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Waterloo Chronicle | Thursday, June 29, 2023 | 12 waterloochronicle.ca Mississauga Career College FULLY FUNDED Personal Support Worker Program CALL NOW (905) 813-8883 to book your information session in-person or online ugacollege.ca Ssaligacollege.ca DIVERSIONS This Employment Ontario program is funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario. BB OPINION A PAINFUL NECESSITY RISING INTEREST RATES NEEDED T0 CONTROL SPENDING, WRITES PETER WATSON It was a surprise that the Bank of Canada (BoC) recently increased inter- est rates agai The BoC has a delicate balancing act. One con. sideration is controlling excesses inflatio that is done by i ee acne interest rates. The second consider- ation is to try not to put the brakes on the Canadi- an economy too hard and cause an economic tail- spin. For a long time, inter- est rates were at histori- cally low levels. ‘hat was meant to en- courage consumers to iw PETER WATSON Column spend —and that they did. Household debt increased and is higher in Canada than in many other coun- tries. Now what's best for the economy is to stop spend- ing. Thus, the increase in interest rates. Unfortunately, households _ar¢ struggling with mortgage payments and other types of loans. At some point, some of these people will not be able to stay afloat. We are entering a peri- od of severe consequences for many. When you can- not afford to make mort- many gage eekerriatea essential spending like food can be paid by credit card. When credit card bal- ances cannot be paid, an exorbitant interest rate kicks in. The downward financial cycle just keeps spinning faster and fas- ter. The BoC ripped the Band-Aid off Canadians. This will hurt now, but things will be better with inflation and our econo- ny] later. economy will get beter. It always has. concern is many people will have serious financial difficulties with significantly higher inter- mcern is highe! interest rates willbe pain. ful for Peter Watson of Watson Investments MBA, CFP®, REP., CIM®, FCSI offers a weekly financial plan- ning column, Dollars & Sense. He can be contacted through www.watsonin- vestments.com. Crossword puzzle answers use American spelling ACROSS 44. Functional 13. Secondhand 1 e 32 4 I 6 |7 Is 9 |10 1. Jewish teacher 46, Restaurant 18. Summer 1 3 8 6. Obvious 48, Proposed Quencher: 2 wds. [77 12 13 11. Oak seeds explanation 20. Freight weight 1)4]9/8 2|7/6 13. New cop 49. Come into view 21. Intense fury 14 15 6 913 4 14, Partial return of a 50. Did secretarial 22. Criticize payment work 23, Pear-shaped fruit 8 15. Implants 51. Totaled 25, Physique, briefly 215 16, Racetrack feature 26. Liquid gold 17. Bring up DOWN 27.Ginger__ 1 19. Place 1. Few and far 29, Frankly 4)2 20. Male feline between 30. No-win contest 21. Data 2. Some fighter 32. Ridiculous 3 24. Subways’ cousins pilots. 35. Pine or ash 25. Feather scarf 3. Certain haircuts 36, Andes pack 28, Pour 4. Bikini part animal 29. Work by Shelley 5, Emcee’s speech, 37. Cigar end 30. Labor for short 38, Pale a] 31. Hen product 6. Sky sights 39. Profound {HI 4 32. Liable 7. Soft toss 41. Drive cattle iat [s] 33. Dormant 8. ___ out (barely 42. Beg EI [2] 34, Ladybug, eg, manages) 43, Watched iat 37. Faulty 9. Military assistant 45, Opponent Bell fe] 40. Growl 10. Remainder 47. Edward's: {ale [e] 44. Tint 12, Junction nickname Ive] [9]