Costs in Canada

[v10superduty]

There is another post in this section where FullTimeDaniel
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As many have said virtually everything is unnecessarily expensive in Canada especially Gas-fuel, food and beer-wine.

I would avoid as much of Canada as Possible. Having said that I would head north through Alberta which has much cheaper fuel that BC. BC has a punitive Carbon Tax. Enter into Dawson Creek through Alberta.

It is really after Dawson Creek that the scenery gets better and better so you really wont miss too much.

And don't be fooled by the strength of the dollar. Even though the exchange is in our favor the costs will still be significantly higher than here in the US. This is why Canadians continue to flock to the Border Wal Marts and other stores despite their currency being worth-less.
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I just want to dispel the notion he leaves that everything is more expensive up here. Don't want anyone to miss coming up here thinking its too costly.
The main necessities like gas and alcohol are definitely higher. :W

Currently you will get about a hundred and thirty to thirty five bucks for a US $100.
Several years ago when was about $140 Can for US $100 I was in the "Beer Store" (Yup, that's where we buy beer here) and a group of fishermen from US came in. Fellow asked for a 24 pack of Canadian (A local favorite beer) and the gal said that will be $40 bucks please.
He swallowed hard and handed her a US $100 bill.
She handed him a Canadian $100 bill back.
Confused he said, "no maam, I still want the beer" trying to hand her back the 100 bill.
She smiled and said you get the beer AND the $100 bucks.
He was happy and then the beer didn't seem so expensive I guess.

Food at grocery stores in major centres is probably cheaper once you convert your dollar. I base this on what we currently are paying in Florida for groceries. Most things are about same price as at home but in a dollar that cost us extra .35 cents each so almost a third cheaper for US folks in Canada with US bucks.

Camping sites are about $25 to $40 nite in my area so probably cheaper than US.

Here is an extreme example..
I am considering replacing my motorcycle with the Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin.
In the US it lists at $13299 which would be about $17800 converted to Can dollars
BUT in Canada it list for $14799 so its almost $3000 "cheaper" in Canada!

So don't fear high prices in Canada. I live in a tourist area and it is extremely busy in our short summer BECAUSE of the high US dollar mainly.

[garyhaupt]

Jebby14 wrote:
super expensive don't come here. more space for me

x2...except I'm on the west side but my feelings are the same. Stay away.


Gary Haupt

[Jebby14]

super expensive don't come here. more space for me

[Little_Kopit]

Thread Starter.

Let me CORRECT YOU!

We have a bit over 35 million people.

United States population:

population, ... the United States of America is 325,642,556 as of Thursday, February 23, 2017, ...

Canada Area: 9.985 million km²

United States Area: 9.834 million km²

9.25 times Canadian payers to stock or supply 'needs/wants of almost the same area. That is, don't discount all of the supplying for that area with small population.

It's called, in order to buy at world market prices, the individual Canadian MUST pay more than the USA resident.

What I'd also like to be able to get statistics for is the number of kilometers of roads in Canada. I can easily think this way. I've had 3 travel jobs and on a personal scale I've driven from The Maritimes to Skagway, AK and back in about 2 months. Something over 18,000 km that trip.

When you let yourself change your perspective like that, I'm sure you will see how your analysis is flawed and why.

& to really whack you over the analytical head, the exchange rate for Canada vs. other world currencies change ALL THE TIME. I use Bank of Canada as my reference for major currency rate changes. Pretty authoritative that site, eh?!!! To go and say some one was wrong with their Exchange rate a week or so ago, forget it. It's not wrong, it just changed as it does all the time.

& may I suggest that you come up and live in Canada for a year. In that time you can live in a different political space each month.....all 10 provinces and the 2 territories with roads. Or, lets add another factor. I think maybe 1/3 of those places of residence should be in more distant spots......Fort McMurray, AB, Wawa, ON, and Sydney, NS. Picking more central spots per political unit should be easy....except I will suggest Whitehorse, YT, Hay River, NWT just thinking of linkage roads. You can still select St. John's, NL, Charlottetown, PEI, Saint John, NB, Quebec City, QC, Winnepeg, MN, Saskatoon, SK, Vancouver, BC for your strongest comparisons with US places. I'm just trying to give you a bit of reality for the experience.

So, please take your head out of US approach/experience only.

Then go over and compare continental Europe, diverse African, Asian, South American and Australian places to work and live. "Needlessly expensive" is an irrelevant concept.

😉

[Crowe]

One if you have $100 US Dollars as of today 2/23/17 that is ONLY worth $124 Canadian Dollars NOT 130 the OP Claimed.

Well, yes and no. If you go on OANDA (used by industry) the exchange is 1.31 or $131 CAD for $100 USD, so the assertion that it's "worth" is $130 is correct. The Bank of Canada website also confirms this. However, this is NOT the rate one generally gets when exchanging cash at a bank, store or ATM. ALL institutions that exchange funds, banks included, charge fees to do the exchange. This is why it appears the actual rate is much less.

[toedtoes]

Well, I think your use of the word "Needlessly" as a fact rather than a perspective is incorrect. While you may believe it's needless, Canadians, and others, may feel it's a worthy expense. To state they're wrong because they don't agree with you is... well... wrong.

[fulltimedaniel]

Since this post is about what I originally posted lets get some facts straight;

One if you have $100 US Dollars as of today 2/23/17 that is ONLY worth $124 Canadian Dollars NOT 130 the OP Claimed.

What I originally wrote was that CANADA was NEEDLESSLY expensive.

It is clear here that some who think they understand exchange rates and their true effect are not as knowledgeable as they think.

Burmuda is Expensive but not NEEDLESSLY it is an Island and everything virtually must be shipped in. That adds cost. Using it is an apples oranges argument.

As for costs in Canada. A six pack of Canadian beer in almost any place I could buy one was one and a half times more expensive AFTER you factor in the exchange. At one place they wanted almost $20 Canadian for a six pack. That relates to $15.20 US at the current rate. And the rate was .74 to the dollar then.

As for fuel I paid as much as (and more occasionally) than $3.92 US. This at a time when in Port Angeles WA USA I paid $2.19. To me that qualifies as needlessly expensive.

Food: lets take an apples and apples approach here; Wal Mart in Prince George vs Walmart in Bellingham:

A large package of chicken $4.92 in Bellingham. The same package In PG $10 Canadian ($7.60 US)

I could go on here with food at restaurants etc.

And while BC is surely a Beautiful place and may be worth a visit all on it's own it has to be admitted that the tax structure including the carbon tax makes prices higher than they need to be.

It is the Canadians who bear the brunt of this more than travelers.

And when 75% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US Border you cannot attribute transportation costs to the higher prices. Even if it is being imported from the US.

I stand firmly behind my original statement. The facts I believe bear me out; Canadians and visitors are paying NEEDLESSLY high prices for food, fuel and beer/wine and liquor.

Now to put into perspective my travels and experience in Canada. I have traveled Canada from Ontario to BC several times going as far back as the 1970's I have sailed the inside passage and circumnavigated Vancouver Island in my own sailboat. I have sailed the inside passage all the way to Alaska in a 24 foot Reinell runabout. I am about to undertake my THIRD trip driving to Alaska (two of them in winter) through Canada. I have been to a lot of places in Canada over many many years. I think I am at least as qualified or more than most Americans to have an informed opinion about the place.

[slickest1]

Yes BC can be a little more expensive than some other provinces.
Just like California can be more expensive.
It is all relative when you travel.
We live close to the border on the coast in B.C. and cross border shop frequently. We used t get way cheaper deals in the US on food but now you really have to watch your prices. There are several things now that we find cheaper at home even without the exchange.
Fuel and booze can not be matched in Canada. When we go down for a few days I bring back my limit.
A note about health care is yes we do pay for it through taxation but I think we have a pretty good system that covers us pretty well. Nothing is perfect. My wife was gravely ill out of province several years ago and the bill for that would have been a minimum $300,000 and it did not cost us 1 cent out of pocket.

[John___Angela]

Fuel is pricier in Canada but not that far off some US locations. We just filled up diesel a couple days ago in California and it was 3.07 per gallon at a travel centre. It is 1.04 per litre Canadian funds here in Vernon BC which works out to about 2.98 American funds. Not as cheap as some parts of the US but cheaper than others. I think in some places in Alberta it is equivalent to about 2.55 per gallon.

Now booze, today's another thing. ??. But I'm okay with that. ??

[free_radical]

I would add that if youre looking for cheap food,stop at Superstore deli,they have whole chicken already cooked for 10$..
The Husky trucks stops simple burger and fries meal cost about 10$ too,it was big enough I couldnt even finish it..
Walmarts also have ready to eat stuffs,very cheap..

[4runnerguy]

Part of what drives prices of gas, food, etc., is the cost of real estate. BC is a hot market. Look at what a house costs in someplace like Kelowna and compare it to a lot of the US. Business owners have to pay for those higher real estate costs whether they rent or buy.

Here in CO, gas is averaging somewhere around $2.09/gallon. Here it's $2.27+. Up valley towards Aspen, it's $2.75. In Vail, it's $2.65. In Telluride, it's $2.95. All in the same state with the same tax. The price of real estate matters. Plus, in popular places, employers have to pay more to entice workers to stay.

We are planning on a six week trip to BC this year. Sure, we'll try to fill up before we get to an expensive place like Vancouver, but we also recognize why costs are higher there. For us, we are getting to Canada as fast as possible, only spending 2 1/2 travel days each way here in the US. If one is truly concerned about the costs of fuel, food, and camping, stick to the mid continent of the US and the south (ex. FL) where costs will be lower.

I have always been treated with such great courtesy whenever I have visited Canada and am thankful that Canadians realize that not all of their visitors from south of the border have the same views as FullTimeDaniel.

[SideHillSoup]

We have friends from Alberta that for the last 20 years come to BC for their summer vacation. Every year they complain about the prices of things in BC as they sit on nice warm summers day on the beach by the lake side sipping on a wobbly pop.
Oh did I mention that they have been coming back each and every year for 20 years?
It's like when I hear people complain about the price of fuel. I will alsways say, then stay home if it bothers you.
Nothing is free in the world, and if people want to find a reason to complain about something they will.
We live with in 30 minutes of the Wash State Boarder, and the costs savings of shopping in the US are few and far between. Yup some things are more exspecive and we can find deals but you really have to look, and we still go down to Spokane for a get away Weekend that usually turns into my DW shopping trip....:S
Last words for thought :
My Couisn lives down by Vancouver Wash, usually come up once a year for a visit. They love the small crowds the beautify of the mountains, lakes, fishing in the creeks and the money they save when they come north of 49.
Every time they go home she say as she hugs me good bye as they leave the campground. Don't worry we aren't going to tell anyone about this place. We would hate more people showing up!
That's what her mom and dad used to say to my mom and dad when they came up for vacations when I was a kid many many years ago.

So to everyone that's telling people to come visit....
......Shush...... :B

Soup.

[JohnG4706]

I went to Alaska in 2015, traveling through BC, Yukon, Alberta, etc. and used my VISA card. Didn't check and was charged about $125 total for conversion fees.

First time is a mistake, second time a sign of stupidity...:)

Last summer, when up to Quebec, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and PEI and used my NEW VISA card that didn't charge conversion fees. My daily charges were converted at the daily bank rates without any fees. Had about $100 Cdn for incidentals and saved the hassle of going to Canadian Banks to get money or use an ATM machine with their $$$ fees.

Also found that the Canadians don't like American Express or Discover.

Had a great time and already planning a return to PEI and NS this summer.

[AKsilvereagle]

I am glad I am not the only eccentric one that does their math and know what the better value deals really are.

Most everyone knows how much I love my canadian bank account and the versatility I make towards saving a few bucks upon what situation arises....

In the far north area of the region in general, food and lodging is by far cheaper in Canada overall - groceries are just a fraction cheaper in western Canada.

I can break down in 11 catagories every cent I spent and account for, in USD and CAD conversion, how much CAD I spent also in all the years since 1985 within Canada.

On average in the past 9 consecutive years while vacationing in Canada with my camper, my fuel purchases account for 68 percent of my expenses - that is huge.

Even with my Canadian dollar reserve over the years of pimpin' it up (different currency rates during the stronger CAD then) as it is a flat $1.14 CAD rate, on my return trip back home in Grande Prairie I went to the bank and withdrew $550 Canadian funds, only to replenish the same amount back in with transferring $428 US dollars out of my pocket and turned it into Canadian, because my reserve is actually at the $1.14 rate, I saved an additional $45 in gas with the same exact amount of money as I turned the $1.14 rate into a $1.286 rate just for gas purchases since the exchange rate is still favorable over my current reserve power purchase.

I also really hated on the 12th of July 2010 when I set foot in BC, I really cringed on the fact of having to pay my first transaction purchase on the new HST (extra 7% tax) that went into effect....but once I arrived in Prince Rupert for the first time and hitting the thrift stores, I could not believe the closeout deals of 30 to 70% they had on items I was so interested on buying ....it more than made up for it - was totally unexpected.

I totally agree with the posts about BC in general on how majestic the areas really are, despite of the increase taxes and costs of some things, for a visitor it is worth visiting and touring although I hate almost half of the increased provincial campground fees in certain areas where it seems a ripoff, it still does not deter me to come to BC and visit where ever - I can easily find a cheap way or transfer an expense for the better somewhere to offset a higher cost, as many posters have explained in comparison.

By far, BC is the most majestic province in all of western Canada bar none, so much beauty in most places of BC.

If you know where the purchasing power you have is, and if you have an advantage to adjust or take advantage in comparison, Canada is still a better deal two thirds of the time....but fuel - forget it.

If only the US had the same medical expense rates as Canada.

[thomas201]

Old memories from living in Maine.

Canadian oil (plus world market) refined in Canada, shipped to Maine and Canadians drove across the border to buy gas. The lines were long at border gas stations. The stations were at the time about 5 cents higher than other Maine stations.

American drugs, made in the USA, shipped to Canada, Americans drove across the border to buy them. Me for one.

Memories from living in Michigan. Buying a 5 gallon flush toilet in the great white North and sneaking it back home. Only needed to flush that puppy once, with a big duce.