More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
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.
Move over credit card debt, there is a new financial focus for Canadians: mortgage debt.
Homebuyers have pushed new mortgages to unprecedented levels, according to a new report from Equifax Canada.
"Much of the growth in consumer debt, which stands at $2.08 trillion, up 4.78% from Q1 2020, has been driven by new mortgage growth particularly in B.C. and Ontario, which saw huge increases of 59.2% and 44.3% in volume respectively,” says Rebecca Oakes, assistant vice president of advanced analytics at Equifax Canada.
Low interest rates, a keen desire to move outside of urban centres, more demand than supply and even blind bidding wars have all conspired to ramp up competition, fuelling a housing frenzy.
So much so that in an effort to slow things down, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial institutions introduced on June 1 new guidelines on the qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages at a contracted rate plus two percentage points or 5.25%, whichever is higher. The intent is to slow things down by forcing potential homebuyers to save more money for a downpayment resulting in a little more wiggle room should rates go higher.
The effectiveness of the change should play out in future debt level reports.
Meanwhile, the irony is that for years the alarm bells were ringing that a potential day of reckoning would hit Canadians who had been spending beyond their means. Fears mounted that rates could go higher, compromising the ability to make payments. However, it wasn't a rate increase that forced Canadians to rein in their spending - it took a pandemic for many to change their consumer behaviour. Fewer places to spend money due to lockdowns and restrictions, lower costs working from home, fear of unemployment and even government benefits left many with extra cash and opting to pay down their credit cards, resulting in the average credit card balance dropping year over year by 9.9%.
The average consumer debt (excluding mortgages) dropped to $20,430 or 4.2% year over year.
Not only are balances dropping, the number of credit cards we hold is also on a downward trajectory. And younger Canadians who may have missed payments in the past have cleaned up their act with a drop in spending and paying off their credit cards.
Before we panic about the size of mortgages, mortgage payments delinquent 90 days or more dropped 19% year over year and stand at an all-time low with the exception of Vancouver, which showed a 14.6% increase and Fort McMurray, with a significant spike of 38%.
We are handling our debt levels well.
While the road to recovery is thought to be uneven, I refuse to think like "Chicken Little" and caution the financial sky is falling or about to fall.
I'm optimistic that as vaccines take hold, economies open up, and lessons are learned from a pandemic the appreciation of having a little financial flexibility in households will go a long way. Canadians are no longer spending as if there is no tomorrow. That can't be a bad thing.
Rates will ultimately go higher, many people will be fully weaned off government support but I believe we have changed.
The question is: will the housing market hold up, will rates increase in mid-2022 and will payments continue to be made?
Being house poor is a horrible feeling but for now, Canadians are holding their own.
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.
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.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
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.
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.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.
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.