Bank of Canada 'too slow to cut rates,' says David Rosenberg

One prominent economist says Canada is facing economic weakness amid higher interest rates and says the Bank of Canada is late in bringing interest rates lower.

David Rosenberg, the founder and president of Rosenberg Research, said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg on Monday that Canada’s economy is weaker than headline figures suggest and conditions in the labour market are starting to erode. Following reports that Canada’s economy added 41,000 jobs in February, Rosenberg said the increase isn’t significant when accounting for population growth. 

“Actually, the most important statistic is the employment-to-population ratio, which is now down for five months in a row,” he said. 

According to Rosenberg, the labour market “is starting to adopt more slack and that’s going to show up with a lag on decelerating wage growth.” He added that he is leaning toward a rate cut occurring in the coming months.