Flaherty primed to appoint next BoC governor
by the Canadian Press
The minister told reporters that his intent all along has been to make a choice at about the end of April
OTTAWA—Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said it won’t be too long before he announces the next head of the Bank of Canada.
The minister told reporters that his intent all along has been to make a choice at about the end of April and that the process is drawing to a close.
“We’re well through the process. We are not quite at the end of the process, we are near the end… so it won’t be too long,” he said.
Economists and markets have made current senior deputy governor Tiff Macklem the favourite for the job, but the perceived delay, as well as recent rumours to the contrary, suggest that Flaherty is preparing to appoint an outsider, as he did when he plucked Mark Carney from Finance in 2007.
Other candidates likely include Stephen Poloz, head of Export Development Canada, Bill Robson of the C.D. Howe Institute, current and past bank deputy governors, and several highly respected academics.
Flaherty said he has followed the same process that led to the appointment of Carney in the fall of 2007. Carney took over officially in February of 2008.
The new appointee will have considerably less time to get groomed for the seven-year posting. Carney is scheduled to leave the bank on June 1 and assume his duties as the first foreigner at the helm of the Bank of England on July 1.
