Bank of Canada raised benchmark interest rate 7 times this year to fight inflation Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said Monday the risk of not rising rates enough and having inflation run wild is greater than the risk of raising them too much and fuelling a recession. “We are trying to balance the risks of over- and under-tightening monetary policy,” Macklem told a business audience in Vancouver on Monday. It’s the last time Macklem is scheduled to speak publicly in 2022, a year that has seen Canada’s central bank raiseRead more

It was a quiet January day in 2020 when the chief administrative officer of a southwestern Manitoba rural municipality noticed the series of unusual cash withdrawals from its bank account. She quickly alerted her assistant, showing how money had been sent to multiple bank accounts the municipality had never dealt with. “It was just kind of like a mad scramble to try and figure out what was going on,” said Kate Halashewski, who at the time was the assistant chief administrative officer for the Municipality of WestLake-Gladstone. “As the day went on and [we’re] digging through the paperwork … it’sRead more

Some insiders want Alberta’s premier to avoid her own impulses and tendencies There’s a heady moment from the first season of The West Wing — the Aaron Sorkin drama series that launched a thousand political clichés — where fictional president Jed Bartlet gets confronted by his chief of staff about struggles in his re-election campaign. It turns out they’re both weary of adviser over-management and Bartlet’s cautious, middle-of-the-road positions. The prez wants to speak out. Leo, his aide, sketches out the beginnings of the new strategy for a less restrained candidate. In big markerRead more

USPS says Vancouver Island marmot is a ‘symbol of conservation’ The endangered Vancouver Island marmot is having a moment. The chubby little rodent was featured on the Netflix docuseries Island of the Sea Wolves earlier this year. Now, it’s on a U.S. postal stamp — one of a new collection featuring 20 endangered species. As its name would suggest, the marmot is found solely on Vancouver Island. It’s puzzling, perhaps, that a U.S. institution would include it in an American collection. The U.S. postal stamp featuring the Vancouver Island marmot, an animalRead more

Hockey Canada scandal and its fall-out a sensitive topic for junior players Speaking to junior hockey teams across Manitoba, Brock McGillis, one of the first professional hockey players to come out as gay, challenges players to share interests outside of the “safe four topics” of conversation — hockey, women, sports and music. At the beginning of this year’s hockey season, the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) arranged for every one of its teams to hear a presentation from the LGBTQ advocate. It’s part of the league’s commitment to addressing criticisms thatRead more

‘How many other women are they not looking for?’ Cambria Harris asks from Brady Road landfill blockade WARNING: This story contains distressing details. People visiting the Brady Road landfill south of Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon were turned away as protesters blocked access to the waste management facility to call on all levels of government to search for the remains of missing people. Cambria Harris, the eldest daughter of Morgan Harris — one of four victims of alleged serial killer Jeremy Skibicki — wants the federal government to pick up the tab forRead more

Indigenous lands contain about 80% of Earth’s remaining biodiversity Behind the rainbow-tinted windows of Montreal’s Palais des congrès, the hallways of the sprawling downtown convention centre hum with activity as international delegates hurry from one meeting to the next during the United Nations biodiversity summit, COP15. A total of 195 nations plus the European Union have a seat at the negotiating table as world governments meet on the traditional land of Kanien’kehá:ka Nation to hash out a global biodiversity framework. The framework aims to save nature from the brink by cutting pollution, ensuringRead more

Bill 1 expected to pass Wednesday night or early Thursday morning Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s sovereignty bill galloped toward the finish line Wednesday, with the government using debate time limits to rebut what it called Opposition delay tactics. Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the government was on pace to pass the bill Wednesday night or in the early hours Thursday, saying Smith’s United Conservatives are desperate to take the controversial bill out of the spotlight. “I suspect we’ll see them jam it through today in order to try toRead more

Retired senator Murray Sinclair combined competing resolutions and ushered in new position Assembly of First Nations chiefs agreed to set their differences aside and demand Canada immediately compensate people harmed by the underfunded on-reserve child-welfare system, in an 11th hour show of unity on Wednesday night in Ottawa. Delegates gathered for the AFN’s annual winter assembly heard impassioned pleas as they mulled whether to back a $20-billion class-action settlement agreement or the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which refused to approve the deal. But following an intervention from retired senator and former TruthRead more

‘This is March 2020 for kids,’ warns B.C.-based family physician B.C. recorded at least five influenza-related deaths in children in November, a marked increase from previous years, triggering warnings from doctors across Canada about the severity of this year’s influenza season. The B.C. Coroners Service confirmed five deaths, but Wednesday afternoon, the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) said it is aware of six influenza-associated deaths among children and youth. Numbers between agencies can vary based on how deaths are tracked and reported. For example, the cause of death in anRead more