The Canadian dollar ain't what it used to be

June 3, 2007

Seattle Times Newspaper: Canada dollar getting closer to ours

"The Canadian dollar closed at 94.18 cents in New York trading Friday - the highest it's been since July 1977. (It hit an all-time low of 61.79 cents on Jan. 21, 2002.)"

One month later I started a new job. I was paid in US dollars but lived in Canada. The dollar was around 62 cents when I started. Based on the difference in the dollar, that Feb 2002 salary would currently bring home around $29K a year less than it did then. That's over $2400 less, each month. We felt that erosion every time a paycheque was deposited in our Canadian bank account, and it hurt.

I expect far fewer Canadians are looking to move to the US now as a result.

The article suggests the Canadian dollar could match the US dollar by the end of the year. I've read that elsewhere, too. When my parents were my age a few years younger than I am now, the Canadian dollar was higher than the US dollar, but that hasn't been the case since I was about 20 months old!