ottawamembers of the bank of canadas governing council decided last month to lift rates by a quarter point because the labor market and economic activity were stronger than officials anticipated according to a summary of deliberations or minutes the central bank issued wednesday there was also concern related to the risk that inflation down to 63 after peaking over 8 could get stuck somewhere above 2 in the long term a quarterpoint rate increase  which was ultimately put in place lifting the bank of canadas main interest rate to 450  would provide some insurance against such an outcome the minutes said members were in broad agreement that going forward it would be appropriate to pause any additional tightening to allow economic developments to unfold said the minutes which tracked discussions among governingcouncil members ahead of the jan 25 rate policy decision council wanted to convey that the bar for additional rate increases was now higher economists at cibc capital markets said there were no big surprises contained in the minutes saying a lot of the material had been covered in the press conference following the jan 25 rate decision and in a speech tuesday by bank of canada gov tiff macklem the minutes mark the first time the bank of canada issued a summary of discussions among its most senior policy makers up until now canadas central bank was one of the few that declined to issue minutes of ratepolicy deliberations the bank of canada said last year it would begin to do so after being chided by the international monetary fund in a report