Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The Bank of Canada released a summary of its Governing Council meetings on Wednesday, providing the public and financial institutions with more insight into the central bank’s decision to raise its key interest rate on Jan. 25.
The Governing Council, made up of six members including Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem and his deputies, met five times starting on Jan. 18, before their decision on Jan. 25 to raise the overnight rate by a quarter of a per cent to 4.5 per cent.
Discussions at these meetings did look at the possibility of pausing the rate at 4.25 per cent.
“The case for leaving the policy rate at 4.25 per cent was that developments with respect to both the economy and inflation were beginning to move in the right direction and that policy had been forceful and just needed more time to do its work,” reads the summary released on Wednesday.
Ultimately, the council’s consensus to raise the rate was due to a tight labour market and concern over stronger-than-expected economic growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2022. Despite this, there was also consensus to indicate a pause in the bank's hikes to measure the full effect of its forceful tightening.
Members of the council viewed the tight labour market as an indication the economy remains in excess demand, and project that rebalancing the labour market may take longer than usual as businesses continue to face labour shortages.
“Council concluded that wage momentum was plateauing in the range of 4 per cent to 5 per cent,” reads the summary. “Persistent wage growth in this range was not viewed as consistent with achieving the 2 per cent target.”
Domestically, the bank debated why consumption could be slower than it projected. The members of the council noted that many Canadian households may be renewing five-year terms on their mortgages, which means many consumers could be facing higher monthly mortgage payments, which dampens consumption.
Discussions around the international economy were focused mainly on the United States reaching its debt ceiling, and how negotiations in U.S. Congress around raising it could become “protracted and pose risks of financial volatility if an agreement were elusive.”
Other international factors the council considered included China and its rapid relaxation of COVID-19 policies, which could pose a risk of higher oil prices, if China’s demand outweighs what was initially expected. Overall, even with central banks tightening their policies worldwide, members of the council concluded global inflation had edged down from its peak and “the perceived risk of a deep recession had decreased.”
The central bank plans to continue these summaries of Governing Council meetings. The decision to release them was in response to recommendations made by the International Monetary Fund in its transparency review of the central bank.
“It will give some additional insight into our decision-making process,” Macklem said in an interview with CTV News on Jan. 25. “What were the key factors at play? What were the options on the table? And really, how did we drive to a consensus decision?”
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres and other alerts have been issued for six Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
A bus carrying worshippers headed to an Easter festival plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames in South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 45 people, authorities said.
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.