Ironic coming from the guy who led an historic spending spree, dumping over $8B between January and March this year.
The comedy is appreciated though....
'Human impact': B.C. premier urges Bank of Canada to halt further rate hikes
VICTORIA — British Columbia Premier David Eby has called on the Bank of Canada to halt further interest rate hikes, saying people are “hurting,” and another rate increase next month might worsen, and not reduce, inflation.
In a letter Aug. 31 to Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem, Eby urged him to consider the “human impact” of rate hikes, which the bank has employed as an anti-inflationary measure, before making a decision Sept. 6.
Asked why he reached out to Macklem when the Bank of Canada is an independent entity, Eby said he’s hearing every day from B.C. residents “crushed by the cost of daily life,” and it’s his job to speak up for them.
“I think it is critically important to go on the record … to point out to the Bank of Canada that Statistics Canada is saying that the biggest driver of inflation in our country right now is rising
mortgage rates,” Eby said Aug. 31 during an unrelated press conference.
‘Pain on families’
Eby acknowledged that he is the first premier to raise the issue with the Bank of Canada and said he also wrote to the federal government to suggest ways they could “work together to bring down costs that don’t involve inflicting this kind of pain on families.”
He highlighted the effects of rising rates on housing in particular, saying much-needed rental housing projects are being put on hold as a result.
“We need all hands on deck to deal with the housing crisis and rising rents,” he said. “We need to build a lot of housing, we need to keep the cost of housing down to address inflation.”
The Bank of Canada had raised rates 10 times since March last year, with the current lending rate at five per cent, the highest in 22 years, Eby’s letter said.
Stop rate hikes, B.C. premier tells Bank of Canada | Financial Post