The Bank of Canada has not raised interest rates since 2010, and in fact lowered them by 1/2 percent in 2015 to help the economy weather the oil price shock, which is now long passed.
What has emerged is an economy that shows wide-scale growth that has averaged 3.5 per cent annualized over the past three-quarters.
Employment has risen by 187,000 over the past six months, while exports and business investment – two recent problematic areas – are now buoyant and consumer spending is solid.
If fears of a couple of bumps of 1/4 of one per cent each is troublesome to the Central Bank then we have much greater problems than if the Bank acts now, and pre-emptively, to get us back on the road back to normal rates.
The economy can stand it.
Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar is taking recent Bank statements seriously, rising over 2.5 per cent since last Friday.
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