OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — Now-retired Bank of Canada (BoC) governor David Dodge testified in the Senate late last month that the country’s economy is likely hurdling towards recession.
“Unemployment is going to rise,” Dodge testified to the Canadian Senate banking committee on September 22, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“Economic growth will flatten to zero,” added the former BoC governor.
In response to his pessimistic statements, Saskatchewan Senator Pamela Wallin asked Dodge specifically if he was forecasting a recession of the Canadian economy.
“Zero growth rates after a period of three percent growth at annual rates that we’ve recently had is not going to feel so good,” replied Dodge.
“Yes, that’s going to happen and it is not going to feel good. Putting a number on it, I would say zero [economic growth] over that period is a good guess but I think ‘guess’ is the operative word,” he added.
READ: Bankruptcies skyrocket in Canada amid soaring inflation, interest rate hikes
Dodge’s prediction followed a similarly negative forecast given by the BoC’s current Deputy Governor Paul Beaudry, who stated last month that Canada’s inflation rate and central bank interest rate will remain above pre-pandemic levels for two years.
Quebec Senator Clément Gignac, who formerly served as the chief economist for the National Bank, put blame directly on the BoC for giving Canadians bad financial advice and misleading projections throughout the pandemic.
“In 2020 the central banks, not only in Canada, mentioned interest rates would remain low for a while,” said Gignac. “As a result, in Canada a lot of people bought houses at variable rate mortgages.”
“In 2020 the Bank of Canada mentioned, ‘You know what? Inflation will be transitory.’ Whoops,” mocked Gignac. “They give the impression they know a lot of things, more than us, and we start to realize they have no better clue than Wall Street economists.”
READ: Trudeau’s reckless COVID spending is causing Canada’s inflation rate to hit a 30-year high
Replying to Gignac’s strong criticism of the BoC, Dodge agreed that the central bank’s advice has essentially become, “We’re going to watch and see what happens.”
“In August 2020 they changed their rules and basically said, ‘We’re not going to care about inflation.’ And then in August 2021 they said, ‘It’s all transitory’ – an unfortunate use of the word transitory,” testified Dodge.
“Economists understood what they meant but in plain English it wasn’t very helpful. So I think there were big mistakes made.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews, despite current BoC governor Tiff Macklem saying repeatedly that inflation and interest rates would remain low for a “long time,” Canada is currently experiencing decades-high inflation which in turn has caused the BoC to hike interest rates at a speed not seen since the late 1990s.
While basic economic theories like supply-and-demand require interest rates to climb in order to combat inflation, with Canadian household debt being at an all-time high, many remain worried about the nation’s financial future.
In August, the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada reported an 11 percent increase in insolvencies among Canadians when compared to 2021, with the most populous province of Ontario reporting a 16 percent increase.
READ: Is our current inflation crisis a key part of the Great Reset agenda?
According to a June 2022 debt survey from Manulife Bank of Canada, nearly one in four Canadian homeowners say they will have to sell their homes if interest rates continue to increase.
Since then, interest rates have continued to increase, and the average home price has plummeted a whopping 22 percent since March.
Considering the Canadian government’s close ties to the World Economic Forum, whose “Great Reset” agenda posits that by 2023 “You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy,” there is speculation as to whether the current economic crisis is an intentional part of this so-called “reset” of capitalism.