The consensus among Governing Council was that monetary policy needed to be more restrictive to bring inflation back to the 2% target. These decisions are difficult, and we did discuss the possibility of holding rates unchanged and gathering more information to confirm the need to raise the policy rate.
On balance, our assessment was that the cost of delaying action was larger than the benefit of waiting. Elevated inflation is a burden on Canadians, especially for the most vulnerable. We are also acutely aware that higher rates are making life more difficult for many Canadians.