Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called it a “lack of leadership” and “disappointing” that Conservative MP and aspiring party leader Pierre Poilievre is attacking the Bank of Canada, and wanting to show the door to its governor.
The institution “is recognized for not only its rigor, its professionalism but its independence from the political machinations that could take place in a government”, argued Justin Trudeau Thursday.
The prime minister’s outright defense of the central bank comes the day after the first official debate in the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leadership race, in which candidate Pierre Poilievre proposed firing Governor Tiff Macklem.
Poilievre, seen as the frontrunner in the race, would like to see a governor who could “bring back the low inflation mandate” of the Bank. Among his other controversial claims on this topic, he had notably previously accused the central bank of being “financially illiterate” and had promoted bitcoin to “give Canadians back control over their money”.
According to Justin Trudeau, on the contrary, the Bank of Canada represents “an important pillar of our success and our economic profile internationally”. The reputation of the Canadian dollar is based on the “fact that we have a central bank that is independent of politics. »
“The fact that there is a leadership candidate for Canada’s second largest party in the House of Commons who doesn’t understand this, or who chooses not to understand this, is heartbreaking,” he said. he let it go.
He later called Mr. Poilievre’s exit a “lack of responsible leadership”, and added that it is the members of the Conservative Party who will have to choose their leader. The Conservative leadership race will end on September 10.
Last December, the Bank of Canada’s mission was adjusted to continue to aim to maintain long-term inflation at 2%, while monitoring employment. Since then, the Bank has increased its key rate twice in order to tackle the increase in inflation in the country. The CCP regularly criticizes the Liberal government for spending during the pandemic, an alleged cause of some of this inflation.