For the first time in years, the Bank of Canada is under attack.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank kept inflation well under control – remarkably close to its 2-per-cent target – for more than 25 years. Since early 2020, however, inflation has surged. Consumer prices are up almost 7 per cent year-over-year. People are angry, and politics reflects their anger. The answer is simple: The bank must get inflation back down.
Some of the attacks are personal; promises to fire Governor Tiff Macklem have made recent headlines. That does not help. Partly because it tempts the bank’s defenders to respond in kind – to denigrate the attackers or dismiss people’s anger about inflation. Those responses would make a bad situation…
The COVID-19 pandemic has focussed attention on Canada’s preparedness for the next pandemic, especially in terms of vaccine development and self-sufficiency. As we faced disruptions in the supply of COVID vaccines from other countries, many politicians, academics and pundits called for a public agency that would be charged with pandemic vaccine production and possibly vaccine development, as well.
Advocates for a new public vaccine agency cite the historic example of Connaught Labs, which was founded in 1914 at the University of Toronto. Over the years, Connaught made advances in the development and manufacture of vaccines for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, smallpox and polio, among others. In 1972, the federal government…
Surging inflation over the past year has Canadians on edge. The erosion of purchasing power we notice every time we visit the store or pay a bill is unsettling for everyone and frightening for many. Higher interest rates, as lenders and the Bank of Canada react to inflation, will slow borrowing and spending, and have already sparked talk of a recession. As if that’s not bad enough, experience suggests higher inflation may cause another problem: strikes and lockouts that will be harmful enough on their own but will also worsen the production and supply-chain problems that have contributed to inflation in the first place.
Work stoppages are one of the dismal consequences of inflation that has been largely out of mind since the Bank…
