The head of the Windsor Essex Economic Development Corporation is keeping a close eye on the value of the Canadian dollar against the US buck.
At the moment it is almost at the $0.80 level of an American dollar.
Stephen MacKenzie says currency value is always a part of the conversation when attempting to attract industry to this area. He says at the current level, the Canadian dollar remains an economic advantage for companies who are exporting.
"That's kind of the tipping point, that still creates that advantage for international business and to favour Canadian companies," says MacKenzie. "But if it rises too far above 80-cents, that exchange rate advantage is really reduced. Companies who have to buy a lot from the US, they start to get an advantage. All of a sudden their Canadian dollar is worth more US dollars and it's cheaper for them to buy the services they're buying or the imputs to their manufacturing processes or their final goods."
MacKenzie says they track the dollar value because of it's potential impact on Canadian competitiveness.
CEO of the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation Stephen MacKenzie (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)