that if we knew the facts in this
case, it still boils down to a very small Canadian market. I think you're
missing the mark on the washing machine illustration, though. Canadians pay
very much higher taxes on goods than do Americans and thus enjoy publically
funded medicare, amongst other things, which Americans don't. Hence, right
off the bat, we have a big price differential just because of taxes.
There
is the matter of currency exchange rates and also don't forget that the
retail system is rigged so that the bigger markets get better breaks from
the manufacturers than do the smaller markets.
Above all, I'll bet that if
the sales ratio for CP-CN plastic models here in Canada was on the same
ratio per capita in the UK that the Brits would be suffering considerably
less satisfaction. And again I say, the Brits are a bit paranoid about this
sort of thing - North Americans are less fussy on the whole and will still
buy the stuff where the Brits may be considerably less likely to buy
anything that isn't "just right." On second thought - that may be the nub
of the difference right there.