Winnipeg still holds a business cost advantage over several U.S. midwest cities of comparable size despite the high Canadian dollar, according to a competitiveness alternatives study released this morning by KPMG.
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"With the Canadian dollar at par, Canada is challenged to maintain the competitive edge it once held," said Keith Turnbull, with KPMG's Calgary office.
But some Canadian cities, such as Winnipeg and Saskatoon, continue to be cost competitive while others, such as Calgary and Vancouver, have begun to fall behind the U.S. average, the study shows.
Comparing Canadian and U.S. cities with populations under 1.5 million, Winnipeg had a rating of 97.7, making it a lower-cost city to do business in compared with the average U.S. city (100.0).
Saskatoon scored slightly better than Winnipeg at 96.7, but other western Canadian cities, such as Calgary (102.0), Edmonton (99.9), and Vancouver (104.2) had poorer scores than the Manitoba capital.
The energy boom in Alberta has made Calgary the second most expensive city to do business in Canada, after Vancouver. The cheapest city was Sherbrooke, Que., with a cost index of 92.8, compared with the U.S. benchmark.
Canada (99.4) ranked first among G-7 countries in the cost index, finishing slightly above the United States benchmark of 100.0 and Australia (100.2). Mexico scored far better than any G-7 country, with a rating of 79.5.
Within industrial sectors, Winnipeg's aerospace manufacturing industry -- with a score of 96.8 -- had a business cost advantage over its U.S. competitors (100.0), but the city's processors (100.9) rated slightly behind their American counterparts.
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