LIVE UPDATES Air Canada flights could halt next week: Here's the latest
Air Canada's potential work stoppage could ground flights, halt cargo and leave travellers scrambling to reschedule next week. Follow along with live updates here.
Canada's annual inflation rate fell to 2.5 per cent last month, matching economists' forecasts and solidifying expectations for a third consecutive interest rate cut in September.
Tuesday's consumer price index report saysprices for travel tours, passenger vehicles and electricity helped drive the headline figure lower.
Meanwhile, shelter costs are still the main driver of inflation as Canadians face significantly higher rents and mortgage payments.
The federal agency noted, however, that shelter price growth slowed last month to 5.7 per cent year-over-year, down from 6.2 per cent in June.
Inflation has remained below three per cent since January and has steadily trended lower, highlighting the significant progress made in the fight against high inflation.
"There's more to go in terms of reaching price stability as Canadians feel the pinch and pull back on spending," wrote Andrew DiCapua, senior economist at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
"But we think the Bank of Canada will continue their path of interest rate cuts and move again in September, prioritizing economic growth as inflation moderates."
Improvement in global supply chains and the effect of high interest rates have helped cool price growth across the economy.
Grocery prices, which at one point were growing at a double-digit annual rate, are now rising at a much more modest pace. Last month, grocery prices were up 2.1 per cent from a year ago.
Prices for many goods, such as clothing and footwear, have outright fallen compared with a year ago.
And the housing market has remained relatively muted, despite fears earlier this year that interest rate cuts could spur a flurry of activity.
However, some price pressures persist, particularly in services-producing sectors.
Prices for services were up 4.4 per cent from a year ago, a trend that economists say reflects high wage growth.
Nevertheless, with the backdrop of slowing price growth overall, forecasters are widely expecting the Bank of Canada to continue cutting interest rates at back-to-back meetings.
Governor Tiff Macklem has signalled that the central bank is increasingly concerned about the risk of keeping interest rates too high for too long.
At the last interest rate announcement, Macklem said the governing council decided to lower its policy rate, in part to help the economy pick up speed again.
Its key interest rate now stands at 4.5 per cent.
The central bank is scheduled to hold its next interest rate announcement on Sept. 4.
In addition to the latest inflation figures, the central bank will have second quarter gross domestic product data to consider at the end of the month.
While most forecasters expect the central bank to cut its key rate by a quarter-percentage point in September, RBC economist Claire Fan said a weaker-than-expected GDP print could prompt the central bank to cut by a half-percentage point instead.
"Should it be that economic conditions were to deteriorate faster than they were anticipating, I think it's fully reasonable to think that they could (cut) at a faster pace," Fan said.
According to its latest forecasts, the central bank expects the economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.5 per cent between April and June.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2024.
Air Canada's potential work stoppage could ground flights, halt cargo and leave travellers scrambling to reschedule next week. Follow along with live updates here.
Stephen Peat, the former Washington Capitals enforcer who fought concussion issues and was homeless at times after leaving hockey, has died from injuries sustained late last month when he was struck by a car while crossing a street. He was 44.
In a move to safeguard public heath, Health Canada has officially banned the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) as a food additive. Here's what you need to know.
Police in Lloydminster have confirmed they are investigating a triple homicide in the border city.
An Ontario woman who just wanted to get some gutter guards to keep leaves out of her eavestroughs said she was convinced her home was going to collapse and handed over $158,000 in a roofing scam.
Claims from New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs that Ottawa wants to force the province to take in 4,600 asylum seekers are 'largely fictitious,' says federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
A group of workers at a Mississauga, Ont. Walmart warehouse has become the first in Canada to unionize at one of the company’s warehouses.
A problematic airline passenger has been hit with an unusual form of punishment – he has to pay back the airline for the cost of fuel.
Today is expected to mark the end of the criminal trial for two prominent organizers of the 'Freedom Convoy' protest, more than one year after the proceedings began.
A Pokémon card shop in Richmond is coming off a record-setting month, highlighted by a customer opening a pack to discover one of the most sought-after cards in the world.
Abandoned homes line the streets of Lauder, a town that's now a ghost of what it once was. Yet inside, a small community is thriving.
Perhaps Saskatchewan's most famous encounter with Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP/UFO) – "The Langenburg Event" is now being immortalized in the form of a collector's coin.
It's been 420 days since 22-year-old Abbey Bickell was killed in a car crash in Burnaby, a stretch full of heartbreak for her family as they not only grieved her death, but anxiously waited for progress in the police investigation. Wednesday, they finally got some good news.
A Simcoe, Ont. woman has been charged with assault with a weapon after spraying her neighbour with a water gun.
The dream of a life on water has drowned in a sea of sadness for a group of Chatham-Kent, Ont. residents who paid a Wallaceburg-based company for a floating home they never received.
In 2022, Tanya Frisk-Welburn and her husband bought what they hoped would be a dream home in Mexico.
Mansour’s Menswear in Amherst, N.S., is celebrating its 100th anniversary this month
A beautiful Labour Day weekend at the lake was interrupted by some extreme weather when a tornado touched down in northern Ontario.