Changing habits for Ottawa residents as interest rate hikes continue
The relentless rise in interest rates continued Wednesday with the Bank of Canada raising its key interest rate to the highest it has been since 2008.
Now, some people in Ottawa are making changes to deal with the added expense it generates.
"My mortgage has increased overall from the last year and a half by $1,200 which is almost a 25 per cent increase," Sumit Bhutani said. "We have had to do cutbacks, we have stopped going on vacations, eating out less and apart from that my wife has started working contracting jobs so that has helped with the extra income."
The final rate hike of the year saw the key interest rate increase by half a percentage point to 4.25 per cent.
"It impacts everything in our budget, in our monthly budget plus it's impacting our travel a lot," Laxmi Bhutani said.
Some economists believe the central bank made the wrong move.
"I absolutely see the hopes of a soft landing have been crushed now," said Sheila Block, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford also weighed in on the hike, saying, "I understand their philosophy they want to cool down inflation but what we're hearing that hopefully in April, May and June we're going to see inflation level off but just increasing interest rates constantly, personally I don't believe in it."
The next rate announcement is expected on Jan. 25, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
As GC Strategies partner is admonished by MPs, RCMP confirms search warrant executed
The RCMP confirmed Wednesday it had executed a search warrant at an address registered to GC Strategies. This development comes as MPs are enacting an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power, summoning one of its contractors to appear before the House of Commons to be admonished publicly for failing to answer questions related to the ArriveCan app.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.