'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
The Bank of Canada may have to raise interest rates further, given that inflation may stay high for some time, said governor Tiff Macklem Thursday.
His speech at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce came one day after the central bank decided to hold its key interest rate steady at five per cent as signs of an economic slowdown grow.
Statistics Canada reported last week that the economy shrank in the second quarter, while the unemployment rate has been rising for three consecutive months.
However, Macklem said on Thursday that the central bank's governing council agreed rates may need to rise again.
"In trying to balance the risks of under- and over-tightening, the governing council decided yesterday to keep the policy rate at five per cent and agreed there may be a need to raise the policy rate further if inflationary pressures persist," Macklem said.
Canada's inflation rate was 3.3 per cent in July, but the Bank of Canada expects inflation to flare up in the coming months before declining again.
Macklem also held a news conference Thursday, where he faced questions from reporters about the central bank's political independence in light of comments from elected officials on its policy decisions.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland faced some criticism Wednesday for appearing to praise the central bank for holding its key rate, saying in a statement that the decision was "welcome relief for Canadians."
Later that day, the NDP -- which has been critical of the rate hikes -- went further, suggesting the finance minister should ask the Bank of Canada to stop raising interest rates.
Macklem said elected officials are clearly hearing from constituents about the pain high inflation and rising interest rates are causing. The central bank is hearing the same thing, he said.
The governor wouldn't comment on what he would do if the finance minister ever issued a directive to the central bank regarding interest rates -- something that's never happened in the Bank of Canada's history but is within the powers of the minister.
"I think the deputy prime minister has been very clear that she fully respects the independence of the Bank of Canada," Macklem told reporters.
As the central bank focuses on its task of wrestling inflation back down to two per cent, the governor spent a considerable amount of time in his speech defending the central bank's inflation target. Although inflation may seem close to two per cent, he said, reaching two per cent is crucial to maintaining predictability and stability in the economy.
The governor said the slowing progress on getting inflation down either means previous rate hikes need more time to take effect, or interest rates aren't high enough yet.
The central bank is looking for evidence that inflation is not only falling, but that large price increases are becoming less common across the economy.
For that to happen, Macklem said demand in the economy needs to continue slowing.
"But I want to be clear -- we are not trying to kill economic growth," Macklem said.
Instead, the governor said the best way the central bank can support the economy is by making sure inflation comes back down to the two per cent target.
When asked whether Canada is already in a recession, Macklem said he doesn't think so.
As to whether the country is headed for one, Macklem said Canada may experience two consecutive slightly negative quarters of growth, which would meet the technical definition of a recession.
"I don't think a couple of very small negatives are what most people think of when they think of a recession. It's not a big contraction in output. It's not a large rise in unemployment," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 7, 2023.
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Canucks as Vancouver kicks off a second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night.
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.