on Wednesday, restarting its campaign to tighten monetary policy. The decision lifts the policy rate to 4.75 per cent, the highest level since May, 2001, pushing up mortgage rates and squeezing household budgets. Governor Tiff Macklem announced a “conditional pause” to interest-rate increases earlier this year in the belief that borrowing costs were high enough to cool the economy and bring down inflation over time. Mark Rendell reports, however, this has not unfolded as expected.
Critics, however, believe the debt recovery clawback has been unnecessarily harsh toward low- and modest-income Canadians who made small mistakes and now owe more than $10,000 or $20,000. Erica Alini reports on how the debt collections, along with poor communication from the Canada Revenue Agency, is hurting those who can least afford it.