Ontario Premier Doug Ford asks Bank of Canada, Prime Minister to pause interest rate increases

For the second time in as many months, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on the Bank of Canada to pause any further interest rate increases, saying millions of Canadians are “struggling to make ends meet.”

“There is simply no excuse for increasing the already crushing pressure previous interest rate hikes have placed on so many families and business,” Ford said in a letter addressed to Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem and posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.

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Ford’s letter comes ahead of the central bank’s upcoming interest rate announcement on Wednesday, where it’s expected that the key interest rate will hold at five per cent – the highest level since 2001.

The Bank of Canada has increased its key interest rate 10 times since March 2022 in an effort to tighten up economic activity and bring down inflation to its two per cent target.

At its last interest rate announcement on Sept. 6, the central bank left its policy interest rate unchanged at five per cent. Canada’s inflation rate also dropped to 3.8 per cent that month after rising to four per cent in August.

Two days before that decision, Ford penned a similar letter to Macklem and urged federal government to collaborate with provinces and territories to invest and build critical infrastructure projects rather than raising rates again.

To that end, and in a separate letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday, Ford called on Ottawa to "address the root causes of inflation" and “bolster and strengthen” domestic supply chains, which he said have shown “vulnerabilities” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the developing violence in the Middle East.

“When everyday essentials like groceries, fuel and building supplies can no longer get to market in a timely manner, it is inevitably the hardworking, ordinary people who pay the price – at the checkout, at the pumps, and on their monthly mortgage and rent payments,” he said.

On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada will also release its quarterly monetary policy report which will offer updated forecasts for inflation and both global and domestic economies.