The low Canadian dollar is hurting John Stiles at Calgary-based Planet Foods. His company distributes natural foods and healthy snacks across Canada.
The cost of his U.S. imports is going up, but he can't even raise his prices. The large well-known chains he sells to, such as Mountain Equipment Co-op and SportChek, only allow price changes every four or six months.
According to Stiles, the only real answer is to wait it out. In the roughly 15 years Planet Foods has been operating he has seen three wild swings in the Canadian dollar.
"It's going to take six months to a year to get that back to 90 cents," he says.
Of course there are no guarantees that the loonie will bounce back so quickly. But Stiles offers us a useful reminder. The lower the loonie gets, the more likely it will climb back out of those lows.
The classic example of why the lower loonie helps the Canadian economy is that it is an advantage for Canadian exporters. But while we're waiting, I thought it might be a good idea to imagine some other advantages, if just to make us feel better.
Unfortunately, there are signs a promised industrial rebound may be slow in coming. New export industries don't grow overnight. There are some estimates that, like the effect of interest rate cuts, the wait for a currency-led change in the industrial economy must be measured in years.
Not so the tourism industry, where the rebound has been almost immediate.
Not only are more U.S. visitors coming, but more Canadians are staying home. Canadian resorts and ski areas that in previous years faced closure will have a chance to regain strength, especially if the U.S. economy really is bouncing back.
More than ever, Americans will be able to send their children for Ivy League-quality education at loonie prices, all while subsidizing the Canadian university system.
And there's another advantage. You will get to meet lots more nice Americans and you won't even have to travel. They will come to you. Perhaps they will show you pictures of the Grand Canyon.
If you do decide to travel, maybe the low loonie will encourage you to be a bit more adventurous with your winter getaway. Europe could well be cheaper than Florida or Arizona.
But if you want to see the streets of New York as portrayed by Hollywood, you can stay right at home and visit Toronto or Vancouver, which take turns posing as a much cheaper Big Apple.
The longer the loonie stays low, the more likely a local suburb or downtown street will be transformed into a U.S. movie location. That also means you won't have to buy beer for your cool friends in the film industry. They will have jobs of their own.
On the social front, you may notice business at local bars and restaurants feeling more vibrant. Compared to buying expensive foreign goods, food preparation and service are cheap because, unlike imported ingredients, they are still priced in Canadian dollars.
