B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Bank of Canada is set to publish its first summary of deliberations Wednesday, giving Canadians a peek into the governing council's reasoning behind its decision to raise interest rates last month.
Following a recommendation from the International Monetary Fund, the central bank announced in September that it would begin releasing summaries about two weeks after an interest rate decision starting in 2023 in an effort to improve transparency.
"I think it's a good idea. Most major central banks do release some kind of minutes or meeting summaries," said Douglas Porter, BMO's chief economist.
The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate for the eighth consecutive time since March on Jan. 25, bringing it to 4.5 per cent. At the time, the central bank signalled it would be taking a pause on any further hikes to let the impact of its aggressive hiking cycle sink in.
Wednesday's summary is expected to shed light on what the governing council discussed while making that decision.
Giving insight into the deliberations is already common practice at the U.S. Federal Reserve, where meeting minutes are released three weeks following an interest rate decision.
Although the minutes can be insightful, Porter said they typically aren't market-moving and instead serve as historical record.
The Bank of Canada hasn't said much about what the summaries will look like, leaving the depth and format of the summaries to be discovered on Wednesday.
But Porter said he isn't expecting them to match up with the detail offered by the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes.
The Bank of Canada's governing council is responsible for the central bank's monetary policy and consists of the governor, senior deputy governor and four deputy governors. Unlike the Federal Reserve, where the 12 members vote on interest rate decision, the governing council's decisions are consensus-driven.
That means all members of the governing council come to the same decision at the end of deliberations.
Faced with higher borrowing costs, Canadians and businesses are expected to continue to pull back on spending in 2023, thereby slowing the economy and inflation.
Price growth has slowed in recent months, however, inflation is still well above the Bank of Canada's two per cent target. In December, the annual inflation rate was 6.3 per cent.
After its quarter of a percentage point hike last month, the Bank of Canada made it clear that the pause on future rate hikes was conditional, keeping the door open to more increases if inflation isn't tamed.
According to its latest monetary policy report, the central bank expects inflation to slow faster than it had previously anticipated. It's forecasting the annual inflation rate will fall to three per cent by mid-2023 and to its two per cent target in 2024.
Central banks around the world have also been raising rates as countries struggle with high inflation.
Last week, the Federal Reserve hiked its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point and signalled more rate hikes should be expected. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank announced a half percentage point rate hike and said it will raise rates at least one more time.
Porter said the main question he's hoping to see answered in the summary is whether the Bank of Canada is pausing interest rate hikes, or if they're planning on jumping back in.
"It'll be interesting to see whether they're really set on staying on the sidelines, or whether this truly is just sort of a temporary waystation."
"Maybe this summary could could help answer that question a little."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.