The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, July 23, 2015 | 28 Bank of Canada interest rate reduction is a significant move Dollars & Sense Peter Watson Guest Contributor RAISE YOUR HAND FOR SAFETY 100% effort. It's what Canadians expect from us. In fact, in 2013 alone, more than $1.4 billion was spent on pipeline safety across Canada. As we move our energy to new markets we will never stop working to protect our Not actors. Real Canadians. T environment, our people and our communities. Think oil and natural gas developed the Canadian way is good for Canada? Then now is the time to say so at raiseyourhandcanada.ca he Canadian economy is not as strong as many of us had assumed. Last week's lowering of the interest rate by the Bank of Canada will have a ripple effect for many. The nancial news that has gripped headlines over the past months has been the nancial woes of the Greek economy. By contrast we felt our nancial base was sound. Not so. Last week Stephen Poloz, governor of the Bank of Canada, lowered interest rates in order to accelerate growth in the slowing Canadian economy. The central bank decreased the overnight interest rate by one quarter of a percentage point to 0.5 per cent. This is the second interest rate reduction this year. One of the ways the central bank controls the Canadian economy is by setting interest rates. When the economy starts to falter, an interest rate reduction is designed to fuel growth. There are three reasons why the Canadian economy has slowed. Oil prices are down, the Chinese economy has slowed, and the Canadian manufacturing sector is not performing as well as has been anticipated. The Bank of Canada's interest rate reduction is signi cant, as is its ripple effect. The Bank of Canada is running out of exibility to reduce rates in the future. The current overnight interest rate of only 0.5 per cent does not leave the bank much room to reduce it further. Eliminating the ability to reduce rates in the future will be a game changer for the central bank. Historically, the ability to lower rates has been one of the best ways to accelerate the rate of growth in our economy. That is a big risk. Also a big risk is that lower interest rates will encourage Canadians to accumulate even more debt. Many think that the historic high levels of personal household debt is a see Think on p.30 R0023362201-0723