Canada & World

The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point this morning, bringing it to 5 per cent.

New Democrats and a business group are calling on the federal government to extend the deadline for small businesses to repay loans they received from a pandemic support program.

The Canadian labour market is showing some signs of softening as the unemployment rate rises and wage growth slows, but with another solid job gain last month, forecasters are still expecting a rate hike next week.

Businesses continue to expect wage and price increases to be larger than normal, but they are shifting to closer to what they were before the pandemic, a new survey by the Bank of Canada suggests.

Statistics Canada says the Canadian economy remained essentially unchanged in April, following a slight uptick in March.

Statistics Canada says the country's inflation rate fell to 3.4 per cent in May — the lowest it's been since June 2021.

New data suggests a significant shift in credit usage among businesses in the first quarter of 2023, Equifax Canada said.

As high inflation persists, the key interest rate now sits at 4.75 per cent, the highest it's been since 2001.

Momentum in the Canadian economy is spurring speculation that an interest rate hike is on the way, but economists don't expect the Bank of Canada to pull the trigger this week.

Professional Engineers Ontario has said that dropping the Canadian work experience requirement for licence applications moves it to a model focused on competency, rather than geography.