Canadians Continue to Complain About "Price Gap"

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/ripped-off-senate-report-urges-action-on-canada-us-price-gap/article8296607/

It is irritating for Canadians no doubt.  The Canadian and American dollars are currently at par, yet every time a resident of Canada goes to make an online purchased they are faced with the fact that the price is lower in the United States.  14% lower according to the article above (based on a Bank of Montreal study of a basket of goods).

I am still baffled as to why the main arguments here seem to be about tariffs and discrimination?  It doesn't take an econometric study to confidently state that distribution costs are much higher for large corporations in Canada. Getting goods to people just costs more! Although much of Canada's population is concentrated in South Western Ontario and on the west Coast of British Columbia it remains the case that Canada is a country of 9,984,670 sq km and only 34,300,083 (July 2012 est.) people.  Compare this to the United States with a population of 313,847,465 (July 2012 est.) inhabiting 9,826,675 sq km (including Alaska) and if anything it is surprising that the price discrepancy isn't larger.  The model of distribution for large online retailers is the same as the (struggling) postal service.  Charge more than shipping cost to people in concentrated population centers to offset the cost of getting goods to people is sparsely populated areas. 

This is a call to my fellow Canadian's.  Every since I can remember being first aware of the existence of the United States as a child, I felt as if all Canadians had a neglected little brother type inferiority complex.  It is time to stop feeling this way, economically and otherwise.  Perhaps prices are 15% higher, but is Canada not at least 15% more wonderful?  Subjectively speaking of course, but life expectancy, literacy rates and self reported happiness have to count for at least as much as prices on Amazon.com? 

Student Strikes in Quebec Reach 100th Day

Here is a great photo of the protest from David Ruccio's blog:
http://anticap.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/protest-of-the-day-105/

Have "victories" been won?  Yes and no.  I am not going to go with the "overdetermined" summary here, I will save that for another post.

I would suggest that similar to elimination of the penny, (see my older blog post), in the fight against high tuition at public universities Canada is again leading the way.

A large talking point in the current election cycle seems to be the lack of job opportunity for graduates in this country, and thus their inability to pay back their student loans.  Perhaps these unemployed graduates should have spent more time fighting to keep tuition, and thus their loans, at a lower, more manageable level.  Hindsight being 20/20 of course.

Of course when your income is zero, paying back even small loans can be problematic.  As more and more graduates struggle with their payments perhaps my graduate degree will indeed become a requirement for well paying bartending jobs?  Am I ready for the increase in competition?

Canada Leads the Way? Elimination of the Penny

Many people that I have personal contact with me have heard some form of complaining about something unimportant in the grand scheme of life.  One of my favorite rants, the continued existence of pennies.  I hate pennies. 

Inflation is necessary part of capitalist stability, and has long since rendered the penny obsolete.  Rounding every purchase to the nearest 5 cents saves far more than it costs.  There are many places to find analysis and commentary on this, here is one.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-29/canada-eliminates-penny-which-costs-penny-and-a-half-to-make

Even in a worst case scenario for an individual (say losing 3 cents on 10 purchases a day for an entire year) the losses are fairly insignificant (around $100 a year).

 I can't fully explain why the little copper coins annoy me so much, but they do, and per the above story, my home nation is making a bid for me to return home (I can't think of any other reason for Canada to eliminate the 1 cent coin?)
Actually I can think of many....but I'll suggest that Canada needs me back as the primary reason (for now).