The cost of living continues to climb at the fastest rate in decades—and the sticker shock people feel at the grocery store and the gas pump is only going to get worse before it gets better.
Scrambling to get inflation back under control, the Bank of Canada recently raised its benchmark interest rate to 1.5 per cent. It marked the second consecutive rate hike of 50 basis points, and likely not the last.
Jean-Paul Lam, a former assistant chief economist at the Bank of Canada and now an economics professor at the University of Waterloo, was a recent guest on Inside the Village, a news and current affairs podcast produced by Village Media. He thinks the central bank was slow to react to the first signs of post-COVID inflation, and says the Bank of Canada must get inflation back to pre-pandemic levels "come hell or high water."
"Everyone suffers when there is inflation, but the lower-income groups suffer the most," Lam says. "It is imperative for the the Bank of Canada's to react and to get inflation back to 2 per cent."
Launched in April, Inside the Village provides a weekly window into some of the best local journalism from across Village Media's expanding network of community newsrooms. The podcast also explores issues and ideas that impact people all over Ontario.
Lam's full interview is here. You can find every episode of the show on this news site /insidethevillage, or wherever you download your favourite podcasts.
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