Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during a media availability on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. Poilievre says if elected prime minister, he would not stray too far abroad in appointing a new Bank of Canada governor. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says his choice for Bank of Canada governor would be someone focused entirely on keeping annual inflation at its two per cent target.
Poilievre is standing by the promise he made during the leadership campaign to fire current central bank governor Tiff Macklem, should the Conservative leader become prime minister.
The Opposition leader says his beef with Macklem is not with the Bank of Canada governor’s monetary policy, which involves setting interest rates to help keep inflation under control.
He argues that Macklem strayed into fiscal policy by “printing money” to buy government bonds, which he characterized as support for Liberal spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bank of Canada engaged in quantitative easing during the pandemic, which is used to keep money flowing when interest rates are already so low, as they were at the time.
Poilievre says a Conservative government would reduce deficits to help bring down inflation so that higher interest rates are no longer necessary, while leaving monetary policy up to the independent central bank.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2022.
