Report From Parliament Hill

Eric Melillo, MP, Kenora—Kiiwetinoong

Dear Constituents

For Canadians already struggling with their mortgage payments, household bills and car loans, the latest decision by the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates is unwelcome. For the first time in three years, the Bank raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.5 per cent. 
This increase comes at a difficult time for households. Higher interest rates mean larger payments for homeowners looking to renew their mortgages or those with variable-rate mortgages, or for lines of credit for students and business owners, or for many with any kind of debt. For Canadians, who hold the highest household debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7 — this is bad news.  The cost of the average mortgage may be $80 dollars more per month, and lines of credit, car loans and more not far behind. When housing, groceries, fuel and energy, and every other household expense takes up such a significant portion of our monthly incomes, higher interest rates are only going to squeeze Canadians’ wallets further.
Weak economic growth and higher interest rates will continue to make life even more unaffordable for both Canadians and Canada as a whole. The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has already estimated that interest payments on Canadian debt will reach $83 billion a year by 2030/2031 — more than the government pays Ontario and all the other provinces combined to help fund their healthcare systems. With inflation already above the target rate for the foreseeable future, persistently high unemployment and slow economic growth, Mark Carney and the Liberal’s economic plan simply isn’t working. 
The Bank of Canada’s announcement highlights just how critically the Liberals need to exercise fiscal prudence, but worryingly, the PBO has already noted the government has ‘limited fiscal discipline on government spending and borrowing’, and as a result, the government will miss its own fiscal goals and guardrails to reduce the deficit-to-GDP ratio.
While Mark Carney and the Liberals blame international events and foreign wars for every increase in energy prices or inflation, that is far from the truth. The federal government can make solid decisions about its own spending, economic policies and priorities to help reduce the cost of living. Conservatives will continue to fight for measures in the upcoming federal budget that encourage investment, improve productivity, and make Canada even more of a highly competitive place to build and grow.
Working for You
If you’re visiting Ottawa and would like to take a tour of Parliament, please get in touch. My office would be happy to help you reserve tour tickets.
As always, if there is anything my office can assist you with, please call me at 807-223-2182 (Dryden) or 807-468-2170 (Kenora) or email me at 
[email protected].

Sincerely, 
Eric Melillo 
Member of Parliament 
Kenora—Kiiwetinoong