One evening a couple of weeks ago,
Andrew Coyne (then a columnist at the
National Post, now national editor of
Maclean's) and other journalists from across the country appeared on
The National with Peter Mansbridge. Among the topics this panel discussed was the raging furor over prices brought on by the rapidly rising value of the Loonie. At that time, Coyne said that he expected that the debate would soon shift to concern over the impact the dollar's increase in value was having on the manufacturing and export sectors. It's happened.
The Globe and Mail's Rheal Seguin has just reported that Quebec premier Jean Charest is
calling on Ottawa to hold a first minsters conference on the economy as soon as possible to deal with the dramatic rise of the Canadian dollar." In the article, Seguin reports that Charest's comments "followed a meeting Thursday between Prime Minsiter Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who had publicly called on Mr. Harper to signal the Bank of Canada that interest rates must come down to make the rising Canadian dollar les attractive to foreign investors." Mr. McGuinty said his appeal "fell on mostly deaf ears." Why is that not a surprise?