(Ottawa) Conservative Party leader Pierre Boliever launched an attack on the Bank of Canada on Thursday, refusing even to say whether he trusted the institution’s governor, Teff McClem, and “so-called experts”.
Posted at 1:15 pm
“The truth is plain: Mr. McClem, Mr.me free land [la ministre des Finances]Justin Trudeau told us there will be no inflation. Now there is hypertrophy. He told reporters that he summoned him in front of the central bank building in Ottawa.
Mr Poilievre made proposals aimed at increasing “transparency” and “making Canada the freest country in the world”.
If elected as a Conservative leader and then prime minister, he would give the Auditor General the power to audit the Bank of Canada’s finances, demand a review of the “400 billion” it has “printed” since the start of 2020 and ban the idea of a central bank digital currency.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
Mr. Boliever, who has grabbed headlines in recent weeks by praising the merits of cryptocurrencies as a “cure to inflation,” asserted that “Canada’s official currency will always be the Canadian dollar.”
At the same time, he went on, people should be “free” to use “other forms of money, including bitcoin.”
In a parliamentary committee earlier this week, Carolyn Rogers, the Bank of Canada’s first deputy governor, was asked whether cryptocurrencies can stave off inflation.
“If Canadians are looking […] As a source of stable value, cryptocurrencies do not quite pass this test, she said. The volatility of cryptocurrencies, if you look at the last year or two, has been higher than gasoline, higher than the Canadian exchange rate, higher than most commodities. »
Governor McClellim praised the central bank’s balance sheet, reminding parliamentarians that the economy “was at an all-time low” at the start of the pandemic.
“We are raising interest rates today, and we have indicated that we need to normalize monetary policy fairly quickly, not because our policies have failed, but because they have been very effective,” he said. Now we deal with the other side of that. »
“I am right. They are wrong.”
When asked about his knowledge of economics, Mr. Boliever confirmed that “my training is well documented: 20 times in the House of Commons, I have projected the inflation we have today”.
“I have warned the Governor of the Bank of Canada and two of my finance ministers that we will face this inflation,” he said. The others said, “No, it’s deflation.” This is what these experts said. After all, I’m right. They are wrong. »
According to him, it was time for Canadians to listen to “the people who were right and not the people who are causing misery to Mrs. Everyone”.
