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Canadian Consumers Pay 11% More Than Americans

Business First

Thursday, November 3, 2011

A new study says that consumer goods cost 11 percent more in Canada than in the United States.

That's actually a smaller gap than the one that existed earlier this year, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail. A comparable study by the Bank of Canada found an 18 percent disparity in April.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney says some of the reasons for the gap are obvious -- higher taxes, higher labor costs and higher transportation costs in his country than in the U.S.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has called for the government to do whatever it can to reduce the disparity.

"Canadians are rightly irritated when they see large price discrepancies on the exact same products being sold on different sides of the border," he said. "I share their irritation