Minister calls for interest rate cut as Ontario unemployment rate inches higher | CBC News

Ontario’s minister of economic development is calling on the Bank of Canada to further lower interest rates in an effort to spur job creation — which comes as the province’s unemployment rate hit levels not seen since 2014, pandemic years excepted.

In a statement released Friday, Vic Fedeli said Ontario added 200,000 jobs in 2024, but that last month’s job numbers “remind us of the challenges that persist.”

The latest figures from Statistics Canada show Ontario’s unemployment rate increased 0.8 per cent to 7.6 per cent in November. That’s the highest since May of 2014, excluding 2020 and 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic was wreaking havoc in the labour market.

Statistics Canada says the increase was driven by more people in the province in the labour force and searching for work.

“These results, once again, underscore the need for the Bank of Canada to lower interest rates, a critical step in supporting job creation, rebuilding our economy and creating opportunities for workers across the province,” the statement from Fedeli reads.

Canada’s national unemployment rate stood at 6.8 per cent last month, which was the highest since January 2017 outside of the pandemic, according to Statistics Canada’s November labour force survey.

The Bank of Canada will have its eye on Friday’s jobs report as it gears up for its interest rate announcement on Wednesday.   

Forecasters are widely expecting the central bank to deliver another interest rate cut, though there hasn’t been consensus on the size of that reduction.

High interest rates have cooled the labour market significantly over the last year.

Fideli also called on the federal government to scrap the carbon tax, a common refrain for Premier Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservative MPPs in recent months.