For years, some analysts and politicians have been repeating the mantra that a high dollar, driven by commodity prices, has hampered the growth of Canadian manufacturing, especially in central Canada. This ignores the specific reasons for the weakness of manufacturing before and during the recession, as well as how the financial crisis added another element to the stronger loonie as the world turned to Canada as a safe haven. The manufacturing sector that has emerged from the recession is fundamentally different from before, which is why it has been one of the leading industries in the recovery, despite the weakness of the US export market and a high exchange rate. This talk explores different ways of looking at the ongoing structural changes in one of our most important sectors, how manufacturers have adapted to the reality of a loonie at parity with the US dollar, and why the long-term prospects for this industry are bright.
Event Details:
The Fallacy of Dutch Disease:
How Canadian Manufacturers Have Adapted to Parity With the US Dollar
featuring Philip Cross, Research Coordinator, Macdonald-Laurier Institute
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
11:45 a.m. – Registration and networking (registration desk open after 11:30 a.m.)
12:10 p.m. – Lunch and presentation
Chateau Laurier Hotel, Laurier Room
1 Rideau Street, Ottawa
OEA Members – $45 prepaid on-line; $75 at the door
Non-members – $60 prepaid on-line; $90 at the door
OEA Student members – $20 prepaid on-line; $30 at the door
For more information and to register, click here. Registration deadline is Monday, January 14, 2012.
About the Speaker:
Philip Cross is the Research Coordinator at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an independent and non-partisan public policy think tank based in Ottawa. He is also a member of the Business Cycle Dating Committee at the CD Howe Institute. Before that, he spent 36 years at Statistics Canada, the last few as its Chief Economic Analyst. He wrote Statistics Canada’s monthly assessment of the economy for years, as well as many feature articles for the Canadian Economic Observer. He has been widely-quoted over the years, and now writes a bi-weekly commentary that appears in newspapers across the country. He lives in Ottawa.
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