As the Bank of Canada resists rate cuts, is it falling behind the curve again? - Globe and Mail
The latest data (from February) indicate that the battle against inflation is almost over. Despite the encouraging inflation data, the Bank of Canada again held its policy rate at 5 percent on Wednesday. What gives? The bank, like many other central banks, was slow off the mark to raise rates as inflation took off. We worry it runs the risk of falling behind the curve again.
First, let’s examine why the bank might be hesitating to cut – the housing market and fiscal policy. Then, let’s examine why, in our view, that’s not enough.
Year-over-year headline inflation dropped inside the bank’s 1-3 percent range in January, and continued to fall in February, sitting at 2.8 percent. Core inflation, which strips out more volatile…
Canada’s fiscal situation is dire, with bloated spending, excessive borrowing and growth-stifling taxes. Canadians need a responsible federal budget — if not an A-grade fiscal plan, at least a solid B. It needs to do much better than the D we gave last fall’s fiscal statement.
Here are 10 guides we’ll be following in grading next week’s federal budget.
1. Timely release. On this one, a failing grade is already locked in. The budget arrives two weeks into the 2024-25 fiscal year for which it is supposedly the plan and six weeks after the Main Estimates. That means money is being spent without proper parliamentary scrutiny.
2. Cut the spin and give us the figures. Recent budgets have run several hundred pages, but…
Just over two decades ago, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act put the regulation of corporate compliance on the map. It has since become a governance preoccupation, spawning armies of compliance professionals, commanding a substantial portion of every board’s agenda and costing hundreds of billions of dollars. Elaborate legal mechanisms — such as sentencing guidelines, whistleblowing regimes and personal liability of directors and management — aim at preventing employee wrongdoing and heightening oversight by directors and senior management to ensure internal systems are effective.
The objective — better, more honest governance — is hard to argue with. Yet time and time again we see high-profile firms encouraging, acquiescing in or simply…
