The surprise decision by the Bank of Canada to hike interest rates has put affordability back on the front of the agenda for Premier David Eby’s administration, as British Columbians find themselves squeezed on all sides by rising costs.
British Columbians are back to a familiar question: What’s worse, high inflation that raises the cost of household goods like groceries, or high interest rates that spike mortgage and debt payments? Put another way: Does the problem or the solution hurt more? “We've seen the impact of rising inflation, global inflation, on BCers, the impact of rising interest rates as central banks around the world increase interest rates which impacts people who have to pay a mortgage and have to renew mortgages and who have borrowed money, which is most BCers,” he said.
To be fair, affordability issues have been largely overshadowed in recent months by the many other crises facing the NDP government.