An Interview on CBC The National

Last week I was interviewed for the television by the CBC - Canada's national broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for a news segment on the bank interest rate decision (a rate hike). The story was aired on Wednesday January 25, 2023, the same day the Bank of Canada raised interest rates by 25 basis points.

You can watch / listen to / read about the story, including my quotes, here: 

The National (YouTube): Bank of Canada hikes interest rates again

Digital Article: Bank of Canada raises rates yet again

CBC Radio: The World At Six With Susan Bonner

How It Came To Be:

I follow a few CBC reporters on Twitter, and during the first and second rate hikes in 2022, one of them tweeted that she would love to connect with Canadians who are seeing their mortgage payments go up. I replied to that, and she followed up with a conversation. Later on, I spoke with someone from CBC Radio. The reporter ultimately decided not to go ahead with the story, but she kept my information on record for the future.

Now I had been against these rate hikes ever since the interest rate crossed 3%, as I viewed them as excessive and not needed (simply because the source of inflation was not excess demand but supply side issues and domestic corporate concentration and profiteering). I had written on it extensively on Facebook and other social media.

The Experience:

About two weeks ago, I got a call from another reporter, who wanted to follow up with me after so long. This was going to be for The National, and this is when CBC made an appointment to come to my house and record the interview. It was a very interesting experience.

I was asked to share the story of my mortgage, and how the rising rates were affecting our family. I was asked why I decided on a variable mortgage earlier, and how I am planning to keep up with the ever rising payments. I spoke at length of my criticism of the Bank of Canada and their decisions. I also pointed out what the government headed by Prime Minister Trudeau did wrong - and they acted too late and did too little.

Overall, the CBC crew spent close to 90 minutes at my place. The whole news segment was just over 2 minutes long, and in those 2 minutes they probably aired 15-30 seconds of the footage they recorded with me, as they also interviewed other people for the story. Yet, for those 30 seconds, it was a 90 minute work, including set up.

Both the field reporter and the cameraman were extremely nice and professional. They knew I had never done any TV interview, so they knew how to put me at ease, and gave clear directions. It also provided a very interesting behind the scenes look at how those news clips are shot. 

In one of the scenes, I showed them my bank statements, and showed how the payments had gone up so quickly, so fast. That clip was shot three times with three different cameras (basically I had to say the same thing thrice).

Overall, it was a good experience, and I asked the reporter why they are interviewing me (and people like me). They replied that we know what the Bank of Canada will do and say; we want to share the stories of average Canadians who are going through this crisis and carry their voice. She also lamented the fact that while many, many people write to complain, once CBC asks them for their story on camera, many of them back away.