Bank of Canada Interest Rate Today

The target for the overnight rate, every change since 2009 and the announcement schedule, from the Bank of Canada.

The Bank of Canada's policy interest rate is 2.25%, where it has been since October 29, 2025, when the Bank cut it by 0.25 points from 2.50%. The next announcement is on October 28, 2026, in 20 days, with a Monetary Policy Report. In 2026 the Bank has held the rate at all 6 announcements so far. A year ago it was 2.50%: 0.25 points lower now. The banks' prime rate is 4.45% (as of October 7, 2026), 2.20 points above the policy rate: variable mortgages and lines of credit are priced from it. On a $500,000 variable mortgage at the 3.86% banks charged on average in July 2026, a 0.25-point cut would lower the payment by about $67 a month.

Announcement dates and decisions

The Bank decides the rate on eight fixed dates a year, always a Wednesday at 9:45 am Eastern time, and publishes the next year's dates each summer. Four of the eight come with the Monetary Policy Report, its quarterly forecast, and a press conference.

The policy rate and prime since 2000

Month by month. The policy rate moves only on announcement days; prime follows it within days, a fixed distance above. The site's policy rate history starts in 2009.

Every change since 2009

* The day the new rate took effect: the site only keeps the announcement dates from 2025 on. Prime after: the banks' prime rate at its next weekly reading.

What it means for a mortgage

Variable mortgage rates are set as the banks' prime rate minus a discount agreed in the contract, and prime moves with the policy rate: when the Bank cuts by 0.25 points, a variable payment falls within days, and a rise does the opposite. Lines of credit and HELOCs are priced from prime the same way.

Fixed mortgage rates do not follow the policy rate directly. They follow Government of Canada bond yields, which move on what markets expect the Bank to do over the coming years, so fixed rates often change before an announcement rather than after it. What banks charged on new mortgages each month, by term, is on the average mortgage rates page.

To qualify, every borrower is tested at the higher of their contract rate plus 2 points and 5.25%, so a lower policy rate raises what a buyer can borrow only once contract rates fall below 3.25%: the stress test calculator works it out, and the payment calculator shows what a rate change does to a payment.

Where the figures come from

The policy rate is the Bank of Canada's target for the overnight rate, published every business day (Bank of Canada, Valet series V39079). A change is dated the first day the series shows the new rate: the business day after the announcement. The announcement dates are the Bank's published schedule (Bank of Canada). Figures as of October 7, 2026, read from the Bank today.