Falling loonie good for some, terrible for others in Windsor

A lower loonie isn't good for everyone in Windsor.

A weak Canadian currency is great for manufacturers, who export their goods to the U.S. market.

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It also means those in Windsor who work in the U.S. have received a raise of sorts, gaining upwards of 30 cents on the U.S. dollar when they convert their wage to Canadian money.

It's even good for local retailers as the falling dollar curbs cross-border shopping.

"As a retail owner in Windsor, my sales are going back up because people in Windsor are staying home to shop. Thank you very much to a weak Canadian dollar," Mark Rivard, owner of Motions 1, a theatrical supplies business, said in a post on CBC Windsor's Facebook page. "Some have no clue how hard it is to compete with the dollars at par. Even when we drop prices, with our taxes as they are, [we] just can't compete."

But for some local entrepreneurs, like Lenn Curtis, who buys goods and supplies from the U.S., a weak Canadian dollar means a higher cost of doing business. 

Every day Curtis watches the exchange rate.

He owns a couple of businesses on Walker Road. One, called Trike My Bike, converts two-wheeled motorcycles to trikes.

The conversion kits he needs can only be purchased in the United States, and that means he pays in American dollars.

So, as the loonie tumbles, so do his profits. Curtis says it is a juggling act to stay afloat.

"It's been really rough," he said while holding back tears while talking to Tony Doucette on CBC Radio's Windsor Morning on Monday. "We're barely holding on."

Listen to Curtis' emotional interview below:

Curtis converts 26 bikes a year, on average. By this time last year, Curtis had converted 14 bikes. This year, as the dollar continues to plummet, he's done just two — with an order for a third. The cost per conversion kit has increased from $9,900 CAN to $13,000 CAN.

"We do quotes every day and we're not getting the jobs," Curtis said.

'Pretty hard to stay afloat'

Curtis said he can make a living with the dollar being worth 85 cents U.S. but not at 75 or 65 cents U.S.

He employs five people but hasn't told them how the dollar is affecting the bottom line.

"I just want to make sure the employees get paid," he said.

Curtis said the Canadian dollar really started to slide just before Christmas last year and it's been falling ever since.

"You always want to run out and buy U.S. dollars, and if I'd have known then, I sure would have bought some," he said.

Curtis also runs a store called Daymak, which sells eBikes and hobby supplies. He has to buy most of his stock from China, and has to pay for it in American funds. He faces the same issue on a smaller scale; stock is much more expensive that it was a year ago. 

"It's pretty hard to stay afloat," he said.

The loonie really started falling July 15, after the Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate to 0.5 per cent. The loonie lost more than a penny against the U.S. dollar that day, its worst one-day performance this year.

Bill Anderson, the director of the University of Windsor's Cross-Border Institute, said that the volatility of the loonie has been a long-term issue for businesses in Canada.

"I think what would really be good is to have some stability. We've had a currency that's been swinging around like crazy over the last decade," he told CBC News in an interview on Monday.

Anderson said that creates a situation where people investing in Canadian businesses with a reliance on American markets don't know what their costs or revenues will be.

"If the dollar would stay relatively steady, then at least people could do some sort of planning and make some decisions about whether to locate production facilities in Canada on the basis of expectations of a currency rate staying more or less equal."