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TagBig Six Banks

Exclusive Insights From a Former Bank of Canada Governor

It’s not everyday you get to sit on a video call with someone who used to run our country’s central bank. So when I was invited to be a part of a remote session with former BoC Governor Stephen Poloz, I made sure to take down as much as I could to share with you. Here’s what he thinks about inflation, interest rates, and what’s happening in Canada.

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Is This the End of Rate Hikes?

The last few months have been tough to say the least. Variable rates are at their highest levels in 20 years. The prime rate has gone up 4.25% in less than 12 months. Every Bank of Canada announcement feels like it could be another 50 point jump. If you’re a homeowner, it’s seemingly never ending. The news certainly doesn’t help you feel otherwise. But if you take a look at what’s happened in the past, you’ll see that the time we’re in isn’t so unprecedented. We’ve been here before and we’ve gotten out of it – and I believe we’re doing it all over again.

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What To Expect in 2023

Happy new year everyone! I hope everyone reading this took some time to reflect and recharge over the holiday season. There was a lot of negativity swirling around in 2022, and I’m sure a lot of you needed a break from it all. I sure did. It’s easy to get swept up in all of the doom-and-gloom. But if you look at the big picture, you might see that there’s a lot to be optimistic about in 2023 – in the housing market, the economy, and beyond.

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How To Navigate Today’s Economy

Rumour has it the worst is yet to come. On October 26th, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem will very likely increase rates by another 0.50%. Not only will this push the bank prime rate up to 5.95% – it could lead to the average 5-year fixed rate mortgage well above 6.00%. What a mess. As I mentioned in my previous article, the BoC made a critical error and the Canadian people are continuing to pay for it. 

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A Broken Promise Leads To A Broken Economy

The Bank of Canada has always avoided forecasting rate hikes and rate cuts. It’s always been a closely guarded secret left to speculation – that is, of course, until July 2020. In what might have been the first announcement of its kind in the history of the BoC, Governor Tiff Macklem publicly stated that “interest rates are low and will stay low for a long time.”

The central bank didn’t anticipate having to raise rates until 2023 and for some reason made a choice to communicate that to Canadians. Naturally, Canadians made financial decisions accordingly. Big financial decisions. All on the basis of a promise made by a government institution they knew and trusted.

As we’re now learning, that promise was impossible to keep.

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