Editorial Lower rates

The Bank of Canada’s efforts to ward off inflation are understandable, but it is doubtful whether doing so at the expense of exporting industries such as mining is a good trade-off. Excessive zeal in maintaining high interest rates — more than four percentage points above U.S. rates in some cases — is intolerable.

So it was encouraging to note that John Crow, governor of the Bank of Canada, has signalled his intentions to relax its anti- inflation policy somewhat by selling 3-month treasury bills at almost a quarter of a percentage point below the rate prevailing at the time.

We can certainly stand to see some easing in this area. This is a good first step.