Ottawa – The Bank of Canada today announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 1 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1 1/4 per cent and the deposit rate is 3/4 per cent. Inflation in Canada has moved further below the 2 per cent target, owing largely to significant […]

Andrew Coyne: Canadians aren’t getting the whole story on the economyAndrew Coyne | 13/09/13 | Last Updated: 13/09/13 8:54 PM ET Here’s a headline you probably didn’t see: Canadians Have Never Been Richer. Or this one: Household Net Worth Rises To All-Time High. Or this: Canadians Are Twice As Wealthy, After Inflation, As They Were Twenty Years […]

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he isn’t planning new measures to restrain the country’s housing market because his past four rounds of action have already worked to avoid a bubble. A housing crash based on the type of home you have? Is that really possible? It certainly didn’t happen that way in the early 1990s. […]

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is dismissing fears about Canada’s housing market, saying the current slowdown is welcome news and that there is no need for further government intervention. While some observers are expressing fears that a steep correction is underway that will bring down housing values and possibly affect bank credit ratings, Flaherty said Tuesday […]

OTTAWA — Tame inflation, combined with weak economic growth in this country and continuing global uncertainty, will likely keep interest rates at rock-bottom levels for some time to come. Canada’s rate of inflation remained steady again in October, although slightly stronger than expected, with higher food and transportation prices offsetting a slower rise in energy […]

Five reasons why falling house prices aren’t so bad ROB CARRICK The Globe and Mail Published Wednesday, Jul. 11 2012, 7:35 PM EDT Last updated Thursday, Jul. 12 2012, 12:35 PM EDT Before we start getting all torqued about a falling housing market, let’s remember a few things. Early indications in June of a slowing […]

CMHC could be pulled out of mortgage insurance business, Flaherty says Garry Marr  Apr 27, 2012 – 6:33 PM ET | Last Updated: Apr 27, 2012 7:33 PM ET Finance Minister Jim Flaherty would consider taking Canada Mortgage Housing Corp. out of the mortgage default insurance business he told the National Post’s editorial board.   ‘I […]

Flaherty budget answers mortgage broker pleas   PHEW! Brokers are breathing a sigh of relief after the Finance Minister rejected calls to tinker with mortgage insurance rules, offering a budget that leaves the maximum amortization cap at 30 years and the minimum down payment at 5 per cent. While moving to cut 19,200 bureaucratic jobs […]

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty dismissed speculation about a Canadian housing bubble, telling reporters in New York on Wednesday that he sees no need to tighten the country’s mortgage rules further. “We have seen in the past year some softening in the Canadian housing market, in part due to the tightening of the insured mortgage market […]

Article by Benjamin Tal, Deputy Chief Economist, CIBC World Markets  Accidents can happen to any economy. Temporary troubles in energy and autos hit exports hard during the second quarter, which was enough to push Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (the size of our economy with inflation factored in) into a decline—even though demand was healthy at […]