since it was at its highest in 1970. The reason for this is mainly the following factors: the

Quebec factor, the inflation factor, the productivity factor, the growth in government and taxes

factor, and the commodity price factor. These all come together to bring us to what the

Canadian dollar is worth compared to the U.S. dollar today.

The Quebec factor is partly responsible for the decline. "It is no coincidence that the

Canadian dollar began its descent to 69 cents in November 1976."¹ That was the month in which

the Parti Quebecois shocked political observers by winning the Quebec provincial election. It

was the first, and still only, party explicitly committed to separation to assume the reins of power

in Quebec City. "While it is generally agreed that there is a risk premium built into the Canadian

dollar because of the threat of separation, no one believes that threat is responsible for the

whole, or even the bulk, of the currency's decline."²

The Canadian dollar is much lower because of separation because of what happened

during the 1980 Quebec referendum. At the beginning of the campaign, in March 1980

according to the Royal Bank's John McCallum, can be attributed to this.

referendum. On the night of the referendum, the television networks were showing the Yes side

translates into higher exports, which is supportive of the currency. The opposite takes place in

Some common words found in the essay are:
Quebec City, Globe Mail's, Price Factor, , Canada United, Unfortunately Canada's, Fraser Institute, Parity Theorom, canadian dollar, Parti Quebecois, Holt Rinehart, north american, financial post, american currency, commodity price, twenty five, north american currency, government taxes, canada current analysis, canada 1993, mccallum john, &winston canada, bank canada current, royal bank canada, policy implications royal,
Approximate Word count = 1410
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)