Oh Canada. Glorious and Fleeced!

For non-Canadian readers, just to let you know, this is Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada. Did the headline catch your eye? I was at the grocery store this morning, well two of them actually. Sobeys had turkey for $1.97 per pound while Superstore had birds for $2.19 per pound. This is just scandoulous.

Lucky I had previously bought my turkey in the USA, at $0.89 per pound. This with the Canadian dollar relatively at par with the US greenback. Although our currency has gained 35-40% in value in less than 5 years the price differential between Canada and the USA remains the same. Why is that? Simple. We are being fleeced! Gouged! Ripped off!

I thought to myself about how Canadians are gouged on almost all goods and services we purchase. The turkey may have inspired this Mad Ape to write this post but I see the fleecing that we take every day. Food costs can run double or more the cost of what it can be purchased for south of the 49th parallel. Basics such as milk and poultry are a prime example.

Also look at the auto industry. Sorry Buzz Hargrove but it is a complete sham. Can anyone explain to me how a car can be manufactured in Canada, then shipped to the USA, can be cheaper to buy in the USA? Maybe when the Canadian dollar hovered around $0.60-$0.65 US funds it was justifiable.

Now that the Canadian dollar has climbed to even and expected to climb to as high as $1.10 US, the relative price to the USA should be 35 – 40% lower than what it was. But no…it isn’t. My sister-in-law just bought a car state side and saved $5800.00. That is a big chunk of change that can be used for a lot of different things. My wife is about to buy a new car. Do you think it will be bought locally? Not on your life. Why should we pay $5000 – $6000 more for a vehicle?

None of this make sense and people are starting to notice.

From CTV News:

Lawsuit accuses car industry of inflating prices

Updated Wed. Sep. 26 2007 10:57 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A class-action lawsuit launched in Toronto accuses major automakers and dealers of violating competition and consumer protection laws by conspiring to artificially inflate car prices in Canada.

Juroviesky and Ricci LLP have filed the suit in Ontario Superior Court.

Lawyer Henry Juroviesky told CTV.ca on Wednesday that prices are being inflated by automakers that tell U.S. dealers not to sell to Canadians.

“They dissuade and threaten their dealers from selling…(Canadians) cars,” said Juroviesky.

“What that does is artificially inflate the prices of cars in Canada — it does not allow the prices to fall to their natural level.”

Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers’ Association of Canada, said he hopes the lawsuit will inspire tougher laws to protect prospective buyers.

“I think we need laws with teeth to stop this stuff from going on,” he told CTV News.

Juroviesky denounced dealer tactics, such as voiding warranties, used to stop cross-border shoppers.

“If a car in Canada is sold for $35,000, and you could go to Buffalo, New York and buy it for $25,000, then according to the natural rules of competition the price in Canada should fall to avoid you from going to Buffalo,” said Juroviesky.

He said transportation costs should be the only add-on for cars sold in Canada.

Juroviesky said he got involved in the lawsuit after working with a company that helps Canadian auto dealers go to the U.S. to finance cars.

“The dealers came back and said ‘We cannot get our hands on new cars,’” he said. “We started investigating why and we saw that the auto manufacturers have put these impediments in front of Canadians to… keep their prices higher.”

Dealers in the past have used the large gap between the Canadian dollar and U.S. greenback to justify the higher prices in Canada, said Juroviesky.

“Now that the dollar is at parity they can’t use that cloud… to mask what they’re doing,” he said.

U.S. lawsuits

Meanwhile, class-action suits in the U.S. — launched in 2003 against automakers and dealer organizations — are currently being heard in a court in Maine.

The lawsuits — which came at a time when the Canadian dollar was valued in the 65-cent US range — were launched after Americans crossing the border to buy cars were denied warranty coverage.

The lawsuits argue that the failure to honour warranties denied Americans the benefits of lower prices.

Juroviesky said it will take about nine months to find out if the lawsuit his firm filed will be certified. If it is, the lawsuit will include all people that bought or leased cars in Canada from 2005 to 2007.

The statement of claim names as defendants:

General Motors Corp., General Motors of Canada Ltd., American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Honda Canada Inc., Chrysler Canada Inc., Chrysler LLC, Nissan North America Inc., Nissan Canada Inc., along with the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association and the National Automobile Dealers Association in the United States.

The firm also plans to add Toyota and Ford, including their Canadian units, once it has signed up representative plaintiffs for each one.

Still, a recent study that compared car sales on both sides of the border found that price gaps are narrowing.

“In all of our ‘popular’ segments … the price gap between Canada and the U.S. narrowed in 2007,” said industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers, who compiled the study.

The segments include subcompact and compact cars, compact sport utility vehicles, minivans and full-sized pickup trucks which, combined, represent two-thirds of the vehicles Canadians buy annually.

However, major gaps do still exist for luxury sports car buyers — where buying in the U.S. could mean an average savings of $14,000.

This is probably a sign of how the consumer is pissed at the Canadian Manufacturing Sector. Government has been too cozy to industry for too long and should have stepped in before now. I would predict that as this is just the tip of the iceberg for this type of thing.

The oil and gas industry has done the same thing. The Canadian pump price for gas is too high. Ok I know, the taxes are a lot higher than our US cousins. So what? Our dollar has gained almost 40% in value in less than 5 years. Our price for gas, pretax, should be even with the USA. But it is not even close. A scam…pure and simple. Anyone who justifies that we have to pay these prices to keep our economy strong can kiss my blue monkey butt. If I have to be ripped off to be Canadian the there is something wrong. I say follow the money trail and you will find who is responsible.

Lastly, to the manufacturing industry of Canada. You are on notice. When I do my Christmas shopping this year I am doing it in the USA. I will bring back more than maximum of what I am allowed duty free. Why not? Because when I pay the 15% HST on my over-the-limit purchases, I will still save 25-30%. This is a sad sad state of affairs. How did we get here? I will tell you. Canadians, on the whole, are a passive lot and greedy people have used that to their advantage.

I know I am not the only one that feels like this. All friends, family, and acquaintances I talk to agree with me. Hopefully you will too.

I am mad as hell and ain’t gonna take it anymore. Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

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