The Bank of Canada is kicking working families in Canada when they’re already down, and making an affordability crisis even worse with its latest interest rate hike.
“Every time the Bank of Canada cranks up their interest rate, the big banks make out like bandits, the rich get richer, and the basics for working people like housing and groceries get more and more expensive,” said CUPE’s National President Mark Hancock. “How many workers does the Bank need to put out of a job, and how many families do they want to put out on the street before ending their destructive path?”
On Wednesday morning, Bank Governor Tiff Macklem announced the Bank had raised its benchmark rate to 5 per cent – the highest it’s been in 22 years.
“The Bank’s rate hikes are designed to slow the economy, create a crisis, and reduce expectations of workers,” said CUPE’s National Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick. “Working families didn’t cause inflation, but they’re the ones paying the price each time the Bank adds another crushing rate increase.”
Rather than curb corporate greed - one of the key drivers of the current inflation crisis - the Bank’s interest rate hikes will only unleash even more gouging by big banks, grocery chains, and oil and gas conglomerates. CUPE has long been calling for an excess profits tax and other measures from the federal government to dampen corporate profiteering off the cost-of-living crisis hurting low and middle income Canadians.