Recession in sight: Jagmeet Singh fires red balls at the Bank of Canada

Emilie Bergeron, The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh accuses the Bank of Canada of having caused the “imminent recession” in part by using “overly aggressive measures”.

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he criticizes the central bank for having repeatedly raised the key rate, successive increases which, according to him, “are leading us into a recession”.

“This one-size-fits-all solution to inflation is already laying the groundwork for a recession and making life difficult for most people, especially working families and people on fixed incomes, such as seniors and those in dire straits. of disability,” Mr. Singh wrote in his missive dated last Friday.

The NDP leader is directly attacking the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem. He criticizes him for having advised companies not to include higher salaries in the contracts binding them to their employees. According to multiple media reports, Macklem made the remarks in July at an event hosted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Mr. Singh maintains in his letter that he respects the independence of the Bank of Canada. « We also know that the Bank of Canada follows the mandate given to it by the federal government, » he adds. Last fall, your government had the opportunity to review the Bank of Canada’s mandate, but instead of modifying it, you kept the traditional objective of inflation targeting by adding to it the search for maximum inflation. ‘sustainable jobs’.

According to Mr. Singh, the current economic situation comes with a risk of “massive loss of jobs” and he urges the Trudeau government to move forward quickly with its reform of employment insurance.

« We can’t go into a recession with an employment insurance system that leaves most of the unemployed behind, » he argues.

The leader of the New Democratic Party is also making a series of other demands. He calls in particular for the establishment of a “tax on exceptional profits” which would be used to redistribute wealth. He also wants legislative changes to be made to crack down more heavily on “corporate greed that drives up the prices of basic necessities.”