I prefer to keep my dollars in Canada...
I prefer to keep my dollars in my POCKET
I get a chuckle out of people who act like they go so far out of their way to "keep their dollars in Canada" that actually drive a Ford Fusion made in MEXICO rather than say a Corolla assembled in Canada.
There used to be a poster on here who bragged about even buying his sneakers from New Balance becuase they were made in the good old USA only to go look at the lable and find "Made in China " there.
You have a point about keeping money in your pocket, but supporting foreign economies through investing in products developed there is unquestionably detrimental to the local economy. I suppose the buzz word is that it's not 'sustainable'. If 20% of Canadians all of a sudden decided to buy their cars from the U.S., that's millions of dollars that would no longer be going to local auto dealers to sell inventory. Those dealers would either be forced to raise prices or go out of business. If they go out of business, local real estate, local taxes and even the contributions of that business to the community are affected. If they raise prices, even more people will shop elsewhere, perpetuating the downward cycle.
In regards to the Corolla, assembly is only part of the picture. The Corolla is still 'designed' in Japan, where all the R&D, finances, engineering, testing and development happens. The guys in the Canadian plant just get a big box of parts labeled 'Corolla' and are told to build it for good but not great wages - I guarantee the executives back in Japan are making a whole lot more than the guy on the line.
Ford's production in Mexico is an excellent example of why this system is not sustainable and doesn't work. Why do you think Ford has moved its production to Mexico? Because they have cheaper labour. Ford can't afford to pay a local worker $35/hr to build cars because North American's won't want to pay $30,000 for a Fusion - how do you compete with Korean car pricing when the wages to build them are half of what they are here? So instead Ford outsources the production, hires cheap labour, builds 'affordable' cars, and the guy in Kentucky who could have been making $35/hr to make a new Fusion in his hometown is now flipping burgers for minimum wage and paying for his 'affordable' $15K Focus. If Ford had produced locally, the guy would have been making $35/hr, and would be able to afford the $30,000 Fusion...it's all relative.
The globalized economy is a great idea in theory, but supporting local manufacturing, development and sales is actually more important than most people realize. Why do you think when the recession hit everyone in the U.S. started to chant 'made in USA'?