The loonie's impact is hardest on manufacturers in Central Canada as its impact on western manufactures is being offset by the high demand for their products, Myers said.
There's not much the Bank of Canada can do to help firms deal with the strong dollar, Myers said. However, governments can continue to cut taxes on investments in new machinery and equipment and reduce their regulatory compliance costs, he said.
"The high dollar has forced manufacturers to become super-efficient, but they still face a lot of mandatory overhead costs," he said.
If they are so efficient then they should be able to plow their record profits back into their companies, instead of investing them in the stock market or sending them offshore to tax havens. Of course "super-efficient" is just another way of saying job cuts.
See:
Productivity Myth
Canadian Workers Poorer Today Than Yesterday
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