Laurent Beaudoin, the CEO of Bombardier Inc., complained yesterday that Canada’s dollar is now too expensive relative to the U.S. dollar and that it is hurting Canadian industry. Mr. Beaudoin called on the federal government, through the Bank of Canada, to do something.
He did not call for a devaluation of the loonie but said government ought to limit its increase.
I asked International Trade Minister David Emerson about Beaudoin’s comments today:
“I think he’s expressing the frustration that many in particularly the manufacturing sector have with their competitive position,” Emerson said on his way out of the weekly Conservative caucus meeting. “But I’m the last person in the world that would advocate political interference with the Bank of Canada. It’s the Bank of Canada’s mandate and I think they’re doing a pretty good job on balance.
“We’ve got a very strong economy. We’re in a strong commodity cycle and many Canadians are actually getting a dividend because their dollar is worth so much more. It does have these implications for manufacturing and we need to think about that and they need to be adjusting but certainly it’s not a matter of, I don’t think, getting politically into pushing the Bank of Canada.”