The Bank of Canada announced on March 1st that there would be no change in their overnight lending rate. Major banks will leave their prime lending rate at 3%. This means that your variable mortgage rate will remain unchanged as well. With the strength of the Canadian dollar our manufacturing and export sector is hurting. (good news for variable rate clients). In addition, inflation remains in line with the bank’s expectations. The issues in Libya have pushed commodity prices upwards, adding further strength to the dollar. I am not a mortgage specialist but signs indicate that we might not see a rate increase before summer and if we do the bank of Canada will do so cautiously.