Meanwhile, with respect to Canada, the 2006 results are not dissimilar from the 2004 version of the report; Singapore did not participate that year, but Australia did, with results similar to Canada's. Of interest to Canadian site seekers – meaning local corporate real estate professionals and those seeking a Canadian location – is the fact that Canada's cost advantage eroded slightly from 6 percent in 2004 to 5.5 percent this year in overall terms. Results vary when one drills down into industries and specific locations.
   "Canada has continued to rank first among the core G7 countries within the study, albeit this time around with a narrower margin relative to the U.S. and some of the European countries," says Mair. Since the 2004 edition of the study, the Canadian dollar is the one currency that has seen significant movement in its value, notes Mair.
   In the 2002 and 2004 versions of the study, "We were talking about major swings in the value of the U.S. dollar, which had an impact on exchange rates for all of the major world currencies, whereas over the last two years, most of the major exchange rates – U.S. dollar to euro, U.S. dollar to the pound and to the yen – have all been relatively stable," Mair points out. "The Canadian dollar has seen an increase of 14 percent relative to the U.S. dollar over the last two years. That has cut into Canada's competitive position. But the fact that there is still an advantage there given the high value of the dollar seems very much a good news story."
   The KPMG report does not look into the forces behind shifts in cost-advantage rankings from edition to edition, nor the dynamics at work in currency valuations. But the Vancouver-based Mair has some thoughts on Canada's currency that might be of interest to those mulling the erosion in competitive advantage the currency seems to be causing.