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Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem is cautioning that interest rates are unlikely to return to the low levels seen in the decade before the pandemic.
Speaking to the House of Commons finance committee today, Macklem also said that borrowing costs are likely to decline slowly as inflation inches back toward the central bank’s target over the next year.
Macklem said he’s becoming more confident that inflation is moving in the right direction and that it may soon be appropriate to begin lowering the bank’s highly restrictive policy rate.
However, he poured cold water on hopes that borrowing costs will decline rapidly.
Full story here by Mark Rendell.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
First interim report on foreign interference due Friday This first report will also look at the flow of foreign-interference assessments to senior government decision-makers, including elected officials, during the two election periods of 2019 and 2021. Story here.
Ottawa will appoint commissioner to oversee treaties with Indigenous Peoples: PM: Justin Trudeau says will ensure Ottawa is held to account no matter who is in power. Story here.
Environmental groups criticize Ottawa walk-back on pollution impact assessment: The groups said in a letter to cabinet ministers today that Ottawa isn’t fulfilling its responsibility to protect Canadians from pollution.
Alberta to amend bill granting it sweeping powers over municipalities: Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver says the government will introduce changes and implement rules surrounding how and when cabinet can overrule local governments.
Federal public servants must work in offices three days a week: Treasury Board: The approach, disclosed in a message to deputy ministers, is a shift from a model adopted after a major public-service strike last spring. Workers have had to be in their offices at least twice a week.
UofT students set up pro-Palestinian encampment, calling on university to cut ties with Israel over Gaza: The students said they were joining students at other universities in Canada and the United States in setting up encampments to call on their schools to disclose ties with the Israeli government and divest from Israeli companies.
Calls for Loblaw boycott are ‘misguided criticism,’ Galen Weston says: Speaking at his company’s annual general meeting today, the Loblaw chairman added that he understands why criticism of retailers has been mounting, as consumers are frustrated with the higher cost of groceries.
Federal addictions minister awaiting more details from B.C. before making decriminalization decision: Ottawa wants more data on rates of substance use, treatment capacity and how police would confront people using illicit drugs in public.
Veteran Ottawa city councillor enters palliative care: Diane Deans, who has served as a city councillor for 28 years and the first woman to chair the Ottawa Police Services Board, has had ovarian cancer for five years. A motion is being brought before city council to name a community centre for her. CBC reports.
Robyn Doolittle among Globe journalists recognized for their contributions to press freedom: The group cited Doolittle’s work exposing Canada’s failing Freedom-of-Information system, a multiyear project known as Secret Canada, as well as her 2017 series, Unfounded, which revealed that police forces across the country were disproportionately dismissing sexual-assault complaints as baseless. Story here.
TODAY’S POLITICAL QUOTES.
“I am not one of these ones who considers drama part of the process. That puts me in the minority for people who are familiar with collective bargaining. I don’t know, maybe it’s my anxiety level. I don’t need it. I don’t think Canadians need it. I don’t think business needs it. I don’t think workers need it. If you see the deal, get the deal. If you’ve got to work to get to the deal, then work to get to the deal.” - Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan, at a Parliament Hill news conference today, recalling last year’s port strike.
“Mr. Speaker. Absurd, asinine, foolish, bonkers and deranged are synonyms for wacko and they are exactly the correct adjectives to describe nine years of this Prime Minister’s policies and behaviours.” Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri in a members’ statement to the Commons ahead of Question Period.
“When we’re talking about addictions. Yes we need to use harm reduction. And we need to have a compassionate approach. But at the end of the day – and I can speak from personal experience – if you want somebody to turn their lives around, the dignity, discipline and self-respect that comes with working full time is part of the solution.” - Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, speaking at a news conference in the town of Swan River today, on the power of jobs to help individuals.
THIS AND THAT
Today in the Commons: Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, May. 2, accessible here.
Deputy Prime Minister’s Day: Private meetings in Ottawa, and Chrystia Freeland, participating virtually, was part of a Chatham House event about repurposing frozen Russian central-bank assets. Later, Freeland attended Question Period.
Commons Committee Highlights: Executives from Air Canada, Air Transat and WestJet Airlines Ltd. appeared before the transport committee on the state of airline competition in Canada. Ian Brodie, a former chief of staff to prime minister Stephen Harper and now a University of Calgary professor, was scheduled to appear before the heritage committee on Bill C-316. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem and Carolyn Rogers, the senior deputy governor, appeared before the finance committee for a report on monetary policy. Jerry DeMarco, commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, was scheduled to appear before the environment committee to provide a briefing.
Toronto-St. Paul’s: The Liberals have nominated Leslie Church, formerly a chief of staff and policy director for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, as their candidate for an eventual by-election in the Toronto riding held by former federal Liberal cabinet minister Carolyn Bennett from 1997 until this year. Church won over Emma Richardson, most recently a senior adviser to the United Nations division of Global Affairs Canada. Bennett won the riding with 48 per cent of the vote in the 2021 election compared with 26 per cent for the Conservative candidate. The Tories have nominated Don Stewart, who works for the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, as their candidate. No by-election has yet been called in the riding.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
In Ottawa, Justin Trudeau participated in the Intergovernmental Leaders’ Forum focused on strengthening relationships with Self-Governing and Modern Treaty Partners from across the country.
THE DECIBEL
Justine Hunter, The Globe’s B.C. politics reporter, joins the podcast to talk about the politics of decriminalization and what this means for harm-reduction policies across Canada in the future. The Decibel is here.
LEADERS
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attended a fundraising event at the Wine Academy in Toronto.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May attended the House of Commons and, in the evening, travelled to her British Columbia riding.
No schedules provided for Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet or NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
PUBLIC OPINION
Protests and preference: New polling by the Angus Reid Institute suggests 64 per cent of respondents feel police give preferential treatment to certain groups when dealing with protests.
OPINION
The junk-food economics of corporate subsidies
“Corporate subsidies are the potato chips of fiscal policy. Each one might seem like a fine enough idea. But once you start, it’s hard to stop. And then what started as a smallish snack (or industrial investment, if you prefer) turns into a habit. And a habit turns into a problem. The Liberals have indulged their taste for “investments” – or, stripped of euphemism, corporate subsidies – ever since they came to office. But they have lately begun to gorge, most notably with tens of billions of dollars in current and promised future payments to the electric-vehicle industry.” - The Globe and Mail Editorial Board.
All aboard Alberta’s new passenger-rail plan
“The Alberta government says it wants the province running on rail in the decades ahead. This week, it announced it will create a master plan, eventually to be led by a “Metrolinx-like” Crown corporation, that will direct the building of passenger-rail projects between Edmonton and Calgary, their airports, other Alberta cities, and the mountains.” - Kelly Cryderman.
With decriminalization in trouble, conservatives are declaring a new war on drugs
“There is the academic view of public policy, and then there is the practical, boots-on-the-ground assessment of its implementation. If ever there was a disconnect between the wants and wishes of the so-called experts and those dealing with the fallout from their policies, it’s on full display in B.C. now in the fight over drug decriminalization.” - Gary Mason.
Why are St. Anne’s Indian Residential School survivors still fighting for the truth to be heard?
“Earlier this week, Dr. Edmund Metatawabin, a member of the Order of Canada and the former chief of Fort Albany First Nation, travelled hundreds of kilometres from his home in Peetabeck, in Fort Albany. His destination: Ottawa, to appear before the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples. This scene has repeated itself countless times.” - Tanya Talaga.
Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre are both playing a dangerous game
“A self-satisfied Mr. Trudeau dismisses vast numbers of Canadians who feel left behind in a postliberal world as white nationalists and misogynists. A shamelessly base Mr. Poilievre exploits their grievances to fan hate (the word is not too strong) toward those who fail to legitimize their sense of exclusion. Our leaders are failing us. We must not let them take us down with them.” - Konrad Yakabuski
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Ian Bailey