work Wearhouse, LaSenza, Thyme Maternity and Sport Chek. Additional retailers such as EB Games, Telus and Bell Mobility are anticipated to open later this year.

However what remains lacking is shareholder control of our pension funds. Without that we have no checks and balances on how our funds are being used, for instance if jobs are cut at the airport which are not in our interests or those of the workers affected.

Or in the case of affordable housing our pension funds are being used for commercial real estate investments instead of creating affordable housing in overheated markets.

While institutional funds, as our public pension funds are called in the investment industry, cry for more control over the boardrooms of the companies they invest in, we the owners/shareholders of these funds have no say in their boardrooms.

This is an issue the labour movement and civil society needs to address soon.

Canada says G7 to discuss state investment funds

Group of Seven finance ministers will discuss the need for more transparency by state-backed investment funds in a meeting on Friday and will likely mention the issue in their final statement, a Canadian government official said on Tuesday.

Ministers from the world's richest nations will gather in Washington on Friday to discuss the global economic outlook following this summer's credit crunch as well as possible regulatory changes for financial market players.

But sovereign wealth funds are also high on the agenda and will be the subject of an "outreach session" with non-G7 members Friday evening, said the official, who declined to be named.

Although they are not new, these funds have grown in number and size in recent years as the central banks of oil-rich Middle Eastern countries and countries such as China, which have huge reserves, invest in riskier assets in search of higher returns.

The main concern in Canada and other countries is that not enough is known about the huge capital flows from these funds, which can create imbalances in the global financial system. The funds need to be guided by clearly stated market-based principles to assure the countries hosting their investments that they are not motivated by anything other than economics, the official said.

At a special meeting that will also include China, Korea, Kuwait, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, Canada will hold up its Canada Pension Plan Investment Board as a model of accountability that could be adopted by state-owned investment funds. Norway's state fund is another model.

The CPP Investment Board is responsible for investing pooled pension assets worth C$120.5 billion and operates at arm's length from the government, with an independent board of directors. It undergoes external audits every year and tri-annual reviews by government authorities.

It is required also to hold public meetings periodically and to disclose its investment performance on its Web site.

Charge higher CPP premiums to firms without pension plans

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is launching a campaign to change Canada Pension Plan rules, requiring employers without workplace pension plans to pay higher Canada Pension Plan (CPP) premiums.

The extra money would be used to pay higher CPP benefits at retirement to workers who do not have a workplace pension plan.

NUPGE outlined the proposal at a recent conference attended by more than 300 union representatives and leading pension policy experts. The event was arranged by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), which brings together affiliated unions with a combined membership of more than three million members.

NUPGE is one of Canada's largest unions, representing 340,000 public and private sector workers across the country. Collectively, the NUPGE members participate in pension funds with combined assets of more than $100 billion.

The union recently released a research report identifying an alarming decline in pension coverage in Canada. The report revealed that the percentage of the Canadian workers covered by a pension plan declined from 46% in 1991 to 38.5% in 2005.

Employers lack incentives to provide pensions

Larry Brown, NUPGE's national secretary-treasurer, says Canada now provides few incentives for employers to create pension plans, despite the obvious social and economic benefits of doing so for workers and for society in general. In fact, disincentives exist to discourage employers from setting up their own plans, he said.

Brown says employers with pension plans now pay exactly the same CPP premiums as those without plans. At the same time, they assume legitimate administrative costs and requirements set out in pension legislation, including funding obligations and reporting and actuarial evaluations, he said.

“Employers have a moral obligation to their employees to provide decent pensions, but our system does very little to encourage this behavior. Instead, it subjects employers who provide pensions to necessary but often complex legislative requirements,” Brown notes.

"Why should an employer assuming the burdens and obligations of providing a pension plan pay the same CPP premiums as employers who do not?" he asks.

“We don’t think that makes sense and we’re launching a campaign that calls for an extra payment to the CPP from those employers that don’t offer a workplace pension plan,” he says.

"We are saying that employees should receive improved CPP benefit coverage during any years they work for employers without a workplace plan, and those benefits should be financed by additional CPP premiums collected from employers who do not offer pension plans.”

Brown says this would create an incentive for employers to provide pension plans. "They would pay for a workplace pension plan, or pay higher CPP premiums. Either way, they would be required to meet their moral obligations to their employees”, he said.

SEE:

Vencap

AIM High

P3 Myth Busting

Infrastructure Collapse

Fire Sale

Dumb and Dumber

Public Pensions Fund Private Partnerships

Golden Parachutes

Your Pension Dollars At Work

P3= Public Pension Partnerships

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Loonie Flashback

Guess they aren't too eager to adopt a blended currency now. Even though the Canadian business class has spent the past two elections and last six years promoting an integrated North American economy.

Yesterday

December 3, 2001 - The loonie's days may be numbered. Earlier this month a poll revealed more than half of Canadian business leaders think Canada should consider adopting the U.S. dollar. Conducted just after the Canadian dollar hit a record low of 62.30¢ U.S. on Nov. 9, the poll also showed that, even if Canada doesn't adopt the greenback, many companies will increasingly set prices for big-ticket items in U.S. dollars.

Today

The commodity boom, and the price of oil in particular, is what's been driving the Canadian dollar to an all-time high. If you did two lines on a chart, tracing the price of oil and the value of the loonie this year alone, you would find they track very closely together. After bottoming out at around $52 at the beginning of the year, the price of oil has rocketed to the mid-90s. And the Canadian dollar, which was thought to be pretty fully priced at 85 cents back in January, crossed $1.08 briefly yesterday, hitting a new all time high. That's a 21-per-cent appreciation relative to the U.S. dollar in only 10 months. Wow.

Only six years ago, the loonie was languishing in the low 60s, back when oil was in the low 20s, which only makes the point. "They are very closely linked," says Jeremy Leonard, an economist with the Institute for Research on Public Policy.

Nothing, it seems, can stop the dollar, so long as nothing can stop the price of oil.

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The Economist On Alberta's Fair Share

The Economist on Ed Stelmach's Royalty sell out. Yep folks his approach may have been balanced for the whiners in Calgary Petro Towers, but when it comes to the market place we are still getting shortchanged.

Nov 6th 2007
From Economist.com

OIL prices seem to hit a new peak each week. This is good news for governments which take a cut of revenues. And coffers will swell further as companies explore new sources of oil that had previously been too pricey to extract, such as oil sands in Alberta, Canada. The province's government recently announced an increase in royalties from 47% to 55% of net revenues in 2010. But this is still a relatively small share compared with many countries. The tax man in Norway, Russia and Libya takes over 70% of revenues.

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Loonie Beats Dollar Benefits Who

And, as predicted, the dollar reaches 1.10

Loonie surpasses US$1.08 in overseas trading

So what.I still see American price differentials of at least nine to ten bucks on CD's for sale at Starbucks, books at Indigo/Chapters. Heck even an American price differential on the duvet we wanted buy. Our dollar is high so who is raking in the profit? Well the retailers are and so are their suppliers.

Of course currency traders can make trillions off the cost of the loonie vs. the dollar, but for you and I well we are still paying last summers prices for American goods. Of course because the Canadian retailers bought their stock at higher prices last summer too. But often our retailers are simply branch plant operations of their American parent company. Which is why Wal-Mart can adjust its prices, so should Home Hardware. While Rona or Indigo can't do so as easily.

Wait a minute whatever happened to just in time production costs. You know the Toyotaization of the economy, where goods are produced and shipped as needed. Should the rising loonie be reflected almost immediately, give or take a month, in the actual production of items. Well of course, but to reprint all those book and cd covers costs money. So the price stays the same on the source label. It's up to the retailer to drop the cost.

Many of the town’s largest retailers say consumers can expect price cuts due to the rising Canadian dollar.

Local management at the big three - Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart and Zellers - wouldn’t comment personally, but passed the question on to press releases or spokespeople at their head offices.
Canadian Tire spokesperson Lisa Gibson said the chain has already dropped prices on over 1,000 items and more will come. The company is committed to being competitive, but Gibson said the exchange rate is only one factor in retail pricing.

"It’s a little more complicated than it seems," she said. "The products you see on the shelves we purchased months and months ago. If the dollar stays high there will be more savings."
A press release from Hudson’s Bay Company, parent company of Zellers, said price cuts started to take effect on Oct. 19. Zellers stores will feature a price cut promotional progam to signal to consumers the products where savings are being obtained.

"HBC is fighting for Canadians," said Rob Johnston, president. "We have worked with our vendors to obtain better deals on merchandise at Zellers. We understand that the rising Canadian dollar has led to a demand for lower pricing and this is our attempt to provide real savings for Canadian families."

According to a press release from Wal-Mart Canada, the company has been negotiating with suppliers for a year to turn the higher loonie into lower prices for its customers. As a result, thousands of items have seen price rollbacks each week. Wal-Mart is committed to 7,000 rollbacks weekly for the holiday shopping period.

Maybe before the Christmas sales rush the loonies rise will be reflected in a mark down of the American prices we pay. Well of course after all it's the Christmas rush. All retailers deal in volume, so we should expect to see prices drop.

MacKinnon said it may be a temporary blip, but even if, in the long run, the Canadian dollar stays exactly the same as the U.S. dollar, you can't expect prices to be exactly the same. Transportation costs, competition and a variety of other factors contribute to the price of goods: the exchange rate is only one part of the picture.

His advice for getting the best deals?

Do your shopping online.

Even though books and magazines that have been slashed to U.S. prices at places such as Wal-Mart, consumers can save even more money by shopping online and paying U.S. prices in Canadian dollars.

"That's what I'm going to be doing this year," MacKinnon said of the upcoming holiday shopping season.

And don't expect to get ten cents on the dollar if you trade in that old folded money from your last trip south of the border.

And beware of all the whining in the resource and manufacturing sector that accompanies the daily news of the loonies flight. Its a mirage. The real impact is declining prices for some resources.

The merger of Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. and Bowater Inc. is complete, but today both companies are expected to report their third-quarter financial results separately in the midst of an industry-wide newsprint slump.

And the final profit report for Abitibi is not likely to be good as its results are expected to be adversely affected by the strong Canadian dollar, rising costs and depressed newsprint prices. Analysts forecast Abitibi's loss at 29 cents a share during the third quarter.

The high loonie is only exacerbating problems in an industry beleaguered by stagnant natural gas prices and by changes imposed by the royalty review, industry watchers said yesterday.

The government's concern surrounds the fact that natural gas prices have remained stagnant and, thanks to the high dollar, Albertans are getting less cash today than they were for the same amount of the resource six months ago.

And even companies with American investments have made record profits despite the price differential between the loonie and the greenback.

Manulife Financial Corp. now earns so much of its $1.07-billion in quarterly profit from outside Canada that one analyst even asked yesterday why the company still reports its numbers using the soaring loonie.

"How do you justify using the Canadian dollar?" asked Desjardins Securities analyst Michael Goldberg of the company's executives on a conference call .

The Canadian dollar's rise cost Manulife's bottom line more than $56-million in the third quarter of 2007, while more than three-quarters of the company's premiums and deposits are from the United States or Asia, and almost 60% of quarterly profit comes from international operations.

In fact, Manulife has considered reporting in the U.S. dollar, said chief executive Dominic D'Alessandro.

But with more than half of all shareholders resident in Canada, it is unclear whether investors want U.S. dollar numbers, he said.

He might have added that the negative impact of the loonie's rise is hardly a dent in the longer-term growth of his powerhouse global insurer, one which had profit increase 10% over last year despite unexpectedly sharp currency movements.

And there is a silver lining to the rising loonie when it comes to some folks salaries.

Surging loonie giving Montreal Canadiens financial leeway,

And remember the Brain Drain not much in the news about that lately, but just wait the loonies rise will contribute to that too.

Your dollar will now go further than it has in quite some time. The US$40,000-a-year tuition bill is going to be, well, C$40,000. Duh, I know, but think about just five years ago, when that US$40,000 tuition bill was $60,000.

And it has not impacted Canada's hotel industry because that industry is relying more on internal travel than tourist accommodation.

According to Statistics Canada’s fourth-quarter survey of travel accommodation providers carried out in the second half of September, a majority of the survey’s 1,300 respondents expect to be busier in the fourth quarter of this year than they were in the third quarter and much busier than they were a year ago.

Because the travel accommodation industry is quite sensitive to exchange rates, the fact that its prospects strengthened in the fourth quarter sends two messages. First, it reinforces the view that domestic demand in Canada is strong heading into 2008.

Second, given the fact that accommodation providers expected demand to strengthen even before Mr. Flaherty’s recent mini-budget, the effects of lower taxes should give another boost to domestic travel and accommodation demand well into 2008.

And the rising loonie is helping Newfoundland pay off its debts. The same goes for the Federal government, and all other levels of government, provincial and municipal that borrow money in U.S. funds. Time to pay down those debts while the loonie is high, and damn the penalties.

The loonie's surge to historic highs means the provincial government will save more than $10 million in debt payments this year.

As of the beginning of the 2007-08 fiscal year, Newfoundland and Labrador had US$1.15 billion on the books in debt payable in American currency.

The province borrowed the cash in seven instalments - ranging from US$100 million to US$200 million - between 1987 and 1993.

One of those issues - for US$100-million, borrowed 20 years ago at an interest rate of 11-5/8 per cent - came due in recent weeks.

According to the Department of Finance, the province paid off that US$100-million debt, without re-borrowing, on Oct. 15.

Money socked away by the government in sinking funds over the years covered off more than US$89 million of the repayment.

The province had to pay the shortfall of US$11 million.

The good news is the strength of the Canadian dollar made that payment millions cheaper than it would have been even six months earlier.

And even car prices are dropping so wait before buying that new 2008. Especially if you live in Ontario and near the border. You can save a far amount thanks to the rising loonie. Add to it the supposed federal green rebate on some models, whenever that comes into effect, and the cut in the GST you can make some real savings.

One by one, the price dominoes are falling. Less than a week after Chrysler announced a series of incentives to keep your dollars from travelling across the border comes news that two more auto giants are joining in the stay-at-home fray while the loonie, already at an all-time high, continues to shatter its own marks.

Honda is planning to give you back $5,500 if you pay cash for a Pilot crossover utility vehicle, $1,500 if you choose a Civic and $4,000 on some Accords.

Ford has also put its foot on the rebate accelerator, offering to lower prices on some of its models by $7,000.

"Right now the MSRP on the car is $2,654," said Ted Hogan from Dixie Ford while talking about a deal on a brand new Fusion. "Ford has added an additional $1,200 E-bonus, they've added a $3,500 and an additional one per cent GST rebate."

Last week, Chrysler introduced a "3 For Free Program" that will see incentives put on almost all its best selling models, including 2007 Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles, along with its 2008 Grand Caravan, Town Country, Avenger, Ram 1500 and Ram Heavy Duty. Cash rebates of up to $10,750 are being offered depending on what you buy and when.

Ironically, all the rebates come at a time when Canadians are becoming frustrated in trying to buy cars in the States. Many dealers near the border have been ordered not to sell their cheaper vehicles to those from the Great White North or risk losing their franchises.

Honda and Nissan have also followed suit.

"There's also trade-in dollars up to $5,000 on some of the vehicles to try and encourage people to buy Canadian, to buy in Canada," said Honda executive vice president Jim Miller.

"Nissan is in the middle of doing all the adjustments to bring the prices down to what the market is bearing," said Dixie Nissan salesman Greg Carrasco. "We've been waiting for this, so I think it's finally going to happen."

While the Economist reminds us once again it is not workers in Canada that are unproductive, but the capitalist class. Their failure to invest can have a far more negative effect on the loonie than any other factor.

A strong currency reflects booming commodity exports and sound public finances. But not everyone is cheering

the industrialisation of China has boosted the world price of Canada's exports of oil, gas, minerals, metals and farm products. But the country has also done its housework: ten years of federal budget surpluses and a current-account surplus contrast with the twin deficits in the United States. In the end it was the “subprime” mortgage woes south of the border that elevated the loonie over the sickly greenback (or should that be the “Yankee lira”?).

Or perhaps it is Canada's weak productivity and unambitious businessmen. Company profits are healthy but investment remains sluggish. Because of the exchange rate, the price of capital goods fell by 10% over the past year, but purchases rose by only 5%, according to Philip Cross of Statistics Canada.

And then there are the naysayers. They are of course Americans.

Canada should put its loonie pride on hold

Despite the naysayers the reality is that the Loonie is getting stronger while the U.S. Dollar is in free fall. Even if the U.S. dollar rebounds the strength of the loonie may remain according to some market analysists.

FX – USD/CAD

Crude oil at record highs, market-wide weakness in the greenback and a rate cut by the FOMC has allowed USD/CAD to continue to fall like a rock. Most recently the pair hit a multi-decade low of 0.9328, but this support level does not appear likely to hold up as a bottom which leaves USD/CAD open to further declines. Indeed, Canadian economic data and strong oil prices support the case for additional gains for the Loonie, and Tuesday is unlikely to prove differently. Building permits are anticipated to rise 1.8 percent while Ivey PMI is forecasted to fall back to 55.0 from 56.0, but it is the latter report that has the greatest potential to be a market-mover given the risks for a surprisingly strong reading. If Ivey PMI is indeed better than expected, USD/CAD could push down through 0.9300 towards the next level of support at 0.9223. On the other hand, signs that the Canadian economy has taken a sharp hit from the Loonie’s rally could allow the pair to bounce above the 0.9400 level.

Chalk up merger-related demand for Canadian dollars as one more reason the loonie may strengthen against the U.S. dollar in the near term.

Dealing rooms yesterday were rife with chatter about the impact of the US$38.1-billion ($36.8-billion) offer by Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto RIO.LRIO.AX for Canadian aluminum producer Alcan Ltd AL.TO as the deadline loomed.

Retail investors typically wait until the last minute to tender their shares and so the currency conversions would likely take place over the next few days. Rio is going to pay off the deal in U.S. dollars, a company spokesman said. While the exact amount of the flows from U.S. dollars into the Canadian currency were far from clear, analysts said the loonie still had room to rise against the greenback as a result of the deal's timeline.

"The Canadian shareholders aren't going to want U.S. dollars, so they are going to have to convert them into Canadian dollars," said David Bradley, director of foreign exchange with Scotia Capital in Toronto. "There definitely could be significant flows."

Mr. Bradley estimated flows of U.S. dollars back into loonies would range between US$4-billion to US$12-billion. Alcan's shares outstanding are nearly evenly divided between its dual listings on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges.

The Canadian dollar has been on a tear this year, rising more than 20% to 33-year highs against the U.S. dollar. Surging commodity prices, stable growth, a robust equity market and a weak greenback have all helped the loonie. Merger-related demand has also played a role. In particular, the Rio deal, which would create the world's largest aluminum producer, has been a big driver for the Canadian dollar.

"I certainly do believe that the Rio Tinto bid for Alcan has certainly helped Canada trade to new highs," said Liz Bussanich, senior vice-president for foreign exchange at Bank of Montreal in New York.

See:

The Return of Keynes

Loonie Tories Blaming The Victims

Softwood Sell Out

Americans Recognize Canada

Parity

If It Ain't Broke

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