[Cynthius]

Originally Posted by rez333

It's Quebecs fault. Everything is more expensive in Canada because prices are equalized across the country, including the parasites in Quebec. The car company representative even admitted it, although covered it up with the euphemism about "language".

Think about the European Union. The Euro's value has plummeted thanks to a "useless" country like Greece. I don't remember ever buying anything from Greece, but somehow this inconsequential country may bring down North America as well. I'm simplifying things, but the point is clear. Quebec similarly is "useless" to Canada - it doesn't really do much except make noise and suck the lion's share of taxes from the provinces that produce. From a Macroeconomics perspective, I believe that Quebec is a large part of the problem why Canada is more expensive. It's not just a language issue - Quebec is run like a different country with their own tax laws and regulations and so on and so forth. The very cost of treating Quebec like it's the same as Canada even though it's not, means the rest of Canada has to subsidize the cost of business for Quebecois to have the appearance of equal treatment.

It's an uncomfortable but unspoken truth. That's why politicians investigate these US/Canada price disparity issues and somehow the issues disappear and are forgotten. Eventually the ignorant politician figures out it's because of Quebec and then has to shut up for the sake of politics. A few years ago when the Canadian $ first achieved parity with the US, it was about the price of books - whatever happened to that issue? Ans: they found out it was because of Quebec. Dust it under the carpet and shut up.

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