Statistics and anecdotes rounded up in last weekend's article
about the influx of Canadians shopping in Montana served mainly to
confirm what we've been observing for many weeks.
Whether it's really a high-flying loonie (Canadian dollar) or a
low-flying U.S. dollar, the result is the same: A loonie buys more
on this side of the border than in Canada. Our only question is:
What took the shoppers so long?
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The exchange rate has been
shifting for a year, and when it's shifting is usually when
price differentials are most advantageous. Whatever the timing,
the phenomenon reached critical mass a few weeks ago during the
Canadians' Thanksgiving. Crossings into Montana at the Port of Sweet
Grass at the north end of I-15 were up 62 percent over the same
weekend last year.
We'd guess there was a similar increase this past weekend, which
was Remembrance Day north of the border, the Canadian version of
Veterans Day.
Alberta plates were as common as Montana's in the parking lots of
shopping areas and lodgings, and most of them were doing much more
than just looking.
We saw pickups with tires piled high in the back, SUVs being
loaded with large HDTV units, and large bolts of fabric being
carried out the doors of fabric stores.
All of that is good for merchants on this side of the border.
We'd stop short of saying that a further decline of our dollar
against the Canadians' is desirable, but it is being
predicted, according to economist Larry Swanson, director of the
O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Missoula.
"How long this currency situation will last is anybody's guess,"
he told Tribune Enterprise Editor Karen Ogden, "but I think the
factors leading to it in the U.S. will keep this with us for several
more years, and perhaps longer."
If that's the case, we'd suggest that Montanans take sugar pills
to sweeten up our disposition toward our northern friends.
It will be to their advantage to come here to shop for a long
time to come; shopkeepers would do well to familiarize themselves
and their employees with the nuances of crossing the border, and
with being helpful to first-time visitors.
Similarly, residents here should be nice to the Canadian motorist
who didn't notice the street was a one-way, or who slowed to a crawl
approaching a busy intersection, unsure of which way to go.
So welcome Canadians! Glad to have you with us. Hope you stay a
while.
greatfallstribune.com
