Ottawa plans to reduce Canada-U.S. price gap

WINNIPEG – Canadians have been complaining for years they’re being gouged at the till, but now the federal government wants eliminate the price gap for identical goods sold in Canada and the United States.

“We will also introduce legislation to address the price gap between identical goods sold in Canada and the United States,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said during the budget speech Tuesday.

Few details were released about the plan, but the federal government doesn’t plan to force retailers to lower prices. Instead it will give the Competition Bureau more power to enforce the issue. Legislation could take months.

The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce said the best way to lower prices is to eliminate all tariffs.

“Number 1, they shouldn’t dabble on the tariffs — they should be eliminating all the tariffs that currently exist,” said Dave Angus of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. “There’s still a number of tariffs that still exist that are creating the differential in pricing.”

Last year the federal government cut tariffs or duties for items like baby clothes and sporting equipment to see if retailers would pass on those savings but those results have not yet been released.

One other difficulty; the falling Canadian dollar. Experts say any legislation to deal with price differences would have little to no effect if the loonie drops below 85 cents US.