“You had one job.” It’s one of the top memes you see online. It references a major failing by a person or place that was tasked with only doing one thing, and yet somehow managed to screw that up.
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem is a top contender to be the subject of that meme. Because he has one job and, oh boy, has he really bungled it.
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Here’s the back story:
The Bank of Canada will likely raise its interest rates again soon, in late October.
The purpose off this is to cool inflation, which is a good objective. But it will be devastating in the short term to those Canadians sensitive to interest rates changes.
It will see Canadians renewing their mortgages suddenly faced with hundreds of dollars more in monthly expenses.
The United States federal reserve just announced their latest hike – up 0.75% – and Canada typically follows shortly after.
But while this whole thing has an air of inevitability to it, that doesn’t mean this hasn’t been mismanaged by the Bank of Canada.
The thing is, Macklem was in denial that inflation would be an issue even less than a year ago. In fact, earlier last year he was even saying that “deflation” – the opposite of what’s going on – was his big concern.
So now, after being in denial, Macklem is over-compensating. He’s also been caught going around and telling businesses not to give their employees raises to cover the rising of cost of living, arguing this will only worsen inflation.
Then there’s the fact, as Conservative MP Andrew Scheer explained in a recent guest column, that the Bank is wading into partisan debates by posting Twitter threads about whether or not they’ve been acting at the behest of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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Canadian dollar slides as investors retreat to U.S. dollars
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EDITORIAL: U.S. rate hike an ominous sign for Canada
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Inflation cooling, but Bank of Canada not done its fight: economists
It’s a literal fact that Macklem had one job. It’s to keep inflation within the 1-3% range. He failed to do that (Canada hit 8% the other month). While inflation is plaguing other countries, Macklem’s former denial of the situation underscores just how little leadership he’s bringing to the table.
He’s only half-way through a seven year term, but he should consider resigning given how confidence in his leadership has been eroded.
