i'm in the group of people that doesn't expect a rebound any time soon. the factors keeping oil down are pretty long term, and more likely to exacerbate. there will not be another reset in american-russian relations, nor is russia likely to fall apart any time soon as they've been banking on.

this should hopefully allow local businesses an opportunity to rebuild. i'm sick of buying tomatoes from mexico and strawberries from california. let's get the infrastructure for indoor growing up and running. you do it in bulk, you cut down on costs. and, the bigger the space, the more solar panels you can set up.

the reality is that a low dollar is a far better job creation strategy than any kind of tax cut or pipeline scheme - but it has to be maintained. and, hopefully we can get some leadership in place that's more concerned about jobs in the local economy, and is willing to set rates to keep the dollar low, than it is about investors and money launderers.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/enjoy-canada-s-low-dollar-while-you-can-don-pittis-1.3203133

Andy the Great
Low dollar is good for the super rich, not the common person!

You must be love the super rich then, the low dollar only helps them. Also it does not affect the labour market since most companies are not spending because of the low CDN!

As for Russia. Most people there only earn $500 CDN a year. Yeah let copy them

Jessica Murray
the reason the dollar is down is that the united states has put sanctions in place to hurt the russian economy. it's always funny that conservatives continue to be stuck in the 20th century in their insinuations that leftists have some kind of affiliation with russia. russia is one of the most right-wing countries in the world. and the fact is that stephen harper and vladimir putin have a lot in common.

one of the things they have in common is that they both banked very strongly on high oil prices. what that means is that sanctions designed to hurt russia by cutting the price of oil will also drive down the canadian dollar, because harper's economic policies are very similar to putin's, which has put us in a situation where we will suffer the same effects as they are from the sanctions put in place to harm them.

oops.

the truth is that there's a long list of similar screw-ups, including selling our oil to our protector's largest competitor. that's not going to happen.

it follows that the continued tensions between the united states and russia will have a long-term effect on the canadian dollar. which means you should get used to a low dollar.

one way around this is to diversify the economy. my understanding is that this will require a change in government.

now, regarding the dollar, the idea that it helps the rich is pretty much completely absurd. i'm not sure where you're getting that from, but it sounds like a conservative talking point - because it's the precise opposite of the reality of the situation.

as mentioned, it makes our labour costs relatively lower, which attracts investment. it makes our exports more competitive. and, it acts as somewhat of a tariff in the sense that it makes locally produced products cheaper than imports. these are all excellent things for the working class.

but, it's bad news for people with currency reserves, currency manipulators, certain types of investors and a long list of other wealthy people.

as an aside, the reason there's been little spending by corporations is because there's been little demand for products. this is largely an issue related to stagnant wages and rising *household* debt - people don't have a lot of disposable income. there's a few ways to try and stimulate that. a tax cut for middle wage earners is a good idea in principle. as might be traditional keynesian spending.

i'd personally take somewhat of a step back from that, due to recent structural changes in the economy. a lower dollar might actually help to reverse those changes, in the sense that it acts somewhat as a tariff. that would take time.

but, nobody would ever argue that a lower dollar would act as a disincentive for investment in canada. quite the opposite would be true.

Andy the Great
Good solution, one currency for North America and call it the dollar !

Jessica Murray
that's the one and only way to turn canada into greece. no thanks.