Mr. Speaker, this morning four national banking institutions raised their lending rates in reaction to the Bank of Canada's rate hike yesterday to a one year high of 8.38 per cent.
Just as last week when Moody's Investors Service put Canada's AAA domestic bond rating on a credit watch, now our own institutions have shown a complete lack of understanding of our deficit problem. It is extremely shocking and saddening when our national institutions do not have the patience and presence of mind to wait for the budget.
Maybe the finance minister will slash the budget drastically to control the deficit. I fail to understand why the bogeyman of inflation created by the previous government is being resurrected once again.
With inflation presently running low, there is no need for higher interest rates. The increased rates will hamper job creation and hurt small businesses, as it will thousands of Canadians who have to renew their mortgages this year.
It is time for the Bank of Canada to initiate systems policies-