“Government money printing deficits have caused more dollars to chase fewer goods, leading to higher prices. And the Governor of the Bank of Canada has allowed himself to become the ATM of this government.”
He then added that he would “replace” Macklem with a new governor, who he said would reaffirm the bank’s low-inflation mandate and protect the purchasing power of the Canadian dollar.
Poilievre, a veteran parliamentary firebrand known for his quick punches, has made a career of getting under the skin of high-ranking officials, from Marc Mayrand, then Electoral Director of Canadaformer Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney; Trudeau finance ministers Bill Morneau and Chrystia Freeland.
Macklem has been a frequent target for Poilievre since he was appointed by Trudeau in June 2020.
The promise to fire Canada’s central banker is part of Poilievre’s populist campaign to make Canada the “freest country in the world.” At the heart of his campaign is a promise to take on the “Guardians.”
Macklem, the public servant who runs the independent central bank, is apparently the number one gatekeeper enemy.
Poilievre made headlines late last month for calling the Bank of Canada “financially illiterate”.
On Wednesday, the longtime Ottawa-area legislator beefed up his language by making a stunning promise to kick Macklem out of the job.
Former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, widely seen as Poilievre’s main opponent in the leadership contest, called the threat to Macklem and the harsh criticism of the central bank “irresponsible.”
“If you’re an investor looking to come to Canada and you hear that kind of statement, coming from a member of the House of Commons, you’d think you were in a Third World country,” Charest said during Wednesday’s debate. . “We can’t afford to have any leader come out and deliberately undermine trust in institutions.”
Standing outside the entrance to the Bank of Canada museum last month, Poilievre vowed to increase government supervision of the bank. He also promised, if he is elected prime minister, to ban the Bank of Canada from introducing a digital currency.
During Wednesday’s debate, Poilievre, who has frequently spoken about cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, reiterated his warning about any Bank of Canada digital currency.
“This gives you massive new powers for surveillance, control and censorship, and gives the state too much control over our money,” he said. “And that’s why I would ban a central bank digital currency and put people back in control of their money from bankers and politicians.”
But Poilievre, in particular, has focused his criticism on the central bank’s large-scale bond-buying program, put in place to shield Canada from the Covid crisis.
He accused Macklem of financing Trudeau’s record deficits during the pandemic, a program he accuses of having stoked inflation and Canada’s housing affordability crisis.
Economists have disagreed with Poilievre’s view.
On the one hand, most countries are dealing with skyrocketing price growth. Many economists, as well as Macklem, blame Canada’s rising inflation on global supply chain bottlenecks and, more recently, the fallout from Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The counterarguments have done little to deter Poilievre’s crusade against Macklem.
Towards the end of Wednesday’s debate, Poilievre reiterated his promise: “I will fire the governor of the central bank to control inflation.”
Reference-www.politico.com