The Canadian dollar may have reached parity with the U.S. greenback but that doesn’t mean the Canadians are enjoying the same standard of living as their U.S. counterparts, says research firm Global Insight Inc.

In a research note, Global Insight says that economists have reported that Canada’s standard of living is about 85% that of the US. “That was when the Canadian dollar was in the 85–90 U.S. cent range. Now that the loonie has moved up to par, does that mean that we have now closed the gap in standard of living?” it asks.

It concludes that, “by the most meaningful measure of standard of living, there is still a significant gap between the real goods and services (including government-provided) that the typical Canadian can afford, relative to the typical American.”

Ultimately, parity should mean lower consumer prices in Canada for traded goods, it says. But, most services are not traded, and some goods aren’t imported from the U.S.. Also, it notes, “Unfortunately, the loonie rising to par has not resulted in a significant increase in Canadian wages and salaries up to U.S. levels, nor will it.”

“Currently, the stronger loonie is most beneficial to Canadian consumers in the U.S. marketplace, where it can purchase more than it used to. Unfortunately, to get Canadian incomes up to U.S. levels we need to do it the hard way: by increasing our productivity to U.S. levels. We then need to convince our politicians to permit us to take home more of it, before we will have the purchasing power of the typical American consumer,” it concludes.