Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
While there may not be any easy short-term fixes to inflation, Concordia University economist Moshe Lander assures that "the end in sight will come."
"The best thing that we can do at this point, as much as it's terrible, terrible to hear, is we just have to sit and deal with this and just find a way to get through it," he told CTV's Your Morning on Thursday.
"If we can get through COVID, we can get through a one-year rough inflation patch."
The annual inflation rate in May rose to its highest level in nearly four decades, with Statistics Canada reporting a 7.7 per cent increase compared to a year ago.
Energy prices rose 34.8 per cent compared to the year before, with gasoline prices up 48 per cent in that time. Excluding gasoline, the annual inflation rate in May rose to 6.3 per cent compared with 5.8 per cent in April.
The Bank of Canada has raised its key interest rate target three times so far this year, bringing it to 1.5 per cent, in an effort to temper inflation.
The news comes amid a report from Scotiabank on Sunday advocating for lower government spending to help reduce inflation.
"It is fair to say that fiscal policy authorities in Canada are doing nothing of any significance to slow inflation at the moment," the report said.
Lander said, while cutting government spending would be the correct policy to take, the position would amount to "political suicide."
"People won't hear it as being the correct solution," he said. "I think what people want right now is governments to put money in their pockets to help with the rising gasoline prices, with the rising rents and housing costs, and so the idea of taking the exact opposite policy, even though it's the correct one, would be really politically unpopular."
On rising gas prices, economists and others have pushed for a temporary reprieve to the collection of gas taxes, a move some Canadian provinces and American states have adopted.
"That's really not going to affect inflation all that much," Lander argues.
"It's a nice visual for Canadian consumers but it's not going to do much, and the problem with it is that it kind of contradicts the government's policy on the environment. So, I don't know that that's exactly the solution that's going to solve the inflation problem."
One senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute told CTVNews.ca in March that while good politically, a temporary stop to gas taxes would encourage consumption and lead to the opposite of demand destruction, or where the price for a product is so high it literally kills demand for it.
Sheila Block, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, told CTV News Channel on Thursday that stimulative government policies do increase demand and result in greater economic activity, which can contribute to inflation.
"But on the other hand, government spending is very important in protecting the incomes of those who are most negatively affected by those increasing prices, and those are seniors on fixed income, those are low-income workers and that also includes people who are on social assistance who often are just the most hurt by these price increases," Block said.
Because of external factors, such as the war in Ukraine, she said much of inflation is out of the hands of the Bank of Canada and federal government.
While she doesn't expect the rate of inflation will drop to the Bank of Canada's two per cent target in the short term, Block said interest rate hikes are having some effects as evidenced by the recent slowdown in the housing market.
But efforts to reduce prices through interest rate increases will mean a slowing down of the economy. "So I really think it's going to be a tough road ahead," she said.
With files from CTV News and The Canadian Press
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
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 British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.