Obviously, dollar for dollar comparisons between different countries is never exact, but ...

Canada and the US have pretty much the same products (the US has more variety because of it larger size), but, on the whole, I tried to compare similar products (or identical products).

The US GDP per capita tends to be higher than Canada's, however, that certainly doesn't explain why toothpaste is more than double the price.

In other cases, you would expect US purchasing volume to be able to reduce cost of goods.

Never mind that most of Canada's trade is with the US, so we get a lot of US products up here - especially fruits and vegetables (though not the clementines).

Actually, it is better to live in Ottawa, prices are even cheaper there.

Sometimes the grass looks greener. Often times, people forget to consider the true cost of living, focussing on only one aspect. It is not uncommon for people living in poorer countries to hear that the minimum wage is (say) per hour and imagine how good their life could be if only the could get to Canada, without realizing that, in Canada, per hour is a miserable wage and certainly not one you can support a family on.

There are other factors affecting cost. 20 years ago, people used to point at how cheap electronics goods (like TVs) were in the US, but ignoring the fact that the US TVs came with only a 1 year (sometimes only 90 day) warranty. Whereas in Canada, a 5 year waranty was the norm. It costs extra to cover the warranty. Now, in Canada, we only have 1 year warranties and the prices are commensurately cheaper.