Very quickly, let's do two counterfactuals.
Had we pegged the Canadian dollar during that period of the Asian crises, we would have had.... The decline in commodity prices was stimulating the U.S. economy. Had we been on a fixed exchange rate then, we would have had to raise interest rates, leading to higher unemployment and lower wages. You have to regain your competitiveness somehow. Movements in the exchange rate facilitate that.
The other counterfactual is what we're going through right now. Had we been at a peg at 85 cents, with commodity prices moving up, to keep it there we would have had to keep interest rates lower and lower, leading to inflation.
Those would have been the two consequences had we been at an 85-cent peg. I mean, pick your level. It would have led to either disinflation in the one instance or inflation in the other. History, including the history of Canada, and all the research clearly indicates that. And that floating exchange rate, again, plays that shock absorber role.