I for one am glad to see this occurring and the Canadian government being proactive in guarding against undue inflation. Considering our relative bounce back from the fallout of the subprime fiasco in the states, I’m hopeful that we also learned some lessons about borrowing huge sums of money. I think it’s safe to say that the housing market is alive and well in Canada, and maybe a little too well so hopefully this recent jump can help cool its jets and bring housing back into the realistic pricing range for the average single family.

Ronald is packing his bags and heading to the far east.

I read an interesting article featured on the National Post’s website. To give a quick summary it talked of certain (and some rather unexpected) areas of growth in China’s emerging market. One of the biggest surprises I found was the growing numbers of McDonald’s Corp. that are opening in the far east.

Interestingly enough the mega fast food giant says that it expects to have 2000 stores open by 2013. Another interesting statistics are those from KFC which boasts 2000 stores itself. Unsurprising that these mega corporations are looking to the asian-pacific market to drive growth, but also a little unsettling.

What is unsettling? For me it’s that what we seem to be injecting into the China culture seems to be deep fried and packed with calories. According to wikipedia the overall obesity in China’s cities are as high as 20% which is a huge jump from even 10 years ago. Far be it from me to judge, but I just don’t see how I could ethically invest in fast food considering the health risk associated with these types of food.

Canadian Dollar Continues to Rise

It’s an exciting time to be a Canadian given the strength of our dollar. Our currency has not been this high since July 2008 and some analysts are projecting it will continue to rise well into next year. That remains to be seen, and in my opinion we’re not out of the woods yet with respect to the sub-prime mortgage fiasco.

Alas, why all be doom and gloom when we still have a lot going for us with respect to commodities pricing. With the oil sands buttressing our economy through it all, we’re in a lot better shape to ride out the next bump of Americans defaulting on their mortgages. Also, if  we manage to successfully claim Northern Sovereignty over some of the richest plot of gas and oil (currently with USA & Russia are also trying to get a piece of the pie) also staking a claim, we may even prove to be more than buttressed, but fortified.

All remains to be seen in the future. But I know that the wife and I are already planning a day trip to the states this weekend to take advantage of the strong Canadian dollar.

With that in mind I decided that Canadians could really benefit from a serious financial blog. I intend to document all things related to finance in Canada as well as other international developments and issues that will effect us during this critical time. Make no mistake, despite an economic recovery, we are still subject to the actions of our rather fiscally irresponsible neighbours to the south. We’re not in the clear yet. So, I hope this blog can help you make sense of your financial situation as a Canadian while making it a little more stable by providing you with some helpful advice and information along the way.