For the past three weeks, I’ve started nearly every morning checking this page. Click the link and the graph explains why: the Loonie has plummeted against the dollar, one of the many ripples from the widening financial crisis.
We haven’t seen an exchange rate of about 78 cents to the US Dollar (as of Friday 10/24) in more than three years. Getting into all of the ramifications of this shift is beyond my understanding, but here are a couple ways in which it’s not a bad thing: first, all things being equal, it can help the competitiveness of Canadian commodities on the world market by making them more affordable; second, for those of us traveling from the US to Canada right now, we get a more favorable exchange rate, with meals, hotels, and many other goods (not all, however) available at a “discount.”
Speaking for myself, I spent a lot of money in Montreal last year, when the Loonie was at parity with the US Dollar. If the rate holds, I look forward to saving some money and also spending some more at the businesses I patronize in the city.