[Shaun Osborne] added that he was in "the very small minority" still expecting a rise in borrowing costs amid "pretty decent momentum in the domestic economy overall."

"I think that it's really a flip of the coin at this point," CIBC World Markets economist Benjamin Tal said of the central bank's decision.

Despite Friday's shaky employment data showing that the economy shed 4,600 jobs in June, "given the strength in employment that we've seen so far this year, with over 200,000 jobs created, and the fact that we've seen inflation moving up, it's time for the Bank of Canada to continue taking insurance out on the potential for inflation to move up even further," said [Warren Jestin].