The following is excerpted from the 12 June 2013 article by iPolitics.
When the Harper government announced in the 2013 budget that it was eliminating tariffs on baby clothes and sports equipment to help hardworking Canadians, it was careful to clarify that the measures represented real “potential” savings.
So now, to determine whether those changes actually will save Canadian consumers any money, the Finance Department is calling for proposals to monitor the impact — and it’s willing to pay up to $100,000 for the work...
“The contractor will be tasked with carrying out a price audit for 10 items of babies’ clothing and 25 items of sports and exercise equipment, for a twelve (12) month period from contract award,” the request for proposal explains.
That audit will involve, amongst other things, monthly visits to stores and outlets in three “major” Canadian cities (in three different provinces), and one American city within 650 kilometers of the Canadian border...
In its request for proposal, the department says that the report will serve as a test case “to help guide future policy decisions”.
But it also draws attention to a longstanding aggravation of Canadian consumers: the price discrepancy between Canadian and American goods...
“This is a test case to see if tariff elimination can bring down retail prices for Canadian consumers and help narrow the observed gap in retail prices between Canada and the U.S.,” the request for proposal says.
In last few months, the Harper government has taken sometimes contradictory positions on the impact of tariffs.
While it’s made great hay of the $525 million in annual tariff relief it’s already provided to Canadian businesses and consumers since 2009, for example, its other budget decision — to raise tariffs on goods from countries such as China — has been defended as the long-overdue elimination of a subsidy for foreign goods.