Top Canadian banker talks to autoworkers

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TORONTO, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Canada's top banker told unionized autoworkers in Toronto Wednesday they were misinformed about the country's currency value affecting their jobs.

In a rare direct address to unionized labor, Bank of Canada Gov. Mark Carney told the annual convention of the Canadian Auto Workers there has been far too much reliance on Canada-U.S. trade.

The two countries are one another's biggest partners, and the automotive industry exchanges are significant.

"Already, U.S. weakness means that Canadian exports are $30 billion lower than they would normally be at this stage in the cycle," he said. "Our under-performance prior to the crisis was more a reflection of who we traded with than how effectively we did it."

Union leader Ken Lewenza has criticized the Conservative government and central bank for their financial policies that have resulted in Canada's dollar, or loonie, at or above par with its U.S. counterpart.

Carney said "there is some truth to that, it is not the most important reason," saying despite moderate improvement in the U.S. economy since the most recent recession, Canada has been too reliant on cross-border trade.

"Since 2000, our share of the world goods export market has fallen from about 4.5 percent to 2.7 percent," Carney said.