Canadian consumer prices challenged

TORONTO, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A weekly Canadian news magazine is questioning why Canadians are paying more for goods than people in the United States despite dollar parity.

The Aug. 7 edition of Maclean's magazine quoted a BMO Capital Markets report that said prices of consumer goods in Canada are generally 18 percent more expensive than in the United States, despite the Canadian dollar reaching parity on Sept. 20, 2007.

The magazine went further, checking prices of 60 additional items, ranging from cars to perfume, and found Canadians are paying 24 percent more than U.S. consumers.

Calling the disparity a "price assault," the magazine said "consumers are losing out and in that typically Canadian way, tolerating it without much of a fuss" and criticized the minority Conservative government for its reluctance to address the issue.

Midday Thursday, the Bloomberg agency reported the Canadian dollar rose 0.2 percent to $1.0469 per U.S. dollar.