... the federal government recently introduced legislation — dubbed the Price Transparency Act — that will force retailers to explain why Canadians sometimes pay higher prices than Americans for the same products.
... To think a government is remotely capable of collecting and properly collating this type of comparative information assumes a degree of specific knowledge that governments do not possess, as it would be impossible to track the millions of business decisions that are made on a daily basis.
... All of this ...ignores one significant reason why some prices in Canada are higher than those in the United States: government policy. ... For example ... Ontario’s rising electricity costs ... federal “supply management” policies ... airline fares - federal government policy that prevents full cabotage ...Several others have also written about James Moore’s proposed law:
Andrew Coyne: The whole ‘Canada-U.S. price gap’ issue is a con surrounded by hypocrisy
John Ivison: Moore trades tariff relief for discredited 1970s policies
Peter Foster: Regulations R Us
All make excellent points. There is certainly nothing “conservative” about such regulation. We are blessed with (mostly) free markets in this country. Retailers are best able to price their products in those markets and consumers are perfectly capable of sorting out where to buy them and deciding what price is fair. The government should not be meddling with or attempting to micro-manage retail businesses.
