[LINK] "A weak loonie was supposed to boost manufacturing. Here’s why it hasn’t"

[rfmcdonald]

Sunny Freeman of the Toronto Star reports on the reasons why a lower Canadian dollar has not helped manufacture and technology exports.

While it traditionally takes 18 months for currency changes to trickle down, it may take two years or longer this time, he said. Manufacturers are grappling with a unique set of structural challenges formed during a long period of a high dollar.

Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz has acknowledged that old economic models have not accurately predicted export levels in the post-2008 world.

“We’ve lost share of the U.S. market,” he told a New York business crowd in December.

“It’s not because we do a bad job, but simply because companies that were there before are no longer present, and the model doesn’t know that.”