By Dan McTeague

As president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, I’ve had the privilege of calling the public’s attention to ongoing energy-related public policy issues which drive up the cost of living in this country. In that same vein, I’d like to call your attention to another matter which is making our lives more expensive. It is, functionally, a significant tax on all economic activity, but one which no political party ran on and none of our representatives in parliament voted for.

I’m speaking of the weakness of the Canadian dollar.

At the time of writing it takes 138 Canadian pennies to purchase a single American Greenback. That matters because most commodities which we consume are priced in U.S. dollars. So when I work on CAE’s gas price predictions — a project we’ve undertaken to help save Canadians money in a very concrete way — I have to continually multiply the commodity price of gasoline and diesel by 1.38 (or whatever the difference is at that moment) to get the cost in Canadian dollars.

The fact of the matter is, our diminished dollar functions as a drag on our economy, decreasing our purchasing power and raising the cost of doing business across the board.

Now, I know that there’s a common counterargument here, which is that a weak Loonie makes Canadian sourced goods and produce more attractive abroad. And that’s not wrong, but there are a few problems with the idea.

First, it’s less true in the highly integrated global economy of the 21st century than it’s been in the past. Maybe some of our farmers will make more money selling livestock and crops across the border, but they’re also spending a lot more on equipment and even phosphate-based fertilizers, which Canada imports to the tune of billions per year, particularly from the U.S.

Second, it’s short sighted. While it might bring about some benefits to exporters, especially in the short term, the lower the dollar falls, and the longer it remains low, the slower our economy is going to run. In the long run, a depressed Loonie is going to harm all of us.

So what is to be done to recover some value and get our currencies closer to parity? Well, one thing we could do is unleash the Canadian energy juggernaut.

Our country has been blessed with abundant natural resources, especially oil and natural gas, but the Trudeau-Carney Liberals who have been running the country since 2015 have bent over backwards to appeal to the Keep-it-in-the-Ground Net-Zero activists in their base. They’ve pushed legislation like Bill C-69, the “no new pipelines act;” Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act which significantly reduces our ability to export our natural resources; and Bill C-59, which bans businesses from touting the environmental positives of their work if it doesn’t meet a government-approved standard.

They’ve enacted the so-called Clean Fuel Standard, which requires fuel suppliers to reduce the carbon intensity of their products, elevating the cost to the consumer. And then there’s the whole bait-and-switch they’ve pulled on the Carbon Tax, zeroing out the public-facing Consumer Tax, while doubling down on the Industrial Carbon Tax.

Talk about a drag on the economy!

It shouldn’t be this way. The oil and gas industry is Canada’s “golden goose,” in the memorable phrase of economists Philip Cross and Jack Mintz, which drives “exports, productivity, incomes, and government revenue.” They are, in short, the backbone of our economy.

At a time when that economy is faltering, we should be doing everything we can to grease the wheels, to pump up production, and get things humming again.

A stronger dollar will mean a healthier, more affordable Canada. Let’s make it happen.