And through much of the second half of the 1980s, because many Canadians were still acting on expectations of accelerating inflation, we were devoting a good part of our energies and resources to speculative activities, rather than investing in improvements in productivity and competitiveness. Rising government deficits, which were absorbing increasing amounts of domestic savings, were not helping either.
From 2003 to 2009, the purchasing price index of raw materials, fuel and power rose by a total of 35.6 percent, partly due to price hike on the international market and partly as a result of manufacturing and export expansion domestically.