Maine business owners feeling impact of weak Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar appears in this undated file photo. (Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The value of the Canadian dollar falling to a six-year low has resulted in dramatic changes for American business owners.

Bill Gibson is one of them. He owns a sausage truck that has become a local tradition in Calais, ME. Gibson says he used to serve lots of Canadian customers, but he hasn’t served too many lately.

“Without the Canadian business, things are really struggling in this little border town,” he says.

Gibson says the weak Canadian dollar is keeping his Maritime customers from crossing the border.

“When the dollar is at par, the whole City of Calais is booming,” he says.

There are also several vacant rooms at hotels and motels in the city. Companies along the coast, including the popular Orchard Beach, are complaining about empty rooms usually filled by Canadians.

“When we started to see the dollar go down, the Canadian dollar go down, we were a little bit concerned,” says Calais Mayor Marianne Moore.

Moore says Canadian shoppers are a pillar of Calais’ economy, but with the exchange rate getting further from the parity, cross-border bargains are getting harder to find.

Some New Brunswickers say the dollar is affecting how much they buy stateside.

“If it’s the same price home, I’m not going to pay their price here,” says Susan Todd, a New Brunswick resident. “I may as well just get it at home.”

Innkeeper David Whittingham says the slumping value of the Canadian dollar is also having an impact north of the border, as well.

“We’re seeing new people from P.E.I and Nova Scotia,” says Whittingham, who operates an inn on the New Brunswick side of the border. “We’re seeing U.S. guests coming up because of the strong U.S. dollar and we’re seeing Canadian guests staying with us in Canada because it is so expensive to go into the states on vacation this year.”

While Canadian businesses reap the benefits, American business owners are hoping for better days are ahead.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.