Toronto: Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, after hosting an in-person meeting with provincial and territorial finance ministers in Toronto, said that rising inflation, interest rate and slowing global economy have restricted the federal government’s ability to take on new spending.
The meeting took place at a time when Canadians are being hit by inflation from all sides.
After the meeting, Freeland told media, “It was crucial for me to hold meeting and discuss matter with provincial and territorial finance ministers about that reality. It is time to react with real fiscal responsibility.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is going to meet the premiers on February 7 to discuss a long-awaited deal on health-care spending.
Meanwhile, the inflation has crossed all limits and interest rates are much higher than a year ago. The Bank of Canada has increased the interest rates last week and now these interest rates have reached 4.5 percent.
But the bank has also indicated that there will be no further increase in these interest rates for the time being.
There are signs of the economy slowing down even as inflation touched 6.3 per cent in December.
Food prices have gone up significantly. In the meantime, it is worth mentioning that the labor market is looking very strong and the unemployment rate has slowed down considerably in December, which comes to five percent.